John Salvatore Romita was born in New York City in 1956, and knew he wanted to be an artist when
he saw his father, legendary Spider-Man artist John Romita sr. work at his drawing board.
Romita jr's first published work was a six-page backup in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #4,
inked by Al Milgrom. His first regular assignment was the acclaimed three-and-a-half year run on
Iron Man, with writers David Michelinie and Bob Layton. Included in those stories is the
now classic Tony Stark alcoholism storyline.
John moved on to become the regular penciler on his father's old series,
Amazing Spider-Man. His first issue was #208. Romita jr.'s run on Amazing
Spider-Man lasted three years, and included the first appearance of the Hobgoblin and the
classic Spidey vs. Juggernaut fight. After that he took over The Uncanny X-Men and
penciled this series for several years, including the milestone 200th issue. Afterwards, he
worked on the short-lived Jim Shooter's New Universe imprint title Star Brand, and
then moved on to the book where he feld he grew as an artist: Daredevil, with writer Ann
Nocenti.
Then it was back to Iron Man with writer John Byrne, to do the memorable 'Armor Wars II'
storyline, and an assortment of other projects, including Punisher War Zone, the
Hearts of Darkness bookshelf edition, the two-issue Cable mini-series, the
Punisher/Batman crossover, and another run on The Uncanny X-Men. Romita even
returned to Daredevil for the Man Without Fear limited series with writer Frank
Miller and inker Al Williamson.
After that Romita Jr. did the Spider-Man: The Lost Years limited series, written by
J.M. DeMatteis and inked by Klaus Janson. He's currently the penciler of both The Amazing
Spider-Man with writer JMS Straczynski and The Incredible Hulk with writer Bruce Jones.
Go to The Incomplete Comicbook Artist Checklist for more
checklists!
