Roy “Earth-Two” Thomas was born Nov. 22, 1940. He’s 75.
Roy Thomas is like most of us — a fan. But unlike most of us, he went from being a fan to one of the most prolific comics writers for both Marvel and DC. And today, he continues to publish the magazine that started it all for him, Alter Ego.
There are so many ways we could have done 13 COVERS for Thomas’ birthday, and I came up with two: One Marvel and one DC. Even then, how to narrow it down?
Well for Marvel, I picked his initial Avengers run from the ’60s and ’70s, which you could argue was the title that really propelled him to comics stardom. And for DC? All-Star Squadron from the ’80s, featuring his beloved Golden Age DC heroes.
So here are 13 All-Star Squadron covers — and click here for 13 Avengers covers.
(My standard caveat: This is a subjective list and not a ranking of any kind. This is pretty much what I dig and you may feel very differently. So, rather than beef about a cover you don’t see, instead join in the fun and share your own choices in the comments section or in whatever social-media thread you saw this.)
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Rich Buckler and Dick Giordano
Joe Kubert
Jerry Ordway and Mike Machlan
Rick Hoberg and Jerry Ordway
Jerry Ordway
Jerry Ordway
Jerry Ordway
Arvell Jones and Tim Burgard
Jerry Ordway
Jerry Ordway
Joe Kubert
Rich Buckler and Romeo Tanghal
Tom Grindberg and Tony DeZuniga
November 23, 2015
Never read this series. Was it any good? Was it ever collected in TPB?
November 24, 2015
I loved it growing up, and I still do! If you like new stories (written in the ’80’s) featuring the original Golden Age heroes, you will enjoy this series. It is set in WWII, with Roy Thomas doing lots of research (historical and DCU, pre-Crisis) for it. Jerry Ordway artwork for the earlier issues — he is a great artist! I believe it was collected in a TPB recently; check Amazon.
November 22, 2019
A] All Star Squadron’s 67 individual issues have been digitized [note this team teamed up with other groups like the JLA [Justice League of America #207-209, All-Star Squadron #14 & 15], JSA [?], Infinity, Inc et al in their books and appeared in Crisis etc titles] … and I enjoyed it in the 80s [origin issue … appeared as an extra in JLA 193]
https://www.comixology.com/All-Star-Squadron-1981-1987/comics-series/8170
B) There are also three annuals with those 67 issues
C] There is one compilation volume [which might have been printed in black and white] called Showcase Presents: All-Star Squadron Vol. 1 which is about $50 new at amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Showcase-Presents-All-Star-Squadron-Vol/dp/1401234364/
D.] In 1987 there was a series put out called Young All-Stars
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Labyrinth/7393/wwyas.html
[most of this info should be correct
November 22, 2019
Update: Showcase Presents: All-Star Squadron Vol. 1 is indeed in B&W and contains: The All-Star Squadron preview from Justice League of America #193 (August 1981); All-Star Squadron #1 (September 1981) to #18 (February 1983); and All-Star Squadron Annual #1 (1982)
It does not contain Justice League of America issues 207 – 209
November 25, 2015
One of the best series ever
November 27, 2015
Roy Thomas was at his best with the All Star Sqadron. The only bad thing that happened was DC screwed up the series when they destroyed the multiuniverse in Crisis on Infinite Earths.