Roy Thomas on Life at Marvel in the 1960s (Guest Column) — hollywoodreporter.com

Roy Thomas was hired by Stan Lee in 1965 and succeeded him as editor in chief in 1972 when Stan become the publisher. He knows more Marvel history than just about anyone. Here he recounts what life was like at Marvel with Stan during the go-go years of the 1960s. Today, primarily thanks to the big-screen adaptations of Marvel Comics’ heroes—and to his string of eagerly-awaited cameos therein—Stan Lee has become the closest thing to a “household name” that comic books have ever produced. Sure, one can argue (and, in fact, I would) that a bare handful of Marvel artists, particularly Steve Ditko and the late and very great Jack Kirby, deserve similar recognition and celebration… but the fact that Stan’s two most important collaborators aren’t as well-known outside the comics field as he is says more about the power of the silver-screen image than it does about anything else.

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