What's Bully Reading?: John Romita, Sr.

Reading the work of a comics master. I miss him a lot already.


John Romita, Sr.
January 24, 1930 - June 12, 2023
Rest in Peace

366 Days with J. Jonah Jameson, Day 327: All That Jazzy

Not entirely spotlighting J. Jonah Jameson particularly (but he's definitely in there!), but I had to share with you these two delightful John Romita Sr. pieces from the in-house fan magazine for Friends of Old Marvel, aptly known as FOOM!



Cover and page from FOOM #18 (June 1976), pencils and inks by John Romita, Sr.
I've discovered (and rediscovered) a whole lotta great Spidey artists this year doing these JJJ posts, but I definitely think the master...well, at least my favorite!...is the great "Jazzy" John Romita, Sr., who brought Peter into a new era, gave Gwen Stacy the heart that makes me love her, and Mary Jane Watson introduced and portrayed with such vivid va-va-voom that she still remains one of Marvel's top supporting characters today. Not to mention JJJ! here's to you, Mister R, Senior!

366 Days with J. Jonah Jameson, Day 170 and Today in Comics History, June 18, 1974: JJJ rant exiled to bottom cover of front page

from Marvel Treasury Edition #1 [The Spectacular Spider-Man] (Marvel, September 1974); script by Gerry Conway, pencils and inks by Marie Severin
(Click picture to tabloid-size)

Comics Within Comics Month, Day 26: Love is like oxygen an onion

...because no matter how many layers you peel away, there's still more underneath! I shall demonstrate in this entry of Comics Within Comics that is too big for you to handle at noon, so here it is at nighttime when you can savor it fully. (Also, I didn't have it written at noon.)


Panels from "Down with Romance" in Heart Throbs #100 (February-March 1966), pencils by Don Heck
Hotchy motchy! That's a whole lotta DC romances photostatted into that rack in the second panel. Let me see if I can ID 'em all, which may take my mind off the sight of Dr. Don Blake browsing medical magazines at the newsstand.

Same Story, Different Cover: A Star is Osborn

Left: Spectacular Spider-Man v.1 #2 (November 1968), painting by John Romita, Sr.
Right: Amazing Spider-Man Annual #9 (1973), pencils and inks by John Romita, Sr.

(Click picture to pumpkin-bomb-size)

365 Days with Ben Grimm, Day 261

back in 1942, Ben Grimm (in an armored Thing suit) meets "Jazzy" John Romita in a scene from Marvel Two-in-One Annual #1 (1976), script by Roy Thomas, pencils by Sal Buscema, inks by Sam Grainger, colors by Phil Rachelson, letters by John Costanza

(Click picture to living legend size)

Friday Night Fights, Ladies Night: Oh Gwendy, Gwendy left me alone/Hurt so bad

Friday again? That can only mean one thing: Larry and Balki! Oh wait, no...that actually means it's Bahlactus's Friday Night Fights, Ladies Night! And what better time to bring out our ultimate fighter? Some say her hair is made of satin, that her laughter can make the bitterest enemies kiss and make up, and that if you throw her off the Brooklyn Bridge, she'll just bounce back and knee you in the bollocks. All we know is, she's called Gwen Stacy:






All panels tonight (and in yesterday's post, for that matter) are from Amazing Spider-Man #69, written by Stan Lee, storyboarded by John Romita, finished by Jim Mooney, lettered by Sam Rosen

The last time anyone tried to toss Bahlactus off a bridge, he just ate them.

Don't mention his wife!

Context.

Folks to be Thankful For (John Romita Edition)

It is a universal truth that no one draws a crazed-lookin' J. Jonah Jameson quite like John Romita, Sr.




And as if in some act of fate or cosmic balance, it's also a universal truth that no one draws a gorgeous-yet-wholesome Gwen Stacy quite like John Romita, Sr.




For these and thousands of other beautiful moments in comic history, we salute you, John Romita, Sr.!

all panels from Spectacular Spider-Man Magazine #1, July 1968