I have to call you on the Kirby "Jalopy" shot though. That FF issue was on a skrull world that had a 1920s gangland culture. That flying fliver was right on the money.
Love JRJR, I will say that he draws the weirdest kids tho. Big adult heads on little bodies. I can see how people think his art quality has dipped in recent years but he is getting old so it's bound to happen. I especially loved his art on the Kick-Ass series. His recent work in asm is still good in my opinion although I think it could benefit with a good inker.
@Dcam Aag I agree with everything you said except the part about a good inker. Scott Hanna is a great inker and worked with JRJR on his original ASM run with JMS in the early 2000s, (Which I believe was when his art was the best). In fact I met him at a con, really nice guy. But other than that you're spot on, in my personal opinion :)
While JR, Jr's art has declined some in recent years as we have seen, I would not say that decline is inevitable - some artists do not decline as much ( like Art Adams or Neil Adams ).
You can see how much JRJR's art evolved in less than 10 years, just between his original run on Iron Man and his second run in the "Armor Wars II" storyline. I always wondered if he took some inspiration for the evolution of his own art style from Frank Miller's own style.
He has always adapted his style to the times. He started out clearly trying to imitate the flawless craftsmanship of his father and John Buscema, but then took influences from Frank Miller, and later Jim Lee, and then in the post-Madureira "everything must be ridiculously cartoony" era he even started bringing that in. The video touches on how he keeps the styles and depictions of the world in his work contemporary in ways a lot of guys never managed (it mentioned Kirby, but Buscema, Perez, Byrne and many others struggled with it), but it doesn't really touch on how his art style itself has always kept up with the times while still always being recognizably his.
I think if you look at Miller's artwork in Sin City and compare it to Romita Jr's work in the late 80s through mid 90s (especially on titles like Daredevil), you can see Miller's influence pretty clearly.
John Romita Jr is such a formative artist to me. I don't think I would've fallen in love with Spider-Man as a character if it wasn't for his run in the early 2000s
@@BruceWayne-ri4wr I disagree. I still like his work on all star batman and his more recent work on Spider-Man as well. I don't think he was a great fit for superman but otherwise I still like him. I just think he's an acquired taste so I get why people aren't always fond of him
@@BruceWayne-ri4wr I pretty much place him in the same category as Ed McGuinness. All depends on which characters he is drawing. It's kind of weird honestly lol. Some characters he can do well, and others...not so much.
Kick-Ass & his work on All Star Batman with Scott Snyder are the comics that got me into comics. I ADORE his art. Especially when he's put in a dark,gritty,street level titles. Also,his style is very blocky. And I happen to like that. He's also a damn good storyteller.
People seem to forget how important storytelling is in art. Romita Jr can tell a story super efficiently with clean, charismatic art. That is not an easy task
Chris , I just want to say that episode for episode and pound for pound your channel delivers , IMO, the most well thought out and researched content of any TH-cam channel dedicated to comics . While I'm not always familiar with the source material I always come away feeling enlightened due to the sheer amount of effort you put into each episode. Whe I'm not a real JR. JR fan, I do admire his storytelling abilities. I think he is best suited to characters like the Punisher or an original character like Kick Ass . I listened to an interview he once did , in which he seemed quite humble about his abilities, which softened me to the man himself . Sorry for running on so, just enjoy your channel so much that I thought you should know. Keep up the good work and thank you.
Honestly, I liked his art to a degree way back in the day, but I've disliked his work with a passion pretty much going forward from the 80s. Just don't like those blocky shapes, exaggerated elements (for some reason the way he draws lips and mouths, especially on women really irks me) that emerged in the 90s. Like at 7:04...to me that basically sums up the style over most of his run, and I don't like it. I understand he does convey a lot of action, movement, etc., but I don't like the specific elements.
I remember there being a comic cover from that era and it had bishop holding a gun that I thought was Herbie from the fantastic four because it was so exaggerated. Man without fear is definitely his magnum opus
I definitely put JRJR in the top 3 Punisher artists of all time. His work on the original Punisher: War Zone is fantastic. He draws Frank as this rectangular wall of muscle with a permanent scowl. Also beefcake. So much hairy chested, broad shouldered beefcake on display which is great too, female gaze definitely wasn't too common at the time or even now really.
@@mariio5090 Yea a lot of early Punisher stuff suffers from being kind of generic with the art and writing. It's the Chuck Dixon/John Romita JR Punisher: War Zone and Carl Potts/Jim Lee Punisher: War Journal stuff that's really outstanding
I watched this start-to-end, but I still find JRJR's art disagreeable. In my opinion, his art works for Kick-ass since it's fresh, but I can't get over over my dislike of his style after his work on Avengers vs. X-Men, Avengers Vol 4, and his recent foray into DC Comics, as you mentioned in this video. AvX was egregiously unsightly to me when I wanted to like that event so, so much, personally, and his DC work does not depict characters, such as Superman, in their appropriate size, stature, and emotions. Those are the instances & takes that I immediately recall, but I'll still roll my eyes when I'm going through an event reading order and spot his work on a cover, such as 2022's Judgment Day Marvel event. His "deadline style" means he'll always have a job and I'll still read comics he works on when I need to for reading orders, but I am not a fan nor appreciator.
Had the opportunity to meet JRJR at Phoenix Fan Fusion. Was able to tell him how much I appreciated his art and how I’d always remembered him being my favorite comic artist interview on the Spider-Man 1 DVD. How him talking about Spider-Man inspired me to grab my first comic, Ultimate Spider-Man. (Which I asked him to sign the first issue of). He told me that my words meant the world to him. One of the sweetest guys I’ve ever had the pleasure to meet and an amazing artist.
I like when someone else gives due credit to inkers: not to take anything away from JRJR, but his Al Williamson inked stuff achieved something unique for both of their careers. A while back you already noticed that Williams is half of Jim Lee’s career. Inkers matter, a lot.
No one achieves anything in life completely on their own. His name absolutely 100% got his foot in the door, but his talent and his professionalism gave him his career. In an era when a lot of "top" pencillers were struggling to turn in two issues a year, he was turning in two issues a month that were as good or better.
I started comics with JRJrs first X-Men run, and then followed him to Daredevil (with gorgeous Williamson inks!). I think his evolution to his blocky style laid the groundwork for me to fall in love with Kirby's Fourth World Era art, which struck me as extremely ugly until my late 30s/ early 40s. Now I "get" it.
I always thought my problem with JRJr. is that I don't like how he draws necks. His paneling is great tho and makes it reading fun. It's also what I do appreciate about Frank Miller's art (even when it really doesn't look appealing like in Dark Knight Strikes again) that the paneling always looks appealing. What I think is weird that his "classic" artwork looks more appealing to me, despite me seeing how his page layout improved a lot. I think it's the blockyness, which often doesn't do it for me, and inking (in certain comics)
I get some of the criticism but I love his art. I have stayed away from books because of Liefeld's art and had to endure Larsen's art because I collected Spiderman. Talk about cartoony then there Humberto Ramos.
Romita Sr. Is my favorite version of Spider-Man. When I imagine Spider-Man, my minds eye pictures Romita’s Sr’s version. I’ve never been a fan Romita Jr. I just don’t get the appeal.
