在17岁生日之际,罗米塔从曼哈顿总医院(英语:Manhattan General Hospital)收到了他的第一份艺术作品礼物。当时他通过为一名麻醉专家设计一个关于气息学药物的展览,每周拥有60美元的收入,而他完成这份工作一共花费了六个月时间[12]。1949年,罗米塔加入了《驰名连环画(英语:Famous Funnies)》系列的创作,正式踏入漫画行业。据罗米塔本人回忆,当时的所有青年艺术家均由史蒂芬·道格拉斯赞助,后者给他的第一个创作任务是一个爱情故事,而他最终交出的作品中,女性角色被画得形如“消瘦的男人”,但道格拉斯还是以200美元收下了这些作品,并鼓励罗米塔继续工作。不过这些作品之后也一直没有拿去出版,罗米塔对此也表示此举理所当然[13][14]。
在亚特拉斯工作期间,罗米塔还创作出了他的第一个原创角色人形机器人M-11,该角色登场于《Menace》第11期(1954年5月)上的独立科幻故事之中。在登场之初,M-11并未被期待为持续角色,但在数十年后,它又被重新起用为超级英雄团队亚特拉斯特工队(英语:Agents of Atlas)的一员[26]。另外,罗米塔亦是《Waku, Prince of the Bantu》的主要画手之一,该作品之前是由作家唐·里科(英语:Don Rico)和艺术家奧格登·惠特尼(英语:Ogden Whitney)创作,于1954年9月刊登于作品集《Jungle Tales》第一期中,罗米塔则是从第二期(1954年11月)开始接替惠特尼。《Waku, Prince of the Bantu》属于黑人主题作品,描绘了一个非洲酋长形象,而几乎没有使用高加索人作为常规角色[21]。
罗米塔在DC的第一个知名作品是爱情漫画《秘密之心(英语:Secret Hearts)》第58期(1959年10月)的封面以及《Heart Throbs》第63期(1960年1月)中的7页故事《I Know My Love》,后者由伯纳德·萨克斯(Bernard Sachs)完成上色。除此之外,罗米塔参与创作的还有《Falling in Love》、《Girls' Love Stories》、《Girls' Romances》和《Young Love》等[30]。
在罗米塔开始创作蜘蛛侠以前,蜘蛛侠的创作人史丹·李和史蒂夫·迪特科之间的分歧开始日渐滋长。1966年,迪特科在完成《超凡蜘蛛侠》的第38期(7月刊)后突然离开漫威,李遂将创作蜘蛛侠的任务安排给了罗米塔。在此之前,罗米塔已先后完成了8期的《夜魔侠》以及该作第20期(1966年9月刊)的封面、一期浩克的形象以及分别刊登在《惊奇故事》第77期(1966年3月刊)和《悬疑故事(英语:Tales of Suspense)》第76—77期(1966年4月—5月刊)上的两期美国队长,而接手《超凡蜘蛛侠》则是从第39期(1966年8月刊)开始[39]。
罗米塔曾与电视剧《电力公司》片方合作,又通过儿童心理学家的帮助,制作了儿童漫画《Spidey Super Stories》。这一系列自1974年开始,一直持续到了1982年。此外,他还主办过一个名为“Romita's Raider”的活动, 引导年轻人亲自动手作画,并安排漫威的美术职员现场教学[78]。
1996年,罗米塔宣布进入半退休,但此后仍有继续参与漫画项目[85]。1999年,罗米塔负责了10页故事《The Kiss》的铅笔稿与上色工作,该故事系为《Webspinners: Tales of Spider-Man》第一期(1999年1月)准备的备份故事,在故事设定中,蜘蛛侠彼得·帕克与女友格温·斯黛西互献了初吻。2001年,罗米塔为《Spidey: A Universe X Special》创作了一群替代宇宙版本的《蜘蛛侠》角色形象。2002年蜘蛛侠电影即将上映之际,《电视指南》杂志专门请人创作了四期以蜘蛛侠为主题的封面,其中4月27日至5月3日的封面是出自罗米塔之手[86]。2003年,罗米塔负责了《超凡蜘蛛侠》第500期(2003年12月)中一个30页故事的最后四页的铅笔稿创作,而剩余部分则由他的儿子小约翰完成。
^Manning, Matthew K. 1960s. Gilbert, Laura (编). Spider-Man Chronicle Celebrating 50 Years of Web-Slinging. London, United Kingdom: Dorling Kindersley. 2012: 35. ISBN 978-0756692360. Artist John Romita, the penciler that would define the looks of Spider-Man and Peter Parker for an entire generation, had his first crack at drawing the web-slinger in a two-part story of the Stan Lee penned series Daredevil.
^Thomas, Roy. Stan Lee's Amazing Marvel Interview!. Alter Ego (Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing). 2011-08, (104): 12.
^Ro, Ronin. Tales to Astonish: Jack Kirby, Stan Lee and the American Comic Book Revolution. London, United Kingdom: Bloomsbury Publishing. 2004: 92. ISBN 978-1582345666.
^Manning "1960s" in Gilbert (2012), p. 37: A beautiful, fun-loving 'swinger', Mary Jane Watson wandered into Peter Parker's life, changing it forever and capturing more than her fair share of attention."
^DeFalco, Tom. 1960s. Gilbert, Laura (编). Marvel Chronicle A Year by Year History. London, United Kingdom: Dorling Kindersley. 2008: 119. ISBN 978-0756641238. After teasing the readers for more than two years, Stan Lee finally allowed Peter Parker to meet Mary Jane Watson.
