One of the startling things one realizes after going through an event like Hurricane Irma and the subsequent loss of both power and internet is that when you emerge from that non-electric coma, you feel like Rip Van Winkle… and there’s so much you’ve missed out on.
One of the more startling things to read about, and I’m certainly not trying to ignore all the incredible destruction around us and subsequent human suffering which will linger in these post-hurricane times, is the announced passing on Sunday the 10th of September of Len Wein.
To the public at large, that name may not mean all that much.
Arguably, Mr. Wein is in the pantheon of the all time greatest contributors to the comic book medium.
Two of his better known co-creations are Wolverine (yes, that Wolverine!) and, along with also recently passed artist Bernie Wrightson, Swamp Thing.
But Mr. Wein’s career was so very much more. His fingerprints are all over a plethora of comic books from the early 1970’s, when he emerged primarily as a writer, to the earlier 1990’s, when it seemed he took a step back.
He was, famously, the editor of the Alan Moore/Dave Gibbons mini-series The Watchmen. He was the one who first worked on the new X-Men. He crafted literally thousands of stories and created or co-created many, many comic book characters who are still very popular today.
To me, Mr. Wein’s crowning achievement has to be Swamp Thing. Along with Bernie Wrightson, Mr. Wein wrote 13 issues -the first 10 of which were illustrated by Mr. Wrightson- of absolute to near-absolute brilliance. There was perhaps only one issue among those 13, after Wrightson left, that I thought wasn’t all that good, but in those 13 issues Mr. Wein wrote a brilliant saga with a brilliant beginning, middle, and end.
He left the book with many of the major plot lines closed yet offered a path for future writers to continue with the character, and given the year it was released, the early to mid-1970’s and long before the idea of a “mini-series” came to be known, this was something almost unheard of.
I wrote the following when Mr. Wrightson passed. It applies equally to Mr. Wein, so I’ll repost it here:
When I was very young, there were four works that influenced/inspired me.
For the movies, it was Steven Spielberg’s Duel, the first film I recall seeing and understanding, even at the very young age of 5 or so. It helped that the film was essentially a silent movie!
For TV, there was the original Star Trek, then on its first wave of reruns. For comedy, there was Get Smart! For books, I recall being hospitalized with a kidney problem while very young and being given the very first of the many Hardy Boy books released and, though it was hard at the time, I read through it and that first step lead to me becoming a voracious reader and wanting to be a writer.
For Comic Books, it was Swamp Thing #10…
The book mesmerized me and made me realize comic books, like movies, like TV shows, and like books, could be works of art. It took me several years but over time I managed to get the other 9 issues of the run and found the pairing of Len Wein’s writing and Berni Wrightson’s illustrations among the absolute best runs of ANY comic book series. To this day, it remains one of my very favorites.
There’s not much more to add than that. My admiration and respect for the works of both Mr. Wein and Wrightson hold no bounds and their influence on me, to this day, is beyond enormous.
Rest in peace, Mr. Wein. Even if the public at large may not be familiar with your name, they certainly know the mark you left on the entertainment industry.