Roy Thomas A Commodity?

[backtomarvel]

Enjoying the thread about how forum members collect. I think I've settled on my second wave of collecting as seeking out comics written by Roy Thomas and wonder if he's a "commodity" in the collecting world. Does anyone know if his stuff is sought out by many, or does he blends into the background of the comic world?

[Zonker]

One of the watershed events in comics collecting was the arrival of Alan Moore to Saga of the Swamp Thing #20. Prior to that, you never saw a comics writer highlighted and broken out in Overstreet. So, at this point, no I'd doubt if anyone (apart from Roy & Dann!) is out there compiling a Roy Thomas collection. Among the issues facing such a collector would be the dozens and dozens of issues Roy scripted of

- Conan

- Avengers

- Invaders

- All-Star Squadron

- Arak

- Infinity Inc

 

etc. etc.

[aardvark88]

Roy Thomas seems to blend into the background. Some hi-lights are his stellar work on adapting R.E. Howard's Conan, Savage Sword & N Adams' work on X-men, Avengers "This Beachhead... Earth".

[seank]

I suspect that Roy Thomas has worked on too many darn books to make him into a commodity. He's in the same boat as Kirby and Byrne. It's nice to have books with their work, but they're not special in the collectible sense.

 

Look at the artists/writers who are commodities. They tend to do a much smaller number of books. How many Adams Batmans are out there compared to the rest of the run? Or Barry Smith Conans? Not many.

[Zonker]

Are we all using the word "commodity" to mean the same thing??

 

My understanding of commodity is something regular, ordinary, inter-changeable, not viewed as special or particularly highly prized. In that context, I would say in all honesty Yes Roy Thomas is viewed as a commodity by collectors. Though he's done some great stuff (Conan, X-Men, early All-Star Squadron, Kree-Skrull War), most of his stuff is either not viewed as particularly collectible, or else is collectable chiefly on account of the artists (Barry Smith, Neal Adams, early Todd McFarland).

 

Cheers,

Z.

[backtomarvel]

I was actually using commodity as meaning something of commercial worth, such as items traded on a commodity exchange.

 

I see that he's not viewed as a standout, which makes sense for all the reasons stated here.

 

I appreciate the responses and I'll stick to picking up reader copies of his stuff as I come across it ...