Timeless Spider-Man Artist
With John Romita’s passing on June 12 at age 93, I felt that he would be the perfect focus for this Key Creator blog. Other than Steve Ditko, no one did more to catapult Spider-Man into the upper echelon of superheroes than Jazzy John Romita.
In fact, Romita’s depiction of the webspinner would stand as the defacto one until Todd McFarlane came around 20 years after Romita had started drawing him.
First Issue?
You would think that with an artist as well-known and popular as Romita identifying his first work would be an easy task. Alas, no. You see, Romita got his start in comics through high school chum Lester Zakarin, an inker for Timely, Quality, and Fiction House. Zakarin learned he could make more money by providing pencils in addition to inks, so he hired his friend Romita to handle the pencils.
It is believed that Romita’s first work may have been Crime Fighters #10, published by Timely in November 1949. Based on his age and recollections, that’s roughly the time period when Romita would have started as a comics artist.
Records indicate only one sale of Crime Fighters #10 – a 9.6 graded Promise Collection copy selling in a February 2022 Heritage auction for $1,920. That’s an exceptional pedigree copy. Until there’s another sale, it’s impossible to determine the true value of this comic.
Early Timely/Atlas Romance and Superhero Comics
Some point to True Secrets #4, published by Atlas in February 1951, as Romita’s first known work. It is his first credited job. I lean toward Crime Fighters #10, but also believe more research needs to be done into some of the Quality and Fiction House work Zakarin was doing in the late 1940s to be sure.
In any event, Romita continued in what was a fairly uneventful career providing artwork for numerous Timely/Atlas crime, horror, romance, and superhero publications – perhaps the best known of which are Young Men #24 and Captain America Comics #76 - until 1958, at which point he moved over to DC.
There are only three graded copies of True Secrets #4 in the CGC census and only one recorded sale: a 7.0 selling in a 2020 eBay auction for $225. Likely a hard comic to find raw as well, you’ll need to spend a couple hundred to get a copy due to scarcity alone.
As for Young Men #24 and Captain America Comics #76, the big winner here is Captain America Comics #76. The highest price paid for a copy was $14,400 in a 2020 Heritage Auction for the singular highest graded 9.2 copy. This isn’t a cheap comic in the lower grades; all the way down to the 1.8 grade you’re looking at spending four figures for a copy of this comic.
Romance King at DC
From his start at DC, Romita was pigeonholed as a romance comic artist. His first confirmed work there was an inking job on Heart Throbs #63. He would become DC’s go-to romance cover artist. While he wanted to illustrate the superheroes at DC, particularly Batman, he was never given a chance. So, when the romance comic wave crested and then collapsed, Romita returned to Marvel at the request of Stan Lee.
With no reported sales and only 1 graded copy in the CGC census – a 6.5 – it’s impossible to determine any value for Heart Throbs #63.
Early Marvel Superhero Work
Romita’s first work on his return to Marvel was, appropriately enough, an inking job on Avengers #23. As much as we know Romita as a penciler, he was an exceptional inker as well, and he was concerned with the amount of time it took him to pencil comics.
Lee asked Romita to take a shot at penciling one of Marvel’s new superhero titles. Romita reluctantly agreed. That comic was Daredevil.
Romita’s first work on the Man Without Fear was Daredevil #12. Recent sales show this comic to be on a bounce-back upward trajectory.
After falling as low in the 7.5 grade as $93 in February, April sales were $200 and $169. In the 6.0 grade, we see a drop to $51 in January, followed by an increase to $89 in a June 5 eBay sale, the highest price ever paid in the grade.
However, it’s Daredevil #16 that’s the key for a Romita collector. It’s the first issue where he would illustrate Spider-Man. Stan Lee knew that Ditko would likely be leaving Marvel soon and purposely wrote Spider-Man into a two-part storyline in Daredevil #16 and Daredevil #17 to see how Romita would do depicting the wallcrawler. Needless to say, Lee was happy with the results.
Daredevil #16 serves as a perfect test case to show why it’s better to wait for auctions on eBay than go for a fixed-price offering. On June 7, a 7.5 graded copy sold in an eBay auction for $635. On June 14, someone paid $900 for a copy in the same grade with the same off-white to white pages. That’s nearly 30% difference in the price paid.
