Roy Thomas is an American comic-book writer, and was the first person to succeed Stan Lee as the Editor-In-Chief at Marvel Comics.
Thomas was a Promoted Fanboy of superhero comics who co-edited the fanzine Alter Ego, one of the first publications aimed at adult superhero fans. He moved to New York in 1965 and briefly worked at DC Comics before landing a job as a writer at Marvel. His work impressed Stan Lee enough that he became the first writer to succeed Lee on major superhero books, first X-Men, where his run ended with a well-regarded arc with Neal Adams as artist, and The Avengers, which he wrote from 1966 to 1972, co-creating many of the series' most famous storylines and characters such as the Vision and Ultron. He was an early proponent of Arc Welding and Continuity Porn, writing stories that made connections between previously-unrelated stories and characters, most ambitiously in the long Avengers arc "The Kree/Skrull War," which tied together Marvel characters and stories from the Golden Age through the Bronze Age.
He is also known for his love of pulp and Golden Age heroes, leading him to adapt Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian series for Marvel and also create the All-Star Squadron for DC Comics.
Works include:
- Conan the Barbarian
- Squadron Supreme
- Red Sonja
- Morbius
- Iron Fist
- The Invaders (Marvel Comics)
- Killraven
- Warlock (1967)
- Quasar
- All-Star Squadron
- Infinity, Inc.
- Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew!
- America vs. the Justice Society
- Swordquest
- Black Knight
- Roy Thomas' Anthem
- Shazam!: The New Beginning
