THE ROY THOMAS SPIDER-MAN COSTUME

THE ROY THOMAS SPIDER-MAN COSTUME

The legend and lore of Marvel's very first in-house promo costume

BY
"RASCALLY" ROY THOMAS
AND
JOHN "THE MEGO STRETCH HULK" CIMINO

Sometime in the last months of 1965, or in early 1966, in the Marvel offices, production manager Sol Brodsky showed me several folded-up costumes which, he said, had been sewn for Marvel by a "professional seamstress" -- or some phrase to that effect. They were costumes for Spider-Man, Fantastic Four (a uniform that could be worn by either sex), and two others, which I believe were the Wasp and Medusa. He told me the costumes had been made for the company specifically so that they could be worn in a Macy's Thanksgiving Parade... that would've had to be the 1964 one or less likely the 1965 one. Sol told me that the "actors" hired to wear the costumes had gotten paid in advance and hadn't marched in the parade; I believe he said or implied that they'd gotten drunk and never showed up. He told me I could have the costumes if I wanted them, as they were just cluttering up the office. I knew Sol well enough by then to know that, if he was giving me the costumes, it had to be with the permission (if not by the direction) of editor Stan Lee, since Sol would never have given away such company property on his own. I took the costumes, not certain what I would do with them.

Sol Brodsky was the guy that gave Roy Thomas the Spider-man costume (with Stan Lee's permission of course).

Over the years, I've worn the Spider-Man costume on several occasions. I'm not sure what year I first wore it to one of the annual Halloween parades in Rutland, Vermont, which I'd been attending since 1965. I could have worn the Spidey costume in Rutland as early as '66. In 1969, my first wife Jeanie and I attended the Rutland parade and parties in costume as Invisible Girl and Spider-Man. There is a published photo of the two of us in those costumes in Rutland in a 1970 issue of the comics fanzine COMIC CRUSADER #8. We may have worn those costumes more than once, but not very often. In THE AVENGERS #83, a 1970 comic book I wrote, I had the artist draw Jeanie and me wearing those costumes as we attended a Rutland party held in conjunction with the parade. Though that story supposedly "took place" in 1970, it surely reflected events of the previous year's events. I also appeared in a few panels wearing the costume in the pages of BATMAN #237, JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #103 (I guess I'm fighting both Green Lantern and Batman in this one), AMAZING ADVENTURES #16 (I'm on the cover too) and THE MIGHTY THOR #207.

Photo of Roy Thomas and his first wife Jeanie Thomas at the Rutland, VT. Halloween parade in 1969 from the comic fanzine COMIC CRUSADER #8.

COMIC CRUSADER #8 (1970)

Roy Thomas wearing his Spider-man costume at the Rutland, VT. Halloween party in THE AVENGERS #83.

 Jeanie Thomas with Roy (now unmasked) from THE AVENGERS #83. And you'll notice in the second panel that Roy is talking to his very own character -- the Vision! How cool is that?

THE AVENGERS #83 (1970)

In BATMAN #237 Roy makes another appearance in his Spider-man costume. Artist Neal Adams used the Kirk Hasting's photo down below as a frame of reference to draw Roy in action. 

BATMAN #237 (1971)

Roy wearing his Spider-man costume alongside Jeanie Thomas make a quick appearance with other Marvel and DC bullpen members from AMAZING ADVENTURES #16.

 Roy Thomas in his Spider-man costume getting a beat down from the Green Lantern in JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #103.

There's Roy in the background with his Spider-man costume again at the Rutland, VT. Halloween parade in THE MIGHTY THOR #207.

From left to right: AMAZING ADVENTURES #16 (1973): Yeah, that's Roy in his Spider-man costume on the cover watching the Beast and Juggernaut slug it out. JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #103 (1972) and THE MIGHTY THOR #207 (1973)

I wore the Spidey costume for a couple of events covered in Marvel Comics themselves. I wore it for a photo that was made a part of a page in NOT BRAND ECHH #11, which went on sale in autumn of 1968. But the resolution of that photo wasn’t very good, so it was reprinted in NOT BRAND ECHH #13, four months later, with better quality.

Splash page of Roy Thomas in Spider-man costume from NOT BRAND ECHH #11.

NOT BRAND ECHH #11 (1968)

Reprinted splash page of Roy Thomas in Spider-man costume (with much better quality) from NOT BRAND ECHH #13.

NOT BRAND ECHH #13 (1969)

For the 1969 FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL, which came out in the summer of that year, I donned the Spidey costume again and posed for a photo in Stan Lee's office with Stan and artists John Romita and Marie Severin. That photo has been reprinted numerous times since, including in Marvel's self-published fanzine FOOM #16 in 1976.