As much as this is an interesting overall review of JRJR's art and career, bringing up the various inkers who worked with him informs just as much if not more about his pencil work.
That's how comics were made in the old days, penciller doesn't need to fine tune every little detail, otherwise why even bother having an inker? The inker work was always to embellish and provide volume and contrast, if they are there for tracing the lineart then you don't really need them , specially with the technology improvement of being able to capture the pencils without even need for inked lines
@@Shinmsl yeah but this video is about the artist. I don't remember any videos taking time to focus on different inkers the artist has worked with to such an extant.
Came here to say the exact same thing. Storm debuted her punk look in UNCANNY X-MEN #173 which was drawn by Paul Smith; JRJ began his run on the book halfway through #175. (Smith in 2008: "I did a number of portraits, all quite lovely and feminine. As a joke, I included a shot of her as Mr. T. You know, the kind of shot where they HAVE to go the other way. Weezie [X-Men editor Louise Simonson]'s response? 'They’re going to hang us whichever way we go. Let's commit the murder.' I argued it was a joke and a monstrously bad idea but, given my departure following 175 was set prior to beginning my run, my vote didn’t count. So I did what I could with what I had left... So we went with the Mohawk ...But once you get into the whole leather and stud thing it was a bad joke that got way out of hand.")
Love Romita Jr. art.. its an adquired taste, his style would be great for a animated series.. there is a certain logic on his style that makes it recognizable..
That's because of his fundamentals. The guy understands on a deep level how to render three dimensional figures in two dimensions, which 99% of comics artists never fully grasp.
I love John JR, specially his Spider-man and mostly his HULK run with bruce Jones. his style looks great on a bulky character like the hulk. With Superman beeing my favorite, his work really didn't meshed with me on Superman, seeing i feel that he needs to look a very sertain way, where people can experiment with someone like the hulk, make him look brutal and gnarly etc, felt his style worked on spider-man as well..
I’ve always loved Romita. His run on Spider-Man with strazyiski is awesome. His punisher war zone was huge and scary, with big sausage fingers firing 10mm guns. He was always a guy with a lot of guns but that was the first time I thought “This guy is a gorilla who will tear you to pieces with his bare hands”. Externals. Superman. Daredevil. Hulk. I got em all. If John is doing the artwork I’m buying it, same with Alex Ross.
John Romita is one of the greatest legacy artists left in the business, I see a lot of people shitting on his art style these days and it pisses me off to no end, very few people has his storytelling skills
I won't deny that he can frame a panel and a story really well and draw some really dynamic stuff. But I hate the way he actually draws things I've hated it for pretty much my entire life. His eye is exceptional for literally every aspect of drawing except drawing something that looks good. I'll give an example: a few years ago I was reading some DC comic he was doing at the time. Think it was justice league related. In every single panel Superman was in he drew like a ring of individual hatch marks/lines around the outside of the face. Going in slightly towards the center of the face from the edge. They served absolutely no purpose except to add unnecessary and distracting lines to the face. They weren't indicating any kind of shading, they weren't representing contours of the face in any way (they were all pointing inwards regardless of location and with zero regard for the actual contours of the face). The lines were not only unnecessary, they actively made the art look worse for absolutely no reason. They didn't add anything visually, they were flat, they were distracting. It was an artistic choice that has utterly baffled me ever since. He's always had unnecessary and distracting lines in his work but this book was the worst I'd ever seen his art. It was like he just didn't give a shit what he was putting on the page anymore. This isn't just me hating on messier art styles though by the way. I love those when they're well done. But his doesn't even feel like that. It feels more like a guy trying to draw loosely but then somehow still being unbelievably stiff and rigid if that makes sense. And good lord he needs to ease up on fabric folds.
One can respect the man a lot, but something we can't deny is that at some point, he just decided to start drawing HORRIBLE faces. His latest Spider-man run with Wells, oh my god they don't even look human.
While I did really enjoy JRJR's early 90's X-Men run (little touches, such as his distinct 'pointy' claws for Wolverine). I was definitely one of those won over by Joe Madureira. The late 80's to 90's was such a great era for X-Men artists.
@@jawbone78 The opposite for me. There are some characters that JRJR’s blocky style really doesn’t work with IE Storm. Meanwhile Joe Mad is still one of the best artists X-Men has ever had.
@@scinnyc His art was a massive inspiration to me growing up. I'd easily put him up alongside the greats of comics: The Kuberts, John Byrne, George Perez etc I wish he still drew more frequently.
I haven't read a ton of Bachalo's work,but from what I've seen,his design is great,like on Steampunk,but he reuses the same headshots over and over and over again,to the point of distraction for me.
Chris Bachalo and Humberto Ramos are two of the most recognisable modern Marvel artists because their style is so distinct. Would love to see Chris' take on them, as they seem to be just as divisive as modern JRJR.
Great video as usual, Chris! Romita Jr is one of my favourite comic book artists of all time, and I think that sometimes readers might overlook the superb storytelling because of the more angular style. I think another great book of his was his 6 issue run on Black Panther back in 2006
When I was younger and drawn (pun intended) more towards the "hip" style of Joe Mad and the Image guys, I didn't like JRJR's art all that much. As I grew older, though, I began to appreciate his style more and more. I see JRJR the same way I see PAD among writers: They have a a very, VERY good grasp of the fundamentals of their respective crafts. They allow for stylistics every now and then, but nothing that's too flashy that would, in the long run, serve to outdate them severely. Mostly, they lean more towards the basics--and bring them up to 11.
I was enthralled with Joe Mad when he broke onto the scene in the mid-90s. I was fully convinced at that time that he was a GOAT just a year into his career. I look back on those X-Men issues now (I still come back to Age of Apocalypse every couple of years, mostly out of nostalgia), and his art makes me cringe. JRJR was great then, and great now. His work holds up.
I have never and will never understand the people who don't like JRJR. To me he's easily, by far and away the best artist of the 90s. In an era of "rock star" artists, he was literally the only one with any fundamentals. He's the only worthy successor to the three all-time greats: Kirby, Romita Sr, and Buscema.
JR Jr has been my personal fav artist since the 90's. Love his work! And not just because of the style, but because he is one of the best visual storytellers of all time!
I always thought it strange when people describe jrjr as too blocky when kirby is king . I do think his man without fear was his peak with its heavy frank miller inspired chunky blocky lines. I feel the same about miller he had a peak that was great after developing his style a little bit from the house style but continued to devolve into a simpler style . Romita jr is great
I'll be totally honest,I never liked Romita,nor Kirby's artwork. I know it's pretty sacrilegious to say anything bad about Kirby,but I've never been a fan. I started collecting and reading comics in the early 80s as a kid,and John Byrne was my favorite back then,but then as a teen Jim Lee became my favorite.
It's interesting when you bring up Kirby being blocky as that's precisely when I stopped liking Kirby's art. His stuff from the 60s is top tier and clearly shows why he's "the king", but his later stuff just doesn't look good to be.
@Grant Baugh To be honest I dont have a ton of mileage with Kirbys art I guess. More of just the stan lee marvel drama unfortunately. Only actual books II own with Kirby art is a superman Jimmy Olsen with weird collage style backgrounds and an issue of Mister Miracle but I love 'em.
