The John Romita Sr. 2001 Shoot Interview by David Armstrong
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- čas přidán 10. 07. 2024
- David Armstrong interviewed Silver & Bronze Age great, John Romita Sr. in 2001 on set at San Diego Comic Con about his entry into comic books with Les Zakarin, first meeting Stan Lee at Timely, his suspense science fiction stories like IT!, working for Famous Funnies, his relationship with Stan Lee in the 1950s, and again in the 1960s, getting inking advice from Joe Maneely, why he joined DC Comics to work on Romance Comics with Zena Brody and Robert Kanigher, discussing Alex Toth, the editorial culture at DC compared to Marvel, Jack Kirby, Martin Goodman, terrible distribution through Independent News, and DC Comics' achilles heel.
Interview conducted, recorded and copyrighted to David Armstrong.
Remastered, edited, timestamped and postproduction by Alex Grand.
My book, Understanding Superhero Comic Books available at a.co/d/8ZSTMh8 & mcfarlandbooks.com/product/un....
#JohnRomita #ComicBooks #Superhero #StanLee #RobertKanigher #RomanceComics #MartinGoodman #SpiderMan #Marvel #Superman #JoeManeely #SilverAge #GoldenAge #DCComics
📜 Chapters
00:00 Starting drawing
00:42 First paid professional job
03:45 Getting into comics | Les Zakarin, Stan Lee
05:15 You weren't Zakarin? | Into the army
06:48 Learning to Ink | IT!
07:47 First job for Famous Funnies | Steve Douglas
08:40 Stan Lee
09:19 Did Stan Lee want to stay in comics?
11:09 Joe Maneely's drawing technique
14:26 Meeting Joe Maneely
15:42 Did Stan Lee ever talk about Joe Maneely?
16:01 Stan gave me raises at Timely's peak
17:52 Pay reduced $44 a page to $24 a page
18:30 Worked at DC Comics for $38 a page
19:03 Working for Zena Brody
19:45 Meeting other artists, Alex Toth
20:17 Romance Comics artists were fired
21:12 DC Editors were cutthroat corporate
21:54 No one at DC got credit
22:48 Working for Kanigher
24:52 Kanigher's motivations
26:16 Public didn't realize that comics are a craft
27:18 DC had various editors, Marvel had one editor
29:02 Romance Comics improved range
30:25 Art first and script second | Stan Lee, Jack Kirby
36:30 Marvel was David, DC was goliath.
39:48 At Marvel, the bullpen was an open book
40:38 Terrible distribution through Independent News
41:43 1960s culture contributed to Marvel's success?
43:19 DC old publishers were very narrow-minded
43:28 Martin Goodman | Spectacular Spider-Man b/w magazine
45:07 Did comics enrich you?
48:36 Outro
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R.I.P John Romita Sr. You were the reason I became interested in Spider-Man in the first place.
Me too, his Peter Parker is the definitive look for the character in my opinion
R.I.P., Titan!💖
Best Spider-Man artist. Without him, Spider-Man wouldn't have felt as real as he is today 😊😊
John Romita's art is so beautiful and very unique
Very unique because he copied it from Frank Robbins.
Rest in Peace to A Legend ✌️😢
We'll miss you and your greatest work MR ROMITA ... REST IN POWER and SAY HI TO STAN FOR US 👋✝🙏😢💯
Loved the inking story about Joe Maneely.
Me too - and the part where Joe explains about keeping the background and foreground separate so they don't clash - clarity and depth, because I find that a lot of todays books just blend it all together which makes it hard to see what 's going on - even the colours all blend together. Joe telling John how it should be done back then seems to have been lost these days, with a lot of artists still doing the 'DC Method' of not giving the impression of action etc. I think those of us who grew up with those early books are so very lucky.
I read marvel in the 60s. I felt like Stan was my Uncle.
It felt so personal. It felt like the readers were part of Marvel.
It's nice whenever I hear someone say good things about him.
I feel the same. RIP, nearly the enter Bullpen.
1 of my favorite Marvel comics artists & legends who drew the most memorable Spiderman ever! Kudos...
