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John Romita Sr. wanted to do a 10-year run on Amazing Spider-Man and beat Stan Lee & Jack Kirby's Fantastic Four run, but here's why he didn't

Stan Lee and John Romita Sr. still holds the record for longest issue on Spider-Man (at least for the 616 version)

News by Joshua Lapin-Bertone, Contributing writer

Published on Wed May 06 2026

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In 1966 John Romita Sr. replaced Steve Ditko on Amazing Spider-Man. Romita would stay on the title until 1974, three years after Stan Lee had stopped writing, and even then the artist never fully left. Romita, who passed away in 2023, would occasionally step in as a guest inker or cover artist, and would also return for special anniversary stories.

Together Lee and Romita worked on 61 issues, a record for a creative team on Spider-Man, and one that wouldn’t be passed until Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley’s 111-issue run on Ultimate Spider-Man. When Romita was informed that Bendis and Bagley had broken their record, the artist was simply shocked that he had a record to break in the first place.

“I didn’t even know we had held a record,” John Romita Sr. says during a panel at Toronto Comicon 2012. “I didn’t think I lasted long enough. Stan was always taking me off the book to put me on Captain America or Fantastic Four, or to do covers. I never had a chance. If I could have done a 10-year run, I would have preferred it. I wanted to beat Kirby’s run on the FF, 120 issues or whatever it was [Editor's Note: 102 issues]. I didn’t even know we had any kind of record, and certainly I’m not worried about it being passed.”

As of this writing the Lee/Romita team is still the second longest-running creative duo on Spider-Man, topped only by Bendis and Bagley. Still, if you want to get technical, this means that Lee and Romita still have the record for longest Spider-Man run with the 616 version of the character. With Marvel’s constant relaunches and creative team musical chairs, Lee and Romita’s record likely won’t be surpassed anytime soon.

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About Popverse Spotlight: Spider-Man

Listen, bud... Spider-Man is the definition of a modern superhero. From his comic books to his TV shows, movies, games, and more, he is the epitome of the superhero genre — even without a cape! In Popverse Spotlight: Spider-Man, we celebrate all the facets of Marvel's wallcrawler, across all major media, and even include other people who have been Spider-Man in addition to Peter Parker. Face it tiger, you just hit the jackpot!

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Joshua Lapin-Bertone: Joshua is a pop culture writer specializing in comic book media. His work has appeared on the official DC Comics website, the DC Universe subscription service, HBO Max promotional videos, the Batman Universe fansite, and more. In between traveling around the country to cover various comic conventions, Joshua resides in Florida where he binges superhero television and reads obscure comics from yesteryear.