John Romita Jr. is attempting to break his own World Record, the longest personal signing and drawing appearance. For 50 hours John Romita Jr. sat in his chair with bathroom breaks only once every five hours. He feasted on nuts, dried fruit, and small amounts of water. He slaved away signing and sketching for his loving fans, for 50 straight hours! But, why? Why would a man put himself through this not once, but twice? For charity, of course!

John Romita Jr.'s Niece, Jordan Atherton

Ten years ago, John’s niece was diagnosed with Medulloblastoma, the most common form of malignant brain tumors in children. When he was in New York, John became a Guinness Book of World Records holder by signing for 48 consecutive hours for the charity Saving Baby Jordan.

Now, this weekend, when The Avengers made its debut appearance in theaters, the legendary comic creator is doing it again. The charity Saving Baby Jordan has been reincarnated into Heroes for Jordan and that is what John has been working so hard for this past weekend. To read more about Jordan’s story and to donate to this amazing cause, click the link here.

If I were to list off everything John Romita Jr. has ever done, we would be here for quite a while and this article may turn itself into a novel. I guess you could say John was born into a Geeky family, with his father, John Romita Sr. as the co-creator of several well-known Marvel characters, such as Marvel’s Wolverine, and architect of countless incredible comic stories, such as those that fill the pages of Amazing Spider-Man. John Jr. made a name for himself on Iron Man with writer David Michelinie and artist Bob Layton. His early successes came during the 1980s, when Marvel comics were once again on the rise in popularity. From then on, John Romita Jr. worked on some amazing titles including Daredevil, X-Men, The Mighty Thor, The Punisher War Zone, Iron Man, and the Amazing Spider-Man.

I was fortunate enough to be able to get an interview with the legendary figure. Not only was he one of the nicest men I’ve ever met, I could see the passion in his eyes as he talked about the charity and his niece. That fact in itself makes him a great man in my eyes. He told me he believed it was harder this time around than it was ten years ago. When he did this the first time in New York City, he only did bust sketches of Spider-man. Overall he did 450 Spider-man heads. This time, however, he drew anything that they donators wanted. John chose this way because he could raise slightly more for Jordan’s charity if the sketches were more in-depth. Since he would draw anything this time, at the time of the interview (around 12:30AM, Sunday morning) he had done 229 sketches.

John told me in the interview that the hardest part of the whole thing was just sitting there and doing it. Since he had done this before, he knew what he was going to expect, and that it had to be mind-over-matter. It was more familiar this time, so he kind of knew what he was getting himself into. He also said that this could not have happened without the direct help from his wife, Kathy Romita, Hard Rock Cafe, Desert Wind, Comic Oasis, Alison Savitch, and Joe Girouard. These people and more were instrumental in him achieving his goal, and not only does he thank them…we here at Speak Geeky To Me must as well.

I think the best part of the interview was when asked about his favorite moment of the event thus far, his response was incredibly touching. I was expecting maybe a comment about a fan, or the experience as a whole. But John’s answer was, ”When I saw my niece sitting next to me at a press conference, a big smile on her face, and everyone was choked up, and it was wonderful. So, the press conference. It was wonderful.” Granted, I’m a pretty emotional girl to begin with, but that one comment almost brought me to tears. I love that he is such an awesome uncle and is truly doing this for his family and for his niece. It really shows how he is legitimately one of the nicest guys in comics, and that just makes his artwork come to life that much more for me.

At the time of writing, it’s too soon to tell if John Romita Jr. will meet his goal, but I have no doubt that he would do anything to make it. The reason isn’t that it is simply too close to him for him to give up or surrender. It is because this is for the charity, for Jordan. This comic giant is only human, but when it comes to helping those he loves, he takes on the superhuman qualities of his own drawings and helps them come to life in an very tangible way. You can find out more about Jordan’s charity and donate to aid in this fight to help children with cancer by clicking here.

 

Much to SG2M Staff Writer Megan H.’s embarrassment, you can watch her interviewing John Romita Jr. from his UStream livecast in the recorded video below. Just fast forward to minute 17:00 through 24:30 for the candid fun. (Megan had no idea she was being recorded and was not wearing a mic, so you’ll have to excuse her if you cannot hear her questions).