You knew it was bound to happen. But it’s still awful.

R. I. P. Jazzy Johnny Romita. One of the greats. He and Stan’s run on Amazing was running in Marvel Tales when I first started buying comics. I had no idea at the time they weren’t new. I just knew I loved them.

He was also one of the greatest romance artists of all time. That definitely translated to his Spider-man work. Gwen and Mary Jane never looked better.

Well, damn. Like Slam said, you kind of knew it this would happen sooner rather than later, but it's still a bit of a shock.
He was truly one of the giants, and a personal favorite. RIP, big guy.

Aww...that's such a shame. "Jazzy" John is an artist whose work I encountered a lot in my childhood via black & white, '70s UK reprints of his 60s Spider-Man stuff. He is one of my top 3 all-time favourite comic book artists and, depending on the day you asked me, he could be my number 1 all-time favourite! Such a great, great artist and to call him a "legend" or "giant" of the comic book industry is a massive understatement.

His work on Amazing Spider-Man with Stan Lee is his key work for me. That he was able to take the already brilliant template for Spider-Man laid down by Steve Ditko and take it to even greater heights, setting the standard for how Spider-Man should look well into the '80s, is no mean feat. His Spider-Man was the definitive one (ditto many of Marvel's other heroes) and his background in romance comics meant that his Mary Jane Watson and Gwen Stacy were absolutely stunning babes.

I would have loved to have met him and been able to tell him how much his art meant to me, but now I never will. RIP John Romita and thanks for all those great, great comics.

I realized he was not in the best of health, so what can one say? There will never, ever be enough words to express my deep appreciation for the artist and the man. John Romita was a very astute, kind soul with an incalculable level of talent in several disciplines. He was a fine artist who happened to create comic books (as one of his many biographies illustrated), and changed the industry in ways few can match. Through the endless corporate and ego dramas at the "big two" companies he graced with his talent, it is important to note that he did not allow himself to be dragged through those mud pits, instead channeling his energy in making ideas more appealing to a larger number of people, not with gimmicks, self-aggrandizing specials or jumping on frivolous trends, but by bring a kind of earthy, dynamic realism to comic books that's still rare today.

John Romita was one of the very few artists in the history of Marvel who could not only illustrate every character, but transform them into (simultaneously) beautifully energetic, serious figures taking full advantage of the fantasy concept, yet one could easily imagine his characters living in the real world. Again, that is a rare talent in and out of comic book illustration.

I'm sure many will talk about his frankly industry-changing impact as artists and writer on The Amazing Spider-Man, and the endless number of characters he designed and/or created at Marvel, or perhaps they might point out that more than a half-century after he first took on TASM title, it is his masterful reinvention of the character (with Stan Lee, making him the most relatable superhero in history) that became the still-used, still-potent face of the character, as much a creative and corporate symbol as the Superman "S" emblem. You cannot span a decade since the 60s and fail to see Romita's impact for Marvel as a publisher and well-licensed IP.

Just a small sample of John Romita's masterful work:









Again, I knew he was not in the best of health, and expected this terrible news, but i'm still crushed.

This one hurts a lot. Like Slam mention, we knew its going to come eventually but not now. Not when we need our legends to continue.
I met Jazzy John a few times; the first being SDCC in 1995. He was sitting with at table holding court in front of fans. Telling stories, giving out free art advice and signed whatever was in front of him. I approached him and his smile was infectious. "How are you? Enjoying the show?" he says to me. I reply back this was my first SDCC and was excited to meet him. Sadly I didn't prepare in bringing any books to him, but found a ASM 62 with Medusa on the cover. He signed it and I peppered him with questions. He smile and answered them all. He put out his hand to shake; with a strong grip he shook my hand and I left

Throughout the years, working with the Hero Initiative, whenever he came into LA or San Diego, it was priority to say hello to him. He was a giant in a field of giants. He will, to me, be the definitive Spider-Man artist. His impact his huge and his legacy will go on.

The greatest.

Roy Thomas posted a nice message:

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John Romita was one of the finest, nicest, and most talented guys in the history of the comicbook field, and I was proud to call him both colleague and friend for so many years. What he always called me was "kid," but I doubt it I was unique in having that appellation.
I first became aware of John Romita in the 1950s, when he drew a number of comics of which I purchased issues, including THE WESTERN KID, about a cowboy hero and a horse and a dog. But his magnum opus at that time, even though he never realized it, was his work on Captain America in 1953-54 in CAPTAIN AMERICA, YOUNG MEN, and MEN'S ADVENTURES. His work on that character in that era--a perfect blending of the styles of action king Jack Kirby and adventure master Milt Caniff (of TERRY AND THE PIRATES)--I consider his most essential work, bar none.
Still, I had relegated him to the past (knowing vaguely he had been drawing romance comics since Timely/Marvel had drastically downsized around 1957) when one day in 1965, just two weeks after I had started working at Marvel, production manager Sol Brodsky told me he wanted to introduce me to someone. I looked up and he told me this was John Romita, who had worked there before and was coming back. I blurted out that I had been a fan of his work ever since his CAPTAIN AMERICA, then already more than a decade in the past. John told me later he just about fainted... he'd never before met anybody who mentioned that "old" work and he couldn't believe anyone remembered it. I told him I not only remember it, but I had every one of those nine or so issues in my personal collection.
John immediately became a trouble-shooter as well as all-around artist for Marvel, despite the fact that he had let Stan Lee talking him into turning down a plush advertising job to come back to Marvel... and had gotten a promise from Stan that he wouldn't have to pencil, only ink. Of course, before long he was penciling DAREDEVIL, which he and Stan together quickly turned from the good seller it had been under Wally Wood to the highest-selling percentage sales (albeit with a smaller print run of course) in the whole company. When Stan soon afterward guest-starred Spider-Man in two issues of DAREDEVIL, he sensed he was being held in readiness in case Steve Ditko ever left the Wall-Crawler's title, but he was chagrined when, only a couple of months later, it actually happened and he had to give up DD for AMAZING SPIDER-MAN. He gradually transitioned, mostly against his will, from imitating Ditko to doing his own version of Spidey... and within half a year, AMAZING SPIDER-MAN went from being the #2 bestselling Marvel comic to #1, both in percentages and real numbers. John had the golden touch for many years at Marvel... even his handful of FANTASTIC FOUR issues right after Kirby left outsold the last few Stan and Jack had done together, although FF was something John REALLY didn't want to do.
Used as a kind of unofficial art director for years before he finally got the title he deserved, he designed or helped design so many great characters, most notably Wolverine, Punisher (the wonderful skull that Marvel is now "retiring"), and so many others. Whether he penciled, or inked (as per Gil Kane on SPIDER-MAN), or both, he was right up there just behind Kirby and Ditko as the most important artists in the history of Marvel.
As a human being, too, John was wonderful... always willing to help out a young artist with some hints about how to improve his work. Romita's Raiders came after my time, but that, too, gave many young artists much-needed experience.
John Romita was one of the all-time greats. I won't say "he will be missed" because I've already been missing him, the past couple of years or so, as he removed himself increasingly from contact with those of us who knew and loved him, because he felt his health and other faculties were failing. I was proud at least that John Romita and I, perhaps the only two original pros who's been on the disbursement board of Hero Initiative since it began under another name circa 2000, were still around helping to aid other pros in trouble.
You've done your bit, John. On the drawing board... in the office... in a thousand creative consultations whether about Luke Cage or Spider-Man or whatever.
Rest in peace. You've earned it.
Best wishes,
Roy

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With the message was this excerpt from MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE ANNUAL #1 (1976) written by Roy Thomas, art by Sal Buscema.