Wow…a mind like a steel trap. Telling stories about what happened in the forties like it was yesterday and making me feel like I was there. My fave Spidey artist!
John Romita drawn Spiderman had so much life and emotion in them.
His answer about feeling enriched is so relatable to anyone who feels like they’re not meeting the “ideal”, whatever that means. All of these artists/writers/editors are so humble and I wonder if they ever truly grasped how much they were contributing to the new American mythology. The most famous stories we see are still just adaptations and reworks of the ones they were creating all those years ago.
Just to illustrate that point, Benjamin Netanyahu literally quoted “with great power, comes great responsibility” at the A.I. Safety Panel with Elon Musk the other day.
Its refreshing to see John talk so positively about Stan Lee. Too often people say Stan was a hack, and contributed nothing to Marvels comics. John here clearly refutes that, showing how Stan inspired him to be the best artist he could be. John Romita truly is one of the comic legends 🙌
Tuska and Mooney say something similar in their interviews on this playlist
I think that's what separates Stan from a guy like Bob Kane. Stan understood how to lift people up and knew that was his overall job at Marvel, and John seemingly followed suit.
RIP, this man made the definitive Spider-Man for me
I did not want that interview to end. And all the Stan Lee haters should probably watch that interview. John will set you straight.
Agreed.
Although I kinda get the impression that the interviewer was trying to bait JRSR to do just that. Hate on Stan a lil bit.
Just my opinion.
A great interview of a great artist. RIP Mr. Romita.
Rest in peace, sir! Thank you for your great work!
"....those guys in the '70's were a disappointment to me.... those guys got into comics then left comics to get into posters and advertising...."
The ones that I can think of, although some trickled back here and there a little are Jim Steranko (although beginning in '66 he was gone by 1974), Barry (Windsor) Smith, Bernie Wrightson (came back for a few graphic novels), Neil Adams (beginning in '66 also was mostly gone by 1974), Mike Ploog, Mike Golden, aside from "Six from Sirius" Paul Gulacy was pretty quite in the 1980's, Tom Sutton (by 1984 mostly gone), Frank Brunner....
A humble and wonderful man. R.I.P.
So not used to seeing John Romita Sr. without his glasses.
Absolute gold. Each interview with these legendary creators are fulfilling on many levels. Thanks.
Exactly
Brilliantly eloquent, honest and fascinating.
❤This is great! John Romita sr along with Steve Ditko really set a helluva great standard on Spidey in the early years of the character! John later became art director in the 70’s and did absolutely beautiful work especially his portraits of people etc. What great time to be reading comics! ❤Thanks again for posting all these historically important interviews!👍🎯😎 I will be watching all of them!❤️
Another great artist and personality.
The best spider man ever.
I wonder how these great guys would if they were born in the 70's 80's
Would be awesome if they still could do some comics nowadays.
These interviews are absolute gold. Thank you soooo much for them.
When he speaks of the generation that came in in the 70s that was a disappointment. ...It made me wonder who he was talking about.
The only ones that come to mind that fit the description of "making posters and etc etc" were maybe Bernie Wrightson, Barry Windsor Smith, Kaluta and Jones.
The "Studio" artists.
I'm not sure why that would be though. As all of them had pretty measurable impact on the medium of comics. Especially my hero Bernie Wrightson.
The 70s were an interesting time...The explosion of not just comics but Fantasy and Sci Fi in both tv, film, and books, calenders and magazines (pini and sim).
I look at it as almost a benefit not a detriment to comics that there were alot more outlets for comic artists.
It is great to finally see the artists interviewed.
These interviews are AMAZING! (no pun intended) I wish they would go on for hours and hours! Thanks for posting these incredible videos!
Love that response, thanks. More are coming
@@ComicBookHistorians where you got this interviews?
Who is like John Romita. Let me count the ways. Not enough numbers. ❤️ you Johnny! Never stop! Ever since Steve stopped doing spider man the arguments continue. WHO'S THE BEST. ITS LIKE COMPARING WHITE WINE TO RED VINO. You're both the best!!!😝👍❤️❤️❤️❤️👀🎭
The ultimate spider-man artist for me
A true comic legend!