The last page of the 4-page back-up feature on the Marvel Bullpen from FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL #7 (1969) with Roy Thomas in the Spider-man costume with Stan Lee, Marie Severin and John Romita. Pictures of Roy and his first wife Jean are also on the page.

FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL #7 (1969)

The picture with Roy in costume with Stan Lee, Johnny Romita and Marie Severin was reprinted in FOOM magazine #16 (1976)

In a ROLLING STONE article on Marvel by former staffer (and future SOPRANOS writer Robin Greene) that was printed in its Sept. 16, 1971, issue, there's a prominent mention (mostly paraphrased, I'm sure, from what I told her at the time) of the costumes and the circumstances of their creation as I told them. It says:

"Every year there is a comic parade in Rutland, Vermont, on Halloween. He [Roy] gets to dress as Spider-man [sic], and his wife Jeanie is Invisible Girl. The costumes they wear were made for a Macy's parade, but the people got drunk, and didn't show up. So the costumes had never been worn."

 

ROLLING STONE (1971)

On the evening of January 5, 1972, I wore the costume for a short time in the legendary Stan Lee/Marvel Carnegie Hall show, running up and down the aisles and probably onstage. It’s unfortunate that the promoter did not allow photos to be taken at that event.

The Stan Lee Carnegie Hall poster by artist George Delmercio (1972)

Outside shot of fans waiting to get into the "STAN LEE AT CARNEGIE HALL" show in 1972. Roy Thomas would be seen running up and down the aisles in his Spider-man costume.

MONSTER TIMES #3 (1972)

COMICS FANDOM MONTHLY #6 (1972)

COMIC FANDOM MONTHLY #6 (1972)

There also exists three photos (so far as I know) of me in the Spidey costume. Two of them at a New York Comics Convention -- probably in 1966 -- one framed between a couple of young X-Men and the other I appear at the edge of the photo. This is most likely the only time I ever wore the Spidey costume to a con of any kind. The other one was taken by Andy Yanchus at the 1969 Rutland celebration, outside the Claremont Mansion where we stayed and had parties.

Roy Thomas sporting the Spider-man costume at a 1966 NY Comic Convention.

Another photo of Roy wearing the costume at the 1966 NY Comic Convention. It shows fan Mark Hanerfeld (who looked a lot like Al Hirt) mock-wrestling a young Dave Armstrong as Captain America.

Roy in Spider-man action at the 1969 Rutland celebration outside of the Claremont Mansion. And FYI, Kirk Hastings made some attempt to re-color the purple leggings for the picture.

Probably the last time I wore it was when my future wife Dann and I went as Invisible Girl and Spider-Man to some Halloween event in the Los Angeles area, and a photo of us in the costumes exists. This was probably in the late 1970s.

Roy and Dann Thomas both in costume at a Halloween event in Los Angeles during the late '70s.

Dann Thomas with the Fantastic Four costume in 2021.

From the day I was handed the Spider-Man costume by Sol Brodsky in 1965-66, until January 2017, it has never been out of my possession. It has never been loaned to (or worn by) anyone else. There have been one or two attempts in the past to market a Spider-Man costume which, it was claimed, was the one worn in the 1972 Carnegie Hall show. However, these claims were erroneous (...) as I still have that costume in my possession and never relinquished it at any time -- and, at my insistence, the dealer who first advertised the bogus costume deleted any future mention of a supposed "Carnegie Hall" provenance, since that was not correct.

Best Wishes,

Roy Thomas

BRING ON SPIDEY'S MERRY MARVELOUS 55th BIRTHDAY BASH AND SO MUCH MORE!
 

Notice that my buddy Roy Thomas said he had the Spider-man costume until January 2017? That's because in January he relinquished his mighty grip on the costume and put it into my puny mere mortal hands. I have now officially become the living and breathing representative/spokesperson/overseer for the Roy Thomas Spider-man costume. This, I must say, is truly an honor especially for a fanboy like me. To understand how lucky I am to care for such an unbelievably rare and sacred piece one must understand that it was the very first in-house promotional costume ever made by Marvel Comics themselves and the first live-action Spider-man costume used in their comic-books. Sure, the 1954, 1958 and 1963 Ben Cooper Spider-man Halloween costumes predate this one but those were mass produced and made for the public. Roy's Spider-man costume is the only one of its kind and the only one that was ever made. How AMAZING is that?? Now before I get into what Roy Thomas, his beautiful wife Dann Thomas and I have planned for this grail piece and Spider-man's 55th anniversary celebration in August, let's take a closer look at his SPECTACULAR costume shall we...

