Roy William Thomas Jr. is an American comic book writer and editor. He was Stan Lee's first successor as editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics and possibly best known for introducing the pulp magazine hero Conan the Barbarian to American comics. Thomas is also known for his championing of Golden Age comic-book heroes – particularly the 1940s superhero team the Justice Society of America – and for lengthy writing stints on Marvel's X-Men and The Avengers, and DC Comics' All-Star Squadron, among other titles.
The Freedom Fighters is a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The original six characters were the Black Condor, Doll Man, the Human Bomb, the Ray, the Phantom Lady, and Uncle Sam. Although the characters were created by Quality Comics, they never were gathered in a group before being acquired by DC. The team first appeared in a Justice League of America/Justice Society of America team-up, which ran in Justice League of America #107–108, written by Len Wein and drawn by Dick Dillin. Their own ongoing series premiered with Freedom Fighters #1, written by Gerry Conway and Martin Pasko, and drawn by Ric Estrada.
Doll Man is a superhero first appearing in American comic books from the Golden Age of Comics, originally published by Quality Comics and currently part of the DC Comics universe of characters. Doll Man was created by cartoonist Will Eisner and first appeared in a four-page story entitled "Meet the Doll Man" in Feature Comics #27. He was Quality's first super-powered character.
The Young All-Stars are a team of fictional DC Comics superheroes. They were created by Roy Thomas, Dann Thomas, and Michael Bair, and introduced in Young All-Stars #1, dated June 1987. The team members Tsunami, Neptune Perkins, and Dan the Dyna-Mite were all introduced in previously published DC Comics stories. The team members Iron Munro, Flying Fox, and Fury were created for the series and intended to be analogs of the Golden Age versions of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman respectively.
The Crusaders is a team of DC Comics superheroes. The team was created by Bob Rozakis and Dick Ayers in the pages of Freedom Fighters #7.
The Invaders is the name of two fictional superhero teams appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.
Miss America is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Otto Binder and artist Al Gabriele, the character first appeared in Marvel Mystery Comics #49 in the Golden Age of Comic Books. Madeline Joyce is the first incarnation of Miss America. The character has also been a member of the Invaders, Liberty Legion, and All-Winners Squad at various points in her history.
Phantom Lady is a fictional superheroine appearing in media published by Quality Comics and DC Comics. She was created by the Eisner & Iger studio, one of the first to produce comics on demand for publishers. The character's early adventures were drawn by Arthur Peddy.
The Human Bomb is a fictional superhero published by DC Comics. He first appeared in Police Comics #1, and was created by writer and artist Paul Gustavson.
Union Jack is the name of three fictional superheroes appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Roy Thomas and Frank Robbins, the first Union Jack first appeared in Invaders #7. A second incarnation from the same creators appeared in The Invaders #21, and a third incarnation was created by Roger Stern and John Byrne for Captain America Vol. 1 #254.
Spitfire is a fictional superheroine appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Roy Thomas and Frank Robbins, the character first appeared in the Invaders comic book series as an intended replacement for the Union Jack character, but the costume design did not fit the female torso. Instead, the character of Spitfire, named after the Supermarine Spitfire fighter plane, was created.
TNT is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. TNT and his sidekick Dan the Dyna-Mite were created by Mort Weisinger for DC Comics, and made their debut in Star Spangled Comics #7.
The Blazing Skull is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created during the Golden Age of Comic Books by Marvel's predecessor, Timely Comics, and first appeared in Mystic Comics #5. The character's writer and artist creators are unknown. The Blazing Skull fell into obscurity after the 1940s, and was revived in the 1990s.
Iron Munro is a superhero character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Roy Thomas created the character in 1987 for Young All-Stars. He largely served to replace Superman in stories set during World War II after the Crisis on Infinite Earths storyline eliminated continuities in which Superman was active in this period.
Baron Blood is the name of several supervillains appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The first incarnation of Baron Blood, John Falsworth, first appeared in The Invaders #7, who has been part of the superhero Captain America's rogues gallery since World War II. The second incarnation, Victor Strange, debuted in Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme vol. 3 #10. The third incarnation, Kenneth Crichton, made his first appearance in Captain America #253.
Amazing-Man is a comic book superhero whose adventures were published by Centaur Publications during the 1930s to 1940s in the Golden Age of Comic Books. Historians credit his creation variously to writer-artist Bill Everett or to Everett together with Centaur art director Lloyd Jacquet. Amazing-Man first appeared in Amazing-Man Comics #5 —there were no issues numbered #1–4).
The Whizzer is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He first appeared during the period called the Golden Age of Comic Books.
The Destroyer is the name of three fictional superheroes appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The original incarnation was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Binder and first appeared in Mystic Comics #6, being one of Lee's earliest creations during the Golden Age of Comic Books.
The 1940s were an essential time for DC Comics. Both National Comics Publications and All-American Publications would introduce many new featured superheroes in American comic books in superhero comics anthology tales like More Fun Comics, Adventure Comics, Detective Comics, Action Comics, All-American Comics, Superman, Flash Comics, Batman, All Star Comics, World's Finest Comics, All-Flash, Star Spangled Comics, Green Lantern, Leading Comics, Sensation Comics, Wonder Woman, Comic Cavalcade and Superboy that would be a staple for the comic book company. Examples of the superheroes include the Flash, Hawkman and Hawkgirl, Johnny Thunder and Thunderbolt, Spectre, Hourman, Robin, Doctor Fate, Congo Bill, Green Lantern, Atom, Manhunter, Doctor Mid-Nite, Sargon the Sorcerer, Starman, Johnny Quick, the Shining Knight, the Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy, Tarantula, Vigilante, Green Arrow and Speedy, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Sandy, the Golden Boy, Mister Terrific, Wildcat, Air Wave, Guardian, Robotman, TNT and Dan the Dyna-Mite, Liberty Belle, Superboy and Black Canary. These characters would later crossover in superhero team titles in the 1940s such as the Justice Society of America and the Seven Soldiers of Victory helping pave a way to a shared universe of the publication company. Other used featured characters outside of superheroes included kid titular heroes like the Newsboy Legion and the Boy Commandos. Later Western heroes would be used such as Johnny Thunder, Nighthawk and Pow Wow Smith.
