The Will Eisner Hall of Fame alumni and co-creator of Swamp Thing for DC Comics and the X-MEN: Wolverine, Storm, Colossus and Night crawler for Marvel Comics has passed away.
Wein was also the co-editor of The Watchman written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons for DC, the only graphic novel to appear on Time‘s 2005 “All-Time 100 Greatest Novels” list.
Wein’s first superhero work for Marvel was a one-off story in Daredevil #71 (Dec. 1970) co-written with staff writer/editor Roy Thomas. Wein later began scripting sporadic issues of such DC superhero titles as Adventure Comics (featuring Supergirl and Zatanna), The Flash, and Superman, while continuing to write anthological mysteries, along with well-received stories for the semi-anthological occult title The Phantom Stranger #14–26 (Aug. 1971 – Sept. 1973).
Wein and artist Bernie Wrightson created the horror character Swamp Thing in The House of Secrets #92 (July 1971). Over the next several decades, Swamp Thing would star in DC series and miniseries – including an initial 1972–76 series begun by Wein and Wrightson, and the early 1980s Saga of the Swamp Thing, edited by Wein and featuring early work by writer Alan Moore — as well as two theatrical films, and a syndicated television series. Abigail Arcane, a major supporting character in the character’s mythos was introduced by Wein and Wrightson in Swamp Thing #3 (March 1973).
In 2009, Chris Claremont said, “The history of modern comics would be incredibly different if you took [Wein’s] contributions out of the mix. The fact he doesn’t get credit for it half the time is disgraceful. We owe a lot of what we are – certainly on the X-Men – to Len and to Dave [Cockrum]”.
He died on September 10, 2017.
