John Romita 1930-2023

 Just heard of the passing of one of the BIGGEST comics artists out there, John Romita- one of my all time favorites and for me, THE definitive Spider-Man  illustrator...as well as most of the rest of the Marvel Universe!

He created some of the most ICONIC covers of ALL-TIME, so many of them ones that blew my mind and really influenced my OWN art growing up!  John Romita, a name as synonymous with marvel as Stan Lee or Jack Kirby!!!

Won't be an0ther one like him!

Amazing Spider-Man Annual #3

For some reason I've always been missing this Annual from my Spider-Man collection, and one night decided, what the hey, let's order it. Always great to read the classic silver age stuff.

Super-Vixens: Medusa

One of my earliest memories of Medusa came through an unusual item of interest pointed out to me by a couple of my friends. These guys were fervent Fantastic Four fans, and it was through them that I learned of the “history” of a lot of Marvel’s greatest icons.

Anyway, Marvel had just released this paperback book reprinting several Fantastic Four strips in B&W, and on the cover they depicted Doctor Doom fighting the Fantastic Four in spectacular fashion, with Doom blasting the Human Torch as the rest of the FF looked on. Passing around the paperback, one of my friends said to the other, “Hey look, they drew Sue over Medusa!” I didn’t understand, until they explained to me that the picture was taken from Fantastic Four issue #146, and at that time a character named Medusa was temporarily filling in for the Invisible Girl. When they used the pic for the Paperback, they’d changed Medusa to Susan so the cover would reflect the “real” line-up featured in said book.

When we got home, they showed me the issue, and that’s my first recollection of the gal with the unmanageable hair. Of course later she would be very well known to me as a member of the Frightful Four, the Inhumans (and bride of Black Bolt), and I really dug her guest appearance in Amazing Spider Man #62, but she didn’t hit the “babe” mark til I managed to collect the Roy Thomas / Neal Adams stories in AMAZING ADVENTURES…

Neal’s artistic take the Inhumans was probably one of the most original, as he REALLY depicted them as “real” people, additionally, this was the first time I saw Black Bolt, Gorgon and Karnak in civilian clothes! In this storyline, the Inhumans are in the real world, and to go unnoticed, “borrow” clothes from the Muscle Beach locker rooms. When It came time to illustrating Medusa, he drew her as the sexiest swingin’ chick this side of Barbara Eden!

Medusa

First Appearance: Fantastic Four #36 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

Favorite Artists:

Jack Kirby

John Buscema

Neal Adams

Super-Vixens: Black Widow

The first time I ever laid eyes on Ms. Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow, was in the first issue of DAREDEVIL that I ever bought, Issue #161, against Bullseye. All I could make out at the time was that this girl was somehow linked with DD, perhaps even romantically, but she never stood out for me in any way.

Later I was to collect the back issues of Daredevil, and I was to find out she was a major character, in the pages of Daredevil (at one point the comic was even called Daredevil and Black Widow) and other group mags. One thing though, was that she never struck me as a “looker” in those Gil Kane / Gene Colan / Frank Miller issues, although I DO recall thinking she looked nice in some Colan or Miller issue where she’s wearing this pretty green dress in this one splash page …(I strangely recall that at the time she was wiping blood off her mouth!)..but that was about it.

Anyway, it wasn’t until I read the AMAZING ADVENTURES series that I saw her in a different light. I was so used to seeing her as Matt’s partner in DAREDEVIL or nagging Hercules in The CHAMPIONS and AVENGERS, that it was quite a surprise to finally see her as the sleek siren she was supposed to be!

And although all of John Romita’s gals tend to resemble Mary Jane Watson*, when I finally got around to purchasing a copy of legendary Amazing Spider-Man issue #86, that is where I found THE artist for depicting the Black Widow. John Romita’s take of Natasha just had the look that really (to me) defined what she was all about, tough, mysterious, and alluring.

•There was even this Not Brand Ecch gag where they colored the hair of Romita’s girls all different colors; red, blonde, green, blue, etc, and said: Fun Page: which is Mary Jane Watson and which Is Gwen Stacy?! Hahaha…!

Black Widow

First Appearance: Tales Of Suspense #57

First Appearance (New costume) : Amazing Spider-Man #60 by Stan Lee and John Romita

Favorite Artists:

John Romita (Amazing Spider-Man #86 )

John Buscema ( Amazing Adventures #1-8)