Comics Writer Len Wein Passes Away at 69
Len Wein, legendary comics writer and co-creator of Wolverine and Swamp Thing, passed away on Sunday according to multiple industry reports including Kurt Busiek and Gerry Conway. He was 69 years old.
Aside from Wolverine, Wein also co-created Colossus, Storm and Nightcrawler, and was instrumental in the revival of the X-Men in the ’70s. Furthermore, he was the editor for the critically acclaimed DC miniseries Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.
Wein got his first professional comics work on 1968’s Teen Titans #18 for DC Comics, where he co-created Red Star with Marv Wolfman. For his first Marvel comics work, he co-wrote a story on Daredevil #71 in 1970 with Roy Thomas.
After writing sporadic issues for several DC titles, he and Bernie Washington later created the horror character Swamp Thing in The House of Secrets #92 in 1972. The character would go on to be a mainstay in the DC mythos, and appearing in various ongoing titles and solo titles.
Perhaps his best-known comics work was creating Wolverine with John Romita Sr. and Herb Trimpe for Marvel, who first appeared in The Incredible Hulk #182. In 1975, Wein and artist David Cockrum worked on revamping the X-Men (which was in hiatus at the time) in Giant-Size X-Men #1, which included the characters Wolverine, Colossus, Storm and Nightcrawler. In addition to writing, Wein served as Marvel’s editor-in-chief in 1974.
Len Wein is survived by his wife, Christine Valada, and his children.
Drew Bagay
