Charles Burns was among a trio of gifted cartoonists to emerge from The Evergreen State College in the mid-1970s. Together, Burns and fellow Evergreen alumni Matt Groening and Lynda Barry altered the course of contemporary comix and left an indelible mark on regional culture. Burns makes a rare return visit to his native Seattle on Saturday, October 30 to celebrate the publication of his amazing new graphic novel X'ED OUT with a slide talk, art exhibition, and book signing at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery. His idiosyncratic horror-story sensibility is perfect for the Halloween-eve occasion. Burns began his career as a fine artist in Seattle while publishing illustrations and his "Big Baby" cartoon in The Rocket magazine, developing his signature stark-contrast rendering style. Burns also composed covers for Bruce Pavitt's seminal Sub Pop cassette fanzine, the forerunner to the celebrated record label. On a visit to New York, Burns came to the attention of cartoonist Art Spiegelman, who subsequently published his work in the influential anthology RAW. The rest, as they say, is history. Spiegelman published the collected BIG BABY on his RAW imprint, and Seattle-based publisher Fantagraphics Books produced his influential BLACK HOLE serial, as well as graphic albums SKIN DEEP and EL BORBAH (in addition to reprinting BIG BABY.)

X'ED OUT continues the artist's examination of the furtive insecurities of adolescence becoming manifested in bizarre and horrific consequences. In a departure from Burns' prior work, the current graphic novel is presented in full color.
The reception at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery, located at 1201 S. Vale Street, will feature a brief slide talk and book signing. An exhibition of recent fine art prints will be complemented by Burns' original drawings and related Sub Pop ephemera courtesy of label co-founder Bruce Pavitt.

Please join us to celebrate the lasting legacy of Charles Burns on Seattle's civic culture and the debut of his graphic novel X'ED OUT on Saturday, October 30 from 6:00 to 9:00 PM. Spooky Halloween costumes are welcome but not required. All ages, free admission.

Charles Burns né en 1955 à Washington a toujours évolué dans les métiers de la création, Burns ne s'intéresse à la bande dessinée qu'après sa rencontre avec Art Spiegelman dans les années 80, lorsque celui-ci l'invite à participer à Raw Magazine.

Defective stories : un monde de personnages hybrides, à l'animalité troublante. Le détective semble tout droit sorti du cabinet du docteur Moreau.

Big baby : cet album à l'humour tordu explore de façon étonnante les désordres mentaux et la violence ordinaire, dans une ambiance de noirceur empreinte de cauchemar.

Fleur de peau : réunit trois histoires sur l'Amérique et ses peurs, dans lesquelles l'auteur s'inspire d'éléments disparates pour créer un univers névrosé et macabre. Derrière son humour décalé, surgissent la violence et la folie du modèle américain.

Black Hole : dans une petite ville américaine, ambiance années 1970, d'étranges phénomènes se déclarent chez les adolescents. Une nouvelle maladie, surnommée "la peste Ado" ou "la crève", avec des symptômes aussi variés qu'imprévisibles, quelques bosses, une vilaine irruption cutanée ou même l'apparition de nouveaux membres, va brutalement changer les rapports entre les jeunes.

Charles Burns (born September 27, 1955 in Washington, D.C.) is an award-winning U.S. cartoonist and illustrator. His father was an oceanographer for the government. The family moved frequently, living in Colorado, Maryland and Missouri before settling in Seattle when Burns was in fifth grade.He is renowned for his meticulous, high-contrast and creepy artwork and stories. He lives in Philadelphia with his wife, painter Susan Moore, and their two young daughters. Charles Burns' earliest prominent works include illustrations for the Sub Pop fanzine and contributions to Art Spiegelman's comic magazine RAW.Most of his short stories, published in various supports over the decades, have been collected in the three volumes of the "Charles Burns' Library" (hardcovers from Fantagraphics Books): El Borbah (1999), Big Baby (2000), and Skin Deep (2001). (A fourth and last volume, Bad Vibes, has yet to be published, which would have the Library collecting the entirety of his pre-Black Hole comics work.)From 1993 to 2004, he serialized the 12 chapters of his Harvey Award-winning graphic novel Black Hole (12 issues from Kitchen Sink Press and Fantagraphics Books). In October 2005, he released a slightly remastered collection of Black Hole (hardcover from Pantheon Books).

