What are the great John Romita costumed characters?

Brack

This is not a slight on Romita's art, he is fantastic at drawing humans be they grotesque, normal or hunks. And he rendered the Ditko and Kirby designs with aplomb.

But reading through a lot of his 60s and 70s Marvel work on Marvel Unlimited during lockdown, I'm continually astonished by how lame the villains he designed are.

His Daredevil run is probably the nadir for this, with Masked Marauder being the worst of the worst. Gladiator's dainty little wrist buzzsaws though come close.

His Spider-Man run is a bunch of dudes dressed as animals (Rhino, Kangaroo, Gibbon), Dick Tracy Villains (Kingpin, Hammerhead, Jonas Harrow, Man Mountain Marko) and Shocker. The Dick Tracy-types worked a lot better and in the case of Kingpin and Hammerhead have obviously found more life than most of his designs.

I see he designed Bullseye, but it's not a great design at the start (the head target overwhelms the design), and he didn't draw the actual comic.

Is it Nova? But again, that's Rich Buckler and John Buscema on the first appearance.

nweathington

Say what you will, but I think the Kingpin is actually a really nice design. But there are only two of his costume designs that really stand out: The Punisher and Wolverine (yes, the cowl gets improved by Cockrum later). It just so happens those particular designs are two of the most iconic costume designs in the history of the company. And while outdated, the original Luke Cage costume was pretty cool too.

Brack

nweathington said:

Say what you will, but I think the Kingpin is actually a really nice design. But there are only two of his costume designs that really stand out: The Punisher and Wolverine (yes, the cowl gets improved by Cockrum later). It just so happens those particular designs are two of the most iconic costume designs in the history of the company. And while outdated, the original Luke Cage costume was pretty cool too.

Kingpin, Punisher, Luke Cage are all dudes not wearing masks. Kingpin arguably not even wearing a costume, unless you can get Sidney Greenstreet costumes at the costume store. So they play to his strengths.

And as you say, the mask is the weak point in the original Wolverine costume. Like the Gladiator and Shocker, it's a little too busy to be a great costume without tweaking, though at least the colour scheme was right from the get go. Shocker having heroic primary colours feels more of a faux pas than the quilted suit.