John Romita Sr Dies: Legendary Marvel Artist, Co-Creator Of Mary Jane Watson & Wolverine, Was 93

deadline.com:

Iconic comic book artist John Romita Sr, known for his work on The Amazing Spider-Man and for co-creating such characters as Mary Jane Watson, Wolverine and the Punisher, has died.

His son and fellow comic book artist, John Romita Jr, announced the news on social media saying his father passed away peacefully in his sleep on Monday June 12.

He was 93. Wrote Romita Jr, “He is a legend in the art world and it would be my honor to follow in his footsteps… He was the greatest man I ever met.” A post shared by John Romita Jr (@johnromitajr) Romita Sr was born in Brooklyn and began his comic book career in 1949 with Timely Comics (the precursor to Marvel Comics), meeting Stan Lee before being drafted into the army.

In the 1950s he worked at rival DC Comics and in 1965 joined Marvel, initially drawing Daredevil comics. In 1966, he took over for Steve Ditko on The Amazing Spider-Man which was then Marvel’s second-biggest seller. “I was sort of counting the days until I could get back on Daredevil,” Romita Sr told Alter Ego in 2001.  “I really felt it was obvious that I couldn’t do Spider-Man as well as I could do Daredevil.