John Romita, Sr. Turns 85 Years Old Today

Marvel Comics legend John Romita, Sr. turns 85 years old today.

Born in 1930, Romita is one of the most influential and respected comic book artists of all time, best known for his work on Marvel Comics' The Amazing Spider-Man. He was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2002.

He started his professional comics career in 1949 and did a few crime and romance stories before being drafted into the Korean War effort in 1951, where he plied his trade at Fort Dix, designing recruitment materials.

Throughout the 1950s, Romita worked on the kinds of comics that were popular then -- romance, science fiction, war, horror -- for both Atlas Comics (which would later become Marvel) and DC.

He worked exclusively on DC Comics' romance titles from 1958 to 1965, when the company released him from both his exclusivity contract and his employment as the popularity of romance comics waned. He made the move to Marvel, where he would work almost exclusively drawing superheroes for the rest of his career.

In 1966, Romita followed Steve Ditko on The Amazing Spider-Man, making him the first regular artist to draw the character on an ongoing basis after its creator abruptly left. This made him a household name in the comics community and, ultimately, a legend in the business. He would draw the character in the comics and the newspaper comic strip intermittently until 1980.

Of course, his influence on modern comics hardly stops at his impressive body of work, which also included stints on Captain America, Daredevil and The Avengers. He's also the father of current Superman artist and Kick-Ass co-creator John Romita, Jr.