“This soft-spoken, erudite, 84-year-old man has been bullied into silence…”- Roy Thomas, Victim

I awoke before 4am and hazily checked my messages, when I saw that a few people sent me a link to another Pulitzer-worthy piece on The Beat.

I cannot express to you, whether it’s when I’m running on three hours of sleep or thirty, just how terribly misplaced, badly written and tragically amateurish this piece of writing was. To make matters worse, it displays a revisionist agenda towards the recent outcry and public response to Roy “The Boy” Thomas’s late career makeover campaign.

The dramatically titled “Comics veterans are being silenced by toxic fans, and we’re all losing out” appeared on Comicsbeat on Monday, May 5th. Curiously, and perhaps as a sign by just how frazzled the editorial staff at The Beat really is, it carries a byline by Heidi MacDonald herself. Opening the article shows that it was written by Albert Fuzailof, the showrunner of a convention called Cosmic Con.

Each Cosmic Con has a specific theme, and this past show’s theme was the admirable “Battling Hate.”

Let me stress that I am beyond supportive of such initiatives; if you’ve read other articles here, you may have gleaned that I am a fervent and outspoken Fascist fighter and sincerely believe that the collective influence of White Nationalism is one of the main reasons the United States is in the state it’s in right now.

I really have no tolerance for indoctrinated or casual racism in all its forms and have seen bigotry manifested while observing the comments of mainstream comic fans for too long. So, this sort of discourse within fandom is more important than ever.

Unfortunately, this article is misguided and imbued with the author’s own conflicted relationship and perception with comic professionals he’s long admired. I was really taken aback by his logic about why it’s bad to “insult, harass, or intimidate“, and that is because…

• “We miss out on their stories, opinions, and tips about the very thing we love. Shutting down our “primary sources” makes fandom a less pleasant place and comics a less fun hobby.” – Albert Fuzailof

I recognize I’m simplifying his statement by focusing on this one aspect, but- really? It’s not bad because it’s diabolical, unwarranted, and violating another human being’s basic human rights? (Note that I am talking about literally insulting, harassing, intimidating and not criticizing conduct in an article backed with documented facts!)

There are valid quotes from Mark Waid that talk about how social media has made it easier for people to run loose with their anger and pettiness, and Fuzailof shares that many industry veterans told him they’ve received online personal attacks.

Writing someone directly to attack them is crossing a line, as well as a waste of energy and I’ve said in the past here- in response to a post from The Roy Thomas Appreciation Group on Facebook where Cimino claimed Roy Thomas had numerous threats from various psychopaths- who are these people? Why wouldn’t the once litigious-in-letters-to-the-comics-journal Thomas announce who these people were, what their threats and complaints were? Why wouldn’t he expose them?

Probably because they aren’t real. Cimino was generalizing and exaggerating the massive pushback that Thomas received when he abruptly decided to demand creator credit for Wolverine.

The Thomas portion of this article is what really got me, so I am going to quote it in its entirety here:

Roy Thomas, a fan-turned-pro who went on to become an industry legend, cordially declined participating in the comic. “I received quite a bit of toxic hate beginning last April when it was announced that I’d be credited in Deadpool & Wolverine as co-creator of Wolverine,” he wrote to me. “It made me determined…[to avoid] a con where I might find myself in the company of the people who had attacked me.” He’s written an article about the ordeal for an upcoming issue of his own magazine, Alter Ego #194.

(Note the comic that Thomas declined participating in was a one-off created for Cosmic Con about “Battling Hate” which had a cover that displayed a swastika being broken apart. I’d personally like to be part of a comic that had such a message, but that’s just me.)

This soft-spoken, erudite, 84-year-old man has been bullied into silence. And because of that, the rest of us are missing out on a treasure of stories and knowledge. There aren’t many Bronze Age creators left, every day we lose some of that history.

