Roy Thomas is a legendary writer and editor. He introduced Conan the Barbarian and Star Wars to comics and had long tenures as the writer of The Avengers, The X-Men and All-Star Squadron. He is currently the editor of Alter-Ego Magazine. He was Stan Lee's first successor as editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics and was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2011.

Roy’s comic career began in 1965, at DC Comics assisting Mort Weisinger (editor of the Superman titles). His first tenure at DC lasted only a few weeks before being offered a position at Marvel by Stan Lee. His early works includes Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos, The X-Men and The Avengers, as well as an occasional "Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D" and "Doctor Strange" story in Strange Tales. When that title became the solo comic Doctor Strange, he wrote the entire run of new stories.

Thomas, who had turned over X-Men to other writers, returned with issue #56 and his collaboration with artist Neal Adams through #63 is regarded as a Silver Age creative highlight. Roy created or co-created numerous characters at Marvel, including: Yellowjacket, Adam Warlock, Morbius, Doc Samson, Ms. Marvel,Valkyrie, Killraven, Ultron, Man-Thing, Iron Fist, Brother Voodoo and Ghost Rider. He also devised the fictional metal adamantium, used in countless stories. He introduced Conan the Barbarian to comics, as well as Red Sonja writing hundreds of stories featuring the two characters in comics and magazines.

Roy was Editor-In-Chief of Marvel Comics from 1972-1974 replacing Stan Lee, who became Marvel's publisher. He continued to script comics, including Marvel's flagships, The Fantastic Four and The Amazing Spider-Man. He launched new titles The Defenders, What If? and The Invaders.; and was instrumental in engineering Marvel's comic-book adaptation of the movie Star Wars, which he wrote. In 1975, Thomas wrote the first joint publishing venture between Marvel and DC Comics - a 72-page Wizard of Oz movie adaptation in an oversized "Treasury Edition".

In 1981 Thomas moved to DC Comics. He marked his return with a two part Green Lantern story in Green Lantern #138-139. At DC some of the titles he wrote included Wonder Woman, Arak, Batman, DC Comics Presents, and the Legion of Super-Heroes. He revived the JSA, creating The All-Star Squadron and launched a JSA spin-off, Infinity Inc., set in the present day and depicting the adventures of the JSA's children. Thomas wrote several mini series for DC including America vs. the Justice Society, Jonni Thunder a.k.a. Thunderbolt, Shazam! The New Beginning, and Crimson Avenger. From 1986 to 1988, Thomas contributed to the Secret Origins series and wrote most of the stories involving the Golden Age characters. Young All-Stars replaced All-Star Squadron following the changes to DC's continuity brought about by Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Roy collaborated with Gerry Conway on the screenplays for the animated feature Fire and Ice (1983) and Conan the Destroyer (1984).

Roy returned to Marvel and by 1986 had begun writing for Marvel's New Universe line, beginning with Spitfire and the Troubleshooters. He then embarked on a multi-issue run of Nightmask, co-scripted by his wife Dann Thomas. He went on to script titles starring Doctor Strange, Thor, the Avengers West Coast, and Conan. During the following decade, Thomas began working less for Marvel and DC than for independent companies. He wrote issues of the TV-series tie-ins Xena: Warrior Princess and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys for Topps Comics. Additionally, he began writing more for other media, including television, and relaunched Alter Ego with TwoMorrows Publishing in 1999. In 2005, he earned a Master's degree in Humanities from California State University.