I have to call you on the Kirby "Jalopy" shot though. That FF issue was on a skrull world that had a 1920s gangland culture. That flying fliver was right on the money.
Had the opportunity to meet JRJR at Phoenix Fan Fusion. Was able to tell him how much I appreciated his art and how I’d always remembered him being my favorite comic artist interview on the Spider-Man 1 DVD. How him talking about Spider-Man inspired me to grab my first comic, Ultimate Spider-Man. (Which I asked him to sign the first issue of). He told me that my words meant the world to him. One of the sweetest guys I’ve ever had the pleasure to meet and an amazing artist.
Love JRJR, I will say that he draws the weirdest kids tho. Big adult heads on little bodies. I can see how people think his art quality has dipped in recent years but he is getting old so it's bound to happen. I especially loved his art on the Kick-Ass series. His recent work in asm is still good in my opinion although I think it could benefit with a good inker.
@Dcam Aag I agree with everything you said except the part about a good inker. Scott Hanna is a great inker and worked with JRJR on his original ASM run with JMS in the early 2000s, (Which I believe was when his art was the best). In fact I met him at a con, really nice guy. But other than that you're spot on, in my personal opinion :)
While JR, Jr's art has declined some in recent years as we have seen, I would not say that decline is inevitable - some artists do not decline as much ( like Art Adams or Neil Adams ).
You can see how much JRJR's art evolved in less than 10 years, just between his original run on Iron Man and his second run in the "Armor Wars II" storyline. I always wondered if he took some inspiration for the evolution of his own art style from Frank Miller's own style.
He has always adapted his style to the times. He started out clearly trying to imitate the flawless craftsmanship of his father and John Buscema, but then took influences from Frank Miller, and later Jim Lee, and then in the post-Madureira "everything must be ridiculously cartoony" era he even started bringing that in. The video touches on how he keeps the styles and depictions of the world in his work contemporary in ways a lot of guys never managed (it mentioned Kirby, but Buscema, Perez, Byrne and many others struggled with it), but it doesn't really touch on how his art style itself has always kept up with the times while still always being recognizably his.
I think if you look at Miller's artwork in Sin City and compare it to Romita Jr's work in the late 80s through mid 90s (especially on titles like Daredevil), you can see Miller's influence pretty clearly.
Kick-Ass & his work on All Star Batman with Scott Snyder are the comics that got me into comics. I ADORE his art. Especially when he's put in a dark,gritty,street level titles. Also,his style is very blocky. And I happen to like that. He's also a damn good storyteller.
People seem to forget how important storytelling is in art. Romita Jr can tell a story super efficiently with clean, charismatic art. That is not an easy task
Chris , I just want to say that episode for episode and pound for pound your channel delivers , IMO, the most well thought out and researched content of any RU-vid channel dedicated to comics . While I'm not always familiar with the source material I always come away feeling enlightened due to the sheer amount of effort you put into each episode. Whe I'm not a real JR. JR fan, I do admire his storytelling abilities. I think he is best suited to characters like the Punisher or an original character like Kick Ass . I listened to an interview he once did , in which he seemed quite humble about his abilities, which softened me to the man himself . Sorry for running on so, just enjoy your channel so much that I thought you should know. Keep up the good work and thank you.
Honestly, I liked his art to a degree way back in the day, but I've disliked his work with a passion pretty much going forward from the 80s. Just don't like those blocky shapes, exaggerated elements (for some reason the way he draws lips and mouths, especially on women really irks me) that emerged in the 90s. Like at 7:04...to me that basically sums up the style over most of his run, and I don't like it. I understand he does convey a lot of action, movement, etc., but I don't like the specific elements.
I remember there being a comic cover from that era and it had bishop holding a gun that I thought was Herbie from the fantastic four because it was so exaggerated. Man without fear is definitely his magnum opus
I definitely put JRJR in the top 3 Punisher artists of all time. His work on the original Punisher: War Zone is fantastic. He draws Frank as this rectangular wall of muscle with a permanent scowl. Also beefcake. So much hairy chested, broad shouldered beefcake on display which is great too, female gaze definitely wasn't too common at the time or even now really.