I think the difference is Kirby was pretty innovative back in the day, but I don't want to see Kirby's art style in 1995, 2010, or 2022, so I don't care for John Romita, Jr.'s work.
I feel like people tend to exaggerate JRJR's individual drawing and say thats bad but somehow downplaying his biggest strength of readability....his comic reads so well! I read Neil Gaiman/JRJR Eternals run and even though Neil's dialogue and such was kind of clunky imo JRJR's storytelling and transitions b/w panels were so great....I never had to go back and double check anything because I could understand the story pretty ok. imo the comic doens't really need individual beautiful panels....as long as it reads good and has good stories that's what's most important.
Jr Jr's work on Uncanny Xmen from 175-311 is phenomenal. Uncanny Xmen #207's cover, is to me at least, THE most iconic Wolverine art EVER. Juniors art simply gets the job done in the best way sequential art should be; precise, easy to read and flowing in its storytelling. One of my major influences for sure
JRJR is my all time favorite Spiderman artist I especially love his ASM run with Roger Stern. One more inker who really enhanced his work is Frank Giacoia.
JRJr is one of my favorite artist. His artwork is distinct and unique to him. Like one glance i can already tell it's his artwork. Maybe some of his other artwork are a bit meh, overall I still think that it is unique.
You can't say Romita Jr didn't get his foot in the door because of his dad. I much prefer his early art, really don't like Jr's modern art. Hated when he was drawing Superman with Bendis.
While not a fan of JRJR art on Spiderman or Superman, I like his work on Thor and even Heart of Darkness! Also, I respect his hard work and dealing with the nepotism involved with his career.
I thought he was great when he was doing "house style" under Layton's Iron Man inks. I remember being disappointed with Layton's fill in pencils (#139) and happy when JRJR returned. But yeah; his DD work took some getting used to (as did Kirby's weirdness, as you mentioned). Love them both now. Thanks for deconstructing his work -- I always wondered how he came in on his dad's coattails (and with a similar style in the beginning). Great vid!
JRJR is a personal favorite. Granted, He’s a tent pole on my favorite character in Spidey but that’s inconsequential- no matter Who He’s drawing, it looks Phenomenal. He can do action AND emotional scenes incredibly well. He’s truly one The All Time Greats.
JR Jr. Was one of my favourite artists growing up, back then I would be certain to learn the name of the artist if a comic would make an impression on me. And I distinctly remember that Daredevil comic, it was dark and moody, it wasn't exactly "pretty" but it was indeed powerful art and great storytelling. I was a huge of his run on Spider-Man on the 90s and I even remember I had an issue of X-Men that I didn't even know it was his art but you showed snippets of the art in this video so I know now it was his too( and I wasn't big on the X-Men back then but I did love the art on that book). You make a great point of saying that his work is most effective when paired with the right inker, but the same could be said with the colourist, whose work is really important specially since the 2000s to define the look of a comic. I think his cartoony style works better with simpler, mostly flatter colors, overrendering doesn't do him any favours. He is one of my all time favourites not only in doing action but also subtle character moments like those two Rogue panels you featured in this video, he can do excellent subtle emotional "performances" that make each character feel human. He's one of the best ever Spiderman artist without a shadow of a doubt, and something I think it contributes to that is he's one of the few who has been able to get that "creepy crawler" aesthetic that Steve Ditko gave him, something very distinct from any other superhero, that makes Spider-Man a bit of a scary, lonley figure in the night. The cover of that book about the Romitas is a perfect example, is probably one of the best artwork of Spider-Man ever made for me, it encapsulates the mistery and eerieness that I think he's one of the few living comicartist can create.
I loved his first run in Spider-Man and X-Men. His style started to change with DareDevil - which I still liked - then solidified into what it is today which can be a bit of hit and miss. I don't dislike his recent style but I do prefer his earlier work a lot more.
Man. All this time, I've been (sometimes) hating his art and it was the inker's fault! I like JRJ's work much of the time. I just hate when I'm reading a big storyline with a realistic style of art and suddenly it switches to his "more cartoony" style. It's just too much of a contrast.
Just like you appreciate Romita's depiction of rain, I love Kirby's scenes featuring bodies of water. An ocean panel by the artist will make you FEEL the pitch and swell of the waves. His tenure at DC included many two page spreads (in Kamandi and New Gods) of roiling seas that are among the most kinetic art (of any genre) that I've ever seen.
I was waiting for the "deadline style" thing. Anyone who's worked in this understands it. Anyway, on of my fav artists. Inking him can be a callange, but in a good way. Kep up the great work!
You should review (Megadeth's) Cryptic Writings from Chaos Comics... Dave Mustaine's #1 issue was great. Probably still cover priced. I remember reading it and feeling like I was reading a music video, which I'm sure doesn't make any sense...
I like Rominta Jr's style. Reminisent to the artists that I grew up with: John and Sal Buscema, Ross Andru (wondered if you covered his Spider-Man run in the 70s?) Great synopsis as per usual. UK fan.👌
Grew up with the Andru/Esposito Spidey, but we can't forget about Gil Kane and his incredible Spidey work especially with John Sr inking. Gil had his style and tropes, but they were sharp and dynamic.
Yes. This will be good. I liked him up to JMS spider-man run; since then I haven't liked his art. 80s-90s marvel was his prime. I've never liked his DC work.
Has anyone checked berserk? That late art, that was digital,the faces of some characters reminds me of John Romita jr. Has anyone noticed some similarities?
Sorry, I can't stand the way he draws faces, especially the characters' noses all look the same, in a bad way. Mary Jane Watson's face, shown briefly in the video, is a disaster.
As someone who has despised Romita Jr.'s art for a while, this gave me a bit of perspective. I still think his character work is extremely ugly, but I get now that he isn't a talentless hack. I now have some respect for him as a hard worker, despite really hating his style.
One of the best of all time. His blocky draftsmanship ,his meticulous line work has made him one of the most unique ones artists that have ever graced mainstream consciousness👍😛😃
I don't care for the deadline style of art. And, I would argue that Jack Kirby was also a deadline style artist and his particular style helped perpetuate that. It's obvious John Jr got a lot help early in his career. He was young and hadn't settled on a style, yet. But, I think he got more breaks than another artist starting out would have gotten.
It's dumbfounding to me how the never did a cartoon based on his art style and designs, it would be amazing for Spider-Man or Daredevil. I think it would be amazing if the did a Spider-Man show where he's actually an adult (like since he has been most of his career) instead of always taking him back to high school every single time. I think using JRJR style would do wonders for it.
As someone who hates JRjr's blocky faces and sometimes has trouble getting through some story arcs because of it this video gave me other things to focus on and maybe now I can be more forgiving about the faces.
John Romita Jr . gave his style of how Spidey look for that time but like Todd McFarlane said,” that any artist could have updated Spider-Man physique and appearances , so that did make me a genius”? No! It didn’t, because any artist could have done it''. I agree with Todd on how it up to the artist imagination on how a character should look.
I mean, one thing is for sure, any artist could have done what Todd did, and most would do it better. I'm talking about his work as a comics artist - he's one of the most overrated artists of all time, absolute Liefeld-level lack of fundamentals. As a businessman, he's obviously great.
