John Romita Sr and Jr Named NYCC Guests of Honor

10/9/2009 // New York Comic Con

Oganizers of New York Comic Con (NYCC) have revealed that celebrated father/son artists and creators John Romita and John Romita, Jr. will both be Keystone Guests of Honor at the next NYCC. The Romitas are the first guests to be announced for the 2010 convention which will now be co-located with the New York Anime Festival (NYAF) and will occupy the entire Jacob K. Javits Center in New York City. The two shows, both of which are organized by the Reed Exhibitions Pop Culture Group, will take place October 8 - 10, 2010. The announcement about the Romitas was made public at a special "One Year Out" bowling party at Bowlmor Lanes in New York City in honor of the fans, exhibitors, press, artists, creators and other loyal participants of NYCC who have helped make the convention a success since its debut in 2006. The announcement of their role as Keystone Guests of Honor comes exactly one year to the day before NYCC is set to open its doors on the occasion of its 5th Anniversary in 2010.

"I am incredibly pleased to be able to announce that the Romitas will be our first Guests of Honor," notes Lance Fensterman, Vice President and Show Manager for NYCC. "This early commitment, a full year before the next New York Comic Con, is a nice vote of confidence and it says a lot about the quality of our guests and what we can expect in terms of future guest announcements. The Romitas are wildly popular and respected creators and we are honored that they have agreed to appear together at our show. New York Comic Con is the second largest pop culture event in America and our guest appearances will certainly reflect the stature and prominence of our show."

Convention officials also note that registration and ticket sales for New York Comic Con have just gone live on the web site. Tickets for the event may be purchased at www.nycomiccon.com. Other information about the show, as well as news about the Reed Pop Culture Group, which also organizes Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo (C2E2), is available at Fensterman's blog, www.mediumatlarge.net.

John Romita, Sr.

Keystone Guest of Honor and Living Legend

John Romita, Sr. was born in Brooklyn in 1930 and is a graduate of Manhattan's School of Industrial Art. Romita began his career in comics as an uncredited ghost artist in 1949 for Timely Comics - the predecessor of Marvel. After time in the Army, where he drafted Recruitment Posters, Romita would return to Timely Comics - now Atlas - where Stan Lee provided him his first full story to pencil and ink. Romita would draw for a variety of pulpy comics at Atlas as well as the 1950's revival of Captain America and Waku: Prince of the Bantu, one of the first black leading characters. By 1958, Romita would leave Atlas for DC and became their leading romance comics cover artist. As the romance genre dried up, Romita looked into advertising work until Stan Lee brought him back to Timely Comics - now Marvel. Romita was would pencil over Jack Kirby layouts for Daredevil until Stan gave Romita Amazing Spider-Man in 1966. In his first run on Amazing Spider-Man, Romita contributed an unbroken string of over 50 covers and an almost unbroken run of story layouts or full pencil art for 46 regular issue stories as well as a multiple Amazing Spider-Man Annuals and the first two issues of the oversized Spectacular Spider-Man. Romita's depiction on the character would become the definitive look for Spider-Man and the iconic image we know today. Eventually promoted to Art Director by Stan Lee, Romita then played a major role in designing characters including the Punisher and Wolverine. While Romita has since retired from day-to-day comics work, Romita continues to pencil and ink special and collaborative projects. He is the father of artist John Romita, Jr. and husband of Virginia Romita, former Marvel traffic manager.

John Romita, Jr.

Keystone Guest of Honor

Born in 1956 in New York City, John Romita, Jr. is the son of comic book legend John Romita, Sr. Romita's early popularity began with his run on Iron Man with writer David Michelinie and artist Bob Layton in 1978, and, in the early 1980s, he had his first regular run on Amazing Spider-Man. Working with writer Roger Stern during this run, he co-created the Hobgoblin. Then, from 1983 to 1986, Romita worked on Uncanny X-Men with Dan Green and Chris Claremont, and he would return for a second run on Uncanny X-Men in 1993. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Romita worked on Daredevil with writer Ann Nocenti and inker Al Williamson. Romita later collaborated with Frank Miller on Daredevil: The Man Without Fear, revisiting the character's origin. During the 1990s, Romita also worked on Punisher War Zone, Hulk, Cable, The Mighty Thor, the second Iron Man Armor Wars, and the Punisher/Batman cross-over. In the 2000s, Romita returned to Amazing Spider-Man with writer J. Michael Straczynski and drew Wolverine with author Mark Millar as part of the character's 30th anniversary. In 2006, Romita collaborated with writer Neil Gaiman on a reinterpretation of Jack Kirby's The Eternals and then worked with Greg Pak on Marvel's 2007 crossover event, World War Hulk. In 2008, Romita again returned to Amazing Spider-Man, and he is now collaborating with Mark Millar for Kick-Ass, published by Marvel's Icon imprint. The Kick-Ass motion picture premieres April 16, 2010.