"Hero Envy" The Blog Adventures: THE OFFICIAL ROY THOMAS CHARACTERS, CONCEPTS AND CREATIONS DATABASE

THE OFFICIAL ROY THOMAS

CHARACTERS, CONCEPTS AND CREATIONS

DATABASE

"RASCALLY" ROY THOMAS

AND

JOHN "THE MEGO STRETCH HULK" CIMINO

"I get a thrill when I get to see Roy because I look at Roy and I think, you know, Stan co-created the characters and set up the universe, but Roy is the one who taught us all how to write. Because we all write a lot more like Roy than we do like Stan. And there's a guy that is the epitome of what we should aspire too. He's a talented guy, he remembers everything, he knows everything."

Tom DeFalco

Roy Thomas:

What you are about to see is a Herculean labor called THE OFFICIAL ROY THOMAS CHARACTERS, CONCEPTS AND CREATIONS DATABASE! What’s that you say? Well, over the past year, my manager and friend John Cimino has made it his personal mission to collect and collate everything he could of my "contributions," such as they may be, to the comicbook field... and he's done such a formidable job that there are a number of concepts and characters listed which I had totally forgotten. The result is, he and I both hope, a database which will be of considerable worth to both the researcher and the casual reader. Naturally, it's not my--or John's--contention that my work over the past half-century plus has such unique merit that it should be catalogued and celebrated above that of others. Rather, he and I hope by this thorough database to inspire others to create additional databases of their own, devoted to this artist or that writer. If that happens, the field of comicbook history will be the richer for it. Now, let's get into this thing, shall we?

It's a bit hard to believe, when I look back at all the comicbook characters I was fortunate enough to get to co-create or at least co-develop. But I'd grown up in smalltown Missouri loving comics, so when I got a chance to work in the field in 1965, at the ripe old age of 24, I grabbed it, and soon would be working for Marvel Comics and Stan Lee as his editorial assistant and "staff writer." I suppose Banshee was the first super-type I dreamed up, although Stan wouldn't let the character be a woman, as he should have been. I wasn't wild about the idea of making up heroes for Marvel, since I wouldn't own any part of them or be able to control their destinies past a certain point, but I did it anyway in the sense of heroes like Wolverine, Iron Fist, Warlock, the (second) Vision, Morbius, Black Knight, Son of Satan, et al. Some of them I wrote... others I never (or virtually never) scripted but turned over immediately to other talented people to scribe, and they almost always did me proud.

Of course, I co-created some characters for DC, too, in the 1980s... but my Marvel list is far more extensive, since it involves the period from 1965 to 1980, and then again from the latter 1980s through at least the tail end of the 20th century. Actually, I just made up a few characters for my story in Marvel's SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN #10-11 released in late 2019 and X-MEN LEGENDS vol. 2 #1-2 released in 2022, and they are included here. In other fields, Gerry Conway and I created the black Amazon Zula for the film that became "Conan the Destroyer" (even suggesting Grace Jones for the part, which worked out well)... and maybe I made up one or two for TV animation, as well... but I think I gave my best effort to the comics. Naturally, John Cimino and I know we probably forgot somebody-or-other that will later occur to us (or to someone else who sees the lists), and we hope, and trust people will let us know if they run across some character or concept that I may have played a part in and simply forgot to list. I don't want to take any credit away from anyone who deserves it--after all, I nearly always co-created characters with an artist at the very least, since the only characters I ever drew the first picture of as well as wrote were Hyperion, Nighthawk, Dr. Spectrum, and the Whizzer (of the Squadron Sinister/Supreme), 3D Man, and Union Jack (of THE INVADERS), plus audio-describes images of Man-Ape and Red Wolf and a few others that will be listed... but hopefully those folks have their own lists, which I applaud, or this database will encourage them to do so.

The pioneers of comicbook fandom face front in 1963 (from L to R): Roy Thomas and then-girlfriend Linda Rahm (ALTER EGO's first photographed "Joy Holiday"), Jerry and Sondra Bails, and Bilijo and Ruth White.