My first look at JR.JR was in a popular fanzine in the early 1970s. He was a boy, under the age of ten as I recall. And I don't remember what the image was but it was a face of Beetle Bailey or Popeye or Donald Duck (or something like that). It was either in pencil or magic marker and very nice for a little boy. There is no question that he would have never gotten it published if not for his name. I didn't expect to see him years later as a very good comic book artist.
I hadn't been a fan of Romita's work on that Nocenti run. I think it was the inking that turned me off with all the thin lines. I was a big fan of the Kick Ass series and have reappraised his work more positivity since then.
I don't understand how people excuse his career by pointing out a handful of series in the previous millennium where they say his artwork "fits" with the story being told and then excuse every other series, treating his atrocious art as just a mild inconvenience, as if that's a liberty handed out to any other artist in the industry. For example, Greg Smallwood's grainy artstyle fits perfectly with dark or fantastical stories, yet his work on Archie Comics still looks good despite it not fitting the story... because good artwork IS good artwork!
Loved this episode! Jrjr is my favorite artist! I remember distinctively copying his drawings when I was a child/teenager. He was the fist artist that I recognized the style and hoped I would see more of on the next issue!
I'm actually currently reading JRJR's initial X-Men run and I definitely notice the difference inkers make on his work; there's two issues his father inked and they just look so much more old fashioned and generally not as good as the rest of the run.
Romita Jr is a complicated artist for me. I admit I did not enjoy his work on the X-Men (there are exceptions), but I think he was absolutely *perfect* for Daredevil Man without Fear! I can still internally visualise so many of his images from those comics. But as you say - the final product is very dependent on the Inker adapting his work. As for nepotism, sure it doesn't hurt having an early introduction but it is clear he had to do the work and prove himself. It's what you do with the opportunities offered to you that makes the difference.
JRJR has gotten a bad rap in recent years, though it's not entirely unwarranted. His work on characters like Superman leave a lot to be desired, but I feel that was just more because his style simply didn't work on that book. Compare it to his work on Captain America or even the current Spider-Man series and it's a lot better, Captain America especially used his style to much greater effect.
Loved this episode! His X-Men run was what got me to fall in love with comics (and Rogue) back in the day, so be one of my favorites. Also, short-hair, more-than-a-little psychotic Rogue = best Rogue, so there's that, too!
JRJR’s first runs on Amazing Spider-man, Uncanny X-Men, Daredevil (including Man without Fear limited series) and Punisher Warzone were legendary! After that..? Not so much.
JR JR is not my cup of tea honestly, I never liked how stiff his characters look when they're flying, and his animals are horrible sometimes, I remember seing his Lockjaw in Avengers and It looked like a lump of folds. That being said, I've liked some of his art, like his work on Daredevil or in All Star Batman.
I’m 47 and I didn’t used to like his art, my comic heroes were Jim Lee, Todd Mcfarlane, Michael Turner to name a few. His art to me just looked ugly, but being older now and seeing lots of art over the years, I really appreciate his art, it has a lot of energy in the action / fight scenes. The modern coloring (mid 90s - now) really bring out his style too.
Romita JR is on my top 5 favorite Spider-Man artists list. His work can sometime look odd? But I can never say I hate his work as I love his blocky art style.
The way Jim Shooter tells it JRJR left his first run on X-Men to do the art for Starbrand because Shooter was such a swell guy. JRJR said Shooter offered him more money and promised that the character was going to be the "Superman" of the New Universe. I tend to believe the latter!
JR JR is very polarizing. I feel due to the level of detail we expect now a days from mainstream popular artist like Pepe Larraz, etc., who uses digital tools, JR JR does not measure up. And his artwork does not have the charm of Kirby, who is blocky, but there is a psychedelic charm and detail to his Kirby machines, etc. is lacking in JR JR. To me, JR JR conveys the story well, but you don't want to dwell on his lines and admire them like you would Kirby, Steranko, the Adamses, McFarlane, Jim Lee, Adam Hughes, et al.
His art from the last 10+ years suck A. His cover art (which is supposed to make you want to buy a comic) is ugly and just terrible. I liked his DD work very much. Early DD work. I am absolutely sad that he is the current Spidey artist and is somehow able to keep getting work on triple A books..... or any book!!!!!!!
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I mistakenly showed Paul Smith’s Storm and credited JR JR with inventing that outfit. He drew jt a lot but that’s a mistake.
I was wondering, I'm glad you caught it. Any chance of you doing a look at Paul Smith? To me, he's one of the most underrated artists in the industry
Please also make one about Travis Charest and or those creators artists popular back then ages ago kinda like :"Where are they now?"
I just came here to correct you 😁
I have to call you on the Kirby "Jalopy" shot though. That FF issue was on a skrull world that had a 1920s gangland culture. That flying fliver was right on the money.
That'll be thirty lashes for you, Chris.
(Just kidding.)
Love JRJR, I will say that he draws the weirdest kids tho. Big adult heads on little bodies. I can see how people think his art quality has dipped in recent years but he is getting old so it's bound to happen. I especially loved his art on the Kick-Ass series. His recent work in asm is still good in my opinion although I think it could benefit with a good inker.
Agreed!
@Dcam Aag I agree with everything you said except the part about a good inker. Scott Hanna is a great inker and worked with JRJR on his original ASM run with JMS in the early 2000s, (Which I believe was when his art was the best). In fact I met him at a con, really nice guy. But other than that you're spot on, in my personal opinion :)
His art has been terrible since 93 when he was back on Uncanny. It’s weird bc his earlier run was SO MUCH better than just 5-10 years later.
While JR, Jr's art has declined some in recent years as we have seen, I would not say that decline is inevitable - some artists do not decline as much ( like Art Adams or Neil Adams ).
His art quality hasn't dipped though.Its his art style that has changed.
Loved his art on Nocenti's Daredevil run. Seemed like the right balance between Marvel's house style and his later, blocky potato-people.
Potato people wtf 😂
I agree wholeheartedly
This is his best work alone with x-men
Yea it's before he went full blocky.
Never go full blocky. lol
You can see how much JRJR's art evolved in less than 10 years, just between his original run on Iron Man and his second run in the "Armor Wars II" storyline. I always wondered if he took some inspiration for the evolution of his own art style from Frank Miller's own style.
He has always adapted his style to the times. He started out clearly trying to imitate the flawless craftsmanship of his father and John Buscema, but then took influences from Frank Miller, and later Jim Lee, and then in the post-Madureira "everything must be ridiculously cartoony" era he even started bringing that in.
The video touches on how he keeps the styles and depictions of the world in his work contemporary in ways a lot of guys never managed (it mentioned Kirby, but Buscema, Perez, Byrne and many others struggled with it), but it doesn't really touch on how his art style itself has always kept up with the times while still always being recognizably his.
I think if you look at Miller's artwork in Sin City and compare it to Romita Jr's work in the late 80s through mid 90s (especially on titles like Daredevil), you can see Miller's influence pretty clearly.
John Romita Jr is such a formative artist to me. I don't think I would've fallen in love with Spider-Man as a character if it wasn't for his run in the early 2000s
Completely agree!