@@mariio5090 Yea a lot of early Punisher stuff suffers from being kind of generic with the art and writing. It's the Chuck Dixon/John Romita JR Punisher: War Zone and Carl Potts/Jim Lee Punisher: War Journal stuff that's really outstanding
JR Jr has been my personal fav artist since the 90's. Love his work! And not just because of the style, but because he is one of the best visual storytellers of all time!
John Romita Jr is such a formative artist to me. I don't think I would've fallen in love with Spider-Man as a character if it wasn't for his run in the early 2000s
@@BruceWayne-ri4wr I disagree. I still like his work on all star batman and his more recent work on Spider-Man as well. I don't think he was a great fit for superman but otherwise I still like him. I just think he's an acquired taste so I get why people aren't always fond of him
@@BruceWayne-ri4wr I pretty much place him in the same category as Ed McGuinness. All depends on which characters he is drawing. It's kind of weird honestly lol. Some characters he can do well, and others...not so much.
I like when someone else gives due credit to inkers: not to take anything away from JRJR, but his Al Williamson inked stuff achieved something unique for both of their careers. A while back you already noticed that Williams is half of Jim Lee’s career. Inkers matter, a lot.
Didn't find John Romita Jr's work until his spider man stuff, with Dusk and Identity Crisis and Morlun. That and the Sentry mini series. It was so stunningly good, he was probably the first comic book artist I noticed.
I started comics with JRJrs first X-Men run, and then followed him to Daredevil (with gorgeous Williamson inks!). I think his evolution to his blocky style laid the groundwork for me to fall in love with Kirby's Fourth World Era art, which struck me as extremely ugly until my late 30s/ early 40s. Now I "get" it.
I always thought my problem with JRJr. is that I don't like how he draws necks. His paneling is great tho and makes it reading fun. It's also what I do appreciate about Frank Miller's art (even when it really doesn't look appealing like in Dark Knight Strikes again) that the paneling always looks appealing. What I think is weird that his "classic" artwork looks more appealing to me, despite me seeing how his page layout improved a lot. I think it's the blockyness, which often doesn't do it for me, and inking (in certain comics)
JRJR is my all time favorite Spiderman artist I especially love his ASM run with Roger Stern. One more inker who really enhanced his work is Frank Giacoia.
I get some of the criticism but I love his art. I have stayed away from books because of Liefeld's art and had to endure Larsen's art because I collected Spiderman. Talk about cartoony then there Humberto Ramos.
No one achieves anything in life completely on their own. His name absolutely 100% got his foot in the door, but his talent and his professionalism gave him his career. In an era when a lot of "top" pencillers were struggling to turn in two issues a year, he was turning in two issues a month that were as good or better.
JR Jr. Was one of my favourite artists growing up, back then I would be certain to learn the name of the artist if a comic would make an impression on me. And I distinctly remember that Daredevil comic, it was dark and moody, it wasn't exactly "pretty" but it was indeed powerful art and great storytelling. I was a huge of his run on Spider-Man on the 90s and I even remember I had an issue of X-Men that I didn't even know it was his art but you showed snippets of the art in this video so I know now it was his too( and I wasn't big on the X-Men back then but I did love the art on that book). You make a great point of saying that his work is most effective when paired with the right inker, but the same could be said with the colourist, whose work is really important specially since the 2000s to define the look of a comic. I think his cartoony style works better with simpler, mostly flatter colors, overrendering doesn't do him any favours. He is one of my all time favourites not only in doing action but also subtle character moments like those two Rogue panels you featured in this video, he can do excellent subtle emotional "performances" that make each character feel human. He's one of the best ever Spiderman artist without a shadow of a doubt, and something I think it contributes to that is he's one of the few who has been able to get that "creepy crawler" aesthetic that Steve Ditko gave him, something very distinct from any other superhero, that makes Spider-Man a bit of a scary, lonley figure in the night. The cover of that book about the Romitas is a perfect example, is probably one of the best artwork of Spider-Man ever made for me, it encapsulates the mistery and eerieness that I think he's one of the few living comicartist can create.
