John Romita Sr. Covers The Amazing Spider-Man #600

33 Posted on Jun 30, 2009 in articles by Conor Kilpatrick |


The variant cover to The Amazing Spider-Man #600:



In many ways, John Romita Sr. is my definitive Spider-Man artist. When I think of Mary Jane Watson or Norman Osborn, or hell, even Spider-Man, I tend to picture them the way that John Romita Sr. drew them.

Comments

Nice.  I've always liked how Spider-Man's primary color uniform can really stand out beautifully in the right place.  This one of those places.

Posted by JeffR on 06/30/09 at 09:18 AM

This is the year of Marvel 600 Titles.

Posted by doddzilla on 06/30/09 at 09:20 AM

This is kind of a subdued cover for the #600 issue. Compared to the Thor and Cap issues. I like it though. I guess that's Vin's sister at the bottom?

Posted by patio on 06/30/09 at 09:50 AM

I love JRSR classic look - it works so well with Spidey.

Posted by Notahiro on 06/30/09 at 09:53 AM

I don't know why, but this doesn't work for me.  It looks like a very generic cover.  Maybe I just don't get it.  What is it that you guys like?  Is it the throwback style?  The layout?  None of it is working for me.

Am I dead inside?

Posted by stuclach on 06/30/09 at 10:14 AM

@ patio:  I'm pretty sure that it is Betty Brant at the bottom.

Posted by odino1 on 06/30/09 at 10:22 AM

I hope I get this cover. I'm so sick of Alex Ross.

Posted by PTAhole on 06/30/09 at 10:24 AM

@PTAhole   Me too dude. I'm getting this cover or the Romita Jr. cover

Posted by RoiVampire on 06/30/09 at 10:26 AM

I'm a fan.

Posted by BrianBaer on 06/30/09 at 10:26 AM

holy shit.  he's still got it

Posted by Hank on 06/30/09 at 10:38 AM

you can really see his influence on marcos martin

Posted by Hank on 06/30/09 at 10:39 AM

@ stuclach

For me it is definitely the throw back style, though I don't know if is "throwback" if it has been Romita Sr.'s style since the 60s. It isn't particularly dynamic, but Romita Sr. is the definitive Spider-Man artist for me, so that's why I like it. Also, you are clearly dead inside.

Posted by Andrew on 06/30/09 at 10:43 AM

Wow, incredible. Thanks for posting.

Posted by kwisdumb on 06/30/09 at 11:38 AM

@Andrew - I never followed Spiderman as a youngster, so that might be what I am missing.  (Or it could be the lack of a soul??)

Posted by stuclach on 06/30/09 at 11:42 AM

That's an awesome cover.

Posted by Jurassicalien on 06/30/09 at 11:59 AM

JRSR draws the best 'Osborn hair'   Even as a kid, I was like, 'What the hell is with that?'

Posted by MisterJ on 06/30/09 at 12:18 PM

You normally see JR JR. do artwork; but it's nice to see SR. do something for a change. At least I havent seen the older Romita do anything lately. It's definitely a throwback to the old (and better) days of Spidey.

Isnt there like 100 other varient covers for ASM #600 though? I know Alex Ross did one as well

Posted by TheNextChampion on 06/30/09 at 01:14 PM

I wish other artists would learn to draw Norman and Harry as distinctly as Romita Sr. Half the time I can't tell the two apart.

Plus he makes the Osborn hair look realistic (I imagine their hair as being similar to the way some black guys' hair grows, which to some might be odd on two white guys, but not unprecidented).

Posted by captbastrd on 06/30/09 at 04:00 PM

Awesome!

Posted by Neb on 06/30/09 at 04:14 PM

@stuclach: Yeah, I'm with you, it doesn't quite work for me either. JR SR is my favorite Spidey artist ever, but what he brings to the table here sort of clashes with the BND feel. Put it another way: what if they had Todd McFarlane do this? People would say it'd remind them too much of the circa 1990 era. But JR SR is sort of like a sacred cow, so this slides. Maybe he actual issue will include a lot of stuff from Spidey through the years or something, in which case the cover might make more sense. But as it is now, yeah, it seems kinda anachronistic and generic to me.

Posted by flapjaxx on 06/30/09 at 04:31 PM

@flapjaxx - Maybe we are both dead inside???

Posted by stuclach on 06/30/09 at 05:55 PM

Does it hurt?

Now you know what it's like for me not being a JMS or Jim Lee fan. Hurty.

Posted by josh on 06/30/09 at 05:58 PM

I'd love to see a DITKO cover!

Posted by marcushill73 on 06/30/09 at 07:01 PM

@josh: When your not a fan of those two; you have a black hole inside. Not liking JR SR. is just fine :)

Now I wanna go and get the Spider-Man theme song on my ipod. Why havent I got it earlier, I wonder?

Posted by TheNextChampion on 06/30/09 at 07:21 PM

The variant cover his son did for 600 - it might actually be the main cover - is also excellent. Simple, but Spidey.

Posted by TheDudeVonDoom on 06/30/09 at 08:57 PM

John Romita is THE definitive Spider-Man artist.  Everyone that came after him until the 80's was pretty much just aping him, and no one else really had any impact until McFarlane.  Even Johnny Jr. copied his Dad for the first leg of his career.  

 I believe his last work was the cover of the Obama issue of ASM, which was obviously overshadowed. 

Posted by cormano on 06/30/09 at 09:42 PM

Awesome.  That is what those characters are supposed to look like.  Sr. is the man.

Posted by clintaa on 06/30/09 at 10:56 PM

Great cover. the man still has it!

Posted by JohnVFerrigno on 07/01/09 at 12:35 AM

JRJr is my definitive Spdey artist but it's easy to see that JRSr influenced a lot of people and his style is still reconizable and definitive, not just for Spider-Man but comics in general.  I'd also love to see a Rick Leonardi cover.

Posted by JesTr on 07/01/09 at 01:55 PM

@Josh - Yes it hurts.  I keep trying to fill the hole with condescending posts and smarmy comments, but they don't seem to help.

Maybe Crack is the answer?  Seemed to work for Dave Chappel.

Posted by stuclach on 07/01/09 at 09:51 PM

I figured it out! I don't so much like the coloring. Other than that...

Posted by PaulMontgomery on 07/01/09 at 09:53 PM

decent art, terrible coloring

Posted by gwiz on 07/02/09 at 11:25 PM

i agree with Paul and gwiz, the coloring is quite atrocious

Posted by Hank on 07/03/09 at 05:01 AM

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