Same here, most of the issues I read in my teens was drawn by him
@@BruceWayne-ri4wr I disagree. I still like his work on all star batman and his more recent work on Spider-Man as well. I don't think he was a great fit for superman but otherwise I still like him. I just think he's an acquired taste so I get why people aren't always fond of him
It’s the same for me, though I was partial to his 90s work on Spider-Man.
@@BruceWayne-ri4wr I pretty much place him in the same category as Ed McGuinness. All depends on which characters he is drawing. It's kind of weird honestly lol. Some characters he can do well, and others...not so much.
Kick-Ass & his work on All Star Batman with Scott Snyder are the comics that got me into comics. I ADORE his art. Especially when he's put in a dark,gritty,street level titles. Also,his style is very blocky. And I happen to like that. He's also a damn good storyteller.
People seem to forget how important storytelling is in art. Romita Jr can tell a story super efficiently with clean, charismatic art. That is not an easy task
Chris , I just want to say that episode for episode and pound for pound your channel delivers , IMO, the most well thought out and researched content of any TH-cam channel dedicated to comics .
While I'm not always familiar with the source material I always come away feeling enlightened due to the sheer amount of effort you put into each episode.
Whe I'm not a real JR. JR fan, I do admire his storytelling abilities. I think he is best suited to characters like the Punisher or an original character like Kick Ass .
I listened to an interview he once did , in which he seemed quite humble about his abilities, which softened me to the man himself .
Sorry for running on so, just enjoy your channel so much that I thought you should know.
Keep up the good work and thank you.
I totally agree. I know that any video I watch of his will be a fun one and that I’ll enjoy it. Always new and interesting trivia to learn.😊
Honestly, I liked his art to a degree way back in the day, but I've disliked his work with a passion pretty much going forward from the 80s. Just don't like those blocky shapes, exaggerated elements (for some reason the way he draws lips and mouths, especially on women really irks me) that emerged in the 90s. Like at 7:04...to me that basically sums up the style over most of his run, and I don't like it. I understand he does convey a lot of action, movement, etc., but I don't like the specific elements.
I remember there being a comic cover from that era and it had bishop holding a gun that I thought was Herbie from the fantastic four because it was so exaggerated. Man without fear is definitely his magnum opus
I think his mouths and lips look Frank Miller influenced.
I definitely put JRJR in the top 3 Punisher artists of all time. His work on the original Punisher: War Zone is fantastic. He draws Frank as this rectangular wall of muscle with a permanent scowl. Also beefcake. So much hairy chested, broad shouldered beefcake on display which is great too, female gaze definitely wasn't too common at the time or even now really.
I will always remember the popsicle scene.
@@mariio5090 Yup. Mickie I believe his name was.
@@mariio5090 Yea a lot of early Punisher stuff suffers from being kind of generic with the art and writing. It's the Chuck Dixon/John Romita JR Punisher: War Zone and Carl Potts/Jim Lee Punisher: War Journal stuff that's really outstanding
He made him too Italian lol His Punisher looked better when he drew him during his DD run. But I liked that Chuck Dixon story.
I watched this start-to-end, but I still find JRJR's art disagreeable.
In my opinion, his art works for Kick-ass since it's fresh, but I can't get over over my dislike of his style after his work on Avengers vs. X-Men, Avengers Vol 4, and his recent foray into DC Comics, as you mentioned in this video. AvX was egregiously unsightly to me when I wanted to like that event so, so much, personally, and his DC work does not depict characters, such as Superman, in their appropriate size, stature, and emotions.
Those are the instances & takes that I immediately recall, but I'll still roll my eyes when I'm going through an event reading order and spot his work on a cover, such as 2022's Judgment Day Marvel event. His "deadline style" means he'll always have a job and I'll still read comics he works on when I need to for reading orders, but I am not a fan nor appreciator.
Had the opportunity to meet JRJR at Phoenix Fan Fusion. Was able to tell him how much I appreciated his art and how I’d always remembered him being my
favorite comic artist interview on the Spider-Man 1 DVD. How him talking about Spider-Man inspired me to grab my first comic, Ultimate Spider-Man. (Which I asked him to sign the first issue of). He told me that my words meant the world to him. One of the sweetest guys I’ve ever had the pleasure to meet and an amazing artist.
You could tell he really needed that lie. Good for you man I bet he really needed that!
Excellent work. I’ve been waiting years for a deep dive into JRJR by a commentator with an trained eye. Thx, Chris.
I like when someone else gives due credit to inkers: not to take anything away from JRJR, but his Al Williamson inked stuff achieved something unique for both of their careers. A while back you already noticed that Williams is half of Jim Lee’s career. Inkers matter, a lot.
I see your points against the nepotism convo, but his name is still Romita; my guy benefited off it regardless
No one achieves anything in life completely on their own. His name absolutely 100% got his foot in the door, but his talent and his professionalism gave him his career. In an era when a lot of "top" pencillers were struggling to turn in two issues a year, he was turning in two issues a month that were as good or better.
@@jawbone78 nothing in my comment discredited his talents. One can both be talented and a product of nepotism.
I started comics with JRJrs first X-Men run, and then followed him to Daredevil (with gorgeous Williamson inks!). I think his evolution to his blocky style laid the groundwork for me to fall in love with Kirby's Fourth World Era art, which struck me as extremely ugly until my late 30s/ early 40s. Now I "get" it.
I always thought my problem with JRJr. is that I don't like how he draws necks.
His paneling is great tho and makes it reading fun. It's also what I do appreciate about Frank Miller's art (even when it really doesn't look appealing like in Dark Knight Strikes again) that the paneling always looks appealing.
What I think is weird that his "classic" artwork looks more appealing to me, despite me seeing how his page layout improved a lot. I think it's the blockyness, which often doesn't do it for me, and inking (in certain comics)
I get some of the criticism but I love his art. I have stayed away from books because of Liefeld's art and had to endure Larsen's art because I collected Spiderman. Talk about cartoony then there Humberto Ramos.
Romita Sr. Is my favorite version of Spider-Man. When I imagine Spider-Man, my minds eye pictures Romita’s Sr’s version. I’ve never been a fan Romita Jr. I just don’t get the appeal.
As much as this is an interesting overall review of JRJR's art and career, bringing up the various inkers who worked with him informs just as much if not more about his pencil work.
That's how comics were made in the old days, penciller doesn't need to fine tune every little detail, otherwise why even bother having an inker? The inker work was always to embellish and provide volume and contrast, if they are there for tracing the lineart then you don't really need them , specially with the technology improvement of being able to capture the pencils without even need for inked lines
@@Shinmsl yeah but this video is about the artist. I don't remember any videos taking time to focus on different inkers the artist has worked with to such an extant.
@@ItsOver9000ProductionsJim Lee was one which he did
Great video! However, I believe Storm's "punk-style" look was originally created by Paul Smith, not JRJR.
Came here to say the exact same thing. Storm debuted her punk look in UNCANNY X-MEN #173 which was drawn by Paul Smith; JRJ began his run on the book halfway through #175. (Smith in 2008: "I did a number of portraits, all quite lovely and feminine. As a joke, I included a shot of her as Mr. T. You know, the kind of shot where they HAVE to go the other way. Weezie [X-Men editor Louise Simonson]'s response? 'They’re going to hang us whichever way we go. Let's commit the murder.' I argued it was a joke and a monstrously bad idea but, given my departure following 175 was set prior to beginning my run, my vote didn’t count. So I did what I could with what I had left... So we went with the Mohawk ...But once you get into the whole leather and stud thing it was a bad joke that got way out of hand.")
