I am starting to feel the love for Romita Spidey

[NewWorldOrder]

The most over rated artist in the history of comics is Steve Ditko.

 

John Romita Sr. is the #1 Spider-man ARTIST for the Silver-age and Bronze Age with no one even close. His covers are so amazingly detailed and rich with bright colors, and his constant involvement with his fans over the years is also a plus. A very nice man indeed. (thumbs u

 

Ditko= early SA

Romita Sr.= late SA to mid BA

McFarlane= Copper Age

 

That would be like comparing NFL QB's Johnny Unitas to Joe Montana, then to Peyton Manning which doesn't make sense.

 

 

Romita’s covers were great, but unless I’m misunderstanding your post, he (and other pencillers and/or inkers) didn’t have anything to do with coloring. Most likely that would have been Stan Goldberg, Marie Severin or Sol Brodksy.

 

I’m no fan of McFarlane, but I agree that comparing those 3 artists doesn’t make much sense.

 

Very true those colorists on the Romita covers def deserve credit as well.

[nmtg9]

IT's Romita for me - followed by Ditko.

 

McFarlane made ASM the popular title it is today and catapulted Spidey above the X-Men, but I never liked his style.

[trochaic-migration]

Feel like Jack Kirby is being left out of the discussion. He put in excellent Spider-Man work on Amazing Fantasy #15, Amazing Spider-Man #1 and #8, Strange Tales Annual #2, and Fantastic Four #73. As well as debatable help in concept and design.

[jamiejame911-migration]

I agree with the above guy saying, off topic, that McFarlane's Hulk was really refreshing. His pre 340 Hulk stuff was not that great, but with 340 the age of him inking his own work was apon us. Hulk 340 really changed the game artistically (well Arthur Adam's was doing very similar stuff during this time).

 

Ditko's covers were nothing compared to Romita's and I don't think that can be argued at all. Romita was a perfectionist (he says so himself), where as Ditko spent ALOT less time thinking and redrawing.

[sakaridis]

John Romita was an excellent, highly competent craftsman, always reliable and never giving anything less than his best on the pages he worked on.

 

Steve Ditko, on the other hand, was a storytelling GENIUS!

 

It's like comparing John Williams to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, really (thumbs u

[silverweb]

But as I have filled in my open slots, I have begun to understand the love people have for Romita. The artwork is different but it has slowly become who Spider-Man is to me.

 

Romita is quintessential Spidey for me. Always has been. I like Ditko's Spidey. I LOVE Romita's Spidey.

 

Great thread! Main reason why we have a CS forum. Have to add my two cents.

 

Romita is my favorite Spidey artist also. Best covers (40,50,75,121 are my favorites) and he could draw MJ and Gwen so gorgeously.

 

I like Ditko for the early part of Spidey's character development, great stuff in a different period.

 

And I love McFarlanes 300 cover, and his signature on my SS books, but not his general Spidey artwork so much.

 

 

[mysterio]

Romita is my favorite Spidey artist also. Best covers (40,50,75,121 are my favorites) and he could draw MJ and Gwen so gorgeously.

 

I like Ditko for the early part of Spidey's character development, great stuff in a different period.

 

And I love McFarlanes 300 cover, and his signature on my SS books, but not his general Spidey artwork so much.

 

 

Not sure how you left out #39 in your list of top covers, as Romita's first was definitely among his best. You could make an argument that the covers to #39 & 40 are the best in the run, period. It would be a heated argument, though.

 

I also agree that Romita drew the best women. I don't remember who said it, but I'll agree that Ditko's Gwen wasn't attractive at all...

 

And as much as we (me included) have bashed McFarlane's interior artwork his covers were usually really good. They generally showed good composition and action and really got you excited about reading the comic, which is what a cover is supposed to do. I just wish he had stuck to covers and let someone else do the interiors...

[VintageComics]

Romita did a lot more than just Spidey even though he is best known for that run. He's been drawing since the 1950's!

 

Check out his other work, on Daredevil (his first Marvel Age work and also his first Spidey by Romita in issue #16), Defenders #10 cover (classic Hulk/Thor battle), Timely Captain America....tons and tons of stuff...just a terrific all around comic book artist!

[jamiejame911-migration]

To support Mcfarlane here...

 

-He was doing both the pencils and inks on books and at one point Spider-man was coming out every 2 weeks, given that 'constraint' he was doing AMAZING work. He started to do less work with the pencil and just went straight to inking (imo).

 

I honestly love Mcfarlane's inking more than anything else. He could have made loot just doing that. He was able to make Liefield's stuff look much better (see New Mutant's covers)

 

 

Ditko could tell a story, but IMO no better than Romita. Romita was THE guy to copy until Buscema came along for marvel. Buscema had POWER in his panels. Ditko was Dr. Strange thou.

[Jeffro.]

I honestly love Mcfarlane's inking more than anything else. He could have made loot just doing that. He was able to make Liefield's stuff look much better (see New Mutant's covers)

 

But isn't that like saying spraying Fabreeze on mess will make it smell better?

[jamiejame911-migration]

Yeah , but that intro to Cable New Mutant's issue has a pretty cool cover.

[fantastic_four]

I liked the little spiders McFarlane used to put in Spidey's webs...he added lots of little creative elements to the art similar to that. Not realistic, but stylistically compelling.

[COI]

Ditko's Gwen was straight-up nasty, and in general his faces were very inconsistent.

 

 

Man Hands

 

 

[SilvrSpidey]

Ditko's Gwen was straight-up nasty, and in general his faces were very inconsistent.

 

 

Man Hands

 

 

 

Peter's hand DOES look more delicate than her "man hands."

[NewWorldOrder]

Ditko's Gwen was straight-up nasty, and in general his faces were very inconsistent.

 

 

Man Hands

 

 

 

Well wasn't she is a nasty dirty girl in general.

 

[jimjum12]

Ditko will always be # 1 to me ....but Romita is a neck to neck second. I did my first attempt at comic art on a copy of ASM 64......I drew Blackie Drago's skull cap on the original Vulture's head.....thought it was cool. I wonder if that copy still exists somewhere .....for the record, I also love McFarlane's ASM....in fact, it was his 7-11 poly bagged edition that got me back into collecting 20 years ago (wow, has it been that long ?). GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u

[KirbyJack]

I honestly love Mcfarlane's inking more than anything else. He could have made loot just doing that. He was able to make Liefield's stuff look much better (see New Mutant's covers)

 

But isn't that like saying spraying Fabreeze on mess will make it smell better?

 

TeeHee!

[Unca Ben]

Ditko will always be # 1 to me ....but Romita is a neck to neck second.

...

GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u

Me too. Ditko as an artist and creator. Mystery, suspense, drama and humor all seamlessly presented in glorious sequential art. Darkness and light, Steve Ditko set the themes and tone of the Amazing Spider-Man for the creators that followed.

[Unca Ben]

...that being said, I do Love Romita!!!!

[trmoore54]

I deem my 9000th post as worthy in putting my undying devotion to Mr. Ditko as my favorite Spidey author/storyteller and one of my top 2 favorite artists of all time...what can I say, I'm a lifelong Ditko/Kirby fan!

 

ASM 33 artwork being the culmination for me of sublime Ditko greatness!

 

I do appreciate Romita's Spidey, especially the earliest issues...but while Ditko's uniqueness and at times strangeness doesn't work for others, it's a major part of what I like about his definitively distinct artwork...