I was just about to tweet last night that I need a new Comic Tropes episode. Instead, I watched an episode I hadn't seen. Now today there's a new episode. Yaaaay!!!!!!!
Love Romita Jr. art.. its an adquired taste, his style would be great for a animated series.. there is a certain logic on his style that makes it recognizable..
That's because of his fundamentals. The guy understands on a deep level how to render three dimensional figures in two dimensions, which 99% of comics artists never fully grasp.
Romita Sr. Is my favorite version of Spider-Man. When I imagine Spider-Man, my minds eye pictures Romita’s Sr’s version. I’ve never been a fan Romita Jr. I just don’t get the appeal.
Loved this episode! Jrjr is my favorite artist! I remember distinctively copying his drawings when I was a child/teenager. He was the fist artist that I recognized the style and hoped I would see more of on the next issue!
As much as this is an interesting overall review of JRJR's art and career, bringing up the various inkers who worked with him informs just as much if not more about his pencil work.
That's how comics were made in the old days, penciller doesn't need to fine tune every little detail, otherwise why even bother having an inker? The inker work was always to embellish and provide volume and contrast, if they are there for tracing the lineart then you don't really need them , specially with the technology improvement of being able to capture the pencils without even need for inked lines
@@Shinmsl yeah but this video is about the artist. I don't remember any videos taking time to focus on different inkers the artist has worked with to such an extant.
Came here to say the exact same thing. Storm debuted her punk look in UNCANNY X-MEN #173 which was drawn by Paul Smith; JRJ began his run on the book halfway through #175. (Smith in 2008: "I did a number of portraits, all quite lovely and feminine. As a joke, I included a shot of her as Mr. T. You know, the kind of shot where they HAVE to go the other way. Weezie [X-Men editor Louise Simonson]'s response? 'They’re going to hang us whichever way we go. Let's commit the murder.' I argued it was a joke and a monstrously bad idea but, given my departure following 175 was set prior to beginning my run, my vote didn’t count. So I did what I could with what I had left... So we went with the Mohawk ...But once you get into the whole leather and stud thing it was a bad joke that got way out of hand.")
JR Jr is maybe my 3rd favorite artist (after Madureira and McGuiness), I just love the way his stylized figure work combines with his great understanding of visual storytelling. I think my favorite period of his artwork was the late 80s to mid 90s, when I think he really fine-tuned his style into what most people think of when you mention him but before he seemed to start phoning in some of the posing of his figures. I personally feel like Romita was at the peak of his powers as an artist then, despite the writing on those stories fluctuating in quality pretty significantly over that span, starting around 1988ish with his Daredevil run with Ann Nocenti through his second Iron Man run with Byrne (my personal favorite single run Romita Jr as an artist), to Punisher with Chuck Dixon, then his second stint on Uncanny X-Men with Scott Lobdell, his Daredevil MWF mini with Frank Miller, and finally his Spider-man Lost Years mini with DeMatteis. I also love what inkers like Dan Green, Bob Wiacek and Scott Williams bring to his work much more than Klaus Janson (whom he's worked with fairly exclusively since he returned to the Spidey books in the mid-90s). It's not that Janson is bad (far from it), it's just that I feel like his pencils are accentuated much better by inkers like Green and Wiacek.
This is so good. Most criticism comes from people who could only dream of his career. There is not enough appreciation for him finding his own voice and developing such a cool style. Thanks for this coverage.
So you think people who don't like Romita Jr's art are just jealous of his success? If you like his art that's cool, plenty of people do. But you can't expect everyone to. Art is subjective.
While I did really enjoy JRJR's early 90's X-Men run (little touches, such as his distinct 'pointy' claws for Wolverine). I was definitely one of those won over by Joe Madureira. The late 80's to 90's was such a great era for X-Men artists.