In 2007 Burns contributed material for the French made animated horror anthology Peur(s) Du Noir. Burns' high-profile illustrations include work for the Iggy Pop album Brick by Brick. His art was also licensed by The Coca-Cola Company to illustrate product and advertising material for their failed OK Soda product. More recently, he has worked on advertising campaigns for Altoids and portrait illustrations for The Believer. In the early 1990s, his Dogboy stories were adapted by MTV as a live-action serial for Liquid Television. In 1991, choreographer Mark Morris commissioned him to create illustrations that were then used as a basis for his version of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker, calling it The Hard Nut.

 

   

                                

       

www.adambaumgoldgallery.com/burns_charles/Burns_Charles.htm
www.fantagraphics.com

Tanino LIBERATORE est né  le 12 avril 1953 à Quadri en Italie.

Entre 1974 et 1978, Tanino Liberatore collaborera avec plusieurs agences de publicité avant de rencontrer en 1978 un certain Tamburini et de commencer à publier ses premières bandes dessinées dans Cannibale, le magazine de ceux qui n’aiment pas le poulet.En 1980 sort le premier numéro du magazine Frigidaire, magazine étonnant qui se bornera à publier de la bande dessinée au lieu de parler de l’actualité des réfrigérateurs.
Liberatore y réalise les célèbres illustrations des séries Bordello et Client, puis y développe avec Tamburini les premières aventures de Ranxerox : Ranxerox à New-York, Ranxerox : Bon anniversaire Lubna, mais aussi Ranxerox fait l’Espagne, inédit à ce jour.un énorme carton planétaire ! un style de BD très violente dans la lignée du rétro futuriste de la fin des années 50 version "Liberatore - Tamburini "....

    

Ce qui marque le plus dans le style de Liberatore c’est sa connaissance en perspective et sa façon de dessiner les êtres humains de façon très détaillés, son cadrage très comics made in US ainsi qu’une mise en couleur “franche” sans détour. Encore une grosse pointure de la BD et de l’illustration.

  

Au début des années 80, comme tout bon italien qui se respecte, Liberatore décide de conquérir le monde. Il réalise des couvertures de magazines et des affiches pour d’importants festivals, dessine la pochette du disque de Frank Zappa, The Man from Utopia, et conçoit des scénographies et des personnages de synthèse pour le théâtre ou les télévisions françaises ou italiennes.
  

Depuis 1982, Liberatore vit et travaille en France mais continue à jurer en italien. Il collabore régulièrement avec Alain Chabat, avec lequel il a publié en 1997 le tome 3 des aventures de Ranxerox, Amen. Il a également participé au film Astérix et Obélix : Mission Cléopâtre d’Alain Chabat, pour lequel il a remporté le César 2003 des Meilleurs Costumes, et vient de réaliser certains décors de son nouveau film préhistorique RRRrrrr !!!.

   

Liberatore a terminé sa Cappella Sistina, la bande dessinée Lucy sur les origines de l’homme, sortie en 2004, mais comme d’habitude, ce qu il préfère c'est de dessiner des filles nues...





www.taninoliberatore.com

Gotlib naît le 14 juillet 1934 à Paris.

Mais ce qui l’obsède, c’est Pilote. Il en rêve la nuit sans oser y aller. De temps en temps, il appelle la rédaction et raccroche.  Enfin, il s’y présente un jour de 1965 avec un échantillon de son labeur, six pages racontant les affres d’un dessinateur d’humour.
                

La bande dessinée de l’époque étant plutôt portée sur les héros comme Tintin ou Tarzan, et pas du tout sur les affres d’un auteur comique en panne, il n’y croit pas beaucoup. Il a tort : Pilote le publie et Goscinny lui propose de travailler avec lui sur les Dingodossiers.

