Roy Thomas

Justice League of America: The Bronze Age, collected as a pack of 4 oversized omnibus volumes and cheaper than buying them one by one. Justice League of America: The Bronze Age Omnibus Vol. 1 opens a more textured era for the League, still heroic and direct but increasingly shaped by shifting casts, social unease and a DC universe learning to carry more continuity. Gardner Fox, Dennis O'Neil, Len Wein, Mike Friedrich and Dick Dillin bridge classic team adventure with a richer 1970s mood. The second Bronze Age Justice League omnibus covers the early 1970s, when the team left their secret New England cave for a satellite in orbit and the stories went cosmic. This is where the JLA/JSA team-ups settle into their yearly rhythm and the multiverse becomes a working part of DC's storytelling rather than an occasional gimmick. It is also the era that established the League as DC's legends rather than just its biggest team. The third Bronze Age omnibus covers the late seventies, when Gerry Conway took over the Justice League and gave it the longest continuous run of its classic era. Conway wrote the League for years and used the length: long-running subplots, a rotating roster and the arrival of Zatanna as a permanent member. The JLA/JSA crossovers in this stretch are also the most ambitious of the run, bringing in the Legion of Super-Heroes and the New Gods across multiple Earths. The fourth Bronze Age omnibus takes the Justice League into the early eighties, the last years before Crisis on Infinite Earths changed everything. The Leaf Candy mini comic is a genuine curiosity, a promotional giveaway that has never been collected anywhere else. The main run includes the New Gods crossover in #183-185, which is Gerry Conway writing Darkseid at full scale, and the Firestorm and Titans tie-ins that show DC's line starting to interconnect.

The third Amazing Spider-Man omnibus covers the transition from Stan Lee and John Romita Sr. to Gerry Conway, and the two issues that ended the Silver Age of the character. Issues #121-122 are here: the Green Goblin, Gwen Stacy and the George Washington Bridge. Nothing in superhero comics had done that before, and the industry treats it as the moment the genre stopped guaranteeing happy endings. The volume also contains the six-armed Spider-Man arc and the first appearances of Morbius and the Punisher.

Amazing Spider-Man Omnibus Vol. 5 continues Peter Parker's Bronze Age stretch after the first Clone Saga, with Gerry Conway, Roy Thomas and Ross Andru shaping a Spider-Man who feels older, more socially rooted and increasingly defined by relationships. Mary Jane, Aunt May, the Daily Bugle and a changing Marvel New York give the run its texture.

The Hidden Years was John Byrne's attempt to fill the gap in X-Men history: the years between issue #66 in 1970 and Giant-Size X-Men in 1975, when the original title ran reprints and the team officially did nothing. Byrne writes and draws it in deliberate period style, using the original five X-Men and continuity he had to reverse-engineer from scattered guest appearances. It is a genuine curiosity: a modern comic pretending to be a lost one, made by someone who knew the era well enough to make the seams invisible.

The second Doctor Strange omnibus covers the character's first solo title, launched in 1968 after Strange Tales split into two books. This is where Strange gets an origin issue — #169 is still the definitive telling — and where Marvel tried to make him a costumed superhero, which failed commercially and was reversed. Marvel Feature #1 is also here: the first Defenders story, which gave the character somewhere to belong for the next decade.

The second Daredevil omnibus covers the late sixties and early seventies, when Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway took over and the book moved Matt Murdock to San Francisco. This is the run where the Black Widow becomes a co-lead — the book was retitled Daredevil and the Black Widow for part of it — and where the character stops being a Spider-Man variant. The Iron Man crossover is also the first appearance of the Zodiac cartel, which Marvel used for decades afterwards.

The second Incredible Hulk omnibus covers Peter David's most celebrated stretch, when the Hulk's personalities merged and the book became a study of an integrated mind under pressure. The Pantheon arrives, Doc Samson integrates grey, green and Banner into one person, and issue #400 pays off the Leader's long campaign. David spends the rest of the volume testing whether the merger holds against the Abomination, the U-Foes and Freedom Force. It is the run's centre of gravity.

