The artist who created the "Spider-Man" drawing, John Romita, has passed away at the age of 93. He played a key role in the creation of Marvel characters including Wolverine and Mary Jane Watson. His son, John Romita Jr., who is also a successful comic book artist, confirmed the death in a tweet on Tuesday evening.
**Biography**
Romita was born in 1930 in Brooklyn to a family of five children and achieved early success in the comic book industry. After two years of graduating from the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, he began contributing to the "Fancy Feast" series at the age of 19.
**Military Service**
Shortly after spending time in the U.S. Army, he returned to comic books in the 1950s, dividing his time between Marvel and DC, where he made a name for himself in romantic work.
In 1966, he started drawing for "Marvel's The Amazing Spider-Man," which lasted for five years and would become his most famous work. He replaced artist Steve Ditko and began collaborating with the late Marvel stalwart Stan Lee on the series. Within a year, it became Marvel's best-selling comic, surpassing Fantastic Four.
**Marvel**
Years later, Romita took on an unofficial art director role at Marvel, which became official in 1973. He was inducted into the Eisner Awards Hall of Fame in 2002 and the Inkwell Awards Hall of Fame in 2020.
