John Romita Jr. is one of the most respected creators in comics, co-creator of Kick-Ass with Mark Millar and a long-time veteran who’s worked on nearly every superhero, most notably The Amazing Spider-Man. He’s done a new interview telling comic creators, “stick with the entertainment and stop with the preaching.”

Fresh off of a wildly successful launch of a new Kickstarter project with Mark Millar, Psychic Sam, John Romita Jr. is going around doing interviews to promote the project. The son of the great John Romita Sr., whose work on The Amazing Spider-Man is legendary, he’s been a staple in the comic book industry for decades with his distinctive style of dynamic action leading to some of the most memorable comics of the last thirty years.

He went on the Word Balloon Podcast on Friday, June 13th, to talk about Psychic Sam and a myriad of other topics. Eventually, the conversation shifted to politics.

He spoke of New York and the condition it’s been in lately, saying, “Rudy Guiliani made the city safe for a while. And then the next mayor, the next mayor Bloomberg did a good job. The guy after that did a lousy job and now the city’s still struggling,” he said.

“There were days when you could walk Times Square with your family and your grandchildren, and it was wonderful. Same thing with California; my wife is from San Diego,” he continued. “You could walk the beach, and you can’t do that in San Diego, you can’t do that in New York City. Everything’s changed. Something’s gotta be done. I’m ashamed of New York, but I’m proud there’s improvement.”

From there, he was asked about the current state of the comic book industry where he issued a stern warning to creators. “I think if they stick to entertainment, you morons who make decisions,” he said. “Stick to entertainment, don’t preach to me, don’t tell me what side of the coin I should be on politically. I don’t care; I’m independent, make me smile with entertainment.

He continued, “You know what the biggest-selling R-rated Movie of all time is? Everyone knows it. It’s Wolverine and Deadpool because it was entertainment. It was the most funny, I see people on airplanes laughing out loud at watching that movie.”

He returned to stating how politics has ruined recent films, “Don’t preach. Entertain. The anger in me is there; it’s palpable because of the damage that’s been done to the industry.”

The damage has been terrible as the comic book industry has been declining in profits and sales in recent years because of an overabundance of politics driving the casual reader away from superhero books, and causing them to abandon comic book stores.

He then relates the industry to film, saying, "I think the film industry 25, 30 years ago should have done this. All of these brilliant writers with premises month to month to month are films or TV shows at the least. If I owned a studio, my hand to God, I would hire about ten of those writers in the comics industry, and I’d say here are a million dollars each. Give me a year’s worth of your premises, I’ll turn them into stories, TV shows, or films. Every comic book writer is brilliant-minded in that respect. Come on, it’s a film. And then I’d hire me to do storyboards for all of them. Comic creators are filmmakers, I don’t care what anyone says.

He concluded, reiterating his point, “…and stick with the entertainment stop with the preaching.

His firey statement represents what a lot of comic book fans have been saying over recent years as Marvel and DC Comics don’t seem to be able to get the message that people don’t want the extreme leftist identity politics shoved in their faces every time they open a comic book. It’s insulting to the reader’s intelligence, and it’s caused its share of harm to comics.

Great sermon preacher

>>149022986 (OP)
effective but trash artist

>>149022986 (OP)
Could this fuck off with his shit art and shit writing partner?

Lets be honest the only reason their doing a kickstarter is because Netflix dropped Miller after failing to much.

I absolutely agree there’s a tendency towards preaching and hamfisted messages, but that’s a writing issue, not a “politics” issue.

Every story, especially with capes, has political elements. It’s all in how you include them. I agree. But that’s not what he said, he says take the politics out, and that’s a pretty sad position from a veteran creator.

Dude is advocating for empty dumb media for empty dumb people.

>>149024122
Huh, never read that cope before.

>>149024474
That makes two of us.

>>149022986 (OP)
Half his rant had nothing to do with comics

>>149024122
>How is this art? Where's all the buttsex and communism?

>>149025114
The fact you see the word politics and immediately jump to imagining anal sex says a lot more about you than anyone else. Mostly about how much of a faggot you are.