Wow! This video is a treasure! So glad to see such well made and vintage interviews! It's like the video was made yesterday! I can always listen to John Romita! Thanks again for such great, important interviews!
Glad you enjoyed it! Kudos to David for filming and recording them in the highest quality available at the time, enabling me to better remaster and edit them for the modern era. Making it feel like they were filmed yesterday was my primary goal. cheers!
Mission accomplished!
REST WELL, JOHN ROMITA and THANK YOU!
A masterful artist and cartoonist who Co Created (along with Stan Lee and Steve Ditko) one of my ALL TIME FAVORITE CHARACTERS: The Gorgeous and Rambunctious Redhead--
MARY JANE WATSON (-PARKER)!
Love this so much. Thank you, David Armstrong. R.I.P. to one of the GOATs.
Had no ideas those interviews even existed, thank you!
What? Another awesome one!? Yes! Thanks Dave and Alex! I love Spidey!
I very much remember back in grade school (1970s) how there was a movement by the Board of Education to encourage kids to read & excel in academics!!! I would go to the school library & find educational comics!!!! Some of those comics were produced by independent publishers and many of them featured biographical stories & classics like "Robinson Crusoe , The Count of Monte Christo & War of the worlds". Even Marvel & DC contributed featuring some of those classics!! I can remember the reason being that there was a study that revealed how American school children were behind academically compared to the children of other nations!!!🤔🤔🤔🤔
Wow. I just discovered your channel and this is a phenomenal interview. Thank you for keeping these LEGENDS and their era alive. Most importantly, it's great to just hear their thoughts without interruptions
Great interview. It seems he was not only a great artist, but also very smart and very observant. It was also nice (and important) to hear good things about Stan; while it's true that he was complicit in the ripping-off of the artists by the publishers, as well as the down-playing of the contribution made by people like Ditko and Kirby, he WAS instrumental in the creation of the Marvel universe.
RIP JOHN
Oh boy, this interview have tons of great details about the comics history that i've never seen before. Now i kinda understand why he said that he wouldn't support his son to get in the industry, cause he faced lots of frustration and mean people in his carrer.
What a great guy. And a true pro.
These are amazing! Everytime I see one interview with a great, I see another one I want to watch!
Riveting, wonderful interview So many emotions watching that. Thanks..
This is the best and most interesting interview I've heard with this great. The video format really encourages him to express his full thoughts, and so he gets much deeper into the subject that I've heard before (and I read a lot of his print interviews). So well done and thank you
Thanks for posting. What a treat.
Thanks. This was great!
Brilliant interview. Thanks for bringing it to CZcams!
This is great!
These are some great interviews!
These interviews are GOLD.
amazing interview. thank you
I don't know who was sitting on these interviews, but it's going to be a real treat going through them! Thanks very much!
Glad you like them! the video description explains all that.
Thank you for this! This man is an icon; his work is beautiful.
Thank you so much. Christmas came early! I am going to watch this over and over again. Your efforts are much appreciated!
Great interview
Fantastic interview.
Very interesting and informative.
Superb interview, a true joy to watch !
Great interview by one major artist , all his run on Spider-man and so kn and all the stuff his son does is still connected to the Marvel era. He seemed to have a great connection with Stan Lee, as it happens in life some people get along more easily than others even in a creation process. Great job at editing and showing those interviews. Thanks again.
Great interview! Thank you for uploading! But actually it's a sad story, about a genius, and how such big artists got badly treated from the outrageous chiefs! Unbelieveble and inhuman!
Amazing ... interview.
wow!
WOW!
Makes me wish I'd met him. Same with the Marie Severin interview.
❤
Romita twice had to take over two of marvels most popular titles, spidy and the ff, even when Kirby was doing the ff, lee due to staving off the deadline doom, had Romita re draw faces and figures, Lee felt just didn't measure up.
And Daredevil after Wally Wood
@@ComicBookHistorians Colan did better on D.D. though.
