John Romita Jr

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John Salvatore Romita, Jr. (born August 17, 1956) is an American comic book artist best known for his extensive work for Marvel Comics from the 1970s to the 2000s. He is often referred to as JRJR (abbreviation of John Romita, Jr.)


Career

John Romita was born in New York City, the son of John Romita, Sr., co-creator of several notable Spider-Man stories in the 1960s and 1970s. He began his career at Marvel UK, doing sketches for covers of reprints. His American debut was with a six page story entitled "Chaos at the Coffee Bean!" in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #11 (1977).

Romita's early popularity was based on his run on Iron Man with writer David Michelinie and artist Bob Layton which began in 1978. In the early 1980s, he had his first regular run on the Amazing Spider-Man series and also was the artist for the launch of the Dazzler series. Working with writer Roger Stern on Amazing Spider-Man, he co created the character Hobgoblin and he drew an issue in which Spider-Man would encounter the Juggernaut where the villain would end up trapped in cement foundations. From 1983 to 1986 he had a run on Uncanny X-Men with Dan Green and author Chris Claremont which brought him large popularity, as the X-Men had become a huge industry phenomenon by that time. He would return for a second very successful run on Uncanny X-Men in 1993.


In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Romita enjoyed an acclaimed stint on Daredevil with writer Ann Nocenti and Eisner Award-winning inker Al Williamson, noted for its creation of long-running Daredevil nemesis Typhoid Mary. Working on Daredevil, Romita defined his style and left behind all uncertainties which were still present in the X-Men pages.

Romita later collaborated with Frank Miller on a Daredevil origin story entitled Daredevil: The Man Without Fear, considered to be a companion of sorts to Miller's Batman: Year One tale. Romita worked on a host of Marvel titles during the 1990s, including The Punisher War Zone, the Cable mini-series, The Mighty Thor, a return to Iron Man for the second Armor War written by John Byrne, and the Punisher/Batman cross-over.

In the 2000s, Romita again came to prominence for his second run illustrating The Amazing Spider-Man for writer J. Michael Straczynski. He drew Marvel's Wolverine with author Mark Millar as part of the character's thirtieth-anniversary celebration. In 2004, Romita's creator-owned project The Grey Area was published by Image Comics. Romita's art has since appeared in Black Panther, The Sentry and Ultimate Vision, a back up story featured in the Ultimate line, written by author Mark Millar.

In 2006, Romita collaborated with writer Neil Gaiman on the reinterpretation of Jack Kirby's The Eternals in the form of a seven issue miniseries. Romita worked with Greg Pak on the five issue main comic of Marvel's 2007 crossover event, World War Hulk.

In 2008, Romita will return to Amazing Spider-Man. He is also collaborating once more with Mark Millar, for a creator-owned series, Kick-Ass, published by Marvel's Icon imprint, and returning to the Wolverine ongoing series alongside Millar.