Fanboy Rampage: Erik Larsen Vs Roy Thomas

Posted in: Comics, Marvel Comics, Stan Lee | Tagged: barry windsor smith, conan, erik larsen, roy thomas

In a Facebook post Image Comics founder Erik Larsen has commented on Roy Thomas’s comments about the Stan Lee’s legacy.

Roy Thomas is a longstanding comic book writer and editor, and was Stan Lee’s first successor as editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics. He introduced Conan the Barbarian to Marvel and helped launch a sword and sorcery trend in comics. He’s also known for reviving the Justice Society of America and the All-Star Squadron at DC and for writing X-Men and Avengers at Marvel. he is credited with co-creating characters including Wolverine, Vision, Doc Samson, Carol Danvers, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Ultron, Yellowjacket, Defenders, Man-Thing, Red Sonja, Adam Warlock, Morbius, Ghost Rider, Squadron Supreme, Invaders, Black Knight,, Nighthawk, Havok, Banshee, Sunfire, Thundra, Arkon, Killraven, Wendell Vaughn, Red Wolf, Red Guardian, Daimon Hellstrom, Brother Voodoo and Valkyrie.

Recently, through his manager John Cintaro, Roy Thomas wrote an article for The Hollywood Reporter commenting on some of the reactions to the new Stan Lee documentary on Disney+.

“It’s certainly true that Stan doesn’t give his most talented collaborator, Jack Kirby, ample credit in every instance for his contributions to the early days of Marvel, from Fantastic Four onward. In a way, however, that’s only human nature: Stan could best remember the things he brought to the table in 1961 — just as Jack could best recall what he had done. Neither was an omniscient observer of the mind or actions of the other. One thing is clear almost beyond argument: Lee often gave Kirby credit, both in writing and when speaking, for much that was good about The Fantastic Four and their related co-creations. The documentary records him as saying that Jack often drew a story after a plot conference that covered only the barest essentials of the storyline; in print in the comics themselves, Stan often went even further than that. You can look it up.”

In a Facebook post that has been shared around the intent multiple times, Image Comics founder Erik Larsen has commented on Roy Thomas’s comments, saying “The writer who sent artists sections of Robert E. Howard Conan books with areas colored with a highlighter as plots has something to say about division of labor on comics he didn’t work on. Film at 11:00.”

Once upon a time, Erik Larsen, founder of Image Comics and Fanboy Rampage regular, worked with Roy Thomas on Bombast, a comic book based on a character created by Jack Kirby for Toppos Comics. Here’s a copy signed by them both. Probably not again though.

But it certainly set the cat amongst the pigeons. An interview with Barry Windsor-Smith, artist on those early days of Conan, has been highlighted, in which he states; “I toiled passionately on the stories and art of those early issues. In fact, I worked so hard that I barely had a social life. I couldn’t afford to eat out and I had to make do with pizza and fish out of tins. I wasn’t paid nearly enough for my commitment to the work and I wasn’t credited or paid for my stories or dialogue.” Examples of scripts and synopsis, as well as just what BWS did to make the stories work without commensurate credit emerged. Will Roy Thomas respond again? He does have a history of lengthy responses when challenged on such.

Fanboy Rampage was a blog by Graeme “Graham” McMillan dedicated to the funniest, most ludicrous and most inappropriate comic book back-and-forths online. McMillan has moved on now, becoming a proper journalist for the likes of The Hollywood Reporter, Wired and Popverse, but he gave permission to Bleeding Cool to revive his great creation. 

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