Comic book artist John Romita Sr dies
Celebrated comic book artist John Romita Sr has died.
Romita - who served as an art director at Marvel for two decades and is credited with co-creating the characters of X-Men's Wolverine and Spider-Man's Mary Jane Watson - died in his sleep and his passing has been attributed to natural causes. The loss was confirmed by Romita's son John Romita Jr in a statement posted on Twitter.com which read: “I say this with a heavy heart. My father passed away peacefully in his sleep. He is a legend in the art world and it would be my honor to follow in his footsteps. Please keep your thoughts and condolences here out of respect for my family.
He was the greatest man I ever met."
Romita was born in Brooklyn, New York City and entered the world of comics at the age of 19 after graduating from Manhattan’s School of Industrial Art when he started contributing to the Famous Funnies series.
He went on to land a role working as a ghost artist for Timely Comics which would later become Marvel before heading off for a stint in the U.S. Army. When he returned, Romita began working for both Marvel and D.C. Comics and started working on Marvel's 'The Amazing Spider-Man' in 1966, later working with Marvel legend Stan Lee and bringing to life Peter Parker’s love interest Mary Jane Watson.
His other co-creations include Spider-Man villains Kingpin and the Rhino.
He became Marvel's art director in 1973 and spent more than 20 years in the job, overseeing the introduction of X-Men character Wolverine as well as The Punisher and Luke Cage.
Romita retired from the job in 1996 but kept his hand in the comic book business working on occasional projects for Marvel over the years.
He is survived by his wife, Virginia, and his sons John Jr and Victor.
