John Romita, Jr. Drawing Superman
(Dateline: 2/4/2014)
Now having watched this week's DC All Access, we have as much information as DC is willing to let us know about the upcoming creative change on Superman.
As rumored/expected, longtime Marvel artist John Romita, Jr. is joining, in Dan DiDio's words, the DC stable of artists. From DiDio's excitement, we can believe that DC intends to make J.R. JR happy for a long time.
Romita will begin his tenure at DC by teaming with Geoff Johns on Superman. When does this begin? In the video, Johns says simply, "this summer."
So there's plenty of time for the current take on Superman to wrap up, and to give Romita a few issues under his belt to keep on schedule, though he's pretty good at keeping deadlines.
The video also gave us an advanced look at Romita's take on the character, and though a cursory glance make it look like a redesign, it seems more like an emphasis on the elements that Jim Lee's design originally had but have lessened as the powers that be were creating a more smoothed out "on model" look.
From the beginning of the New 52, Superman's costume has been characterized as being "Kryptonian armor," and Romita has just heightened this -- as does the latest direct-to-video movie Justice League: War. It would seem that this is the way Superman is going to be, but the detail work may still soften a bit the more Romita works on it.
At least it works a little better in color than the original black and white inks that leaked out this morning.
Still hopeful? Perhaps. Romita continues to be a popular artist who remains idiosyncratic enough to be interesting, and after decades at Marvel, this book will have a lot of build-up. It will be worth a look.
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