Ce qui fait de Gotlib un homme honoré et heureux, mais vachement crispé, vu qu’il ne se sent pas à la hauteur de l’honneur qui lui est fait.  De plus, il passe son temps à dessiner des embouteillages et des phares bretons Goscinny adore lui faire dessiner ça et ses copains l’engueulent : il faut qu’il se trouve un héros, ce style de BD ne mène nulle part.Mais ce diagnostic s’avère nul, puisque Les Dingodossiers le mènent tout droit à la Rubrique-à-Brac, série avant-gardiste née en 1968 et devenue mythique.  C’est là qu’il devient une star que tout le monde reconnaît dans la rue, à cause de sa manie de s’auto-dessiner avec son duffle-coat et sa couronne de lauriers. Dans la foulée, Gotlib scénarise les Clopinettes pour Mandryka, Cinmastock pour Alexis (un joyau de rigolade burlesque) et crée Hamster Jovial dans Rock and Folk.En1972, il lance l’Echo des Savanes avec Bretécher et Mandryka. Il en profite pour se défouler sur des choses interdites aux moins de douze ans, comme le sexe, Dieu et la scatologie, dans le seul but de faire rigoler les copains et sa crémière.

En réalité, l’explosion de l’Echo des Savanes éclabousse largement le monde de la bande dessinée et débouche sur la création d’un tas de fanzines et autres “territoires libérés”.La même année, il crée avec Jacques Lob Superdupont et le premier album lui vaudra deux coups de fil : un de Coluche qui souhaite incarner le héros franchouillard au cinéma , ça ne se fera pas et un de Savary qui souhaite le monter en comédie musicale, ça se fera en 1982. En 1975, avec son copain Jacques Diament, Gotlib fonde Fluide Glacial, où il crée les aventures dégoûtantes de Pervers Pépère, tout en signant une foule d’éditos hilarants.  Côté cinéma, il co-scénarise en 1975 Les vécés étaient fermés de l’intérieur (de Patrice Leconte, including Coluche). On l’aperçoit en 1986 dans Je hais les acteurs, de Gérard Krawczyk, et il est (évidemment) le héros de My name is Gotlib, court-métrage de Patrice Leconte commandé par la télé et jamais diffusé. En 1991, il est intronisé Grand Prix d’Agoulême, et, selon la coutume, une exposition lui est consacrée l’année suivante, EuroGotlibLand. En 1993, il publie chez Flammarion J’existe, je me suis rencontré, roman autobiographique bourré d’humour et d’émotion, où il raconte sa vie d’enfant juif pendant l’Occupation. Quelques années plus tard, il concrétise un rêve d’enfant en réalisant pour Canal + une série d’animation “culturelle”. On y voit la coccinelle de la Rubrique-à-Brac faire le zouave parmi des œuvres d’art mondialement réputées, signées Michel-Ange ou Léonard de Vinci.De cette série naîtra un album instructif et désopilant, Rubrique-à-Brac Gallery.

               

Maintenant, Gotlib jouit de vacances bien méritées  si l’on considère la somme de chefs-d’œuvre pondus sans relâche depuis les gravures rupestres de son enfance , tout en continuant d’exercer son humour (glacé et sophistiqué) dans le domaine de l’illustration, pour peu que la météo soit favorable et qu’on le lui demande poliment.

               

   


    www.marcelgotlib.com

1) Crimes shall never be presented in such a way as to create sympathy for the criminal, to promote distrust of the forces of law and justice, or to inspire others with a desire to imitate criminals.
2) No comics shall explicitly present the unique details and methods of a crime.

3) Policemen, judges, government officials, and respected institutions shall never be presented in such a way as to create disrespect for established authority.

4) If crime is depicted it shall be as a sordid and unpleasant activity.

5) Criminals shall not be presented so as to be rendered glamorous or to occupy a position which creates the desire for emulation.

6) In every instance good shall triumph over evil and the criminal punished for his misdeeds.

7) Scenes of excessive violence shall be prohibited. Scenes of brutal torture, excessive and unnecessary knife and gun play, physical agony, gory and gruesome crime shall be eliminated.

8) No unique or unusual methods of concealing weapons shall be shown.

9) Instances of law enforcement officers dying as a result of a criminal's activities should be discouraged.

10) The crime of kidnapping shall never be portrayed in any detail, nor shall any profit accrue to the abductor or kidnapper. The criminal or the kidnapper must be punished in every case.

11) The letters of the word "crime" on a comics magazine shall never be appreciably greater than the other words contained in the title. The word "crime" shall never appear alone on a cover.
12) Restraint in the use of the word "crime" in titles or subtitles shall be exercised.

