In the 1960s, Roy Thomas became one of the few people not named Stan Lee to write Marvel Comics, handling books like "The Avengers," "Doctor Strange" and "The Uncanny X-Men." Thomas, who succeeded Lee as Marvel's editor in chief in 1972, will appear at Comic Book I-Con Saturday.
In a phone interview last month, the comic book icon talked about the differences between creating comics now versus the old days. Now, writers give full scripts to artists, but in the '60s and '70s, Thomas used the "Marvel Method," where a writer provides a general idea, lets the artist draw it, then adds dialogue and captions later.
"It was a little like adding sound to a silent movie," Thomas said. "I mostly still work that way. Most comics today are done full-script in advance. It leads to a lot of comics where almost nothing happens. It takes two or three issues to do what we did in one."
One of Thomas's most notable successes was bringing the "Star Wars" comic to Marvel. Thomas first met George Lucas through a mutual friend in 1975, and the next year, while Lucas was filming in Africa, Thomas was approached by the friend to see if Thomas could get Marvel to publish a comic book adaptation. The company didn't publish much science fiction, Stan Lee had already turned down the proposal and Thomas was no longer editor-in-chief, but he agreed to take the meeting. Names like Tatooine, Skywalker, R2D2 and Chewbacca the Wookie were making his eyes glaze over, but the paintings of Ralph McQuarie sparked his imagination.
"He flipped to a picture of Luke and Obi-Wan going to a bar to meet Han Solo and him facing an alien with a ray gun. It looked like a Mexican cantina. I said 'OK, I'll do it. It's not sci-fi, it's a space opera. Like a western adventure set on another planet."
Because Lucas wanted the publicity of having a few issues out before the movie, Marvel got the rights to "Star Wars" for free. Thomas said he later learned that picking up the "Star Wars" comic may have saved Marvel from bankruptcy.
"Someone told me an executive said 'Give my regards to Roy Thomas, he made me rich,'" Thomas said. "I had no idea 'Star Wars' would be a phenomenon. I just thought it was a nice idea."
Comic convention do's and don'ts
Whether a first-timer or the kind of guy who only answers to "Chewbacca" while in full costume, there exist some unwritten rules when attending a comic convention. Well, we're writing them:
Do: Tell a comic creator how much you enjoy his or her work.
Don't: Ask them "Why aren't you writing or drawing good comics like you used to?"
Do: Bring a comic that means a lot to you to get signed.
Don't: Offer to show off a comic tattoo that means a lot to you if it involves removing, unbuckling or unzipping any piece of clothing.
Do: Bring a backpack to hold things you purchase.
Don't: Make your significant other/child/elderly grandmother hold said backpack for you.
Do: Engage in friendly discussions with other fans.
Don't: Start any of those discussions with "You must be an idiot if you think/read/enjoy ..."
Do: Dress in costume as your favorite comic book character.
Don't: Do that, if the costume is especially tight/revealing/non-existent (that means you, Dr. Manhattan fans).
Do: Buy a comic to read.
Don't: Buy a comic because you think selling it in a decade will put your kid through college. It won't. Ever.
