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FocusIntervisteLa costruzione di un disegnatore. Intervista a John Romita Jr.

La costruzione di un disegnatore. Intervista a John Romita Jr.

I now admit that John Romita Jr. is an artist that I have very close to my heart because he was my entry point into the world of Spider-Man and one of the first I learned to recognize and appreciate. If a Spider-Man story wasn’t drawn by him, it wasn’t a story worth reading. I’m not even that much original because the artist, one of the authors with the longest career around, was probably the first for many readers, Spider-Man or other characters. He has drawn almost all of them, creating major stories in every Marvel corner – Devil, the X-Men, Hulk, Avengers, the Eternals, Thor – but he has also worked for DC Comics and on his own, co-creating Kick-Ass with Mark Millar.

We had the opportunity to interview him during Lucca Comics & Games 2022, where Romita was a guest.

caos coffe bean spider-man romita
“Caos al Coffee Bean”, “Amazing Spider-Man Annual” 11 (1977)

It’s been more than forty years since first story, Chaos at the Coffee Bean

I was two years old when I started!

Do you remember the feeling of drawing that story?

It’s such a specific feeling. A feeling of inferiority. Not because anyone made me feel that way. I made me feel that way. I had learned about the Marvel artists who came before me, my father, Jack Kirby, John Buscema. I had been to exhibitions and museums. I knew I would never reach the level of all these great artists. When they gave me the opportunity to work, I felt that I would fail, I didn’t want to fail. And in fact that story is not drawn well, but it was good enough to get me another chance.

When was the moment when looking at one of your boards you thought it was okay?

There was a point, when they took me off the X-Men because I didn’t get along with the writer, where I was on the verge of quitting comics. I was about to go to work in advertising. I already had a folder with my work ready to show to all the advertising agencies in New York. Ralph Macchio proposed Daredevil to me saying “no, try this. Try it for a year”. In addition to working with Ann Nocenti and Al Williamson, I was giving control on what I was doing. That assignment represented the turning point: I felt satisfied with what I was accomplishing. But that was many years after my first comic.

But then the role of managing the actual narrative passed to the screenwriters. How did you adapt to that change?

I had seen what my father had done with what they gave him and he was always frustrated. Jack Kirby and John Buscema had the same feeling. They were given this much [spreads fingers] and they gave back this much [spreads arms], in terms of creativity. Sure, they were paid well, but the writers got all the credit. At least in my case, Ann Nocenti gave me the credit, at least internally. Over time, things got to know and when they interviewed Ann she said “I didn’t do anything, I gave him a name and he invented a character”. Same goes for many editors and writers, Mark Millar, Frank Miller, Zeb Wells… At least the ones who care about the final product. When I work with writers, they know how I can contribute to the work. 

Of all your pages, for me the last one of Daredevil: The Man Without Fear is one of your best. What did Frank Miller write in the screenplay?

You know, I don’t remember. It’s interesting, I still have the script, in a box, at home. I have to go check it out. Frank and I are friends, he knew what I was capable of. He gave me just enough to make me run. Probably he just wrote me “Daredevil rules the city”.

daredevil john romita jr. intervista

Your work lives and breathes in black and white. And, in my opinion, it works better with old-fashioned flat colors than digital ones because digital ones try to add a dimension that is already there in black and white.

That’s it. When we were young we went all out with black and white, because we were told that color would only be a small addition. As you say, the colors were flat and simple. The imperative was to create pages that were already beautiful before the colour. Now, due to ever more sophisticated technologies, artists rely much more on color artists than ever before. I don’t. The color has to be just an addition, as far as I’m concerned. It has to stand on its own in black and white. Then, if the drawing is spectacular, the colors will make it even more spectacular.

When you returned to Marvel after your stint at DC Comics you said you wanted to prove that you “still got it.”

I felt that way when I switched to DC Comics too, actually. I was told that I had always relied on my father, on my father’s name. That I couldn’t do it on my own. I’ve heard those words, many times over the years. That I was a bad draftsman… And I replied: “Mom, stop it!” [laughs] I’m kidding, but when I got the chance to go to DC, because a couple of people at Marvel didn’t like the idea of ​​me staying at Marvel for more money, I jumped at it. DC told me “sure, we’ll make you do what you want” and I wanted to silence the detractors. And then after six years at DC, when Marvel made me the offer to come back, I heard those same words of disapproval from some people at DC: “You only go back to Marvel because of your last name.” And here too I came back because I wanted to silence everyone. Now that I’m getting older, I hear people saying to step aside, to make room for young people. I wanted to prove to others, but also to myself, that I was still good at it.

Do you have decision-making power on the projects you get involved in?

I don’t want to be the first lady. I’ve known people who were and I don’t want to be like that. My father would never have let me and now my wife always tells me “who do you believe to be?”. So when someone entrusts me with a project, I always try to make it as good as possible. And if it’s really a horrible idea, I say no. But it never happened. I’ve always enjoyed each character, trying to contribute as much as I could. Then I always try to be proactive, if they ask me “do you want to work with this screenwriter?” I say “I like the idea but how about if we do it with this other author?” instead of saying “no, I don’t like him”. In the end the only thing that matters is that I make the script look good and that the script make my drawings look good.

During the press conference you said that in five or six years you see yourself retiring. 

Retired from deadlines! Not from work. I want to be an illustrator, maybe a painter, but I no longer want to run after deadlines. I still like it a lot, because, I’m joking, it’s better than working. It is an artistic, interesting, creative profession. I will never stop being a draftsman. For me drawing is as important as my affections. Not more important, but just as important. It makes me who I am. You and I have never met before but if we start talking about art I understand your questions and you understand my answers.

It is a common ground that binds all those with the same passion.

Exactly like that. A common ground. And when I go to see an exhibition I feel tiny compared to the giants of art. Soon I will go to the Uffizi to see Michelangelo’s David. I know I will cry like a baby. Someone once asked me what was the most beautiful image created by man. For me it is the David. Michelangelo was a genius beyond belief. The Pietà! You know, I saw it when I was little, at the New York World’s Fair in 1964… Incredible. Creating something from scratch, making something that didn’t exist before you, that’s my idea of ​​art. And that’s why I like it so much. Because it comes from the heart.

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