John Romita, Sr. Merges With the Infinite

John Romita, Sr., one of the classic Marvel bullpen of creators of the 60's-era (and well beyond) has passed.  

Much as Carl Barks was "the Good Duck Artist" to a generation or three, Romita was, to me, THE Spider-Man artist.  Sure, he did plenty else, but his work on Spider-Man was so foundational to the character, his design and humanity brought to each panel, a key player in re-figuring the style at Marvel, and therefore the style of modern comics.  

The world of Spider-Man was surely full of colorful characters, but they weren't defined by their powers, they had unique personalities and character, and Romita brought it right to the surface.  

He was also the artist who brought classic moments we're still dealing with in comics.

Like, the intro of Mary Jane Watson.

and, of course, everything with the Stacy's.

And that's how everything ended up with Gwen and Captain Stacy.  Everyone cool and living happily ever after.

I love this era of Spidey.  It's the height of personal and super-hero drama, and has Spidey working in a milieu I think he operates in best.  And when I think of this era, sure I think the title is well written, but it's also the Marvel Method, which means Stan worked out a storyline with the artist and cut them loose, to come back and fill in dialog later.  So it's artistic storytelling, refusing to rely on text or words.

We'll miss knowing Romita Sr. was out there.  We lost a giant this week.