On Sunday, September 10, we lost a comic book icon as Len Wein has passed away at the age of 69. From Marvel to DC, Wein has had a strong influence over the years and helped create some of the most substantial characters of all time. While he is best known for being the co-creator of Wolverine, he was also responsible for DC’s Swamp Thing and helped to revive the ‘X-Men’ series through his run during the 1970’s.
He is survived by his wife, Christine Valada.
At this time it is unclear as to the cause of his death though he has had many health issues over the past year and had a recent surgery this past Thursday. At that time jokes were included where it would be great if Wein had Logan’s healing factor and fans of his work couldn’t agree more.
Wein was responsible for bringing us Wolverine way back in ‘The Incredible Hulk’ #81 with artists John Romita Sr. and Herb Trimpe. Obviously, his importance to Marvel can’t be downplayed and helped bring him truly into the spotlight in 1975. At this point, with Dave Cockrum illustrating, he gave us ‘Giant Size X-Men’ #1. The series had been out of print for five years and the pair gave us a new team with Wolverine included. He also had Nightcrawler, Storm, and Colossus all working together to rescue the original team.
On the DC Comics side of things, he and artist Bernie Wrightson who also sadly passed away earlier this year gave the world ‘Swamp Thing’ and would go on to edit stories by Alan Moore with the character. This collaboration may have been what had him also edit the ‘Watchmen’ series which is a genre-favorite. Also, he was responsible for the creation of Lucius Fox for the ‘Batman’ universe.
For a comparison in how these two powerhouses treat their actors, Wein once stated that:
“When I work for DC, anything I create I get a piece of. Lucius Fox, for example, who was in the last trilogy of Batman movies played by Morgan Freeman, bought my new house. At Marvel, I did see a check off ‘The Wolverine,’ the current film. But as a rule, I don’t get any of the ancillary money off of all of the toys and soaps and shampoos and skateboards and God knows what else that features the character.”
The loss of this iconic creator will be felt for some time. While not as actively creating these days, he was a cornerstone to both of the big two publishers. There was a slew of other titles he had worked on as well from ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ to the ‘Fantastic Four’ and more! For a year, he was even Marvel’s Editor-in-Chief.
Source: The Wrap