John Cimino:

What can you say about Roy Thomas? His accolades in the comic business are almost without equal and his writing style was completely unique to anything that was being done at the time. He was the first true fanboy of the medium to break into the field and brought along a fan-like enthusiasm with a vast wealth of literary knowledge to his stories which made them deeper than anything that had been done before. While Stan Lee defined the 1960s with witty banter and contagious flair, it was Roy who took the reins from Stan and gave comic stories a new depth that even the most sophisticated reader could respect. Roy blossomed into the best comicbook writer of the 1970s (as nobody won more industry and fan writing awards during that decade) and became Stan Lee's protégé and eventual successor as Marvel's editor-in-chief.

ROY THOMAS AWARD HISTORY:

1962: Alley Award for Best Fanzine Alter Ego (with Jerry Bails)
1962: Alley Award for Best Strips Bestest League of America (Alter Ego #1-3, written and drawn by Roy Thomas)
1962: Alley Award for Best Fiction The Reincarnation of the Spectre (Alter Ego #1-2, written and drawn by Roy Thomas)
1964: Alley Award for Best Fanzine Alter Ego (with Jerry Bails)
1964: Alley Award for Best Article in a Fanzine One Man's Family (Alter Ego #7, written by Roy Thomas)
1965: Alley Award for Best Fanzine Alter Ego
1969: Alley Award for Best Pro Writer
1971: Shazam Award for Best Writer (Dramatic Division)
1971: Shazam Award for Best Continuing Feature Conan the Barbarian
1971: Goethe Award for Favorite Pro Writer
1972: Excellence as a Fanzine editor, as a Comicbook Award from the New England Comic Art Convention, MA
1973: Shazam Award for Best Individual Story ("Song of Red Sonja", with artist Barry Smith, in Conan the Barbarian #24)
1973: Goethe Award for Favorite Pro Writer
1973: Goethe Award for Favorite Pro Editor
1974: Shazam Award for Superior Achievement by an Individual
1974: Shazam Award for Best Continuing Feature Conan the Barbarian
1974: Irving Award for Favorite Black-and-White Story ("Red Nails", with artist Barry Smith, in Savage Tales #2)
1974: Angoulême International Comics Festival Award for Best Foreign Author
1974: Inkpot Award from the San Diego Comic Con, CA
1974: Comic Fan Art Award for Favorite Pro Editor
1974: Fan/Writer/Editor "Imperious Roy" Award from the Creation Convention, NYC
1975: Comic Fan Art Award for Favorite Pro Writer
1975: Comic Fan Art Award for Favorite Pro Editor
1975: Irving Award for Favorite Black-and-White Story ("A Witch Shall Be Born", with artist John Buscema, in Savage Sword of Conan #5)
1976: Irving Award for Best Writer
1977: Favorite Comicbook Writer at the Eagle Awards
1977: Favorite Comicbook Magazine Savage Sword of Conan at the Eagle Awards
1978: FOOM Award for Favorite Marvel Writer
1978: Guest of Honor at the Comic Art Convention, NYC
1978: Favorite Comicbook Magazine Savage Sword of Conan at the Eagle Awards
1979: Favorite Comicbook Magazine Savage Sword of Conan at the Eagle Awards
1985: Named as one of the honorees by DC Comics in the company's 50th anniversary publication Fifty Who Made DC Great
1990: Lifetime Fandom Award from Diamond Comics Distributors Inc.
1996: Author That We Love at the Haxtur Awards from the Gijon Comic Con, Spain
1998: Teller of "Super" Tales Award from Kansas City Comic Con, KC
1999: Named as the no. 5 greatest comic book writer and no. 4 greatest comic book editor of the twentieth century by a poll conducted by Comics Buyer's Guide
2000: Outstanding Achievement in Comicbook Writing at the Paul S. Newman Awards
2003: Guest of Honor for the Turin Comic Con, Italy
2006: Guest of Honor in Robert E. Howard's 100th Birthday Celebration for the Robert E. Howard Days, TX
2007: In Recognition of Extraordinary and Creative Contributions to American Comicbooks Award from the Montclair Art Museum, NJ
2007: Eisner Award for Best Comicbook Related Periodical Alter Ego
2010: In Recognition of Contributions to the Star Wars Legacy Award - Honorary Member of the 501st Legion Fan Organization
2010: Comics Bulletin ranks Conan the Barbarian no. 7 on its "Top 10 1970s Marvels" list
2011: Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame from the San Diego Comic Con, CA
2015: The Black Circle Award from the Robert E. Howard Foundation
2015: Best Comic Writer In the 75 Years of Marvel from the Comics Festival, Germany
2017: Historic Achievement Award from the Big Apple Convention, NYC
2017: Sergio Award from the Comic Art Professional Society (CAPS)
2018: Terrific Creator Award from the Terrific Comic Con, CT
2018: Guest of Honor for the Barcelona Comic Con, Spain
2019: Key to the City Award from Jackson, Missouri (February 23rd, declared "Roy Thomas Day")
2020: Alumni Merit Award from the Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau, MO
2021: Guest of Honor in Celebrating 51 years of Conan in Comics for the Robert E. Howard Days, TX
2022: Harvey Awards Hall of Fame from the New York Comic Con, NYC

