When I was a stupid little kid, I thought the art from Kirby and Ditko on the old Marvel comics was, well, old. I couldn't dig the rigidity of Ditko's figures, even as the limbs and fingers splayed everywhere, or the sheer chunkiness of Kirby.
But I never, ever thought John Romita's art looked old. It was always absolutely timeless.
If I picture Spider-Man in my head, it's a Romita drawing. His flowing line was always so smooth, with dynamic storytelling, and characters that were sexy as hell because they had real weight to them - that first appearance of MJ might have been homaged almost to death, but the original art is still hot as hell.
Romita Spider-Man feels like the only real Spider-Man, and his art was the default for all the licensed material, so all the Marvel drink bottles and lunchboxes and underwear all featured his art, just as much as DC relied on José García-López for that exact look.
It's not that it was generic, it's that it was universal, and appeals to everybody everywhere, in a way few Spidey artists ever really matched.
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