John Romita Jr. brought gritty, New York style to “Kick-Ass”
Known for his gritty, street-level artistic characterizations of Marvel Comics characters such as Daredevil, John Romita Jr. brings the same touch — grounded in a real-world sensibility — to “Kick-Ass,” a comic book series featuring a teen with no superpowers who decides to put on a suit and combat crime.
The comic-book series was adapted to a film by Matthew Vaughn (“Stardust”), which is out on DVD this week. Romita drew the comic-book series, which was written by Mark Millar (“Civil War,” “Wanted”). The pair previously worked together on “Wolverine,” on a storyline called “Enemy of the State.” The way Romita tells a story is what led Millar to choose to create this particular story with him, Romita said in an interview with The Oklahoman.
“(Millar) calls me ‘Martin Scorsese of comics,’” Romita said. “It’s a true compliment because he thinks I have a gritty nature to my storytelling. … He knew that this series was going to be based in New York, and immediately that’s where one of the connections came from.”
Romita said having one of his creations turned into a film is a great testament to the hard work it took to bring the project to life. And while he finds it very gratifying on a personal level for his creator-owned project to have seen such success, he also still enjoys working on the classic Marvel Comics characters. Romita has worked primarily for Marvel since breaking into the industry in the late 1970s, and his father, John Romita Sr., was one of the architects of the Marvel Universe in the 1960s.