Emphasis mine. Thomas is “soft-spoken” and was “bullied into silence?” It’s flabbergasting- this man literally has an entire issue devoted to his claims of creatorship in a magazine generally devoted to his career and interests to begin with. It’s laughable to suggest that he’s bulled into silence! This is a man that was known for writing letters every single time an article upset him- a habit, I might add, that continues into the 21st Century with his frequent outbursts to The Hollywood Reporter (which always include a credit for the legend himself, John Cimino).

I personally believe Thomas didn’t participate in the charity comic because it was unpaid, did not provide him with an artist-generated plot to dialogue, and because he believes any and all criticism today is “woke” and “liberal“- I’m only paraphrasing his actual statements from numerous introductions and asides in hundreds of issues of Alter Ego, you recognize.

There needs to be a clear line between what constitutes abuse and criticism. Thomas is a public figure whose publicity materials routinely refer to him as a legend and a fan favorite. As such, he is a public figure. When he publicly says things that are outrageous, people are going to be understandably outraged. It’s as simple as that!

This article does not mention any of the more recent documented cases of online threats and bullying from a significant portion of the comics collecting community, which I found curious. I do not think wealthy white guys in their eighties suffer as much as young creators (and fans) of color, or different genders.

Honestly, insomuch as there’s been an increase of criticism over what constitutes “Comics Journalism” of late, I am amazed that Heidi MacDonald allowed this to go forward as it did- unless she banked on the inclusion of the soft-spoken Forever Boy to generate online discussion which, I guess I fell for the bait then- because it’s just so poorly assembled.

Notably, MacDonald does give an editor’s note below the article, where she clarifies that “It should be noted that Thomas’s new credit for co-creating Wolverine has been controversial among his peers as well as fans.” (Which then leads you to an article written by Rob Salkowitz, who both misquoted Wein’s widow and tilted the narrative to defend Thomas. Ha! JOURNALISM.)

I don’t want to seem as if I’m picking on The Beat, but the recent journalism debate has had me checking it out a bit more regularly and I am again stunned that it literally continues to just churn out what I literally called it out for: regurgitating press releases that are largely- confirmed by Atom Freeman, btw- written by unpaid young professionals because they just “want to get their foot in the door” of the comics world.

A minor but still noticeable (to me) occurrence of how pitiful The Beat has become as the announcement of Fantagraphics’ upcoming “Lost Marvels” collected edition series as if this were new and not known several months ago.

The first of two articles appears on April 28th and states that, “Today, Fantagraphics announced…” when, in actuality, this had been on their website for quite some time. There’s a summary paragraph to simplify the arrangement, and then the rest of the article literally just copies/pastes the pre-existing quotes and press release text. I guess I wouldn’t pay that author either!

Two days later, another article which claims an “Exclusive Preview“… perhaps college kids aren’t being taught what exclusive means, because The Beat’s exclusive preview is literally the same preview you can see on Fantagraphics’ own website!

I know I’m nitpicking a bit, and it’s valid to suggest that perhaps the reader of The Beat isn’t necessarily going to check out the Fantagraphics website. But that isn’t the point- the point is, if you’re going to publicly declare yourself and your peers as ever important to a declining industry, if you’re going to lament the loss of award recognition for a fake brand of pseudo-journalism, if you’re going to implore and browbeat and guilt your dwindling audience to click on ads- then how dare you not provide better articles and content?? Like, am I crazy for thinking this should be a given??

I wasn’t the only person who felt a little nauseous reading this shit, as evidenced by the comments (I imagine mine will be deleted whenever MacDonald wakes up and sees them):

“Roy Thomas being attacked for his bs credit-grabbing is not the same as many creators (who you did NOT interview and quote in this article btw) who are attacked for their race, their gender, their gender identity. The internet has definitely made things worse but write a half-assed article where Roy Thomas laments how people attack him as a greedy credit-hog after he… is publicly a greedy credit hog and compare that to people being attacked for their identity shows you missed the point.” – comment from Beat reader ‘Alan’, 05/06/2025

Another comment from Johanna explains that she moderated the DC Message Boards on AOL back when DC Comics removed Hal Jordan from the role of Green Lantern, and references the amount of toxicity she encountered and how long it’s been going on- I would think what a woman working in the industry tolerates and observes warrants more of an article than the feelings of an entitled 84 year old male.