@@jawbone78 The opposite for me. There are some characters that JRJR’s blocky style really doesn’t work with IE Storm. Meanwhile Joe Mad is still one of the best artists X-Men has ever had.
@@scinnyc His art was a massive inspiration to me growing up. I'd easily put him up alongside the greats of comics: The Kuberts, John Byrne, George Perez etc I wish he still drew more frequently.
Great video as usual, Chris! Romita Jr is one of my favourite comic book artists of all time, and I think that sometimes readers might overlook the superb storytelling because of the more angular style. I think another great book of his was his 6 issue run on Black Panther back in 2006
When the time came that it was impossible to continue to collect everything that existed, I had to narrow it down somehow - and so nowadays I collect three things: Hulk, JRJr and John Byrne. Collecting those three suffice. Thanks for the amazing channel!
I had a stretch through the mid-2000s when I was almost exclusively collecting JRJR (and Chris Bachalo), as much as I also attribute that to being in my early 20s and putting my priorities elsewhere away from comics (which I had to rectify throughout my 30s).
I love John JR, specially his Spider-man and mostly his HULK run with bruce Jones. his style looks great on a bulky character like the hulk. With Superman beeing my favorite, his work really didn't meshed with me on Superman, seeing i feel that he needs to look a very sertain way, where people can experiment with someone like the hulk, make him look brutal and gnarly etc, felt his style worked on spider-man as well..
Romita JR is on my top 5 favorite Spider-Man artists list. His work can sometime look odd? But I can never say I hate his work as I love his blocky art style.
You said it all better than I could! 100% agree with everything here. John is my favourite artist of all time and there’s a indescribable feeling of comfort and nostalgia whenever I see his work.
When I was younger and drawn (pun intended) more towards the "hip" style of Joe Mad and the Image guys, I didn't like JRJR's art all that much. As I grew older, though, I began to appreciate his style more and more. I see JRJR the same way I see PAD among writers: They have a a very, VERY good grasp of the fundamentals of their respective crafts. They allow for stylistics every now and then, but nothing that's too flashy that would, in the long run, serve to outdate them severely. Mostly, they lean more towards the basics--and bring them up to 11.
I was enthralled with Joe Mad when he broke onto the scene in the mid-90s. I was fully convinced at that time that he was a GOAT just a year into his career. I look back on those X-Men issues now (I still come back to Age of Apocalypse every couple of years, mostly out of nostalgia), and his art makes me cringe. JRJR was great then, and great now. His work holds up.
Loved this episode! His X-Men run was what got me to fall in love with comics (and Rogue) back in the day, so be one of my favorites. Also, short-hair, more-than-a-little psychotic Rogue = best Rogue, so there's that, too!
Jr Jr's work on Uncanny Xmen from 175-311 is phenomenal. Uncanny Xmen #207's cover, is to me at least, THE most iconic Wolverine art EVER. Juniors art simply gets the job done in the best way sequential art should be; precise, easy to read and flowing in its storytelling. One of my major influences for sure
I’ve always loved Romita. His run on Spider-Man with strazyiski is awesome. His punisher war zone was huge and scary, with big sausage fingers firing 10mm guns. He was always a guy with a lot of guns but that was the first time I thought “This guy is a gorilla who will tear you to pieces with his bare hands”. Externals. Superman. Daredevil. Hulk. I got em all. If John is doing the artwork I’m buying it, same with Alex Ross.
