Initially, from a couple of corroborating reports on the show floor of San Diego Comic Con yesterday… and then all over the bars last night, where no less than eight people took me aside to tell me this top secret news that only they knew…

John Romita Jr, son of the legendary Marvel artist John Romita Sr, and an A-list artist in his own right with critically acclaimed runs on Avengers, Captain America, Iron Man, hell, pretty much every Marvel property as well as being the co-creator and co-owner of Kick Ass with Mark Millar, is coming to the end of his Marvel contract.

As well as currently drawing Kick Ass 3 and Captain America for Marvel, he also plays a strong official role in educating and mentoring young artists at Marvel. Now, John Romita Jr has never worked outside of Marvel. Apart from The Gray Area, a creator owned series for Image, he’s been a Marvel artist his entire career. He’s almost a totem for the publisher.

But I understand that with contract concerns, he may be looking elsewhere. And that DC Comics have offered him the Superman comic, to both write and draw.

If DC were to win him over, that would be one hell of a scalp – far greater than when they grabbed David Finch. But, of course, this may just be a negotiating tactic. It’s a pretty good one though.

If this were to happen, I would buy said Superman comic for the duration of the run.

He's an outside-the-box pick for Superman, but that's exactly what I like about it. His art is huge and epic and dynamic, something the Superman books have often lacked (IMO).

Did you like his NOW Captain America 1-5? It was exactly as you describe above and elevated what could have been an average story into something greater. I never would have thought that I would like Cap in a Sci-Fi space adventure, but it worked for me and I can't wait to see how it is going to end. If it ends.

I just do not get the appeal of JRjr...I would actually drop a book if he were named new regular artist. His stuff just hurts my eyes.

I just do not get the appeal of JRjr

He has a mullet.

"Kick-Ass" Co-Creator John Romita Jr. Faces Undecided Future

Your Marvel contract, I believe, is up.
Yes, yes it is. It's up.

Is there a chance you're headed elsewhere with work-for-hire material? What's in your future?
I honestly don't know for sure. I do know I'll be working, I just don't know in what capacity. Could be freelance, could be work-for-hire and creator-owned. I have a lawyer working on that, with Marvel, and DC, and Image. Everybody's talking. I'm still doing the "Kick-Ass" book under the Icon label, and I have four-and-a-half issues to finish. I honestly don't know, and I'm going to let things play out as they will. All I know is, I want to do creator-owned, and I want to do work-for-hire. I have five creator-owned ideas in various forms of production. "The Gray Area's" got some interest, "Shmuggy and Bimbo." Everything that I want to do is all down the line, and I'm not sure what I'm going to do first in what order, but I know that I'll be an artist. [Laughs]

You've had such a legacy at Marvel, but is it almost at a position where you've drawn all the Marvel characters you wanted to and you're looking for something different? Or would you be happy with more Marvel work?
I can't even think about it that way, because I've done several arcs with each character. I think it's less about characters now, and more about an idea that I have and I'd love to apply it to a character, whoever that could be. I honestly am going to let things work out before I decide which characters I want to do.

I can't really give you a straight answer. That's the unfortunate thing. I'm in such a gray area -- excuse the pun -- at the moment. I'm going to let it play out, and let my lawyer deal with the contract negotiations, because I'm too nice a guy to be a negotiator. I just can't take advantage of anybody. [Laughs] I'm a wuss! What can I say, I'm a wuss.