Geoff Johns & John Romita Jr. Take Over Superman

Yes, you read that headline right, John Romita Jr will be taking over as artist on Superman this summer! John Romita Jr. has always been one of those legendary creators affiliated almost purely with Marvel, where his father even once worked on Spider-Man for some of the character’s greatest moments. Therefore, it comes as quite the shock to many to see him doing his first DC work ever later this year. But if you’re going to bring John Romita Jr. over to DC Comics, the iconic character of Superman is the way to go (and not just because he has a similar color scheme to Spidey). John Romita Jr., or JRJR, will be joining DC’s golden boy, Geoff Johns, on the main Superman title starting with an undisclosed issue this summer (our guess is July’s Superman #33, just in time for San Diego Comic Con).
The announcement came in this week’s episode of DC All Access, which premiered earlier today and featured Dan Didio, Geoff Johns, and a telecommuting John Romita Jr.

Geoff Johns has a history with Superman, writing some amazing Pre-New 52 runs for the character in Action Comics and Superman: Secret Origins (not to mention dealing with the Kryptonian power house in several events and team books). Recently we’ve seen Geoff pair off Superman with Wonder Woman in his run on Justice League with art by Jim Lee. Now that Geoff is back on a regular Superman title it should certainly be interesting to see where he takes the character. According to a recent IGN interview, Geoff has stated “my tagline for the story is ‘Putting the Man of Tomorrow back in the Man of Tomorrow.’ It’s really looking at Superman and getting back to the core values and attributes and strengths of Superman. Really, the Man of Tomorrow is the theme, for me, that we’re going to tackle in this first storyline.” High hopes has me wishing for more Superman and the Legion of Superheroes stories, especially with a current lack of Legion comics at DC…but that’s probably just wishful thinking.

John Romita has already shown off some amazing Superman art, such as the colored piece at the top of this article, and you can see a bit more of his black white stuff down below. He seems to really be getting into the character with these 2 incredible looking pieces, but JRJR is also known for having a somewhat unique style that not all fans appreciate. His core following is definitely that of a Marvel crowd that will often pick up anything he touches. So a question arises if this might turn a few Marvel Zombies into DC fanatics or if things could go elsewhere. I for one am quite looking forward to Romita’s Superman more than any other recent project he’s worked on. John is a great guy who has been in the industry for well over 40 years, working on many classic Marvel titles, helping develop great comics like Kick Ass, and even showing a strong charitable side in countless acts like donations to the Hero Initiative and his recent World Record breaking autograph sessions that help save the lives of children like his niece, Jordan Atherton. Romita himself is kind of a Superman, so together with the talented Superman author, Geoff Johns, this could be the best DC news of 2014. Check back regularly for more updates and artwork as Geoff Johns and John Romita Jr.’s Superman nears release.