>>149022986 (OP)
>There were days when you could walk Times Square with your family and your grandchildren, and it was wonderful. Same thing with California; my wife is from San Diego,” he continued. “You could walk the beach, and you can’t do that in San Diego, you can’t do that in New York City. Everything’s changed.
Just move lmfao.

Did they ask him why his arts gotten so shit?

I know most of his modern stuff is shit because he books so much work and subsequently rushes through it to meet deadlines, but I still have a lot of time for JRJR's '80s and '90s stuff. Love his Frank to this day, I'd honestly say his Warzone run with Dixon is the Punisher's peak. Shame Marvel refuses to reprint it for some retarded reason.

>>149025746
It's like these big city niggas forget they don't have to live in a big city.

Your art fucking sucks Romita

>>149022986 (OP)
>He spoke of New York and the condition it’s been in lately, saying, “Rudy Guiliani made the city safe for a while. And then the next mayor, the next mayor Bloomberg did a good job. The guy after that did a lousy job and now the city’s still struggling,” he said.

Non-American here - what actually happened to NYC? I always hear people here complaining about crackheads and black schizos swarming the place in the last ten years

Another Trump supporter.

>>149025780
Of you had to draw modern Spider-man, how much effort would you exert?

>>149024122
>Every story has political elements
I’m so sick of this juvenile outlook on the world.

>>149026240
More like disingenuous. Everyone knows why that "anon" takes issue.

>>149025905
Well anon, the city got swarmed by crackheads and black schizos

>>149025817
Probably their hateboner for Dixon being a right winger

>>149025905
New York peaked in the 1930s to 1960. How the US does taxes and services on a local government level meant that as people got richer from the 1950s onward, they moved out to different jurisdictions. The industry moved out too because there was a lot of sweatshop labour and industry for stuff that had been replaced with heavier equipment.
This in turn meant fewer services which included the extensive unions, schools police and fire coverage.
This meant any social issues that could have been nipped in the bud early weren’t.

The city went broke in the 70s. Coupled with aging infrastructure that was thrown up 20 to 80 years prior.
Lots of crime and drug problems because the poorest people (which means black in the urban US) couldn’t afford to leave and couldn’t get a job without hustling.
If they could leave they usually did, leav
New York was a punchline by the 80s, though plenty of that was hyperbole and the city remained a destination to live cheaply.

>>149026487
From the 90s, the city adopted a Broken Windows policy which meant policing the little stuff just as hard as the big stuff to try and improve the social fabric and feeling of hopelessness. It worked, but even the guy who wrote the original paper said NYC skipped over the second half, which was community engagement to keep it that way.
NYC just keep a lot of cops on hand and engaged in stop and frisk activities (targeting the poorest and most ethnic areas) to catch crooks and petty offenders. This eventually led to some deaths and a review which found it a violation of people’s rights. At one point the NYPD went on partial-strike and nothing changed, so people saw the department as overstaffed.
As there was no community support, the positive effects went away quickly.

NYC also stopped being cheap to live in by 2008 at latest, meaning you get cashed-up people and social housing. Not much in between.

So winding back the thing that worked and coupled with the relatively generous social services meant that people who have mental issues/exacerbated with drug problems, who tend to be the poorest and cause it’s America the blackest cycle in and out of medical programs and the streets. On top of crime from nothing to do during COVID and no real community-police connection.

NYC as ever is fixing that but always 5 to 10 years behind the curve.

>>149022986 (OP)
But I wanted to hate him, now I can't >:(
Worst artist with the best opinion, why God?

>>149022986 (OP)
he's right but also his art sucks.

>>149026499
>catch crooks and petty offenders
This was never a bad thing

Jon Del Arroz thread

>>149026668
It's not, but like anon said the other part of it was you need to engage the community so they don't start breaking windows in the first place. Get them to feel like a proper community and that the police are protecting them, not just coming in after there's trouble. This is the hardest part of law enforcement but it pays off in theory long term.

>>149025905
All the one school NYers left the city for upstate, which left schizos and crackheads on the subways. It's not as bad as Syracuse, Buffalo, Long Island, which have beach town rust belt crime where cops LARP as the mob. Our Governor is a corporate shill who wants to build condos and casinos

Hast thou tamed any great beasts today, Brethren of the Order of the Four Chans?