  

   


General Standards Part B:

1) No comic magazine shall use the word "horror" or "terror" in its title.

2) All scenes of horror, excessive bloodshed, gory or gruesome crimes, depravity, lust, sadism, masochism shall not be permitted.

3) All lurid, unsavory, gruesome illustrations shall be eliminated.

4) Inclusion of stories dealing with evil shall be used or shall be published only where the intent is to illustrate a moral issue and in no case shall evil be presented alluringly nor so as to injure the sensibilities of the reader.

5) Scenes dealing with, or instruments associated with walking dead, torture, vampires and vampirism, ghouls, cannibalism, and werewolfism are prohibited.

General Standards Part C:

All elements or techniques not specifically mentioned herein, but which are contrary to the spirit and intent of the Code, and are considered violations of good taste or decency, shall be prohibited.

Dialogue:

1) Profanity, obscenity, smut, vulgarity, or words or symbols which have acquired undesirable meanings are forbidden.

2) Special precautions to avoid references to physical afflictions or deformities shall be taken.

3) Although slang and colloquialisms are acceptable, excessive use should be discouraged and wherever possible good grammar shall be employed.

Religion:

Ridicule or attack on any religious or racial group is never permissible.


Costume:

1) Nudity in any form is prohibited, as is indecent or undue exposure.

2) Suggestive and salacious illustration or suggestive posture is unacceptable.

3) All characters shall be depicted in dress reasonably acceptable to society.

4) Females shall be drawn realistically without exaggeration of any physical qualities.

NOTE: It should be recognized that all prohibitions dealing with costume, dialogue, or artwork applies as specifically to the cover of a comic magazine as they do to the contents.
Marriage and Sex:

1) Divorce shall not be treated humorously nor shall be represented as desirable.

2) Illicit sex relations are neither to be hinted at nor portrayed. Violent love scenes as well as sexual abnormalities are unacceptable.

3) Respect for parents, the moral code, and for honorable behavior shall be fostered. A sympathetic understanding of the problems of love is not a license for moral distortion.

4) The treatment of love-romance stories shall emphasize the value of the home and the sanctity of marriage.

5) Passion or romantic interest shall never be treated in such a way as to stimulate the lower and baser emotions.

6) Seduction and rape shall never be shown or suggested.

7) Sex perversion or any inference to same is strictly forbidden.



Code For Advertising Matter:

These regulations are applicable to all magazines published by members of the Comics Magazine Association of America, Inc. Good taste shall be the guiding principle in the acceptance of advertising.

1) Liquor and tobacco advertising is not acceptable.

2) Advertisement of sex or sex instructions books are unacceptable.

3) The sale of picture postcards, "pin-ups," "art studies," or any other reproduction of nude or semi-nude figures is prohibited.

4) Advertising for the sale of knives, concealable weapons, or realistic gun facsimiles is prohibited.

5) Advertising for the sale of fireworks is prohibited.

6) Advertising dealing with the sale of gambling equipment or printed matter dealing with gambling shall not be accepted.

7) Nudity with meretricious purpose and salacious postures shall not be permitted in the advertising of any product; clothed figures shall never be presented in such a way as to be offensive or contrary to good taste or morals.

8) To the best of his ability, each publisher shall ascertain that all statements made in advertisements conform to the fact and avoid misinterpretation.

9) Advertisement of medical, health, or toiletry products of questionable nature are to be rejected. Advertisements for medical, health or toiletry products endorsed by the American Medical Association, or the American Dental Association, shall be deemed acceptable if they conform with all other conditions of the Advertising Code.

(Source: "Comix, a History of Comic Books in America,"
by Les Daniels, ©1971 Les Daniels and Mad Peck Studios)

Examples of some parodies of the comics code seal of approval

The Comics Code Authority (CCA) is part of the Comics Magazine Association of America (CMAA), and was created to regulate the content of comic books in the United States. Member publishers submit comic books to the CCA, which screens them for conformance to its Comics Code, and authorizes the use of their seal on the cover if the books comply. At the height of its influence, it was a de facto censor for the U.S. comic book industry. The CCA was created in 1954 as part of the CMAA in response to public concern about what was deemed inappropriate material in many comic books. This included graphic depictions of violence and gore in crime and horror comics, as well as the sexual innuendo of what aficionados refer to as good girl art. Fredric Wertham's book Seduction of the Innocent rallied opposition to this type of material in comics, arguing that it was harmful to the children who made up a large segment of the comic book audience. The Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency hearings in 1954, which focused specifically on comic books, had many publishers concerned about government regulation, prompting them to form a self-regulatory body instead.

