Another Reason to Boycott ALTER EGO

Roy Thomas’s long-lived Alter Ego continues to be published by TwoMorrows Publishing, with issues announced as far in advance as December 2024, outliving other comic magazines in an era where print continues to falter.

While I’d like to give the lion’s share of credit to the contributions of John “Mego Stretch Hulk” Cimino’s numerous essays and photographs/references to his hardcore band Grimlock, I have to wonder if Thomas isn’t somehow receiving some of that Washington D.C. money these days now that a specific and bona fide journalist has been a regular contributor to Thomas’s long-lasting ode to the glory days of the comic books.

Most Americans, much less most comic enthusiasts, are politically ignorant. Especially in today’s age of political extremism, the majority of working-class citizens will tend to ignore the media that sides with the political beliefs that they don’t subscribe to. Therefore, you shouldn’t feel too bad if you aren’t familiar with investigative reporter/White House correspondent/accused sexual harasser/fired by FOX NEWS/Neal Adams uber-fan James Rosen.

Rosen has been contributing funds– *coughs*, I apologize, articles to Alter Ego, notably transcripts of the many, many interviews he conducted with Neal Adams over the years. These are believed to be part of Rosen’s eventual (and comprehensive) biography on Adams, to be released sometime after Rosen concludes his definitive and two-part biography on legendary Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

It makes perfect sense that Thomas would be delighted and motivated by the involvement of Rosen to the pages of ol’ A/E– Thomas has long worn his conservativism on his sleeve and loudly decreed “political correctness” for decades- his angst against them actually appears in print as early in 1971, where he decries that the world “has moved to the left”- so, his Republican street cred is positively secure.

Rosen is a bit contradictory for an Adams worshipper, being that he also puts Roy Thomas on a pedestal though Adams routinely spoke out against Thomas for stealing credit:

• “Roy Thomas is very special for the following reason… he was a FAN, who became a chronicler in the early Alter Ego, uh… as an amateur, amateur chronicler, then he became a PRACTITIONER… and not just ANY practitioner, but the HEIR to Stan Lee. And the creator of so much, just libraries of characters and plots and so on… uh, and then he also became a chronicler again. And, in all the ways that he has chronicled the industry… so, it’s rare to see someone who was a practitioner to go from fan to pro to chronicler. And he’s preeminent in all of those roles.” – James Rosen

I also find it preeminent that Rosen admits that Adams spoke in derogatory terms about Roy Thomas but that Rosen won’t publish those comments in the finished book. So comprehensive!

Rosen is currently finalizing the second volume of the aforementioned Justice Scalia, whom Roy Thomas is reportedly an admirer of, a figure in modern American history that I recognize that experts of the Kree-Skrull War likely won’t be as informed on. When asked about the legacy of Scalia, who passed away in 2016, Rosen said the following:

• “We need look no further to find evidence of Scalia’s continuing legacy than the decision that was handed down by the Supreme Court in June of last year, Dobbs V. Jackson Women’s Health, which overturned Roe V. Wade and which sent shockwaves across the United States and around the world. And the legal reasoning on display in Justice Alito’s opinion was precisely along the lines that Justice Scalia had articulated as a Supreme Court Justice for many years. And that’s just example; Scalia’s rulings as a Supreme Court justice are still with us. So, his most famous majority opinion would be D.C. versus Heller, which conferred constitutional protection on the ownership of a handgun in the United States.” – James Rosen

Ugh. And Scalia needs two volumes to cover his disgusting, immoral life? I hope Thomas lives long enough to read both, though I imagine Cimino reads to him while he’s taking his bath.

Of course, Rosen and Thomas are entitled to their opinions, and I do firmly support that. They believe Antonin Scalia was a hero and force for good. And while I don’t wish to change this website to a political one, I think it’s essential we examine the politics of these people, who are so ruthless in their retroactive changing of history and selective morals when it comes to stealing from artists.