The fourth Bronze Age omnibus takes the Justice League into the early eighties, the last years before Crisis on Infinite Earths changed everything. The Leaf Candy mini comic is a genuine curiosity, a promotional giveaway that has never been collected anywhere else. The main run includes the New Gods crossover in #183-185, which is Gerry Conway writing Darkseid at full scale, and the Firestorm and Titans tie-ins that show DC's line starting to interconnect.

The second Avengers omnibus continues the Silver Age run through the period when the team fully established its identity distinct from its founding members — the Cap's Kooky Quartet era, where Captain America led a team of reformed villains (Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver) while the original Avengers stepped back. Stan Lee and then Roy Thomas built a book that proved the team concept could work without relying on its most popular members, a structural experiment that defined how Marvel managed ensemble casts going forward.

The third Avengers omnibus covers the Roy Thomas years, when the book stopped being a rotating guest-star showcase and became a soap opera with a fixed cast. This volume opens with the wedding of the Wasp and Yellowjacket and contains the Kree-Skrull War build-up, Ultron's return as Ultron-6, and the Vision joining the team. Thomas is the writer who made the Avengers a continuing story rather than a monthly team-up, and this is where that shift happens.

Classic third volume with Roy Thomas on script and Herb Trimpe on art: the era when the Hulk ceases to be "that weird Marvel character" and becomes a cultural phenomenon, culminating in the 1970s TV series. Thomas introduces emotional nuances that Stan Lee had barely explored, paving the way for Peter David.

Volume 2 of the Sorcerer Supreme omnibus continues the long-running 1988–1996 series through some of its most turbulent and creatively ambitious chapters. Roy Thomas and Jean-Marc Lofficier deepen the cosmological mythology of Strange's world — the Vishanti, the Vishanti Wars, the politics of magical dimensions — while Strange himself faces threats that test both his power and his moral convictions. The crossover era of early 1990s Marvel begins to impinge on the series here, but the creative team maintains the book's distinctive identity. For collectors building the complete Sorcerer Supreme omnibus set, Volume 2 is the bridge between the Gillis foundations and the series' later evolution.

Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme ran through the nineties and this second omnibus covers its later years, when the book was at the centre of Marvel's horror line. The Midnight Sons era put Strange in charge of Marvel's supernatural characters — Ghost Rider, Blade, Morbius — and this volume covers that whole experiment. What Is It That Disturbs You, Stephen? is the standout: a Marvel graphic novel by Marc Nadel that reads closer to prose horror than to a comic.

Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme launched in 1988 and gave the character his longest-running solo title, ninety issues across a decade. Peter Gillis and Roy Thomas rebuild the magical side of the Marvel Universe from scratch here, with Strange having lost most of his power and having to earn it back. It is the run that established the modern rules of Marvel magic — the Vishanti, the balance of realms — that every later writer has worked within.

The third Fantastic Four omnibus continues Lee and Kirby at full stride, in the years when the book was introducing a new permanent concept almost every month. The density is the point: the Kree and Annihilus both become the basis for decades of Marvel cosmic storytelling, and Adam Warlock's debut here leads directly to the Infinity Gauntlet twenty years later. Franklin Richards' birth is also the first time a superhero team acquired a baby and kept it.

The fifth New Teen Titans omnibus takes Wolfman's run into its later years, when the team had fractured and the survivors were rebuilding. This stretch contains the Titans Hunt build-up and the reintroduction of Danny Chase, and it is where Wolfman starts writing the team as adults with jobs rather than teenagers. Eduardo Barreto's art is the underrated element, cleaner and more grounded than Pérez, and better suited to where the stories had gone.

The fourth Avengers omnibus contains the Kree-Skrull War, the storyline that invented the Marvel cosmic event. The Kree-Skrull War runs nine issues with Neal Adams on much of the art, and it is the first time Marvel let a story sprawl across space, involve two alien empires and put the Avengers on trial for it. The Defenders crossover is the other landmark — the first Marvel inter-title crossover, which every event since has copied.

Before Carol Danvers, before Monica Rambeau, there was Mar-Vell — the Kree warrior who became Marvel's original Captain Marvel. Created by Stan Lee and developed by Roy Thomas, Mar-Vell's adventures in the late Silver Age introduced the cosmic mythology that would underpin decades of Marvel storytelling.