We are living in a time where a White woman named Shiloh Hendrix has raised over $600,000 dollars on a fundraising website called GiveSendGo. What did Hendrix do? She called a 5-year-old Black child the n-word on a playground. It was filmed, and she then flippantly calls the child’s parent that word again.

There is a tangible feeling of being emboldened from these conservatives, and they operate as terrorists do: threats, hiding behind masks, strength in numbers. Do you know who supports people like that? Roy Thomas. John Cimino. They have Newsmax contributors come on their show and discuss what a hero Supreme Court Justice Scalia was, and how excited Cimino himself was that a definitive biography on the man was coming out. (Cimino may have just been saying this, as I doubt he would read anything that wasn’t an old issue of Marvel Two-in-One, but still)

Justice Scalia literally rejected women’s pursuit of equality and constitutional rights each and every time. He literally suggested that Black students might be better at “slower paced” colleges. It’s a fucking joke that anyone would call the wealthy, celebrated, protected by billionaire corporation Marvel, and self-admitted “borrower” of creations Roy Thomas a victim in ANY capacity. And Roy Thomas is, by his own admission, an “admirer” of Scalia. Fuck both of those guys! Even if Scalia is already dead, his terrible influence remains today.

The last travesty in this travesty of Beat articles which suck, is that its secondary tagline is “when making comics gets you death threats“- I imagine they’ll spin that into a claim that it refers to when a Nazi called the Timely offices to criticize and threaten and Kirby threatened him back. (Which is the correct response when dealing with a Nazi, btw.)

What amazes me about that is- we had a case of death threats against a comics creator relatively recently- well, thirteen years ago but that’s still more recent than the early forties- and this is never mentioned whatsoever.

In 2012, writer Dan Slott reportedly received death threats plural, over his decision to (temporarily, as if you didn’t know) kill Peter Parker and have Doctor Octopus’s mind take over Parker’s body and become a new version of Spider-Man. (Or something very close to that- I never read that shit)

When you observe the state of the world and where it’s going, I want you to think about this: how much energy and passion must it take to justify threats over a fictional character?

You know who got killed in REAL LIFE back in 2012? Trayvon Martin.

Did any of these people write their local representatives, their senators, anything like that? Did they even write a fucking letter to their local paper? No. The very real young Black child that was murdered in his neighborhood couldn’t warrant any consideration. The very fake sixty-year-old fictional character owned by corrupt corporations did.

That’s where people’s priorities are, increasingly. They can’t be bothered. They’re entitled and want nostalgia to remain forever so that their worldview never has to be challenged. It’s sad, it’s inevitable all the same.

So, fuck Roy Thomas for being a corrupt and dishonest shill who has routinely betrayed old colleagues that are all conveniently deceased. I don’t think anyone should threaten him with violence or abuse, however. I mean, he’s nearing death as it is anyhow if we’re being honest. Don’t be a terrorist. Be smart. Call them out for their deeds, use their own words. But not for writing super-hero stories. There are way worse things to be mad at someone for.

In closing, here were my initial comment(s) on this article- which could be pulled, for all I know, if the tone of the responses keeps up- though Heidi is known for closing comments when the heat gets to be too much- keep in mind this was my lucid mind after having only been awake for less than thirty minutes. But I stand by what I said, as I always do.

If you’re against hate and toxicity, I encourage you to go donate to numerous organizations and outreaches that actively combat against it. Lamenting that you’re missing out of insider industry stories because creators have decided to clam up- that’s ridiculous logic.

Fight back against hate by SPEAKING OUT and telling the truth! It’s what they DON’T want you to do.

If you want to help spread positivity in the world of comic books, please consider donating to Comic Books for Kids! which gets comics into the hands of children in both hospitals and shelters. Seriously, this place helps spread the magic of comics and also spreads joy and escape. Thank you.

https://www.comicbooksforkids.org/medicalfacilities

with thanks to my disrupted sleep schedule, which guaranteed I was going to write this first thing before starting my day