Romita couldn't follow Colan on Captain America either, no way.
Swan, Kirby, Ditko, Romita, Buscema, Adams.....all the greats are slowly leaving us.
Funny how Romita appeared to love Stan Lee while Ditko and Kirby despised him.
Not just Romita, a lot of artists and writers seemed to love Stan when you see or read interviews with them.
Because Kirby and Ditko we're doing the major books during that time. Which was Fantastic Four and Spider-Man. Kirby especially was just angered at the lack of credit, all of which Stan Lee was getting. In the end, we can say it was ego that destroyed Marvel's three brightest stars.
@@dilungmoveityafool777 I think you've hit the nail on the head there - all three had egos and that's what ultimately drove them apart which was a terrible shame, as together they created an amazing universe.
But to be fair, Kirby was eventually given the same credit in the book as Stan as the credits often promoted it as by both of them - a Lee Kirby production for example, and Ditko was given plotting and art credit as well (as much as Lee hated to do so since he was the editor and needed to oversee everything, and didn't want sales to slip), so they were getting credited for what they were doing while being paid very well too. Stan was the one who was promoting Kirby all the time in the Bullpen Pages, saying how good he was at plotting etc and gave him the title 'King', so I think Stan was Jacks biggest fan and was making sure we knew how good he was. I don't think Kirby appreciated what Lee's writing brought to the books during the 'Marvel Method' though, and Romita has said many times that Lee's writing elevated the books, and as Kirby never read them, he didn't appreciate Lees writing skill and what it did to improve the book, had he done so, he would have felt very differently. I often think Kirby resented the fact that Lee started as a gofer and underling to him and Joe Simon, and was now in charge, telling jack what to do etc, which harks back to your 'ego' comment.
This is an interesting interview with Romita where he actually mentions Kirby's problem about 3/4 of the way down:
twomorrows.com/comicbookartist/articles/06romita.html
@@garyl5128 Additionally, when someone is more or less five years younger than you, and comes both from a different economic upbringing, and manage to get hired due to their cousin being married to the boss, and feeling that |Lee ratted him and Simon out to Goodman leading to them getting fired before being able to walk in a few weeks, Yeah, Seeing the kid being head writer and editor in chief 20 years down the line and had to have been hard to abide,
@@jmen4ever257 They left because Goodman went back on his agreement about paying them royalties for their Captain America creation - that agreement was nothing to do with Stan and neither was their leaving.
Stan was always looking after the artists and trying to ensure they had work - that was another reason for the Marvel Method - rather than have the artist sitting around doing nothing waiting for a script, a chat in the office or over the phone etc for a plot then meant the artist could get on with work immediately. Stan took Jack back on two occasions because he wanted to ensure he had work - the second time was after all his creations at DC bombed and was blackballed there again, and despite his mean Funky Flashman nonsense. Seems that Stan was a far better friend to Jack than the other way round. Even though Roy and others had said if you take him back, don't let him write, Stan still gave Jack full control of the books he was on.
Jack would stiff colleagues to get work because for Jack it was all about 'putting food on the table' (just read the Dick Ayers bio, or Sean How's Marvel Comics: The Untold Story for example, with a comment to that effect from Joe Simon) which suggests he would say what was needed to get him work. Jack wasn't the nicest guy. I wouldn't believe a lot of the mean spirited nonsense about Stan that is out there. It's mostly from people who don't know what went on and certainly weren't there at the time. Pretty much everyone who was there at the time have nothing but good and positive things to say about Stan.
The Toddmeister outsold the Jazzy one on Spiderman a million times over.
It was Romita who made Spider-Man SPIDER-MAN. Todd is irrelevant in comparison.
@@lyndoncmp5751 the Toddmister didn't go and trace Frank Robbins.
If you liked Romitaman, then you have to say it was Frank Robbins who made Spiderman because he traced Frank Robbins.
@@drmidnight680-kz2le Quit making stuff up.
@@1971mav try and check out Johnny Hazard.
Thank you you for your work and dedication in doing these amazing interviews it’s really a historical document kudos indeed