Thorne's awards includes a 1963 National Cartoonists Society award in the Comic Book Division, the 1978 San Diego Inkpot Award, the Playboy editorial award for best comic for Moonshine McJugs, Warren Magazine's Best Comic for Ghita of Alizarr, NJ Art Director’s Club. Thorne was known during the 1970s for attending comic book conventions in his persona as The Wizard judging Red Sonja Lookalike Contests. He was born in Rahway, New Jersey, and as of 2010 lived in Scotch Plains, New Jersey.