Joseph Michel Roy (1921–1996) was a Canadian

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

and

comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...

artist, working during the

Golden Age of Comic Books The Golden Age of Comic Books describes an era in the history of American comic books from 1938 to 1956. During this time, modern comic books were first published and rapidly increased in popularity. The superhero archetype was created and ma ...

and the

Silver Age of Comic Books The Silver Age of Comic Books was a period of artistic advancement and widespread commercial success in mainstream American comic books, predominantly those featuring the superhero archetype. Following the Golden Age of Comic Books, the Silver A ...

. He is best known for his stories about Native Americans.

Biography

Born in

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, Roy he emigrated to the United States where he studied at the

School of Industrial Art The High School of Art and Design is a career and technical education high school in Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 1936 as the School of Industrial Art, the school moved to 1075 Second Avenue in 1960 and more recently, its Midtown Manha ...

and

Pratt Institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York. It has an additional campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The institute was founded in 18 ...

. He was a co-founder of a museum of Native American and Eskimo art.

Early work

Roy got his first job in comics in 1940, as an assistant to ''Sub-Mariner'' artist

Bill Everett William Blake Everett (; May 18, 1917 – February 27, 1973) was an American comic book writer-artist best known for creating Namor the Sub-Mariner as well as co-creating Zombie (comics), Zombie and Daredevil (Marvel Comics character), Daredevil ...

. At

Timely Comics Timely Comics was the common name for the group of corporations that was the earliest comic book arm of American publisher Martin Goodman (publisher), Martin Goodman, and the entity that would evolve by the 1960s to become Marvel Comics. "Timely P ...

, the 1940s forerunner of

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...

, he drew the only appearance of the superhero the Young Avenger, in '' U.S.A. Comics'' #1 (Aug. 1941), under the pseudonym Michael Robard. This story was previously incorrectly ascribed to

Howard Purcell Howard Purcell (November 10, 1918 – April 24, 1981)Howard Purcell
at the Social S ...

. He went on to work on many Golden Age comic books such as ''

Captain America Comics ''Captain America Comics'' is a comic book series featuring the superhero character Captain America. The series was originally published by Timely Comics from 1941 to 1950, with a brief revival by Atlas Comics (1950s), Atlas Comics in 1954. Pub ...

'' and '' Crime Does Not Pay''. Roy also did work for a number of publishers, including

Atlas Comics Atlas Comics may refer to: * Atlas Comics (1950s), one of the two comic publishing companies that would be the forerunner of Marvel Comics * Atlas/Seaboard Comics Atlas/Seaboard Comics is a line of comic books published by the American company S ...

Holyoke Publications The Holyoke Publishing Company was an American magazine and comic-book publisher with offices in Holyoke, and Springfield, Massachusetts, and New York City, Its best-known comics characters were Blue Beetle and the superhero duo Cat-Man (later ...

, and

Archie Comics Archie Comic Publications, Inc. (often referred to simply as Archie Comics) is an American comic book publisher headquartered in the village of Pelham, New York. The company's many titles feature the fictional teenagers Archie Andrews, Jug ...

Comic strips

Roy is best known for his work on

s. His first strip, for the

New York Herald Tribune Syndicate The New York Herald Tribune Syndicate was the Print syndication, syndication service of the ''New York Herald Tribune''. Syndicating comic strips and newspaper Column (periodical), columns, it operated from c. 1914 to 1966. The syndicate's most no ...

, was an adaptation of the

Leslie Charteris Leslie Charteris (; born Leslie Charles Bowyer-Yin; 12 May 1907 – 15 April 1993), was a British-Chinese author of adventure fiction, as well as a screenwriter.The Saint'', which he drew from 1948 to 1951. He also illustrated the comic strip ''

Nero Wolfe Nero Wolfe is a brilliant, obese and eccentric fictional armchair detective created in 1934 by American mystery (fiction), mystery writer Rex Stout. Wolfe was born in Principality of Montenegro, Montenegro and keeps his past murky. He lives in a ...

'' for Columbia Features in the 1950s, and worked as a ghost artist for''

Flash Gordon Flash Gordon is the protagonist of a space adventure comic strip created and originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by, and created to compete with, the already established ''Buck Rogers'' ...

.'' In 1964, he created his Native American character Akwas in a Sunday strip by the same name (also for Columbia Features).

Screaming Eagle

Roy's final work was a hardcover graphic novel, ''Screaming Eagle'', published posthumously in 1999 by Discovery Comics.

Biography

Early work

Comic strips

Screaming Eagle

References

Further reading