John Romita is one of the greatest legacy artists left in the business, I see a lot of people shitting on his art style these days and it pisses me off to no end, very few people has his storytelling skills
I won't deny that he can frame a panel and a story really well and draw some really dynamic stuff. But I hate the way he actually draws things I've hated it for pretty much my entire life. His eye is exceptional for literally every aspect of drawing except drawing something that looks good. I'll give an example: a few years ago I was reading some DC comic he was doing at the time. Think it was justice league related. In every single panel Superman was in he drew like a ring of individual hatch marks/lines around the outside of the face. Going in slightly towards the center of the face from the edge. They served absolutely no purpose except to add unnecessary and distracting lines to the face. They weren't indicating any kind of shading, they weren't representing contours of the face in any way (they were all pointing inwards regardless of location and with zero regard for the actual contours of the face). The lines were not only unnecessary, they actively made the art look worse for absolutely no reason. They didn't add anything visually, they were flat, they were distracting. It was an artistic choice that has utterly baffled me ever since. He's always had unnecessary and distracting lines in his work but this book was the worst I'd ever seen his art. It was like he just didn't give a shit what he was putting on the page anymore. This isn't just me hating on messier art styles though by the way. I love those when they're well done. But his doesn't even feel like that. It feels more like a guy trying to draw loosely but then somehow still being unbelievably stiff and rigid if that makes sense. And good lord he needs to ease up on fabric folds.
One can respect the man a lot, but something we can't deny is that at some point, he just decided to start drawing HORRIBLE faces. His latest Spider-man run with Wells, oh my god they don't even look human.
I haven't read a ton of Bachalo's work,but from what I've seen,his design is great,like on Steampunk,but he reuses the same headshots over and over and over again,to the point of distraction for me.
Chris Bachalo and Humberto Ramos are two of the most recognisable modern Marvel artists because their style is so distinct. Would love to see Chris' take on them, as they seem to be just as divisive as modern JRJR.
JRJr is one of my favorite artist. His artwork is distinct and unique to him. Like one glance i can already tell it's his artwork. Maybe some of his other artwork are a bit meh, overall I still think that it is unique.
I absolutely loved Star Brand. I would read and re read my comics over and over and over and over. I think Starbrand by JRJR was an incredible series and the character Starbrand is forever one of my all time favorites.
I thought he was great when he was doing "house style" under Layton's Iron Man inks. I remember being disappointed with Layton's fill in pencils (#139) and happy when JRJR returned. But yeah; his DD work took some getting used to (as did Kirby's weirdness, as you mentioned). Love them both now. Thanks for deconstructing his work -- I always wondered how he came in on his dad's coattails (and with a similar style in the beginning). Great vid!
The very first image I recall seeing in a comic shop as a kid was in a spider-man "who's who" book. I flipped through fast and saw what's still my favorite inage..image... JRJR's Punisher. Standing there in a trenchcoat with an uzi. I was already a superhero fan but his style stood out in a way that gripped me and I'm sure was the single most important reason why I'm a still a Punisher fan to this day.
I feel like people tend to exaggerate JRJR's individual drawing and say thats bad but somehow downplaying his biggest strength of readability....his comic reads so well! I read Neil Gaiman/JRJR Eternals run and even though Neil's dialogue and such was kind of clunky imo JRJR's storytelling and transitions b/w panels were so great....I never had to go back and double check anything because I could understand the story pretty ok. imo the comic doens't really need individual beautiful panels....as long as it reads good and has good stories that's what's most important.
thisreally hit the spot.. Knowledgable and insightful to many of us who began reading (and drawing sometimes) comic books from a time almost exactly concurrent with the origin of his professional career,. Of the many salient points made about JR's style, the one about how his fights always depict the utmost consequence of motion (blows, dives, etc_) are what really lit this kid's fire about his Spiderman back in the day-his fights were the best--like the big dukeroo for real almost every time. That does say something about his appeal overall in relation to most basic and essential essence of the form.
I have been saving this episode for over a year in my "Back up Chris Rations Cannister" . I am about 5 minutes into it and I am glad I saved it. Chris is obviously a genius with this stuff. You can tell it brings him genuine joy 👍 You did indeed gush, Chris, but did so in an adult refined manner which my spazzy presence would have impossible "Oh my god!! Dude!! Look at the foreshortening on this panel!!! "Look at at the adorable yet frightened look on Kitty's face in this full page spread" "Dan Green's inks finally let his actual style breath!!" Blah, blah, blah...so thank you Chris, for being the grown up in the room....WHO ALSO TOTALLY LIKES MY GEEKY KID STUFF!!!😂🤣🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘 PS. Nepotism. Bah! Next thing you know some pundit over in the world of rock music will attempt to suggest that Wolfgang Van Halen enjoyed the benefits of... whoops, my point seems to be getting away from me, so I will just slowly remove my fingers from this keyboard and slowly slip out of the room....