Fantastic Four Omnibus Vol. 4 collects the close of the most influential creative run in Marvel history and the transition that followed. It gathers Fantastic Four #94-125 — Jack Kirby's final issues on the title (his last is #102) — and then continues past his departure as Stan Lee is joined by John Romita Sr. and John Buscema, with the peerless inks of Joe Sinnott. It documents the end of an era and the passing of the FF art baton, in an oversized hardcover built for these classics.

Black Panther was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in Fantastic Four #52 in 1966, the first Black superhero in mainstream American comics. The Fantastic Four debut is the historically important part — T'Challa introduced not as a sidekick but as a head of state who defeats the FF to test them. The Avengers years then keep him in the main line for a decade, which is why he was available when Don McGregor and Christopher Priest later built him a mythology.

After Jack Kirby's original Eternals series ended, Roy Thomas and Mark Gruenwald took on the challenge of integrating the Eternals into the broader Marvel Universe — a complex task given how self-contained Kirby's vision was. The result is a fascinating chapter in Marvel cosmic history that bridges the gap between Kirby mythology and mainstream continuity. It represents the full arc of the post-Kirby Eternals era. Why it's worth reading.

The howling-mad Cap-Wolf and more of the Sentinel of Liberty’s most action-packed adventures! Captain America faces a threat like never before when Superia raises an army of female super villains — but even with the roguish gun-for-hire Paladin’s help, can Cap thwart Superia’s stratagem? Next, Cap comes face-to-face with his German counterpart, Hauptmann Deutschland.

King Conan takes the character forty years forward: Conan on the throne of Aquilonia, older, heavier and with a son to worry about, which is a different story from the one he made his name in. Collects the first run of King Conan, written by Roy Thomas, Doug Moench and Alan Zelenetz with art by John Buscema and Marc Silvestri.

King Conan takes the character forty years forward: Conan on the throne of Aquilonia, older, heavier and with a son to worry about, which is a different story from the one he made his name in. Collects the first run of King Conan, written by Roy Thomas, Doug Moench and Alan Zelenetz with art by John Buscema and Marc Silvestri.

The Savage Sword of Conan was a black and white magazine, which meant no Comics Code, no colour and no page limits. It is where the best Conan comics were published. Collects the fifth run of The Savage Sword of Conan in black and white, with art by John Buscema and Ernie Colon.

The Savage Sword of Conan was a black and white magazine, which meant no Comics Code, no colour and no page limits. It is where the best Conan comics were published. Collects the fifth run of The Savage Sword of Conan in black and white, with art by John Buscema and Ernie Colon.

Gary Kwapisz takes over as the main artist and gives the magazine a rougher, dirtier Hyborian Age than Buscema's. Collects the eighth run of The Savage Sword of Conan, written by Roy Thomas and Michael Fleisher with art by Gary Kwapisz, Ernie Chan and John Buscema.

Gary Kwapisz takes over as the main artist and gives the magazine a rougher, dirtier Hyborian Age than Buscema's. Collects the eighth run of The Savage Sword of Conan, written by Roy Thomas and Michael Fleisher with art by Gary Kwapisz, Ernie Chan and John Buscema.

Robert E. Howard's other great creation is a puritan swordsman who walks the world punishing evil because he believes God told him to, and he is far stranger company than Conan. Collects the first run of Marvel's Solomon Kane comics, adapted by Roy Thomas and Don Glut from Robert E. Howard with art by David Wenzel and Howard Chaykin.

Robert E. Howard's other great creation is a puritan swordsman who walks the world punishing evil because he believes God told him to, and he is far stranger company than Conan. Collects the first run of Marvel's Solomon Kane comics, adapted by Roy Thomas and Don Glut from Robert E. Howard with art by David Wenzel and Howard Chaykin.

The first Star Wars comic begins with A New Hope, then has to invent what comes next before the saga has rules. Luke returns to Tatooine, Vader hunts for answers, and Han and Chewbacca cross paths with Crimson Jack, Beilert Valance and Jaxxon on the road to The Empire Strikes Back.

The first Star Wars comic begins with A New Hope, then has to invent what comes next before the saga has rules. Luke returns to Tatooine, Vader hunts for answers, and Han and Chewbacca cross paths with Crimson Jack, Beilert Valance and Jaxxon on the road to The Empire Strikes Back.