>>149022986 (OP)
>“There were days when you could walk Times Square with your family and your grandchildren, and it was wonderful. Same thing with California; my wife is from San Diego,” he continued. “You could walk the beach, and you can’t do that in San Diego, you can’t do that in New York City. Everything’s changed. Something’s gotta be done. I’m ashamed of New York, but I’m proud there’s improvement.”
Gee, i wonder what might've happened in the last few decades to cause this

>>149025957
I like Trump too but I cannot imagine 90s Peter challenging that level of aggression he shows to the Shocker applied on 1/6 against Capitol Police.

What kind of person do you need in charge of New York to make it like Punisher comics? Those were cool.

>>149022986 (OP)
>He continued, “You know what the biggest-selling R-rated Movie of all time is? Everyone knows it. It’s Wolverine and Deadpool because it was entertainment. It was the most funny, I see people on airplanes laughing out loud at watching that movie.”
And he wants me to take him seriously?

>>149022986 (OP)
Sounds like a red hat that's mad modern cape comics dont support his and TACO's views.

>>149026487
>>149026499
And capes are to blame for this according to JRJR. Kek

>>149023026
>Comic creators are filmmakers, I don’t care what anyone says

they're not tho, and only someone with an incredibly weak grasp of scripting and visual storytelling would compare comic book scripts to movie scripts, or comic book pages to storyboarding for movies let alone finished scenes

>You know what the biggest-selling R-rated Movie of all time is?

*nodding* mmmhmm mmmhmm do you know what the biggest selling comic book movie of all time is? Avengers Endgame, the movie about sticking to your principles and standing shoulder to shoulder with people you don't even agree with against people who think you should just shut up and do what they say

and you know what the worst selling comic book movie of all time is? no, me either, but let's say it's Green Lantern the movie where Ryan Reynolds shows the world what Tom Hanks' later career would have been if he'd never stopped doing gross-out comedies and graduated to serious roles

and you know what the biggest selling movie of all time is? Gone With The Wind, the movie about the South getting its shit pushed in because everybody in the South is an asshole

and the second biggest? it's the one the furries made about the fucking environment being precious

and the third? leave your rich husband to fuck hot irish guys in cars for happiness

and the fourth? space fascists get their shit pushed in by some golly-gosh kid with a magic sword given to him by a wise old moralfag

and the fifth? oh look it's Endgame again

nazis can't even catch one shitty family, the government can't stop love from resurrecting an alien, literally the Ten Commandments being preached, communism destroys families, space nazis get their shit pushed in again, thus ends the top ten

JRJ can't even draw hands or faces normally, fucking nepo baby coasted on his dad's reputation and doesn't understand he's the reason nobody wants to buy comics any more

fuck this guy

>>149028242
holy reddit

>>149022986 (OP)
>most notably The Amazing Spider-Man

Have the X-Men fallen THAT far in reputation that anyone could say this unironically?

>>149028242
>Avengers Endgame, the movie about sticking to your principles
The principles of summary execution of unarmed enemies and time travel.
TT;DR (the t stands for tumblr)

>>149026470
It has more to do with Disney not wanting to be associated with The Punisher.

Comics have always been overtly political.

Golden age Wonder Woman was basically feminist propaganda. Hell the only reason why Mars was used as one of her villains was because the suffragettes used Mars as a symbol of the patriarchy. And of course she along with Captain America, Captain Marvel, etc fought nazis and japanese people.

Green Lantern/Green Arrow is one of the most hamfisted political comics of all time. WML's Flash run was also incredibly hamfisted (he reinvented Piper as a gay socialist and had Wally befriend Fidel Castro). Claremont's X-Men was also incredibly hamfisted.

>>149028809
See:
>>149026240

>>149028809
Being political is one thing, but the industry has never gatekept so fucking hard. They booted a punisher artist for doing work for veterans charities, when back then they had vets with active duty combat experience on their creative teams.

>>149027020
>but like anon said the other part of it was you need to engage the community so they don't start breaking windows in the first place
There is zero proof this has ever worked and it never will.

