Made 50 issues, not bad. Also reminds you even with +23,000 comics there’s massive holes in DC digital
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One of the points brought up in the JSA Club’s reading of these issues is the use of racial slurs. The Alter Ego interviews linked above show that Thomas was very aware of the issues surrounding not only the use of racial slurs, but the lack of female or minority heroes that appeared in DC Comics at the time. So, for the time these issues were written, Thomas used what he thought at the time were less offensive terms. He also introduces Liberty Belle early, hands Firebrand off to the original’s sister and adds heroes like Amazing Man. The success on the second front is that Liberty Belle and Firebrand are often cited among reader’s favorite’s and Amazing Man is one the more memorable characters despite his limited appearances.
On language, it’s a tough call. Do you adhere to historical accuracy in language in your average superhero book? Probably not. It’s not necessary to get your point across about enmity between Americans and their enemies. But, if you were doing a more serious comic book that is meant to represent the times more accurately. It may be necessary or you’re eliminating important context.
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Roy Thomas brought Conan and the world of Robert Howard to Marvel, it was his idea to license the property. I never thought about Thomas and Warlord, it’s true, he’d been prefect. Though he may have been offered it and felt Warlord was derivative of Conan, which he’d already explored, so he passed.
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If yoy look at his Bibliography above
There is
The Warlord #48 (Arak, Son of Thunder insert preview) (1981)
So the link.is there
But Warlord was somebody else’s
Character
With its own fixed background
Roy Thomas said his wife gave him
The idea of
‘An American.Indian discovering Europe’
Rather than the usual opposite
He picked the time period
The late Eight Century AD
Far enough in.the past
Where magic and dragons could exist
But where other civilizations
Like in.the Arsb.and Chinese states
They were well more civilized
When he journeyed there
Roy Thomas’s
College Major was in History after all
And he taught History and English
At a high school for a couple of years
Before Marvel
And with a new character
Under Jennette Kahn reign
As president of DC Comic
He would get a cut of
DC Authorized
Books TV Movis and Toys
That used the character
He wouldn’t have that
With an existing character
Like Warlord
Where he couldn’t even
Use his interest in
Integrating history into his stories
Because only Warlord himself
Came from that history
Shoutout to.
Injustice Year Zero
3 issues out
99 cents each
Digital only
Issue 1
One year ago
Notice the gray hairs
on two of the ladies
Dr Fate is Inza
Wildcat says born in 1920s
There is a
Batman vs Wildcat fight
While Barry.and Jay eat popcorn
See two Black Canaries
Walking together
Mother and daughter
Amazing Man is there
But no Firebrand
Robotman or Jonny Quick
This is Injustice
And Tom Taylor
So expect massive number of deaths
Second panel
Of issue 1 Current day
Implies JSA dead or missing
Issue 3 may be origin
Of Hawkman and Hawkgirl
During World War Ii
In.a tomb near Cairo Egypt
Hawkgirl looks way different
Last panel of
Issue 3
POSSIBLE SPOILER
Article mention artifact stolen
If non magical super heroes
Go to Germany secretly
And retrieve the Spear of Destiny
All Star Squadron 4 is undone
And Superman and Spectre
Ravage Nazis Germany
Foreshadowing that event
In issue 1
Notice it is
Wonder Woman and Alan Scott
Thanking
Spectre
Two magic super heroes
Who would have been affected
By the Spear of.Destiny or Holy Grail
Mentioned in All Star Squadron 4
Spectre clearly thinks
He did something
Unforgivable
Even for him
Maybe
Equivalent
To Atom Bomb on Japan
Instead of
Surgical strike
Against Hitler and his High Command
Which would not have bothered
Spectre at alll
As he is a killing machine
Against guilty people
After I said that @TurokSonOfStone1950 pointed me toward Arak. Thomas got 10% royalties from the new character so that was a big plus for him. Would like to see Arak get digitized at some point
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So would Roy
He would get royalties
From our Comic Book.Library
Plus from any Trade reprints
When I get to
‘Roy Facts’
On Roy in recent times
Roy seems soured on DC
And says Marvel treated him ok
In comparison
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Creator sours on employer. Story as old as Michelangelo and the Pope. It has to be something in the dynamic of trying to create within the framework of an established universe without complete freedom. In Thomas’ case he has some complaints about his control over his corner of the DCU. He claims that he was promised that we would essentially be his own editor. I’m sure if someone interviewed Jenette Kahn she would remember her meeting and discussion with Thomas differently. Spoiler, Byrne has major complaints about his time on Superman too.