@@DNF81 It's interesting how a joke became one of Storm's most iconic look. Heck, she even has elements of that look right now.
@@truefanforum3273 It's a great look and it meshed perfectly with where Chris Claremont was taking the character psychologically.
One issue he'll blow me away the next it's just the worst. Superman is not his character either. Either way great video.
Please do Mike Zeck and Arthur Adams
Yes please
Love Romita Jr. art.. its an adquired taste, his style would be great for a animated series.. there is a certain logic on his style that makes it recognizable..
Always thought the same
That's because of his fundamentals. The guy understands on a deep level how to render three dimensional figures in two dimensions, which 99% of comics artists never fully grasp.
Clothing folds, noses, and mouths. If I see those a certian way than I know its Romita.
Great point.
I love John JR, specially his Spider-man and mostly his HULK run with bruce Jones.
his style looks great on a bulky character like the hulk.
With Superman beeing my favorite, his work really didn't meshed with me on Superman, seeing i feel that he needs to look a very sertain way, where people can experiment with someone like the hulk, make him look brutal and gnarly etc, felt his style worked on spider-man as well..
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I’ve always loved Romita. His run on Spider-Man with strazyiski is awesome. His punisher war zone was huge and scary, with big sausage fingers firing 10mm guns. He was always a guy with a lot of guns but that was the first time I thought “This guy is a gorilla who will tear you to pieces with his bare hands”. Externals. Superman. Daredevil. Hulk. I got em all. If John is doing the artwork I’m buying it, same with Alex Ross.
John Romita is one of the greatest legacy artists left in the business, I see a lot of people shitting on his art style these days and it pisses me off to no end, very few people has his storytelling skills
Absolutely. He's one of the best to ever do it. An absolute titan who's never gotten the respect he deserves.
I won't deny that he can frame a panel and a story really well and draw some really dynamic stuff. But I hate the way he actually draws things I've hated it for pretty much my entire life. His eye is exceptional for literally every aspect of drawing except drawing something that looks good.
I'll give an example: a few years ago I was reading some DC comic he was doing at the time. Think it was justice league related. In every single panel Superman was in he drew like a ring of individual hatch marks/lines around the outside of the face. Going in slightly towards the center of the face from the edge. They served absolutely no purpose except to add unnecessary and distracting lines to the face. They weren't indicating any kind of shading, they weren't representing contours of the face in any way (they were all pointing inwards regardless of location and with zero regard for the actual contours of the face). The lines were not only unnecessary, they actively made the art look worse for absolutely no reason. They didn't add anything visually, they were flat, they were distracting. It was an artistic choice that has utterly baffled me ever since.
He's always had unnecessary and distracting lines in his work but this book was the worst I'd ever seen his art. It was like he just didn't give a shit what he was putting on the page anymore.
This isn't just me hating on messier art styles though by the way. I love those when they're well done. But his doesn't even feel like that. It feels more like a guy trying to draw loosely but then somehow still being unbelievably stiff and rigid if that makes sense. And good lord he needs to ease up on fabric folds.
One can respect the man a lot, but something we can't deny is that at some point, he just decided to start drawing HORRIBLE faces. His latest Spider-man run with Wells, oh my god they don't even look human.
While I did really enjoy JRJR's early 90's X-Men run (little touches, such as his distinct 'pointy' claws for Wolverine). I was definitely one of those won over by Joe Madureira. The late 80's to 90's was such a great era for X-Men artists.
I was a fan of Joe Mad in his X-Men days, but when I look back on those issues now I just cringe. JRJR's stuff holds up.
I hated his xmen run, it was a huge turn off for me at that time.
@@jawbone78 The opposite for me. There are some characters that JRJR’s blocky style really doesn’t work with IE Storm. Meanwhile Joe Mad is still one of the best artists X-Men has ever had.
I never liked JRJR personally. But Joe Mad was one of my main influences as an artist myself. His art still looks better than most artists today.
@@scinnyc His art was a massive inspiration to me growing up. I'd easily put him up alongside the greats of comics: The Kuberts, John Byrne, George Perez etc
I wish he still drew more frequently.
Would love to see a video on Chris Bachalo's art one of my all time favourite comic book artist with such a distinct style
I haven't read a ton of Bachalo's work,but from what I've seen,his design is great,like on Steampunk,but he reuses the same headshots over and over and over again,to the point of distraction for me.
Chris Bachalo and Humberto Ramos are two of the most recognisable modern Marvel artists because their style is so distinct. Would love to see Chris' take on them, as they seem to be just as divisive as modern JRJR.
He, along with bendis, produced one of the worst comic runs in recent history on superman.
Great video as usual, Chris! Romita Jr is one of my favourite comic book artists of all time, and I think that sometimes readers might overlook the superb storytelling because of the more angular style. I think another great book of his was his 6 issue run on Black Panther back in 2006
When I was younger and drawn (pun intended) more towards the "hip" style of Joe Mad and the Image guys, I didn't like JRJR's art all that much. As I grew older, though, I began to appreciate his style more and more.
I see JRJR the same way I see PAD among writers: They have a a very, VERY good grasp of the fundamentals of their respective crafts. They allow for stylistics every now and then, but nothing that's too flashy that would, in the long run, serve to outdate them severely. Mostly, they lean more towards the basics--and bring them up to 11.
I was enthralled with Joe Mad when he broke onto the scene in the mid-90s. I was fully convinced at that time that he was a GOAT just a year into his career. I look back on those X-Men issues now (I still come back to Age of Apocalypse every couple of years, mostly out of nostalgia), and his art makes me cringe. JRJR was great then, and great now. His work holds up.
I have never and will never understand the people who don't like JRJR. To me he's easily, by far and away the best artist of the 90s. In an era of "rock star" artists, he was literally the only one with any fundamentals. He's the only worthy successor to the three all-time greats: Kirby, Romita Sr, and Buscema.
JR Jr has been my personal fav artist since the 90's. Love his work! And not just because of the style, but because he is one of the best visual storytellers of all time!
I always thought it strange when people describe jrjr as too blocky when kirby is king . I do think his man without fear was his peak with its heavy frank miller inspired chunky blocky lines. I feel the same about miller he had a peak that was great after developing his style a little bit from the house style but continued to devolve into a simpler style . Romita jr is great
I'll be totally honest,I never liked Romita,nor Kirby's artwork. I know it's pretty sacrilegious to say anything bad about Kirby,but I've never been a fan. I started collecting and reading comics in the early 80s as a kid,and John Byrne was my favorite back then,but then as a teen Jim Lee became my favorite.
It's interesting when you bring up Kirby being blocky as that's precisely when I stopped liking Kirby's art. His stuff from the 60s is top tier and clearly shows why he's "the king", but his later stuff just doesn't look good to be.
@@weaslepopper I can appreciate both artists (Romita, Kirby)and their contributions but yeah Byrne and Lee are top notch.
