Roy Thomas and John Romita on President Obama

[rodrigoraulsuarez]

John Romita, a hero.

[hysangearring]

I'm not sure why people are shocked. Did they not hear him say he wasn't crazy about McCain? I'm guessing Roy is far more liberal...and since Obama ran as a centrist, he was probably more for Hilary Clinton. Nothing wrong with that (and I supported Obama).

[docmagnus]

@hysangearring It's obvious that Roy Thomas supported McCain in the general election, even though he wasn't wild about him. He refers to McCain as "my man." I was not wild about McCain, either, but I cast my ballot for him, anyway, as the lesser of the two evils put forth by the national parties.

[melbea03]

funny i have followed these guys work almost all my life,first time that i'ave heard them speak

[JohnnyS001]

John McCain would have been reading them but he was busy carpet-bombing defenseless civilians in Vietnam at the time.

[wdchefdave]

@JohnnyS001

You are right.

I never thought that Roy "The Hippie" Thomas would speak like this.

I have been a fan of Marvel for over 40 years.

And, I enjoyed most of his work.

Oh well...

[JohnnyS001]

@wdchefdave I think the comments below from leesagrrl pretty much sum it up as far as Roy is concerned: he agrees more with the general perception of the Conservative ideology than with what they actually DO when they're in power (if he's even aware of the latter).

BTW, nice to hear from another "old-timer" like myself. Although I have to say, I stopped being an actual "Marvelite" after they killed off Gwen Stacy. I'll always love comics, but my devotion to Marvel ended at that point.

[wdchefdave]

@JohnnyS001

We all loved Gwen... and he killed her!

I left Spidey and the FF behind about that time and started reading JLA and Neil Adams' "Batman".

Remember when they gave Spider-man four extra arms?

I was "fed up " and still in high school!!

I still love my Avengers no matter who is trying to mess them up these days.

Cheers!

[JohnnyS001]

@wdchefdave It's funny you should mention the "extra arms" Spidey story. That was Romita's idea, even though Gil Kane pencilled the actual issues. It was also Romita's idea to kill Gwen and (probably) to write Crystal out of the F.F. No wonder you were fed up! As much as I love Romita's art, his story ideas were a DISASTER.

I, too, loved the O'Neil/Adams Batman stuff. Denny was a great, sensitive writer and Neal's art was fabulous.

Yes, those really WERE the days...

Peace, brother.

[wdchefdave]

@JohnnyS001 Great artists are sometimes bad writers. Stan was way over his head, and probably "empowered" too many of his ol' buddies. Even if "Kirby was King"... he left and I never liked anything he did after that. (I bought the comics... just didn't like them.) Romita Sr. is still around... and I damn sure miss Gil Kane. He really did get better with age. And nobody wrote better than Denny. However, Crystal was a pain in the butt that made Johnny and Pietro act like idiots! Good times bro.!

[JohnnyS001]

@wdchefdave Y'know, the funny thing about Kirby's writing is how many people there are who say they don't like it but keep reading his stuff anyway. It's like Bruce Timm always said about Kirby's ART: there's a love/hate thing going on there all the time--but for some reason you just can't put it down. And the thing is, if you can accept the fact that Jack had a slightly off-kilter writng AND drawing style, you'll see just how effectively it all worked and just how compelling it really was.

[wdchefdave]

@JohnnyS001

I definitely agree... I just got peeved when he was working for DC and after a few issues he would get canceled and we were left with all these dangling story lines that still haven't been completely tied together.

We got to keep Darksied and Orion... maybe even Mr. Miracle & Big Barda... but, we were denied his full vision.

I still believe he was the "King"... but, he never got the GIANT canvas I was hoping for. But, he damn sure left some really big footprints!

[JohnnyS001]

@wdchefdave

Absolutely right!

[JohnnyS001]

Rascally Roy is the John Denver of comics.

[CRIMSONGUARD72]

Roy is still in love with the sound of his voice.

[flapdoodle64]

That is so sad that Roy and John Romita are idiots about politics. Especially John Romita.

[docmagnus]

What's so sad is that you call someone who disagrees with your narrow, unquestioning, unthinking, imbecilic "progressive" agenda an idiot about politics. I don't know that we can glean a great deal about their beliefs from this brief interview, but you seem to do so.

[leesagrrl]

Roy has never been someone who shys away from talking.

But he seemed fairly shallow in his ability to discuss Politics. I chimed in a few times at Conventions when other fans were already chatting Politics with him. Very Opinionated with very little in the way of actual facts.

No offense to Roy, but he seemed to ramble on loudly with no real point. Much like John Byrne.

[brabon1]

hey...byrne used to write the greatest letter columns....come to think of it, roy did too

i always wanted to see roy in a debate with neal adams on just about anything...that would be cool

[leesagrrl]

Which column did John write? I don't think he ever did X-Men or FF(?) I'm not sure but I think those were by the editor.

Roy and Neal? Hehe... The Earth is Expanding (as opposed to Plate Tectonics) VS I'm Still Pissed Off at Comics... Naaa, never work.

[brabon1]

roy thomas is a wingnut? who knew? and you are right, he looks great for a guy who is 68...comics keep you young

oh, and rachel maddow is a huge comic book collecter...she should get thomas on her show someday for a debate

[leesagrrl]

Roy seems fairly typical in terms of what he thinks the Conservative Ideology is, as opposed to what the Conservatives actually do when they are in power.

[brabon1]

i just never think of anyone in the industry as having a conservative bent...except for kirby and dave sim

[leesagrrl]

I think you are mostly right. My experience is that creative people of all sorts are generally Progressive... Probably because "we ain't got no money."

But there are a few really talented folks in comics that are Conservative... besides Editors (of course I did say "creative" people).

I think Kirby was Old Time Conservative... With an actual ideology, rather than just trying (and succeeding) to loot the American Public.

And isn't Dave a Libertarian?

[brabon1]

honestly...i have no clue what dave is...after reading everyone of his rants in cerebus, i am totally confused by the guy...some of his stuff is real conservative...other, liberal...and then there's that whole misogynist thing

[arachknight1979]

@brabon1 Don't forget Steve Ditko. He is very conservative, almost to the point of fanatical with his objectivist beliefs. Black is black, white is white, right is right, wrong is wrong, and "A" is always "A".

[thugie1]

Very well put. OnThe Daily Show it was once said about the republican party, as they prepared their platform, that is was the equivalent of "putting perfume on a turd".

[LODGE4444]

Roy Thomas (along with Jerry Bails) is the guy who started comic fandom and he really looks and sounds great for his age.

[wdchefdave]

@LODGE4444

Remember "Alter Ego"?

Pretty much the first real fanzine.

I'm sounding old now.

(Twelve years younger than Roy!)