Let Four Color Sinners give you some facts about Justice Scalia:

• Sex discrimination is “a modern invention”, therefore the 14th Amendment cannot be used to defend women. (note: the 14th Amendment says “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.“)

• Described the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which prohibits racist discrimination in voting and is also considered the most significant piece of civil rights legislation ever passed, as a “racial entitlement.”

• Making this statement on discrimination in schools against children of color: “There are those who contend that it does not benefit African Americans to get them into the University of Texas where they do not do well, as opposed to having them go to a less advanced school, a slower track school, where they do well.”

• Was outed as a blatant racist while teaching at the University of Chicago: “While I was there, Scalia was outed as a blatant racist to the extent that the Black American Law Students Association (BALSA) chapter brought it to the attention of acting Dean Norval Morris in several meetings. Scalia flunked every black student who took his classes that year. Nobody flunks courses in elite law schools. It’s unheard of. He flunked one brother so badly, it skewered his grade average, and he became the first, last, and only student in the history of the school to repeat first year. That man went on to become a respected military judge.” – Arnim Johnson

I could go on and on (believe me) about this man’s wickedness, but this is still a website about the comic book medium and comic book industry so I hope you’ll forgive me for the above- but it was necessary for context.

Roy “The Forever Boy” Thomas is entitled to include whatever contributors he wishes; Alter Ego is blatantly biased to begin with but the inclusion of someone who has celebrated hate and divisiveness at a level that other comic fanzine writers simply cannot attain is worth consideration. Is this the sort of publication you want to support?

If you don’t want to think about politics, I get it. Then take a stand over the mistreatment of women. Rosen’s firing from FOX over his numerous issues with female colleagues is simply disgusting:

“In the winter following the September 2001 terrorist attacks, a female Fox News reporter joined the bureau from New York. In a shared cab ride back from a meal, Rosen groped her, grabbing her breast. After she rebuffed his advance, Rosen sought to steal away her sources and stories related to his interests in diplomacy and national security. That’s according to four colleagues who say she relayed the episode as a warning about Rosen’s behavior.”

In a subsequent episode several years later, a female producer covering the State Department alleged that Rosen had directly sexually harassed her.

Late last spring, Rosen turned his attention to a younger female reporter, according to two colleagues who say she told them of the incident shortly afterward. Returning from a lunch together, Rosen physically tried to kiss her in the elevator ride back to the office, and once refused, attempted forcibly to kiss her again. According to a colleague, he then asked the reporter to keep the approach quiet and offered her unsolicited help in getting more time on Bret Baier’s nightly political newscast, Special Report.” – NPR, 2018

It’d be easy to think I was simply feigning outrage because of a pre-existing agenda I have but I assure you that isn’t the case. My activism and outspokenness on these issues long precedes and is considerably more copious than the content on Four Color Sinners; I was also thanked in Alter Ego nearly twenty years ago, long before (I believe) Cimino or Rosen ever graced their pages. So, there’s nothing insincere in my extreme disgust- and disappointment- in these things I’m bringing to your attention. It ain’t like comicsbeat is going to cover this shit. I have to do it.

In closing, I find it amazing that Rosen would devote energy to the glorification of Neal Adams; a visionary artist who routinely fought for equality, creator rights and justice for the creators that came before him. Thomas has continued to blur the lines, mis claim and misappropriate credit that doesn’t belong to him, disparage honest workers while securing misconceptions about Stan Lee since it serves his purposes, and perhaps worst of all, continues to secure and push the Grade Z buffoon John Cimino into fandom so that Alter Ego will likely continue after his passing.

You probably weren’t buying Alter Ego anymore to begin with. But if you were, do consider letting Roy Thomas know your feelings. Not that it will phase him- not that it even should! But these slimy guys are legitimately rewriting comics history. Who is going to stand up and push back against them if not us?

With special thanks to Satan for currently torturing Antonin Scalia in Hell, NPR, and Amber A’Lee Frost.