@Grant Baugh To be honest I dont have a ton of mileage with Kirbys art I guess. More of just the stan lee marvel drama unfortunately. Only actual books II own with Kirby art is a superman Jimmy Olsen with weird collage style backgrounds and an issue of Mister Miracle but I love 'em.
I think the difference is Kirby was pretty innovative back in the day, but I don't want to see Kirby's art style in 1995, 2010, or 2022, so I don't care for John Romita, Jr.'s work.
De-Evolution in my opinion. I didn't love his older stuff but i cannot stand his modern stuff.
Huh??
I feel like people tend to exaggerate JRJR's individual drawing and say thats bad but somehow downplaying his biggest strength of readability....his comic reads so well! I read Neil Gaiman/JRJR Eternals run and even though Neil's dialogue and such was kind of clunky imo JRJR's storytelling and transitions b/w panels were so great....I never had to go back and double check anything because I could understand the story pretty ok. imo the comic doens't really need individual beautiful panels....as long as it reads good and has good stories that's what's most important.
Jr Jr's work on Uncanny Xmen from 175-311 is phenomenal. Uncanny Xmen #207's cover, is to me at least, THE most iconic Wolverine art EVER. Juniors art simply gets the job done in the best way sequential art should be; precise, easy to read and flowing in its storytelling. One of my major influences for sure
JRJR is my all time favorite Spiderman artist I especially love his ASM run with Roger Stern. One more inker who really enhanced his work is Frank Giacoia.
OMG !! One of the comments from my Reddit post was used for this video , I’m so hyped haha !! Great content as always , JRJR is my favorite artist !
JRJr is one of my favorite artist. His artwork is distinct and unique to him. Like one glance i can already tell it's his artwork. Maybe some of his other artwork are a bit meh, overall I still think that it is unique.
You can't say Romita Jr didn't get his foot in the door because of his dad. I much prefer his early art, really don't like Jr's modern art. Hated when he was drawing Superman with Bendis.
But you can. If JRJR had been someone who wasn’t the son of JR SR he likely still would have made his ways into comics
@@paulakroy2635 Its all about who you know buddy.
While not a fan of JRJR art on Spiderman or Superman, I like his work on Thor and even Heart of Darkness! Also, I respect his hard work and dealing with the nepotism involved with his career.
I thought he was great when he was doing "house style" under Layton's Iron Man inks. I remember being disappointed with Layton's fill in pencils (#139) and happy when JRJR returned.
But yeah; his DD work took some getting used to (as did Kirby's weirdness, as you mentioned). Love them both now. Thanks for deconstructing his work -- I always wondered how he came in on his dad's coattails (and with a similar style in the beginning). Great vid!
*Paul Smith was responsible for introducing Mohawk Storm
In a way, isn't every artist using an "on time"/deadline style as a professional with a schedule?? Of course every case is different.
JRJR is a personal favorite. Granted, He’s a tent pole on my favorite character in Spidey but that’s inconsequential- no matter Who He’s drawing, it looks Phenomenal. He can do action AND emotional scenes incredibly well. He’s truly one The All Time Greats.
JR Jr. Was one of my favourite artists growing up, back then I would be certain to learn the name of the artist if a comic would make an impression on me. And I distinctly remember that Daredevil comic, it was dark and moody, it wasn't exactly "pretty" but it was indeed powerful art and great storytelling.
I was a huge of his run on Spider-Man on the 90s and I even remember I had an issue of X-Men that I didn't even know it was his art but you showed snippets of the art in this video so I know now it was his too( and I wasn't big on the X-Men back then but I did love the art on that book).
You make a great point of saying that his work is most effective when paired with the right inker, but the same could be said with the colourist, whose work is really important specially since the 2000s to define the look of a comic. I think his cartoony style works better with simpler, mostly flatter colors, overrendering doesn't do him any favours.
He is one of my all time favourites not only in doing action but also subtle character moments like those two Rogue panels you featured in this video, he can do excellent subtle emotional "performances" that make each character feel human.
He's one of the best ever Spiderman artist without a shadow of a doubt, and something I think it contributes to that is he's one of the few who has been able to get that "creepy crawler" aesthetic that Steve Ditko gave him, something very distinct from any other superhero, that makes Spider-Man a bit of a scary, lonley figure in the night. The cover of that book about the Romitas is a perfect example, is probably one of the best artwork of Spider-Man ever made for me, it encapsulates the mistery and eerieness that I think he's one of the few living comicartist can create.
I loved his first run in Spider-Man and X-Men. His style started to change with DareDevil - which I still liked - then solidified into what it is today which can be a bit of hit and miss.
I don't dislike his recent style but I do prefer his earlier work a lot more.
that ann nocenti dd stuff he did especially dd in hell was amazing
Man. All this time, I've been (sometimes) hating his art and it was the inker's fault!
I like JRJ's work much of the time. I just hate when I'm reading a big storyline with a realistic style of art and suddenly it switches to his "more cartoony" style. It's just too much of a contrast.
Just like you appreciate Romita's depiction of rain, I love Kirby's scenes featuring bodies of water. An ocean panel by the artist will make you FEEL the pitch and swell of the waves. His tenure at DC included many two page spreads (in Kamandi and New Gods) of roiling seas that are among the most kinetic art (of any genre) that I've ever seen.
I was waiting for the "deadline style" thing. Anyone who's worked in this understands it.
Anyway, on of my fav artists. Inking him can be a callange, but in a good way.
Kep up the great work!
the only thing I didn't like about this video is that it was too short!! LOVE your take Chris. Thank you for this
You should review (Megadeth's) Cryptic Writings from Chaos Comics... Dave Mustaine's #1 issue was great. Probably still cover priced. I remember reading it and feeling like I was reading a music video, which I'm sure doesn't make any sense...
perfect Timing - Love U Chris and much Love from Germany
Awesome! John Romita , Jr. Is my favorite comic artist of all time!
I like Rominta Jr's style. Reminisent to the artists that I grew up with: John and Sal Buscema, Ross Andru (wondered if you covered his Spider-Man run in the 70s?) Great synopsis as per usual. UK fan.👌
I second the petition for a Ross Andru video, one of the greatest of the 70s and it's criminally underrated
Mike Zeck always stood out too, in that same league.
I’m glad you mentioned Ross Andru’s
His art run on ASM
is by far my favorite 👍🏻
Grew up with the Andru/Esposito Spidey, but we can't forget about Gil Kane and his incredible Spidey work especially with John Sr inking. Gil had his style and tropes, but they were sharp and dynamic.
Yes. This will be good. I liked him up to JMS spider-man run; since then I haven't liked his art.
80s-90s marvel was his prime. I've never liked his DC work.
I always loved his style, it's unique and arguably an acquired taste. I never thought about how an inker could change that perception so drastically!
Been watching far longer than I thought I have been, just want to say thank you for the knowledge and entertainment ❤️
Has anyone checked berserk? That late art, that was digital,the faces of some characters reminds me of John Romita jr.
Has anyone noticed some similarities?
Sorry, I can't stand the way he draws faces, especially the characters' noses all look the same, in a bad way. Mary Jane Watson's face, shown briefly in the video, is a disaster.