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Roy Thomas Fact Recent Activity
Roy ia almost 80
But in very good shape
For his age
Still married
To his second wife
Who co wrote
Many of his stories
At DC
Name Dann
Like Firebrand
He has some problem
WIith DC on Royalties
He says he does not read
Current DC comics
And feels
DC.would never consider him
For projects that should be his
https://www.milehighcomics.com/interviews/roythomas.html
Saw Stan Lee
48 hours before he died
There was a Roy Thomas day
In his hometown
He now lives on a farm with a lot of animals including about 50 guinea pigs. He even owns toucans and a few llamas.
“I can’t get them to stop procreating.”
Dont know if he is joking
About inability
Recent interview
Went to
Convention
During Pandemic
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DC History Club: Roy Thomas at DC August 2020 Week 2 Watch Read
For Week 2
This week is all about Captain.Marvel who is now called Shazam because Marvel.Comics has the trademark for
Captain Maevel
Shazam is the magic word that the young boy called Billy Batson used to transform himself into the super powered adult called Captain Marvel
Must Watch/ Read
Video DC Spotlight: Shazam
Comic 1984 Pre Crisis
All Star Squadron 36 37
Comic. 1987 Post Crisis
Shazam The New Beginning 1 4
The complicated history of Captain Marvel / Shazam is explained in
DC Spotlight: Shazam
Captain Marvel is under the control of Hitler who uses the Spear of Destiny to control him in
1984 Pre Crisis
All Star Squadron 36 37
In 1987 Post Crisis
Shazam The New Beginning 1 4
Billy continue the story from Crisis on Infinite Earths and Legends
Additional material
Article on Crisis on Infinite Earths
which will occur in 1985 and 1986
“How could the Teen Titans’ Wonder Girl have been around for years if her sister Wonder Woman was a brand new hero? If Superman was never Superboy in this new continuity, did that mean half of all Legion of Super-Heroes stories were now invalid? If Superman is now the sole survivor of Krypton, how does Power Girl exist? And there were about a dozen more goofs like this that required hastily made retcons to explain all that away”.
Turok Note
For All Star Squadron
Superman
Batman
Robin
Wonder Woman
Aquaman
Green.Arrow
Captain Marvel
No longer existed in.the 1940s
From Wikipedia All Star Squadron
After the 1985 DC Comics storyline Crisis on Infinite Earths merged the various parallel worlds DC had established over the decades into a single universe, the older, “Golden Age” versions of DC’s mainstream heroes were largely eliminated from continuity. The All-Star Squadron was left only with the characters unique to that time period. Superman, Batman, Robin, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Green Arrow, Plastic Man and several other heroes were no longer extant at that point in history, and had thus never been Squadron members. In part to clear the slate after the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths and to re-launch the franchise, All Star Squadron was canceled with issue #67 and replaced with a successor series, Young All-Stars .[22] The principal characters featured in Young All-Stars were considered spiritual and contextual analogs for the missing characters: Iron Munro for Superman, Fury for Wonder Woman, Flying Fox for Batman, Dan the Dyna-Mite for Robin, and Neptune Perkins for Aquaman. Evil analogs were also created for the missing characters at the same time: Übermensch, Der Grosshorn Eule, Fledermaus, Usil, and Sea Wolf. Young All-Stars was published for 31 issues[23] and one annual.[
Interview with Roy Thomas
After Crisis you wrote a one-shot called “The Last Days of the Justice Society” which temporarily closed the book on the group. At the time, did you suspect they would return?
