DC, Marvel Comics writer Roy Thomas returns to hometown

Comic book writer, editor and Jackson native Roy Thomas -- who succeeded Stan Lee as editor-in-chief at Marvel Comics -- was honored and greeted with cake and a crowd Friday at the Cape Girardeau County History Center in Jackson.

The reception also spotlighted the center's former intern and Southeast Missouri State University student Michael Archer's creation of the on-site superhero-inspired exhibit, "When History and Comics Collide."

"I haven't been around since my mother moved away about seven or eight years ago, before she passed away," Thomas said. "I used to come back about once a year and visit her."

He has created or co-created more than 70 characters including The Black Knight, Ghost Rider -- and co-created comic book phenomenon Wolverine during his time at Marvel Comics.

Not too long before Thomas left his seat as editor-in-chief at Marvel Comics, Thomas said, he realized the need for a Canadian character.

"About 5 to 10 percent of our readers are Canadian," Thomas said. "I said, 'We haven't got a single character that I knew of that was Canadian.'"

After contacting Len Wein, one of his best writers at the time, Thomas said, the "fierce" Wolverine character began to take shape.

And if it hadn't been Wein, Thomas said, it would've been somebody else.

"He did all the heavy lifting, but it was sort of my initial idea," Thomas said. "If I would have known it'd be so famous I would have written the comic myself."

But Thomas doesn't try to take credit away from Wein, the artist who designed the character, or anyone else involved, he said.

Thomas' favorite comic book character as a kid that he still loves today is Hawkman.

"He's still around, and I have the original art page from 1946," he said.

Thomas said he has co-created a lot of characters during his career, but he mostly wrote characters that already existed. He's also had a hand in creating characters that, in recent years, have made it to the big screen.

His most recent work includes being the creator -- along with Lee -- for Netflix's "Luke Cage" character. Thomas said he came up with the name "Cage," along with "a few other things."

"And I just met the actor who played him," Thomas said. "I live in a small town of a couple thousand people in South Carolina, called St. Matthews. And the funny thing is, the actor who plays him on the series, Mike Colter, grew up and was born in St. Matthews. ... We probably ran into each other on the streets."

The first time anything of Thomas' was used "big time," he said, was in 2015, with "Avengers: Age of Ultron."

Ultron was Thomas' creation, he said.

Seeing his creations go to the big screen, Thomas said, "is wonderful." He even had a hand in "Black Panther," he said, through the character, M'Baku.

"Some things they do I like better than others," he said. "But I've become a real fan of the Marvel movies."

Thomas now writes for Alter Ego, which he described as a magazine about the history of comics. And in December, he hopes to release a book titled "The Stan Lee Story."

And, according to Thomas, Marvel has talked with him about possibly writing more for "Conan the Barbarian."

"I officially retired when I was 62," Thomas said. "I'm 77 now. I still see it as work, but I can't quit while Stan (Lee) is still working. He's 95 and until the last few months he was still going to conventions, meetings and still signs comics."

He said, "I figure, how can I quit when the guy who was my main inspiration is still working?"

Thomas attended Jackson High School, St. Paul Lutheran School and also is a Southeast alumnus. He now resides in South Carolina with his wife, "out in the country," Thomas said, about an hour from Columbia.

jhartwig@semissourian.com

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