Roy and Dann Thomas bring me the Spider-man costume that has been buried away for over 40 years. And yes, I almost passed out (not because I got to see the costume in person, but because it was so crunched up).

Me and Roy displaying his Spider-man costume.

Here we are comparing the earliest Spider-man costumes in the world. To read about the legend of the Ben Cooper Spider-man costumes click this link: "The 1963 Ben Cooper Spider-man Costume."

A historical picture of the world's greatest Spider-man costumes! From left to right: 1964-1965 Roy Thomas Spider-man costume, 1963 Ben Cooper Spider-man costume, 1958 Ben Cooper Spider-man costume and 1954 Ben Cooper Spider-man costume. Have you ever seen anything this amazing?? THWIPP!!!

So who's the real Peter Parker behind those Spider-man masks?

When I had Roy bring me his costume I wanted to know more about its history. You'll notice from reading Roy's introduction on this blog that not much was known other than what he was told by Sol Brodsky. So Roy did some detective work on his own and asked Stan Lee if he had any recollection of who made the Spider-man costume, what its purpose was and any details in general about it. This was Stan's response to Roy on February 4, 2017:

Roy, you're incredible!

You not only remember the events but the dates as well! 

I remember the events you mentioned only vaguely. Hell, people sometimes ask me when I moved to L.A. and I can't even answer that!

Wish I could help you but I don't even recall some of the stuff you mention.

Your memory is absolutely a national treasure -- should be donated to the Smithsonian!

Excelsior!

Stan

So sadly, the true history of this Spider-man costume will forever be a mystery and lost to the ages. But at least we can all still appreciate it's everlasting glory and grandeur because after giving it a professional steam press and cleaning the costume was ready for it's big reveal!! I present to you exclusive photos of a true piece of Marvel history -- the one and only Roy Thomas Spider-man costume!! What do you think fanboys?

Walloping web-snappers -- it's a thing of beauty from the front...

...and the back.

The first thing you will notice about the Spider-man costume is that the leggings are purple and the upper torso is blue. You might be scratching your head and wondering why that is. First off, you have to remember that the costume was made in late 1964 or early 1965 and Spider-man was only a little more than 2 years old. When the seamstress was hired by Marvel to make the costumes she (I'm just assuming the seamstress was a "she" for the sake of the story since Roy never knew who made the costume) used early Spider-man comics as reference. While the outer part of Spider-man's costume was colored blue on the covers of the comics, a warm purple was used on the interior pages. This might've caused some confusion on what Spider-man's costume was supposed to be -- blue or purple? The seamstress probably assumed it could've been either color and just made the costume with both (I mean, who would really care about the color accuracy of a comic-book character at this time). This shows just how early the costume was made and it truly represents the innocence and magic during those early days of Marvel. And to be honest, the colors give Roy's costume such uniqueness and charm that it totally differentiates itself from any other Spider-man costume made since.

Check it out for yourself by looking at these original interior pages from early AMAZING SPIDER-MAN comics colored by the late Stan Goldberg (and possibly a few uncredited others) down below. Is the outer part of Spidey's costume purple or blue -- you decide?

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #1 (1963)

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #2 (1963)

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #3 (1963)

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #4 (1963)

On March 11th, 2017 the NY POST put out an article that Roy and I were first revealing the costume at the BIG APPLE CON in New York City. The article tells the fun tale of the history of the costume but HERITAGE AUCTIONS pop culture expert Greg Holman estimated the value of the costume at only 2,000 to 3,000 dollars (????), which is completely false! Roy and I already had offers considerably higher so that claim is downright nonsense and tells nothing of the true value of this incredible piece. But the article did its job to give the costume some good national exposure. So much in fact that Jeanie Thomas (Roy's ex-wife and the woman who wore the Invisible Girl costume with Roy in the comics and at Carnegie Hall) whom Roy hasn't seen in over 30 years came by to visit us at the BIG APPLE CON and see the costume. It was an incredible moment that hundreds of comic fans and I managed to capture on film and video. Now that was something really special!

Article in the NY POST 3/11/2017 that showcased the costume (which made the bogus claim that it was only worth 2,000 to 3,000 dollars) and made a historical reunion occur.

Roy and I with his ex-wife Jeanie get together again for the first time in 30 years to pose with the Spider-man costume. Simply amazing!