^DeFalco "1960s" in Gilbert (2008), p. 119: "The first original super-villain produced by the new Spider-Man team of Stan Lee and John Romita was the Rhino."
^DeFalco "1960s" in Gilbert (2008), p. 122: "Stan Lee wanted to create a new kind of crime boss. Someone who treated crime as if it were a business ... He pitched this idea to artist John Romita and it was Wilson Fisk who emerged in The Amazing Spider-Man #50."
^Manning "1960s" in Gilbert (2012), p. 37: "[Stan Lee] knew that most readers tuned in every month for a glimpse of that side of Spider-Man's life as much as they did to see the wall-crawler battle the latest supervillain."
^Manning "1960s" in Gilbert (2012), p. 39: The Amazing Spider-Man #47 (April 1967) "Kraven's latest rematch with Spidey was set during a going-away party for Flash Thompson, who was facing the very real issue of the Vietnam War draft."
^Manning "1960s" in Gilbert (2012), p. 43: The Spectacular Spider-Man #1 (July 1968) "Drawn by Romita and Jim Mooney, the mammoth 52-page lead story focused on corrupt politician Richard Raleigh's plot to terrorize the city."
^Manning "1960s" in Gilbert (2012), p. 46: The Amazing Spider-Man #68 (January 1969) "Stan Lee tackled the issues of the day again when, with artists John Romita and Jim Mooney, he dealt with social unrest at Empire State University."
^ 57.057.1Daniels, Les. Research and Development (1970–1978). Marvel: Five Fabulous Decades of the World's Greatest Comics. New York, New York: Harry N. Abrams. 1991: 161 and 163. ISBN 9780810938212. In July 1973, Stan Lee announced that John Romita had been officially appointed Marvel's art director ... Unofficially, Romita had been moving into the position for some time.
^Sanderson, Peter "1970s" in Gilbert (2008), p. 159: "In June [1973], Marvel embarked on a story that would have far-reaching effects. The Amazing Spider-Man artist John Romita, Sr. suggested killing off Spider-Man's beloved Gwen Stacy in order to shake up the book's status quo."
^Manning "1970s" in Gilbert (2012), p. 68: "This story by writer Gerry Conway and penciler Gil Kane would go down in history as one of the most memorable events of Spider-Man's life."
^David and Greenberger p. 49: "The idea of beloved supporting characters meeting their deaths may be standard operating procedure now but in 1973 it was unprecedented ... Gwen's death took villainy and victimhood to an entirely new level."
^Saffel "Death and the Spider", p. 65: "Death struck again, with repercussions that would ripple through comics from that day forward."
^Herman, Daniel. Silver Age: The Second Generation of Comic Book Artists. New Castle, Pennsylvania: Hermes Press, 2005, ISBN1-932563-64-4, ISBN978-1-932563-64-1, p. 166
^Saffel, "An Adventure Each Day", p. 116: "On Monday January 3, 1977, The Amazing Spider-Man comic strip made its debut in newspapers nationwide, reuniting writer Stan Lee and artist John Romita."
^Cassell, Dewey. One Day at a Time: The Amazing Spider-Man Newspaper Strips. Back Issue! (TwoMorrows Publishing). October 2010, (44): 64.
^Sanderson "1970s" in Gilbert (2008), p. 155: "In the early 1970s there was a wave of movies about African-American adventure heroes. Marvel responded to this with Luke Cage, Hero for Hire by writer Archie Goodwin and artist John Romita, Sr."
^Cassell, Dewey. Talking About Tigra: From the Cat to Were-Woman. Back Issue! (Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing). August 2006, (17): 26–33.
^Aushenker, Michael. Disposable Heroes. Back Issue! (Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing). 2014-04, (71): 33–37. '[John] Romita and I designed the character,' Wein says.
^Comtois, Pierre. Marvel Comics In The 1970s: An Issue-By-Issue Field Guide To A Pop Culture Phenomenon. Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing. 2011. ISBN 978-1605490342. Credited on the splash page [of Strange Tales #169] for 'creative contributions' were [Roy] Thomas and art director John Romita, who no doubt came up with the character (Romita supplied the cover which might've doubled as a concept sketch before the book was produced.)
^McAvennie, Michael. 1970s. Dolan, Hannah (编). DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle. London, United Kingdom: Dorling Kindersley. 2010: 170. ISBN 978-0-7566-6742-9. Many talents from both DC and Marvel contributed to this landmark publication – in addition to inker Dick Giordano, Neal Adams provided several redrawings of Superman while John Romita, Sr. worked on numerous Peter Parker/Spider-Man likenesses.
^Greenberg, Glenn. Tabloid Team-Ups The Giant-Size DC-Marvel Crossovers. Back Issue! (Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing). December 2012, (61): 33–40.
^Manning "1980s" in Gilbert (2012), p. 131: "Writer Roger Stern and artists John Romita Jr. and John Romita Sr. introduced readers to a brand new Captain Marvel, an African-American woman with energy-based powers called Monica Rambeau."
^Manning "1980s" in Gilbert (2012), p. 133: "Writer Roger Stern and artists John Romita Jr. and John Romita Sr. introduced a new – and frighteningly sane – version of the [Green Goblin] concept with the debut of the Hobgoblin."