Comic-book writer and artist Len Wein, co-creator of Wolverine and Swamp Thing, died on Sunday at the age of 69.
A master of many aspects of the form, Wein worked as an artist and editor, but was primarily known for his writing, having written for a veritable who’s who of classic characters, including Daredevil, Flash, Superman, Spider-Man, Batman and the Hulk.
Born in New York in 1948, Wein originally had ambitions to be a comic artist, regularly visiting DC Comics’ offices with friend — and eventually fellow writer — Marv Wolfman. DC editor Joe Orlando at last gave them both their first freelance work in 1968.
Switching mainly to scripting, Wein worked for DC until the early 1970s, when he moved to Marvel. There, with artists John Romita Sr and Herb Trimpe, Wein created the character Wolverine, who debuted in an issue of the Incredible Hulk. Wolverine later became a mainstay of the Marvel Universe when Wein and artist Dave Cockrum revamped the X-Men, a super-team originally created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in the 1960s. When Wein and Cockrum’s Giant-Sized X-Men #1 was released in 1975, X-Men had not been published for five years, with the two introducing new characters including Storm, Collossus and Nightcrawler.
After returning to DC, Wein came up with the idea of Swamp Thing while riding the subway in Queens. He wrote the first issue in 1971, working with artist Bernie Wrightson (who died in March 2017). A shambling monster with the mind of a man, Swamp Thing was taken over by Alan Moore in the 1980s, with Wein serving as editor. The two would later work together on the classic comic Watchmen, with Moore writing, Wein editing and art by Dave Gibbons.
Wein had suffered from various health complaints, undergoing a quintuple heart bypass in 2015 and regularly updating fans on Twitter with hospital updates, many written by his wife, photographer and lawyer Christine Valada. In March, Wein tweeted that he was going into surgery with the hashtag #IWantWolverinesHealingFactor, a joke about the near-invulnerability of his cantankerous creation. Most recently he had undergone surgery for an abscess on one of his heel bones. Two days before he died, Valada tweeted: “Out of surgery, which went very well.”
Comics fans and professionals posted tributes to Wein. In a series of tweets, author and comic book writer Neil Gaiman said: “I just learnt that my friend and writing inspiration @LenWein passed away this morning. My love and condolences to his wife. He wrote Swamp Thing, Phantom Stranger, & my favourite Batman stories. He showed 12 year old me that comics could be literature. Len Wein was the editor who brought the British creators to DC. He was one of the nicest people I’ve met, in 30 years in comics. He will be missed. And I will miss him.”
Marvel comic writer Brian Michael Bendis wrote: “Len Wein, co-creator of Wolverine and Swamp Thing and more responsible for the X-Men you love than he gets credit for. Thank you”, adding: “He was VERY kind to me when I first started at Marvel. Encouraging and shiny. Sadly, not all his peers are. He was inspiring.”
Actor Hugh Jackman, who portrayed Wein’s creation Wolverine on screen wrote: “Blessed to have known Len Wein. I first met him in 2008. I told him — from his heart, mind & hands came the greatest character in comics.”
Dave Wielgosz, assistant editor at DC Comics added: “You can’t be hyperbolic when it comes to Len Wein’s legacy. He created, wrote and edited more great superhero stories than anyone. RIP.”
