Roy William Thomas Jr., born November 22, 1940, is one of American comics' most prolific writers and editors, whose career spans work on thousands of issues across Marvel, DC, and beyond. A Missouri native, he made his way into the industry during the 1960s and eventually became Stan Lee's first successor as editor-in-chief at Marvel Comics.
Thomas is perhaps most recognized for bringing pulp hero Conan the Barbarian into American comics, a move that proved enormously influential and anchored some of his lengthiest runs, including *Conan the Barbarian* and *The Savage Sword of Conan*. He also devoted considerable energy to championing Golden Age heroes, most visibly through DC's *All-Star Squadron* and *Infinity Inc.*, which lovingly revived the 1940s Justice Society of America for new audiences.
His writing tenures on Marvel's *X-Men* and *The Avengers* produced a remarkable roster of co-created characters, including Vision, Ultron, Carol Danvers, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Ghost Rider, Morbius, Man-Thing, Red Sonja, and the Defenders, among many others — a breadth of co-creation few writers can match.
Thomas received two major industry honors recognizing his career contributions: induction into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2011 and the Harvey Awards Hall of Fame in 2022.