Criticism and enforcement

The CCA had no legal authority over other publishers, but magazine distributors often refused to carry comics without the CCA's seal of approval. Some publishers thrived under these restrictions, others adapted by canceling titles and focusing on Code-approved content, and others went out of business.Publisher William Gaines believed that clauses forbidding the words "crime", "horror" and "terror" in comic book titles had been deliberately aimed at his own best-selling titles Crime SuspenStories, The Vault of Horror, and The Crypt of Terror. These restrictions, as well as those banning vampires, werewolves, and zombies, helped make EC Comics unprofitable; all of its titles except MAD were canceled in the year following the CCA's introduction. Psychiatrist Fredric Wertham dismissed the Code as an inadequate half-measure.

Non-Code comics

The first comic to be released in (semi-)violation of the comics code appeared as early as 1955, when William Gaines reprinted the story "Judgment Day" from Weird Fantasy #18 (1953) in Incredible Science Fiction #33 (Jan-Feb 1955)."Judgment Day" was a replacement for a Code-disapproved story, but was itself also "objected to" because of "the central character being black.
Gaines' story (illustrated by Joe Orlando) was "a strong allegory on the evils of race prejudice," which point was necessarily "nullified if the lead character" was not black. Gaines informed the Code Authority that "if they did not give that issue the Code Seal, he would see that the world found out why," causing the Authority to reverse its initial decision and allow the story to run.Soon after, however, facing the severe restrictions placed upon his comics by the CCA, and with his "New Direction" titles floundering, Gaines "quit comic book publishing to concentrate on MAD."

Undergrounds

In the late 1960s, the underground comics scene arose, with artists creating comics that delved into subject matter explicitly banned by the Code. However, since these comics were distributed largely through unconventional channels, such as head shops, they were able to skirt the authority of the Comics Code and achieve a certain amount of success without CCA approval.

Updating the Code

In 1971, Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Stan Lee was approached by the United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare to do a comic book tale of drug abuse. Lee agreed and wrote a three-part Spider-Man story portraying drug use as dangerous and unglamorous. The CCA, in the person of Archie Comics publisher John L. Goldwater, refused to approve the story because of the presence of narcotics, deeming the context of the story irrelevant (code administrator Leonard Darvin "was ill" at the time, allowing Goldwater's decision to stand). Confident that the original government request would give him credibility, and with the approval of his publisher, Martin Goodman, Lee published the story in The Amazing Spider-Man #96-98 (May-July 1971), without CCA approval. The storyline was well-received and the CCA's argument for denying approval was deemed counterproductive. "That was the only big issue that we had" with the Code, Lee recalled in a 1998 interview:
“  I could understand them; they were like lawyers, people who take things literally and technically. The Code mentioned that you mustn't mention drugs and, according to their rules, they were right. So I didn't even get mad at them then. I said, 'Screw it' and just took the Code seal off for those three issues. Then we went back to the Code again. I never thought about the Code when I was writing a story, because basically I never wanted to do anything that was to my mind too violent or too sexy. I was aware that young people were reading these books, and had there not been a Code, I don't think that I would have done the stories any differently.  ”

The Code was revised a number of times during 1971. Initially "liberalized" prior to Marvel's Spider-man story on January 28, 1971 to allow for (among other things) the sometimes "sympathetic depiction of criminal behavior... [and] corruption among public officials" ("as long as it is portrayed as exceptional and the culprit is punished") as well as permitting some criminal activities to kill law-enforcement officers and the "suggestion but not portrayal of seduction." Also newly allowed were "vampires, ghouls and werewolves... when handled in the classic tradition such as Frankenstein, Dracula, and other high calibre literary works written by Edgar Allan Poe, Saki, Conan Doyle and other respected authors whose works are read in schools around the world". Zombies, lacking the requisite "literary" background, remained taboo. However, Marvel skirted the zombie restriction in the mid-1970s by calling the apparently deceased, mind-controlled followers of various Haitian super-villains "zuvembies". This practice carried over to Marvel's super-hero line. In the Avengers comic, when the reanimated super-hero Wonder Man returned from the dead, he was also referred to as a "zuvembie".