Spider-Man – ‘Nuff Said
Romita’s fame skyrocketed when he became the artist on Amazing Spider-Man after Ditko exited Marvel. While he initially tried to emulate Ditko’s linework – figuring he would be back in a few months – Romita brought a great deal of his experience from romance comics into his work on the wallcrawler.
That interplay between characters, and the drama and intrigue that arose from it, was hugely popular with readers at the time, enough to see sales push Amazing Spider-Man over Fantastic Four as Marvel’s number one comic.
The first issue featuring Romita’s take on Peter Parker was Amazing Spider-Man #39. This is a classic issue with an amazing first cover by Romita. Collectors know this book well; there are, after all, 3,835 graded copies in the CGC census. With this many copies, it comes up for sale quite a bit. Take the 8.5 grade as an example.
There have been seven sales so far this year, with a low in March of $960 and a high also in March of $1,500. It’s going to be tough to track the ups and downs on this one and hit it at one of its lows. However, keep an eye on the 30-day and 90-day averages here on GoCollect and try to get it for less.
The current 30-day average is $1,404 while the 90-day average is $1,242.
So Many Romita Spider-Man Keys
Those first couple years of Romita’s run on Amazing Spider-Man include so many important issues. There’s Amazing Spider-Man #41 – the first appearance of the Rhino. In the 8.5 grade, you’re looking at a 30-day and 90-day average of $2,280.
This book is poised for a run as rumors of the Rhino’s involvement in the Sony Spider-Verse have come to fruition with his inclusion in the Kraven the Hunter film.
Then of course, there’s arguably Romita’s greatest creation: Mary Jane Watson, appearing for the first time in Amazing Spider-Man #42. While she had been mentioned and shown up in shadowy cameos, it wasn’t until this scene that fans could finally see the woman Peter Parker had been avoiding.
This comic has overcorrected and it’s a good time to jump in, particularly when considering the importance of MJ to the Spider-Man mythos. A little over a year ago, Amazing Spider-Man #42 was closing in on $1,000 in the 8.5 grade.
Now, with only two sales this year, the average price in the grade is down to just $481.
The Kingpin was also a Romita creation, and he made his first appearance in Amazing Spider-Man #50. This is a classic comic with one of Romita's most well-known covers.
In the 8.5 grade, the 90-day average stands at $4,950. It’s on an upward trajectory, so you would be extremely lucky to find a copy in this grade below $5,000.
My personal favorite, though, is Amazing Spider-Man #55. It’s such a great cover with a unique perspective. It’s also a very affordable Romita issue of Marvel’s flagship title. The 90-day average for an 8.5 graded copy is currently $410. If you’re a more budget-conscious collector looking for a really nice Romita Spider-Man cover to place on your wall, this is definitely one to consider.
Marvel’s Art Director
In 1973, John Romita was promoted to Art Director at Marvel. As such, in addition to setting a high standard for Marvel art, he also had a hand in the creation of many of Marvel’s new Bronze Age characters, including Wolverine, the Punisher, Luke Cage, Bullseye, Brother Voodoo, and Tigra.
It’s a very affordable Copper Age key with a 90-day average in the 9.8 grade of only $112.
If you’re looking for a fairly unknown modern Romita issue, you should check out Barbie #1, published by Marvel in 1991. With only 231 graded copies it’s somewhat rare for a modern comic.
9.8 graded copies have a 30-day average of $262, not a bad price for a comic that you rarely see in comic shops or at shows.
Legacy
John Romita will forever be known as the artist who brought Spider-Man into the mainstream. He brought all his talent honed on romance comics to Marvel when he returned in the mid-1960s, and his masterful design sensibilities turned the nerdy Peter Parker into one of the biggest superheroes ever.
As Marvel’s Art Director in the 1970s and 1980s, he was involved in the look of many of Marvel’s biggest creations – Wolverine and the Punisher in particular – who have stood the test of time.
Do you collect John Romita’s works? What are some of your favorites? Let us know below!