I always thought it strange when people describe jrjr as too blocky when kirby is king . I do think his man without fear was his peak with its heavy frank miller inspired chunky blocky lines. I feel the same about miller he had a peak that was great after developing his style a little bit from the house style but continued to devolve into a simpler style . Romita jr is great
I'll be totally honest,I never liked Romita,nor Kirby's artwork. I know it's pretty sacrilegious to say anything bad about Kirby,but I've never been a fan. I started collecting and reading comics in the early 80s as a kid,and John Byrne was my favorite back then,but then as a teen Jim Lee became my favorite.
It's interesting when you bring up Kirby being blocky as that's precisely when I stopped liking Kirby's art. His stuff from the 60s is top tier and clearly shows why he's "the king", but his later stuff just doesn't look good to be.
@Grant Baugh To be honest I dont have a ton of mileage with Kirbys art I guess. More of just the stan lee marvel drama unfortunately. Only actual books II own with Kirby art is a superman Jimmy Olsen with weird collage style backgrounds and an issue of Mister Miracle but I love 'em.
I think the difference is Kirby was pretty innovative back in the day, but I don't want to see Kirby's art style in 1995, 2010, or 2022, so I don't care for John Romita, Jr.'s work.
Just like you appreciate Romita's depiction of rain, I love Kirby's scenes featuring bodies of water. An ocean panel by the artist will make you FEEL the pitch and swell of the waves. His tenure at DC included many two page spreads (in Kamandi and New Gods) of roiling seas that are among the most kinetic art (of any genre) that I've ever seen.
Great video, Chris. I think both your praise and criticism of John Romita, Jr's art was fair and well thought out. Plus, I appreciate you mentioning Tom Spurgeon's passing. I had no idea he was no longer with us. I did some work for The Comics Journal back in the day and Tom was my editor. Really cool guy and he will be missed.
I met JRJR at a convention once; I had him sign several of my single issues during his work on ASM with J.Michael Strazinsky. He said the spidey team was especially proud of their work on the 9/11 issue. He was a nice guy and I hope to see him again.
I loved his first run in Spider-Man and X-Men. His style started to change with DareDevil - which I still liked - then solidified into what it is today which can be a bit of hit and miss. I don't dislike his recent style but I do prefer his earlier work a lot more.
Man. All this time, I've been (sometimes) hating his art and it was the inker's fault! I like JRJ's work much of the time. I just hate when I'm reading a big storyline with a realistic style of art and suddenly it switches to his "more cartoony" style. It's just too much of a contrast.
I was waiting for the "deadline style" thing. Anyone who's worked in this understands it. Anyway, on of my fav artists. Inking him can be a callange, but in a good way. Kep up the great work!
I watched this start-to-end, but I still find JRJR's art disagreeable. In my opinion, his art works for Kick-ass since it's fresh, but I can't get over over my dislike of his style after his work on Avengers vs. X-Men, Avengers Vol 4, and his recent foray into DC Comics, as you mentioned in this video. AvX was egregiously unsightly to me when I wanted to like that event so, so much, personally, and his DC work does not depict characters, such as Superman, in their appropriate size, stature, and emotions. Those are the instances & takes that I immediately recall, but I'll still roll my eyes when I'm going through an event reading order and spot his work on a cover, such as 2022's Judgment Day Marvel event. His "deadline style" means he'll always have a job and I'll still read comics he works on when I need to for reading orders, but I am not a fan nor appreciator.
Yes. This will be good. I liked him up to JMS spider-man run; since then I haven't liked his art. 80s-90s marvel was his prime. I've never liked his DC work.
i'd love to see more videos like this that cover various artist's style change over the years! i recommend you check out hirohiko araki's work on jojo's bizarre adventure. it starts out as a weird fist of the north star clone, but eventually develops into an INSANELY unique art style, it's like looking at a hall of greek and roman statues.