Stan Lee and Marvel drew criticism from DC head Carmine Infantino "for defying the code," stating that DC will not "do any drug stories unless the code is changed." As a result of publicity surrounding the United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare's sanctioning of the storyline, however, the Code was revised to permit the depiction of "narcotics or drug addiction" if presented "as a vicious habit".

"Wolfman" and credits

At the 1974 New York Comic Art Convention panel "Marvel Comics: The Method and the Madness", Marv Wolfman told the audience that when he began writing for DC, he was forbidden to use the name "Wolfman" in print due to the Comics Code Authority's ban on werewolves. In 2007 Wolfman elaborated  that in House of Secrets #83 (Jan. 1970), the narrator introduced Wolfman's story "The Stuff that Dreams are Made of" as having been told by "a wandering wolfman". The CCA rejected the story and flagged the "wolfman" reference as a violation. Editor Gerry Conway explained to the CCA how the story's author was in fact named Wolfman, and asked whether it would still be in violation if his name were clearly stated on the first story page. The CCA said it would then not violate the Code, so Conway gave Wolfman a writer's credit for the story. Afterward, other DC writers began asking for similar published credits.

21st century

Despite periodic revisions to the Code to reflect changing attitudes about appropriate subject matter (e.g., the ban on referring to homosexuality was revised in 1989 to allow non-stereotypical depictions of gays and lesbians), its influence on the medium continued to wane, and publishers gradually reduced the prominence of the seal on their covers. The development of new distribution channels, especially "direct market" comics specialty shops, provided additional means for non-Code books to reach a large audience, while newsstand distribution — a shrinking component of industry sales — became less important.

A new generation of publishers emerged in the 1980s and '90s, distributing solely to specialty shops and not wanting CCA membership or approval. DC Comics, Marvel Comics, and other CCA sponsors began to publish comics for adult audiences, without the CCA seal. For example, in the 1990s Milestone Media's Milestone imprint (published through DC Comics) submitted its books to the CCA, but published them regardless of the CCA's ruling, placing the seal only on issues that passed. In 2001, Marvel Comics withdrew from the CCA in favor of its own ratings system. As of 2007, DC Comics and Archie Comics are the only major publishers submitting comics for Code approval; DC only submits comics from their Johnny DC and DC Universe superhero lines, but DC Universe titles are sometimes published without Code approval.

John Romita, Sr. (better known as simply John Romita) (born January 24, 1930) is an Italian-American comic-book artist best known for his work on Marvel Comics' The Amazing Spider-Man. He was inducted into the Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2002.

Romita is the father of John Romita, Jr., also a comic-book artist.John Romita graduated from the School of Industrial Art in 1947. He broke into comics on the seminal series Famous Funnies. "Steven Douglas up there was a benefactor to all young artists", Romita recalled. "The first story he gave me was a love story. It was terrible. All the women looked like emaciated men and he bought it, never criticized, and told me to keep working. He paid me two hundred dollars for it and never published it — and rightfully so".

Romita was working at the New York City company Forbes Lithograph in 1949, earning $30 a week, when a friend from high school whom he ran into on a subway train offered him $20 a page to pencil a 10-page story for him as uncredited ghost artist. "I thought, this is ridiculous! In two pages I can make more money than I usually make all week! So I ghosted it and then kept on ghosting for him", Romita recalled.[1] The friend worked for Marvel's 1940s forerunner, Timely Comics, which helped give Romita an opportunity to meet editor-in-chief and art director Stan Lee.

Romita's first known credited comic-book art is as penciler and inker on the six-page story "The Bradshaw Boys" in Western Outlaws #1 (Feb. 1954) for Marvel's 1950s predecessor, Atlas Comics. He went on to draw a wide variety of horror, war, romance and other comics for Atlas. His most notable work for the company was the short-lived, 1950s revival of Timely's hit character Captain America, in Young Men #24-28 (Dec. 1953 - July 1954) and Captain America #76-78 (May-Sept. 1954).