>>149028809
>Golden age Wonder Woman was basically feminist propaganda. Hell the only reason why Mars was used as one of her villains was because the suffragettes used Mars as a symbol of the patriarchy. And of course she along with Captain America, Captain Marvel, etc fought nazis and japanese people.
Cherry picking examples and ignoring that the vast majority were simple stories of silly hijinx completely divorced from real world shit is how I know you’re just parroting things you’ve heard on social media or in YouTube videos.

Sounds like he and most people in this thread are mad their daddy's parade was a flop. Not even the soldiers wanted to be there judging by their marching lmao

>>149025957
As if thats a fucking counter. Plenty of people at Marvel suck democrat dick and their art sucks worse than anything your preceive JRJR's art of being.

>>149026725
Fuck off retard.

>>149028855
>>149028863
Comics have always been gatekeep. Most of the biggest writers before the 70s were jewish and/or degenerates.

Probably one of the most overrated comic artists in history

>>149028952
>Comics have always been gatekeep
The reply I directed you to has nothing to do with gatekeeping, retard. Also learn English.

>>149023026
>don’t tell me what side of the coin I should be on politically
Marvel have always done that shit.

>>149029028

>>149025114
do you think painting peasants doing work was not a political statement in its era?

>>149029036

>>149029057
Remember when Nixon was the bad guy?

>>149027020
>Get them to feel like a proper community and that the police are protecting them

And that’s not going to work when cops stop you every day for being suspicious ie being black in public places. That’s literally what stop and frisk was. They barely ever found anything in those searches and it just turned into harassing minorities every day. Imagine if every day you get stopped by cops and they search your shit simply because you were walking to work. How is that going to make you think you’re a welcomed member of society and cops are the good guys when they harass you all the time

>>149029074

>>149027334
so true xister

>>149022986 (OP)
The comics aren’t preaching though. That’s pure projection.

>>149029092

>>149029028
>>149029036
>>149029057
>>149029074
>>149029092
>>149029121
see
>>149028881

Stop cherrypicking. Comics have never been political on a widescale. Just a handful of stories by shit writers.

>>149029139
Now you're just baiting.

>>149029139
Being “apolitical” is a political statement too

>>149024122
Correct, there's some nuance that could be derived from his words (especially considering he's a veteran of the industry) but he just doubles down on "muh politics reeeeee"

>customers are voting with their wallets and telling you your product is too political, opinionated, and didactic
>but look at these cherrypicked examples from the civil rights era when there was literal segregation!
enjoy your dead tranny infested medium full of retards like tini howard, joanne starer and "arianna" turturro.

>>149026240
>I’m so sick of this juvenile outlook on the world.
I mean it is broadly true that you cannot seperate someone from their bias, people are not born into a vacuum. Everything is political to some extent but to varying degrees. During the Cold War, paranoia and fear of nuclear weapons or of infiltration may have influenced someone's writing even if their story isn't explicitly a Cold War analogue exactly. It just is what it is.

guys I just wrote some wow smut is that political?

>>149024122
He’s a guy who keeps collaborating with Mark Millar

>>149029212
>customers are voting with their wallets and telling you your product is too political, opinionated, and didactic
Yet all the comicsgater books on kickstarter never go mainstream despite promising to offer everything the big two aren't. They have a smaller niche than the big two.

If anything the problem with the medium is that the 90s crash killed it and it has too much industry, cultural and creative baggage. Something which manga hasn't got. That and the fact other mediums of entertainment are better.

>>149029224
>guys I just wrote some wow smut is that political?
It is political because you're a coom brained gooner ruined by modern technology and influences.

>>149029224
Depends. Are you one of those BLEACHED or COLONIZED faggots?

>Pete, it seems to us that Cap has always been a mouthpiece for his writer's political views.

>>149029224
Conservatives would want to ban it so yes it would become political

>>149029212
>enjoy your dead tranny infested medium full of retards like tini howard, joanne starer and "arianna" turturro.
90% of your problem isn't wokeness in comics, it is that you don't bother reading any comics because you're too busy moaning about the same old shit.
>inb4 there are no good comics left
You know as well as I do that anything I or anyone else suggest you'd call crap or woke.

>>149029224
depending on the genre yes but the fact that you wrote smut at all is still a yes you pornbrained retard

>>149029362

>>149029388