As someone who has despised Romita Jr.'s art for a while, this gave me a bit of perspective. I still think his character work is extremely ugly, but I get now that he isn't a talentless hack. I now have some respect for him as a hard worker, despite really hating his style.
JRJR is a personal favorite. Granted, He’s a tent pole on my favorite character in Spidey but that’s inconsequential- no matter Who He’s drawing, it looks Phenomenal. He can do action AND emotional scenes incredibly well. He’s truly one The All Time Greats.
Has anyone checked berserk? That late art, that was digital,the faces of some characters reminds me of John Romita jr. Has anyone noticed some similarities?
Sorry, I can't stand the way he draws faces, especially the characters' noses all look the same, in a bad way. Mary Jane Watson's face, shown briefly in the video, is a disaster.
One of the best of all time. His blocky draftsmanship ,his meticulous line work has made him one of the most unique ones artists that have ever graced mainstream consciousness👍😛😃
You should review (Megadeth's) Cryptic Writings from Chaos Comics... Dave Mustaine's #1 issue was great. Probably still cover priced. I remember reading it and feeling like I was reading a music video, which I'm sure doesn't make any sense...
I like Rominta Jr's style. Reminisent to the artists that I grew up with: John and Sal Buscema, Ross Andru (wondered if you covered his Spider-Man run in the 70s?) Great synopsis as per usual. UK fan.👌
Grew up with the Andru/Esposito Spidey, but we can't forget about Gil Kane and his incredible Spidey work especially with John Sr inking. Gil had his style and tropes, but they were sharp and dynamic.
It's dumbfounding to me how the never did a cartoon based on his art style and designs, it would be amazing for Spider-Man or Daredevil. I think it would be amazing if the did a Spider-Man show where he's actually an adult (like since he has been most of his career) instead of always taking him back to high school every single time. I think using JRJR style would do wonders for it.
I have never and will never understand the people who don't like JRJR. To me he's easily, by far and away the best artist of the 90s. In an era of "rock star" artists, he was literally the only one with any fundamentals. He's the only worthy successor to the three all-time greats: Kirby, Romita Sr, and Buscema.
I think my favorite work of his is his Return of the Monster work on the Hulk. He brought in a lot of mood and mystery in what was an excellent paranoid, noirish story. I remember as a kid really enjoying his work on Amazing Spider-Man, but then absolutely hating it when he took over X-Men I mean, he was following Paul Smith's really stunning work on that title, so it felt like a big step down. I didn't start appreciating him again until his ASM collaboration with J. Michael Straczynski, which really opened my eyes to how great he had become.
I really love his art. I was collecting Spider-Man around the time he was drawing it in the 90s and I would always go out of my way to buy a comic drawn by him. A lot of my comics have art from John Romita Jr.
"There is an energy to his action" Yup! I understand many don't like his style but I love his art. I admit many artist are better than JRJr but his art expresses energy so well that I can feel it.
As someone who hates JRjr's blocky faces and sometimes has trouble getting through some story arcs because of it this video gave me other things to focus on and maybe now I can be more forgiving about the faces.
While not a fan of JRJR art on Spiderman or Superman, I like his work on Thor and even Heart of Darkness! Also, I respect his hard work and dealing with the nepotism involved with his career.
wholeheartedly agree on strong points about JRJR's artistic style. His storytelling even in his old works were still as awesome as ever. Granted, JRJR's style is not everyone's cup of tea. he's not known as flashy artists who does pinups well. But his work ethics his unmatch speed and crisp details and solid layout is unmatched he also outgrew or outdid his critics if there were many about nepotism and already stepped out of his father's shadow years ago. I believe the nearest or at least similar style artist I could think of was Jon Bogdanove. But JRJR's style so distinct his art even made it on screen scenes in the movie kickass! I loved his early Uncanny X-Men run. Makes me wonder and curious what's the disagreements all about that made him leave his X-Men run?
