BY: Brian Hofacker

Len Wein- creator of the modern X-Men and DC’s Swamp Thing!!!
As a comic book writer and editor, Len Wein is best known for co-creating DC Comics' Swamp Thing and Marvel Comics' Wolverine (with John Romita, Sr. and Herb Trimpe), and for helping revive the Marvel superhero team the X-Men (Giant-Size X-Men with Dave Cockrum).

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 mid-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.

In 1975, Len Wein and artist Dave Cockrum revived the Stan Lee / Jack Kirby mutant-superhero team the X-Men after a half-decade's hiatus. Among the characters the duo created were Nightcrawler, Storm, Colossus, and Thunderbird; Wein had additionally created Wolverine earlier, with artists John Romita Sr. and Herb Trimpe, in The Incredible Hulk. Wein plotted the next two X-Men stories with artist Cockrum. These issues were then scripted by Chris Claremont, who subsequently developed the series into what became one of Marvel's leading franchises.

Len took some time to answer a few questions about his career and the characters he created:

BH: Let’s start in the swamp… you created Swamp Thing, who made his debut in DC’s House of Secrets #92 (1971) while Man-Thing arrived on the scene at the same time in Savage Tales #1 (May 1971) from Marvel. Was the arrival of these two comparable characters coincidence, or was there a race to the finish? And, as the creator of Swamp Thing, how did you handle a similar character making the scene at the same time?

LEN: Well, it was weird on a lot of levels. After all, not only did I create Swamp Thing, but I also wrote the second Man-Thing story, the one where I established that “whatever knows fear burns at the Man-Thing’s touch.” This was because anything he touched in the first story burst into flame, and I thought that would be a problem in future stories. As to the characters’ appearing at the same time, total coincidence, made even weirder by the fact that Man-Thing co-creator Gerry Conway and I were apartment-mates at the time, though neither of us had any idea what the other one was working on.

BH: Swamp Thing went through a bit of an origin adjustment between his first appearance in House of Secrets #92 and second appearance in the ongoing Swamp Thing series (1972). After your creation and direction of the character, a number of writers such as Alan Moore, Grant Morrison and Brian K. Vaughn have reinvented the roots of Swamp Thing. How do you feel about the reinventions of the character that you created?

LEN: The first recreation, the one by Alan, was just fine by me since I was the editor on the book at the time, and I hadn’t agreed with what Alan wanted to do, I wouldn’t have allowed him to do it. Any further recreations were after my time, and remain for others to determine how well they worked or not.

BH: You have worked for both DC and Marvel, creating characters that have gained worldwide recognition and writing some of the most influential stories ever. Additionally, you have worked with some of the best in the industry, including Marv Wolfman, Bernie Wrightson, Roy Thomas and Carmine Infantino! What would you say was the major difference between working for DC and Marvel? And is there any specific project or collaboration that you are particularly proud of?

LEN: Well, in my early days at DC, the place was a business, run by grown-ups. People wore suits, kept regular hours, etc. When I got to Marvel way back then, it was like arriving in Deadwood, people making things up as they went along, really flying by the seat of one’s pants, so to speak. Over the years, however, with so much back and forth, the companies really began to look much more like one another. The big difference today, I think, is that DC takes much better financial care of its people, paying for all ancillary use of contracted characters. Marvel, however, not nearly so much.

As to collaborations I’ve enjoyed, I’m pretty proud of the Batman/Hulk DC/Marvel crossover I wrote. My and Bernie’s Swamp Thing run, of course. My Marvel Hulk run. Working with the late, great Ross Andru on Spider-Man. As you said, I’ve been incredibly lucky.

BH: As one of the creators behind Wolverine, are you ever surprised at the popularity that the character has achieved?

LEN: On the one hand, constantly. On the other, not at all. I knew there was something powerful and primal about the character from the very beginning, and every creator who has followed me on Wolverine has found some new emotional depth to plumb with him.

BH: At Marvel you were the driving force behind the revival of the Stan Lee / Jack Kirby mutant-superhero team the X-Men with the release of Giant-Size X-Men #1 (1975). What was the idea behind bringing back the X-Men and reformatting the team?

LEN: Honestly? I think our primary goal was to see if we could make the book actually sell this time. The initial reformatting idea came either from Roy Thomas or one of the Marvel higher-ups. The choice of which new characters to introduce was left entirely to me and the late, much-missed Dave Cockrum. The story of how we picked and chose I’ve told thousands of times over the years, so I won’t repeat it here.

BH: In your formation of the new X-Men, you created the characters Nightcrawler, Colossus, Storm and Thunderbird and had them join with Banshee, Sunfire and Wolverine, to allow for a more multicultural central cast as opposed to the “student” theme that originally took place in the book. Was this the original idea when you planned to revive the title or is there a chance that fans could be reading about a very different team of mutants right now?

LEN: Well, in many ways, I think people ARE reading about a very different teams of mutants right now, different even from what Dave and I created. But, seriously, as I just mentioned, the concept of the international team was there from the start.
BH: Recently, Ed Brubaker’s X-Men: Deadly Genesis revisited the story of Giant-Size X-Men #1, adding a “between team” of X-Men and a new Summers brother. How do you feel about this change to your original designs?

LEN: While I’m a huge fan of Ed’s work on Daredevil and Captain America, I’ve never been a fan of this particular type of story. It somehow seems to undercut the original concept far more than it illuminates it.

BH: And, something I’ve always wanted to know: Thunderbird- was he created just to be killed?

LEN: Absolutely. It’s one of the reasons he didn’t really have any powers that stood out from those of the other characters. Dave’s and my feelings were that, if we knocked off one of the new regulars this early in the run, we would put the audience on notice that anything at all could happen in this book, that nobody was safe, and that would give the X-Men exactly the sort of edge it had always needed. Apparently, we were right.

BH: And finally, your thoughts on the death of Captain America?

LEN: As I’ve already said to a number of people, it’s okay to hold your breath on this one. I’m convinced he’ll be back before you turn blue.

BH: Thanks, Len!

CHECK IT OUT, X-MEN FANS!

DF is paying a special tribute to this founding father of the X-Men, Len Wein, by offering two matching number sets of X-Men comics, both signed by this legendary X-creator.

X-MEN DEADLY GENESIS & X-MEN #46 SIGNED BY LEN WEIN
You’ll receive X-Men: Deadly Genesis #1 and the now classic X-Men #46. Both of these issues pay homage to Giant-Size X-Men #1 which featured the debut of Wein’s co-creations Nightcrawler, Storm, Colossus, and Thunderbird, as well the X-Debut of Wolverine!!! You get both issues for the astonishing cost of $19.75 (the year of Giant-Size X-Men #1)!