Roy Thomas posted a nice message:
John Romita was one of the finest, nicest, and most talented guys in the history of the comicbook field, and I was proud to call him both colleague and friend for so many years. What he always called me was "kid," but I doubt it I was unique in having that appellation.
I first became aware of John Romita in the 1950s, when he drew a number of comics of which I purchased issues, including THE WESTERN KID, about a cowboy hero and a horse and a dog. But his magnum opus at that time, even though he never realized it, was his work on Captain America in 1953-54 in CAPTAIN AMERICA, YOUNG MEN, and MEN'S ADVENTURES. His work on that character in that era--a perfect blending of the styles of action king Jack Kirby and adventure master Milt Caniff (of TERRY AND THE PIRATES)--I consider his most essential work, bar none.
Still, I had relegated him to the past (knowing vaguely he had been drawing romance comics since Timely/Marvel had drastically downsized around 1957) when one day in 1965, just two weeks after I had started working at Marvel, production manager Sol Brodsky told me he wanted to introduce me to someone. I looked up and he told me this was John Romita, who had worked there before and was coming back. I blurted out that I had been a fan of his work ever since his CAPTAIN AMERICA, then already more than a decade in the past. John told me later he just about fainted... he'd never before met anybody who mentioned that "old" work and he couldn't believe anyone remembered it. I told him I not only remember it, but I had every one of those nine or so issues in my personal collection.
John immediately became a trouble-shooter as well as all-around artist for Marvel, despite the fact that he had let Stan Lee talking him into turning down a plush advertising job to come back to Marvel... and had gotten a promise from Stan that he wouldn't have to pencil, only ink. Of course, before long he was penciling DAREDEVIL, which he and Stan together quickly turned from the good seller it had been under Wally Wood to the highest-selling percentage sales (albeit with a smaller print run of course) in the whole company. When Stan soon afterward guest-starred Spider-Man in two issues of DAREDEVIL, he sensed he was being held in readiness in case Steve Ditko ever left the Wall-Crawler's title, but he was chagrined when, only a couple of months later, it actually happened and he had to give up DD for AMAZING SPIDER-MAN. He gradually transitioned, mostly against his will, from imitating Ditko to doing his own version of Spidey... and within half a year, AMAZING SPIDER-MAN went from being the #2 bestselling Marvel comic to #1, both in percentages and real numbers. John had the golden touch for many years at Marvel... even his handful of FANTASTIC FOUR issues right after Kirby left outsold the last few Stan and Jack had done together, although FF was something John REALLY didn't want to do.
Used as a kind of unofficial art director for years before he finally got the title he deserved, he designed or helped design so many great characters, most notably Wolverine, Punisher (the wonderful skull that Marvel is now "retiring"), and so many others. Whether he penciled, or inked (as per Gil Kane on SPIDER-MAN), or both, he was right up there just behind Kirby and Ditko as the most important artists in the history of Marvel.
As a human being, too, John was wonderful... always willing to help out a young artist with some hints about how to improve his work. Romita's Raiders came after my time, but that, too, gave many young artists much-needed experience.
John Romita was one of the all-time greats. I won't say "he will be missed" because I've already been missing him, the past couple of years or so, as he removed himself increasingly from contact with those of us who knew and loved him, because he felt his health and other faculties were failing. I was proud at least that John Romita and I, perhaps the only two original pros who's been on the disbursement board of Hero Initiative since it began under another name circa 2000, were still around helping to aid other pros in trouble.
You've done your bit, John. On the drawing board... in the office... in a thousand creative consultations whether about Luke Cage or Spider-Man or whatever.
Rest in peace. You've earned it.
Best wishes,
Roy
With the message was this excerpt from MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE ANNUAL #1 (1976) written by Roy Thomas, art by Sal Buscema.