He also was the primary artist for one of the first series with a Black star, "Waku, Prince of the Bantu" — created by writer Don Rico and artist Ogden Whitney in the omnibus title Jungle Tales #1 (Sept. 1954), and starring an African chieftain in Africa, with no regularly featured Caucasian characters. Romita succeeded Whitney with issue #2 (November 1954).


   

Spider-Man

The Amazing Spider-Man #50. Cover art by Romita and Mike Esposito.

At Marvel, Romita returned to superhero penciling after a decade working exclusively as a romance-comic artist for DC. He felt at the time that he no longer wanted to pencil, in favor of being solely an inker:
“  I had inked an Avengers job for Stan, and I told him I just wanted to ink. I felt like I was burned out as a penciler after eight years of romance work. I didn't want to pencil any more; in fact, I couldn't work at home any more — I couldn't discipline myself to do it. He said, 'Okay,' but the first chance he had he shows me this Daredevil story somebody had started and he didn't like it, and he wanted somebody else to do it". He showed me Dick Ayers' splash page for a Daredevil [and] asked me, 'What would you do with this page?' I showed him on a tracing paper what I would do, and then he asked me to do a drawing of Daredevil the way I would do it. I did a big drawing of Daredevil ... just a big, tracing-paper drawing of Daredevil swinging. And Stan loved it. 

Romita began a brief stint on Daredevil beginning with issue #12, initially penciling over Jack Kirby's dynamic layouts as a means of learning Marvel's storytelling house style. It proved to be a stepping-stone for his famed, years-long pencilling run on The Amazing Spider-Man. "What Stan Lee wanted was for me to do a two-part Daredevil story [#16-17, May-June 1966] with Spider-Man as a guest star, to see how I handled the character".

Coming to The Amazing Spider-Man as successor of Spider-Man co-creator Steve Ditko, Romita initially attempted to mimic Ditko's style, but brought his own clean, soap operatic style of illustration to the book, and made the character his own.

Romita was the artist for the Spider-man newspaper strip, from its launch in January 1977 through late 1980.

Marvel Comics art director

When editor-in-chief and art director Stan Lee assumed the position of publisher, he promoted Romita to the latter position. In that capacity, Romita played a major role in defining the look of Marvel Comics and in designing new characters. Among the characters he helped design are the Punisher, Wolverine, and Brother Voodoo.

Following his retirement from day-to-day comics work, Romita returned to draw his signature character Spider-Man on latter-day occasions. He was one of six pencilers on Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #121 (Dec. 1986), and he penciled a nine-page story "I remember Gwen" in The Amazing Spider-Man #365 (Aug. 1992, the 30th-anniversary issue) and an eight-page backup story starring the conflicted hero and supporting character the Prowler in Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #13 (1993).

He both penciled and inked the 10-page backup story "The Kiss — a flashback in which Peter Parker (Spider-Man) and his girlfriend Gwen Stacy share their first kiss — in Webspinners: Tales of Spider-Man #1 (Jan. 1999). He also drew an alternate-universe version of the Spider-Man characters in the one-shot Spidey: A Universe X Special (2001), and penciled the final four pages of the 38-page story in the milestone The Amazing Spider-Man #500 (Dec. 2003). Romita also drew one of four covers to the April 27 - May 3, 2002 issue of TV Guide.

Additionally, Romita contributed to multi-artist jams in commemorative issues. He did a panel in Captain America vol. 3, #50 (Feb. 2002), starring the first Marvel superhero he'd drawn; a portion of Iron Man vol. 3, #40 (May 2001), although the hero was not one of the artist's signature characters; a panel for Daredevil vol. 2, #50 (Oct. 2003); and a few pages featuring Karen Page in Daredevil vol. 2, #100 (Oct. 2007), done in the style of the romance comics he had drawn decades earlier. Romita both penciled and inked the cover of Daredevil vol. 2, #94 (Feb. 2007) in that same romance-comics style. The following year he drew a variant cover of his signature series, for The Amazing Spider-Man #568 (Oct. 2008)

In the mid-2000s, Romita sat on the board of directors of the charity A Commitment to Our Roots.


Interview :
www.twomorrows.com/comicbookartist/articles/06romita.html