John Romita Sr.

John Romita Sr. (1930–?) was born in Brooklyn, New York, and graduated from New York’s School of Industrial Art in 1947. In the early 1950s, he worked for Timely and Atlas on comics in a range of genres. From 1958, he spent almost a decade at DC Comics, primarily drawing romance stories. He joined Marvel in 1966, initially drawing Daredevil and later Spider-Man. Working with Stan Lee, Romita helped shape the look of the Spider-Man comics and contributed to the introduction of characters including Mary Jane Watson, Kingpin, Rhino, and Shocker. From 1973 to 1996, he served as Marvel’s art director, overseeing cover quality and mentoring artists, among other duties. His son, John Romita Jr., also became a comic-book artist.