I suggested that idea because I knew they wanted to retire the Justice Society.
Dick Giordano, who was the managing editor and a friend of mine, said at one stage that as long as he was editor, there would never be another Justice Society book.
A year later, they ended up with the Justice Society book again, and so forth. It was too good of a concept to keep down, but I never held it against Dick because I didn’t believe it the first place. He believed it, but I knew it wasn’t going to happen.
The Justice Society was going to be back. Once it was back in the '60s, it was going to be back forever because it was too good.
It wasn’t just an imitation Justice League. Justice League was the imitation Justice Society.
After Crisis, you retold Captain Marvel’s origin (in Shazam! The New Beginning #1-4), incorporating him into the main DC Universe. Here, you made a big change to Captain Marvel.
Previously, Billy and Captain Marvel had been separate personalities…
You noticed that? It was always a little fluid during the '40s. They were two different people, they spoke to each other as two different people. They sort of shared memories. It was weird, and not totally developed.
Right! And with your take on the character he was a kid trapped in the body of an adult superhero. Kind of like the movie “Big.” They used that take in the 2019 SHAZAM! movie.
That was done first in a Secret Origins issue. DC wanted something kind of different done with it. So I just figured, “Well, you know, I’m going to do that.” Underneath that was sort of the appeal, you know, of the whole thing – the idea of the kid who suddenly had the adult body and could do all these wonderful things – but they didn’t carry it through to certain logical conclusions. I just took it in a more modern way, instead of keeping that old fiction going. I had to pull out the idea of the wisdom of Solomon – he’s just suddenly a guy with a lot of superpowers and a big body. I didn’t need the movie Big to inspire me to do something like that, things like that had been done before. Then once that was done, when they wanted to revamp him in the New Beginning limited series, I carried through that same idea there. Except at the same time they wanted Captain Marvel to be a little darker. So you’ll notice that there’s a lot of darkness and shadows and grimness in there. The other thing that I did which has since been done by other people…I think it was the first time that Black Adam was ever worked into the origin of Shazam as opposed to coming along later. In the old days, he had only been in one Golden Age story.
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Thanks so much for this excellent bibliography! Wow, Roy has worked on virtually every major DC character in one way, shape, or form!
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I really enjoyed the Shazam: A New Beginning mini-series, and I waited for what felt like forever for the ongoing series. After the mini, follow-up adventures appeared in Action Comics Weekly, but the ongoing series never transpired until Jerry Ordway gave him an even newer beginning several years later.
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Roy began at DC with a three year contract for 100 pages a month.
He did not want to work on Batman or Superman or really any title where he had no control
But
He wrote per the contract
Wherever was available
To meet his 100 page quota.
Shazam always has trouble selling a lot of copies. So publishing ceases.
The recent series by Geoff Johns started off very strong but then he didn’t meet deadlines and the next issues were delayed.
That has a big impact on whether a book survives or not.
I though i’d share this little piece of Roy Thomas history with all of you from early Silver Age Flash #116:
Proving that even as a fan DC took notice of Roy’s talent, as just 9 issues later Kid Flash did get a new costume design complete with an “open-top” just as Roy suggested! 
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According to Wikipedis Roy appeared in
the letters pages of both DC and Marvel Comics, including Green Lantern #1 (August 1960), The Flash #116 (Nov. 1960), Fantastic Four #5 (July 1962), Fantastic Four #15 (June 1963), and Fantastic Four #22 (Jan. 1964).
Roy and fellow Fan Jerry Bails
‘‘Appeared’ as a fan weittig to the JLA
As "Jerry Thomas’
In the story in
Justice League of America 16.
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I used to keep a list of pros who had a fan letter published in a letter column before they became pros. There were a lot. I think there’s a website that has a comprehensive list.
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Roy was born in 1940
So those letters were written when he was in his twenties
He was born in 1940.