Okay, now that we know all about the hokey coloring of the costume let's get back to the original question. With Roy's Spider-man costume hidden from the world for over 40 years, why are we revealing it to the world now in 2017? Well, as I said earlier, it's Spider-man's 55th anniversary this August plus Marvel Studios/Sony is releasing the movie SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING in July to theaters which is likely going to be a huge blockbuster hit. And to celebrate these major events in the Merry Marvel tradition, we are showing off one of the rarest and most unique pieces of vintage Spider-man memorabilia known to exist!

And just to let all you crazy Spider-man collectors out there in comic land know, as of January 2, 2018 Roy and I sold the costume to a private collector and it's no longer available. BANG!!

Spider-man and his amazing friends!

AND ONE MORE THING...

Roy stated above that he was the one and only person to ever wear the costume. Well, that's not entirely true anymore. Since receiving it I just had to dress my baby girl up in this thing just so she could become a part of Marvel Comics history and feel the magic herself -- so don't be mad Roy because you've got company! Ladies and gents, the only other person to wear the Roy Thomas Spider-man costume, my daughter Bryn Isabella Cimino!!!!!

Thwipp!

 

SUPER-ROY-SPIDEY-COSTUME LINKS:

NY POST
 http://nypost.com/2017/03/10/the-macys-thanksgiving-parade-almost-had-a-drunk-spider-man/

PRESSREADER
  https://www.pressreader.com/usa/new-york-post/20170311/282449938826022

THE POWER COSMIC PODCAST EPISODE 34
https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/thepowercosmic/episodes/2017-03-08T18_21_25-08_00

THE POWER COSMIC PODCAST EPISODE 35
https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/thepowercosmic/episodes/2017-03-15T11_00_45-07_00 

THIS RARE SPIDER-MAN COSTUME WAS HIDDEN IN A CLOSET FOR 50 YEARS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cncYertVEA

THE WESTON
  http://www.weston.org/calendar.aspx?PREVIEW=YES&EID=2088 

THE METRO DAILY WEST NEWS
http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/20170625/first-spider-man-costume-makes-appearance-in-weston

WICKED LOCAL

http://waltham.wickedlocal.com/news/20170625/first-spider-man-costume-makes-appearance-in-weston

NH1.COM
http://www.nh1.com/news/rarest-spidey-suit-in-the-world-coming-to-nh-for-nashua-library-comicfest/

NASHUA TELEGRAPH
http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/news/2017/07/23/nashua-hosts-comicfest/

EVENTFUL.COM
http://eventful.com/nashua/events/spiderman-homecoming-/E0-001-104064793-9 

HUFFINGTON POST
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/5999e937e4b03b5e472cf0c3

ON HISTORY: THE FIRST SPIDER-MAN
http://www.kleefeldoncomics.com/2017/09/on-history-first-spider-man.html

TURN TRASH INTO CASH
http://turntrash2.cash/valuable-ben-cooper-halloween-amazing-spider-man-costume/#comment-1153

THE 1963 BEN COOPER SPIDER-MAN COSTUME
http://hero-envy.blogspot.com/2012/10/1963-ben-cooper-spider-man-halloween.html 


LINKS TO OTHER "MEGO STRETCH HULK" AND "RASCALLY ROY" HERO ENVY ARTICLES...
 
THE UNCANNY BUT TRUE CREATION OF THE WOLVERINE
http://hero-envy.blogspot.com/2018/04/the-uncanny-but-true-creation-of.html

DAYS OF GRIMLOCK, ELVIS PRESLEY AND ROY THOMAS 

http://hero-envy.blogspot.com/2018/05/days-of-grimlock-elvis-presely-and-roy.html 

THE "OFFICIAL" MARVEL COMICS ROY THOMAS APPRECIATION PRINT
http://hero-envy.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-official-marvel-comics-roy-thomas.html 

THE SECRET ORIGINS OF THE JIM STARLIN THANOS BUST
http://hero-envy.blogspot.com/2018/09/the-secret-origin-of-jim-starlin-thanos.html 

MY MARVEL CAMEO
https://hero-envy.blogspot.com/2018/11/my-marvel-cameo.html 

THE LAST SPIDER-MAN DAILY NEWSPAPER STRIP
https://hero-envy.blogspot.com/2019/05/the-last-spider-man-newspaper-daily.html

THE LAST GATHERING WITH STAN LEE
https://hero-envy.blogspot.com/2019/07/the-last-gathering-with-stan-lee.html  

THE OFFICIAL ROY THOMAS CHARACTERS, CONCEPTS AND CREATIONS DATABASE
https://hero-envy.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-official-roy-thomas-characters.html