Len Wein

Len Wein is an American comic book writer and editor. He broke into the business in the late 1960s, often co-writing with his friend Marv Wolfman.

In 1972 Wein and artist Berni Wrightson created the horror comic Swamp Thing for DC. The story of Alec Holland, a scientist who is turned into a shambling plant-like monster, the series would garner several awards. Both left the title relatively early on, though, and the character went into limbo before an early 1980s revival that would eventually launch the career of Alan Moore.

In the early 1970s he and Wolfman moved to Marvel Comics under editor Roy Thomas. In 1974 Wein became the editor of the colour range of comics (Wolfman taking over the B&W range), although he stayed for little over a year before handing the reins over to Wolfman (who also left after little more than a year).

Wein stayed on Marvel as a writer/editor. He had lengthy and memorable runs on Amazing Spider-Man, Incredible Hulk, Mighty Thor and Fantastic Four. But he is probably best-known for co-creating in 1975 the New X-Men, the revival of the Stan Lee/Jack Kirby team that would eventually become the biggest-selling comic title.

That Wein had a strong hand -- with artist Dave Cockrum and Thomas -- in creating such characters as Nightcrawler, Storm, Colossus and Wolverine (who had made his debut in Wein's run on Hulk) has never been in doubt. However, due to pressure of work he handed the scripting reins over to Chris Claremont after an issue and a half.

In the late 1970s Wein moved back to DC, principally as an editor, although he also scripted some excellent Batman stories and collaborated on a fine Green Lantern run (with artists Dave Gibbons and Mark Farmer). As editor he had a strong hand in successes like The New Teen Titans, Crisis on Infinite Earths, All-Star Squadron and others.

After Crisis Wein wrote a short-lived title devoted to Blue Beetle, and spent time scripting Wonder Woman over George Perez's plots. Like many comics writers of the 1970s and 1980s his work for Marvel and DC has dwindled, although he still does occasional pieces for several companies.

In recent years, Wein has devoted more of his time writing for animation and TV, including an intriguing work called Gene Pool (with Wolfman).

His first wife was Glynis Oliver, a long-time comics colourist who spent years on the X-Men titles.

Len Wein's best work has come with characters that are more "street", down-to-earth than cosmic. In particular, he is an under-rated Batman and Spider-Man writer, and his influence on superhero comics can be seen in writers as diverse as Ed Brubaker and Grant Morrison.