View Full Version : What Roy Thomas comics would you recommend?
Mister Mets
03-24-2007, 11:55 PM
I honestly don't have tremendous respect for Roy Thomas as a writer, although that may just be because I haven't read the right comic books.
What Marvel comics written by Roy Thomas would you recommend to someone in order to demonstrate why so many people believe he was one of the great Marvel writers?
Dusty.
03-25-2007, 12:04 AM
His best stuff at Marvel was his incredible Conan comics. One of the greatest runs in comic history.
The Scribe
03-25-2007, 12:05 AM
No respect for a guy who's comic career has span forty plus years!? :mad:
You need to buy this.
Roy Thomas (http://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=55&products_id=317)
estee
03-25-2007, 07:41 AM
His Red Sonja stuff was great, especially with Frank Thorne as artist.
Siddon
03-25-2007, 08:30 AM
his Avengers run is the best ever, I also am partial to his run on X-men
The Avengers
The X-Men w/Neal Adams
Doctor Strange w/Dann Thomas (1988)
Expletive Deleted
03-25-2007, 09:32 AM
His best stuff at Marvel was his incredible Conan comics.Absolutely. The "Chronicles of Conan" reprint series from Dark Horse is excellent. Too bad the Essential volume is out of print.
His superhero stuff is a little more mixed for me, due to his occasional tendency to go way, way, way overboard with making continuity connections, but there're some gems in there. X-MEN and AVENGERS are your best bet. Check out the "Visionaries: Neal Adams" for the former and the Essential volumes for the latter.
The Shadow
03-25-2007, 11:49 AM
The Invaders.
'Nuff said.
Mister Mets
03-25-2007, 03:36 PM
No respect for a guy who's comic career has span forty plus years!? :mad:
You need to buy this.
Roy Thomas (http://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=55&products_id=317)
I have some respect, just not tremendous respect. :evilsmile
At the moment, I don't want anything which puts his work in greater context, although I may hunt down that issue.
I want to know what Marvel stories (not just creative runs) were his best?
I already knew that his Conan/ Avengers runs are very highly acclaimed. But what specific issues/ stories were the best?
Didn't he also do the Wonderful Elric comics from an offshot of Marvel. But I guess that was more Moorcock than him, still...
Didn't he also do the Wonderful Elric comics from an offshot of Marvel. But I guess that was more Moorcock than him, still...
He in essence did the same thing with Elric that he did with Conan, essentially adapting the Moorcock stories into graphic form with artists such as P. Craig Russell, etc. Those were done for First Comics, long after he'd left Marvel. Though his first Elric story was a Conan/Elric team up illustrated by Barry Smith in Conan The Barbarian.
Though his first Elric story was a Conan/Elric team up illustrated by Barry Smith in Conan The Barbarian.
wasn't First a division of Marvel though? and Team Up of those two!!?!? O.O How'd that work out?
Perry Holley
03-25-2007, 04:10 PM
wasn't First a division of Marvel though? Nope, completely seperate companies (you might be thinking of Epic, perhaps).
Nope, completely seperate companies (you might be thinking of Epic, perhaps).
ah! thank you sir, you are correct. ;) that's what I was thinking.
Norrin Radd
03-25-2007, 06:31 PM
Whoops...thought you said DC.
FanboyStranger
03-25-2007, 08:04 PM
He in essence did the same thing with Elric that he did with Conan, essentially adapting the Moorcock stories into graphic form with artists such as P. Craig Russell, etc. Those were done for First Comics, long after he'd left Marvel. Though his first Elric story was a Conan/Elric team up illustrated by Barry Smith in Conan The Barbarian.
Actually, Thomas and Russell first did the Elric graphic novel adaptation The Dreaming City for Epic, and then when the Eternal Champion comics rights followed Mike Friedrich to Pacific and then First Comics, the same team with the addition of Michael T. Gilbert worked on Elric of Melnibone. I actually found a copy of the 1986 trade edition not too long ago, and it's excellent stuff.
I think one of the problems I have when reading some of Thomas' work is that it does not very well in terms of dialogue. I remember someone once criticizing Roy for having a "tin ear", and I tend to agree. So, I find I need to place my mind within the context of when the stories were written to enjoy them. That's not the case with his Conan work, however, as those stories have a timeless quality. (As do the Elric ones that I mentioned above.) I did enjoy his Dr. Strange v. 3 run, but more for the "Book of Vishanti" backups with Randy Lofficier than the main stories.
niall mc cann
03-26-2007, 08:22 AM
I have some respect, just not tremendous respect. :evilsmile
At the moment, I don't want anything which puts his work in greater context, although I may hunt down that issue.
I want to know what Marvel stories (not just creative runs) were his best?
I already knew that his Conan/ Avengers runs are very highly acclaimed. But what specific issues/ stories were the best?
i'm waaaaaay too young to help you with issue numbers, i only read reprints, but i love his avengers stuff with Black Panther as leader and Black Knight hanging around, and again, i've picked up those Dark Horse Conan reprints too, which are fantastic.
So, can't help you with the specifics, but just adding my voice to the choir to encourage you to look them out. I haven't read his X-men stuff extensively, but i've read some, and enjoyed them
Thomas has is knockers, but i think he's great.
Evan Lanctot
03-26-2007, 09:48 AM
The Avengers(especially the John Buscema and Neal Adams issues)
The Invaders(any issue will do, but try #16-22)
Conan The Barbarian(issues #1-24 with Barry Smith and Gil Kane art)
The X-Men(#56-63 with Neal Adams art)
At his best, Roy was and is one of the greats. Literate storytelling.
Evan
The Shadow
03-26-2007, 01:49 PM
The Avengers(especially the John Buscema and Neal Adams issues)
The Invaders(any issue will do, but try #16-22)
Conan The Barbarian(issues #1-24 with Barry Smith and Gil Kane art)
The X-Men(#56-63 with Neal Adams art)
The Avengers issues are the Kree-Skrull War issues from #'s 89-97. The stunning Neal Adams art makes it worth it alone!
Ventura
03-26-2007, 07:17 PM
The Kree-Skrull war was certainly ambitious for its time and is probably Roy's crowning achievement back then (and is collected in a tpb). He excelled at the multi-part stories, probably because these allowed him to explore various themes at once. At times his reach exceeded his grasp, but his stories still made for interesting if uneven (at times) reading. Some of his Avengers work I'd recommend are:
1) Avengers #38-#44; an early RT arc, featuring Black Widow joining SHIELD and pretending to defect to the Comminists (leading to character development for Hawkeye and Hank), and the appearance of Hercules.
2) Avengers #47-#53, along with X-Men #43-#45: an early Marvel crossover, featuring Magneto reclaiming Pietro and Wanda for his brotherhood of Evil Mutants (years before it was revealed he was their father). The story began in the Avengers and spilled over to the X-Men, before its conclusion in the Avengers (#53). A good example of the intertwining Marvel Universe.
3) Avengers #73-#74. The second Sons of the Serpent story (Stan scripted the first one). Not as predictable as one might think, it made some provocative points and resisted easy answers, as well as giving the underused T'Challa a chance to take center stage.
Babylon23
03-27-2007, 04:23 AM
Invaders. All of it. It doesn't get much better than this.
Thomas' Avengers run is rightly praised. I'd recommend tracking it all down (Essentials 2-4 are a good cheap option). Personal highlights are the Masters of Evil story (54-55), the introduction of Vision (57-58) and the aforementioned Kree-Skrull War.
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