By various & John Romita Sr. (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-403-4
At last, a book commemorating one of the industry’s most polished stylists and a true cornerstone of the Marvel Comics phenomenon. The elder John Romita began his comics career in the late 1940s ghosting for other artists before striking out under his own colours, eventually illustrating horror and other anthology tales for Stan Lee at Atlas.
He illustrated a fine run of cowboy adventures starring the Western Kid and the 1954 revival of Captain America plus other minor luminaries before an industry implosion derailed his – and many other – budding careers. He eventually found himself trapped in DC’s romance comics division – a job he hated – before making the reluctant jump again to the resurgent House of Ideas in 1965.
After a brief stint as an inker he took over Daredevil with #12, following on from Wally Wood and Bob Powell. Initially Jack Kirby provided layouts to help Romita assimilate the style and pacing of Marvel tales but he was soon in full control of his pages. He drew DD until #19, by which time he had been handed the assignment of a lifetime.
This volume opens with the Captain America story from Tales of Suspense # 77(May 1966). ‘If a Hostage Should Die!’, written by Lee, with Kirby layouts and inks by Frank Giacoia (AKA Frank Ray) recounted a moment from the hero’s wartime exploits involving a woman he loved and lost, and is followed by a classic Daredevil thriller from #18. ‘There Shall Come a Gladiator!’ introduced the buzz-saw wielding psychopath in a gripping tale of mistaken identity, by Lee and office junior Denny O’Neil with Giacoia once more handling the pens and brushes.
Represented next is that aforementioned Big Break. By 1966 Stan Lee and Steve Ditko could no longer work together on their greatest creation. After increasingly fraught months the artist resigned leaving the Spider-Man without an illustrator. The new kid was handle the ball and told to run. ‘How Green was my Goblin!’ and ‘Spidey Saves the Day!’ (“Featuring the End of the Green Goblin!” as it so facetiously and dubiously proclaimed) was the climactic battle fans had been clamouring for since the viridian villain’s first appearance, and it didn’t disappoint – and still doesn’t today.
Reprinted from issues #39 and 40 (August and September 1966 and inked by old DC colleague Mike Esposito under the pseudonym Mickey Demeo) this is still one of the best Spider-Man yarns ever, and heralded a run of classic sagas from the Lee/Romita team that actually saw sales rise, even after the departure of the seemingly irreplaceable Ditko. Another such was the contents of Amazing Spider-Man #47-49.
‘In the Hands of the Hunter!’, ‘The Wings of the Vulture!’ and ‘From the Depths of Defeat!’, with Romita finally providing pencils and inks (April, May and June 1967) comprises a complex and engrossing thriller featuring Kraven the Hunter and both the old and a new Vultures, as well as relating a tension building sub-plot about the gone-but-not-forgotten Green Goblin.
Romita was clearly considered a safe pair of hands and the “go-to-guy” by Stan Lee. When Jack Kirby left to create his incredible Fourth World for DC, Romita was handed the company’s other flagship title – and in the middle of an on-going storyline.
Fantastic Four #103 (October 1970) ‘At War With Atlantis!’ is the second chapter in a gripping invasion tale where Magneto blackmails the Sub-Mariner into conquering the surface world with his Atlantean legions (as is so often the case, the first part is not included here, but there are recaps aplenty to bring you up to speed) and with the conclusion ‘Our World.. Enslaved!‘ (both inked with angular, brittle brilliance by John Verpoorten) they form the first non-Kirby classic of the super-team’s illustrious history. Sadly the title began a gradual decline from there…
Romita briefly returned to the Star-Spangled Avenger in the early 1970s and ‘Power to the People’ – is the culmination of an extended storyline very much of its time with the Falcon and Nick Fury helping to once again stop the insidious Red Skull. Gary Friedrich scripted Captain America #143 (November 1971) and another new kid was writing the web-spinner when Romita returned.
‘The Master-Plan of the Molten Man’ (issue #132, May 1974) was scripted by Gerry Conway, but the increasingly busy Romita, now art director for the entire company, was here uncomfortably assisted by Paul Reinman and Tony Mortellaro in the inking of this two-fisted interlude.
‘Vicious Cycle’ by Peter David, with Fred Fredericks inks is a quirky, moving short tale from Incredible Hulk Annual #17 (1991), and is followed by an adventure of Peter Parker’s parents from Untold Tales of Spider-Man #minus 1 (July 1997, and part of the company’s Flashback publishing event). ‘The Amazing Parkers’, written by Roger Stern and inked by Al Milgrom, pitted the married secret agents against the deadly Baroness and guest-starred a pre-Weapon-X Wolverine in a delightful spy-romp.
The Wall-crawler and Daredevil teamed up in Spider-Man/Kingpin: To the Death, a 1997 one-shot which reunited Lee and Romita (with inker Dan Green along for the ride) in an old fashioned countdown caper that should delight older fans, and this book’s narrative delights end with ‘The Kiss’: a trip down memory lane with a much younger Peter Parker still in the throes of first love with Gwen Stacy.
Tugging those tears is writer J.M. DeMatteis and the content proves to me, at least, that Romita’s detested romance stories must be something to see, all his protestations notwithstanding. With another superbly informative biography section from Mike Conroy to close out the volume, this is certainly one of the most cohesive and satisfactory compilations in this series of Marvel Masters. If only they could all be as good…
© 2008 Marvel Entertainment, Inc. and its subsidiaries. All Rights Reserved. (A BRITISH EDITION BY PANINI UK LTD)