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Longtime Spider-Man artist & Kick-Ass co-creator John Romita Jr. says what every comic creator is thinking about how Hollywood plunders their ideas
Every comic book creator would make a great Hollywood director, according to John Romita Jr., and the movie industry is "stupid" for realizing this 50 years late
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Comic book films dominate pop culture. They bring billions of dollars to the film industry, and the merchandise is the cherry on top. However, while the directors and actors become household names, the comic creators who inspired the stories watch from the sidelines. John Romita Jr. is one of the many artists who is tired of it. During a panel at CCXP, the Marvel artist went on a rant about all the work comic creators do.
“I think as creators we are all directors. We do stop-action film. I think on top of these beautiful premises of these great characters, maybe right next to it, is the artist telling this story in sequential order, and literally doing it without the need of dialogue, and then the dialogue enhances the project. The greatest challenge is to draw one complete issue that would make sense without dialogue. When the dialogue is added by people like Chris [Claremont], you have a film every month. And I think that’s what we do.”
Romita went on to say that every artist is a storyboard director, and the comics they’ve created have been used to make blockbuster films.
“This should have happened 50 years ago. Hollywood should have grabbed every creator in comics and said, ‘I want all of your ideas. These are brilliant.’ Why did it take so long?”
“The creators in this business can all direct a movie,” Romita continued. “Every single one of us, even if it’s just a writer. Without the visual ability, you get an assistant director who is a technical wizard so to speak, and you direct a film.”
Romita went on to say that Hollywood should have come to their senses sooner. After all, look at how much money comic book films have made.
“What annoys me is how long it took. I know the public knew this. I know you all knew this. You read these books for years, and you read them as stop-action film. Why did it take so long? Because people are still stupid, even though they’re very wealthy.”
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