As someone who has despised Romita Jr.'s art for a while, this gave me a bit of perspective. I still think his character work is extremely ugly, but I get now that he isn't a talentless hack. I now have some respect for him as a hard worker, despite really hating his style.
One of the best of all time. His blocky draftsmanship ,his meticulous line work has made him one of the most unique ones artists that have ever graced mainstream consciousness👍😛😃
I don't care for the deadline style of art. And, I would argue that Jack Kirby was also a deadline style artist and his particular style helped perpetuate that. It's obvious John Jr got a lot help early in his career. He was young and hadn't settled on a style, yet. But, I think he got more breaks than another artist starting out would have gotten.
He was the artist on X-Men when I fell in love with the book, during the mid 80s. Still one of my favorite artists.
It's dumbfounding to me how the never did a cartoon based on his art style and designs, it would be amazing for Spider-Man or Daredevil. I think it would be amazing if the did a Spider-Man show where he's actually an adult (like since he has been most of his career) instead of always taking him back to high school every single time. I think using JRJR style would do wonders for it.
As someone who hates JRjr's blocky faces and sometimes has trouble getting through some story arcs because of it this video gave me other things to focus on and maybe now I can be more forgiving about the faces.
i love JRJRs x-men, daredevil, and spiderman. top 3 spiderman artist for me
John Romita Jr . gave his style of how Spidey look for that time but like Todd McFarlane said,” that any artist could have updated Spider-Man physique and appearances , so that did make me a genius”? No! It didn’t, because any artist could have done it''. I agree with Todd on how it up to the artist imagination on how a character should look.
I mean, one thing is for sure, any artist could have done what Todd did, and most would do it better.
I'm talking about his work as a comics artist - he's one of the most overrated artists of all time, absolute Liefeld-level lack of fundamentals. As a businessman, he's obviously great.
I hated his Cable miniseries, but dug the storyline, so learned to appreciate JRjr's obvious effort.
I didn't like his style as a kid, but really appreciated it as I got older. It's the perfect workman like style, esp for an on-going monthly.
wonderful video, JRJR is an awesome artist.
My first look at JR.JR was in a popular fanzine in the early 1970s. He was a boy, under the age of ten as I recall. And I don't remember what the image was but it was a face of Beetle Bailey or Popeye or Donald Duck (or something like that). It was either in pencil or magic marker and very nice for a little boy. There is no question that he would have never gotten it published if not for his name. I didn't expect to see him years later as a very good comic book artist.
Sundays are my comic tropes day
JRJR + Bob Layton on Iron-Man owned all my pocket money as a kid. JRJR is one of the last artist who can draw ACTION and get me hyped.
I hadn't been a fan of Romita's work on that Nocenti run. I think it was the inking that turned me off with all the thin lines. I was a big fan of the Kick Ass series and have reappraised his work more positivity since then.
"Evolution" seems like a misnomer for describing what has happened to Romita's art style...
I don't understand how people excuse his career by pointing out a handful of series in the previous millennium where they say his artwork "fits" with the story being told and then excuse every other series, treating his atrocious art as just a mild inconvenience, as if that's a liberty handed out to any other artist in the industry. For example, Greg Smallwood's grainy artstyle fits perfectly with dark or fantastical stories, yet his work on Archie Comics still looks good despite it not fitting the story... because good artwork IS good artwork!
Loved this episode! Jrjr is my favorite artist! I remember distinctively copying his drawings when I was a child/teenager. He was the fist artist that I recognized the style and hoped I would see more of on the next issue!
I'm actually currently reading JRJR's initial X-Men run and I definitely notice the difference inkers make on his work; there's two issues his father inked and they just look so much more old fashioned and generally not as good as the rest of the run.
Romita Jr is a complicated artist for me. I admit I did not enjoy his work on the X-Men (there are exceptions), but I think he was absolutely *perfect* for Daredevil Man without Fear! I can still internally visualise so many of his images from those comics. But as you say - the final product is very dependent on the Inker adapting his work. As for nepotism, sure it doesn't hurt having an early introduction but it is clear he had to do the work and prove himself. It's what you do with the opportunities offered to you that makes the difference.
JRJR has gotten a bad rap in recent years, though it's not entirely unwarranted. His work on characters like Superman leave a lot to be desired, but I feel that was just more because his style simply didn't work on that book. Compare it to his work on Captain America or even the current Spider-Man series and it's a lot better, Captain America especially used his style to much greater effect.
I can’t help but think he’s quite young, when he’s been around creating for decades . That name and famous dad trick me!
Grow up on JR jr. Loved when Danny Green inked his work,just beautiful.
Loved this episode! His X-Men run was what got me to fall in love with comics (and Rogue) back in the day, so be one of my favorites. Also, short-hair, more-than-a-little psychotic Rogue = best Rogue, so there's that, too!
I love his "chunky" 90s stuff, but I really can't get into his more recent stuff.
His design for Blackheart is my favorite!
I too took a little while to appreciate Kirby’s brilliance. Great video!
JRJR’s first runs on Amazing Spider-man, Uncanny X-Men, Daredevil (including Man without Fear limited series) and Punisher Warzone were legendary!
After that..? Not so much.
Please make a video about Hal Foster, the greatest comic book artist who ever lived.
JR JR is not my cup of tea honestly, I never liked how stiff his characters look when they're flying, and his animals are horrible sometimes, I remember seing his Lockjaw in Avengers and It looked like a lump of folds.
That being said, I've liked some of his art, like his work on Daredevil or in All Star Batman.
M.J. looks ridiculous at 10.46.
I’m 47 and I didn’t used to like his art, my comic heroes were Jim Lee, Todd Mcfarlane, Michael Turner to name a few. His art to me just looked ugly, but being older now and seeing lots of art over the years, I really appreciate his art, it has a lot of energy in the action / fight scenes. The modern coloring (mid 90s - now) really bring out his style too.
Romita JR is on my top 5 favorite Spider-Man artists list. His work can sometime look odd? But I can never say I hate his work as I love his blocky art style.
John Romita Sr. = The Marvel House Style.
John Romita Jr. = “Which freakin’ year are we talking about?”
Good episode. Although I have to admit I can't stand JRJrs work these days.
The way Jim Shooter tells it JRJR left his first run on X-Men to do the art for Starbrand because Shooter was such a swell guy. JRJR said Shooter offered him more money and promised that the character was going to be the "Superman" of the New Universe. I tend to believe the latter!
I cringe whenever I see Romita Jr's art with digital coloring. Looks so much better with flat colors.
JR JR is very polarizing. I feel due to the level of detail we expect now a days from mainstream popular artist like Pepe Larraz, etc., who uses digital tools, JR JR does not measure up. And his artwork does not have the charm of Kirby, who is blocky, but there is a psychedelic charm and detail to his Kirby machines, etc. is lacking in JR JR. To me, JR JR conveys the story well, but you don't want to dwell on his lines and admire them like you would Kirby, Steranko, the Adamses, McFarlane, Jim Lee, Adam Hughes, et al.
His art from the last 10+ years suck A. His cover art (which is supposed to make you want to buy a comic) is ugly and just terrible. I liked his DD work very much. Early DD work. I am absolutely sad that he is the current Spidey artist and is somehow able to keep getting work on triple A books..... or any book!!!!!!!