Stan Lee and Roy (or the Man and his protégé) in 1970 creating magic to captivate the world.

But enough about Roy's writing skills and awards, let's get to his creations. As Roy stated above; he didn't like to create comicbook characters because he knew he wouldn't be able to own them. Well, maybe he should've practiced what he preached because own them or not, Roy Thomas has indeed created or I should say co-created a bunch of comicbook characters (and when we add in all the historical characters, he revamped into comicbook form, the number gets even more ridiculous). One thing I can say for certain is that there are probably only a handful of creators in the history of comics that have co-created more (even less if you want to talk about characters known all over the world that have shaped pop culture and brings in billions to Hollywood from movies and television for BOTH Marvel and DC--how many creators can make that claim??). How many in total, we may never know the answer for certain, but from the size of this database--IT'S A HELLUVA LOT!!!

Yup, this thing is really BIG and was a monumental task to compile. Roy and I both buckled down and did months of research; we went over Roy's "official" lists, had long phone/email conversations to gather information, dug through all our comics, got some assistance from others including collaborator Jean-Marc Lofficier and scoured the internet so many times we lost count. What we discovered was there were so many minor and insignificant background characters that didn't have big roles in the stories or just had brief appearances, and there were also a bunch of revamped or alternate-reality versions of characters in stories from NOT BRAND ECHH, WHAT IF, CONAN, pulps, novels, literature and the like. Same can be said about certain paraphernalia or vehicles Roy co-created that were so minuscule, they found their way into comicbook obscurity. Things could've gotten pretty monotonous, but we like to be as complete as we can so we tried to get in the more important ones (can anyone say Adam Klink?), especially if someone or something had a few recurring roles or used by other writers in later years. Hey, Roy has been writing comics waaay longer than I've been alive so there's literally thousands of pages of secondary characters he put into his stories, so we're sorry if "Rocky," "Sally," "Mr. Calkin" and all the others don't make it in this database because we can only do so much. Hopefully, if anyone locates a "Roy Thomas co-creation" we didn't list and thinks it should be, let us know and we'll add it. Roy will even give you a nice shout out online on The Roy Thomas Appreciation Board on Facebook! So, if you're not already a member, join today.

Roy with some early acclaim in 1965

We think you'll enjoy the fruits of our labor with these comprehensive lists we put into three categories: MARVEL COMICS (split into 2 parts), DC COMICS, and MISCELLANEOUS (this category also includes all Roy's fan letters). Included with each entry is a picture, listing of first comicbook appearance, who Roy co-created the concept with and any background information he wanted to include. Hopefully all those mistakes on the internet about who created what (that drives Roy and I both crazy) can be put to rest. We can't save everything in the comicbook world from wannabe historian trolls and fanboy mistakes but when it comes to Roy Thomas, at least we can do our part to give you the correct information straight from the source (so for crying out loud, Roy had nothing to do with the creation of Misty Knight and Polaris). But we're not perfect either, so if you spot a mistake we made or have a question, let us know. This is an ever-evolving database, and we appreciate when fans give us more input to expand it further.

Roy showcasing some of his babies. Yeah, there are a lot of them.

In ending, Roy and I hope you'll enjoy this project we put our "blood, sweat and tears" into (and yes, I cried a bunch of tears). Through all the research and rewrites, I'm honestly very happy with the end result. And the best part is, despite how much information is jam-packed into this thing, I've made it really easy to understand and navigate through, you can just sit back and enjoy the experience. So here's to all the readers, researchers and fans; a fun and accurate resource on the comicbook magic of "Rascally" Roy Thomas, one of the greatest writer/creators of popular fiction and an exclusive member of the Mount Rushmore of Marvel Comics alongside Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko.