On September 10, comic-book writer Len Wein passed away. He was 69 years old. No cause of death was provided; however, two days ago Wein’s wife Christine Valada tweeted that he had been in surgery:
Wein is best known for being a writer who had a hand in creating the iconic characters of Wolverine and Swamp Thing. He started writing for DC comics back in the 1960s, working on and editing such titles as Teen Titans, Saga of the Swamp Thing and Watchmen. During the '70s he was hired by Marvel to work on various properties including X-Men and The Amazing Spiderman, and then later returned to DC again in the '80s.
Following Wein’s death, Diane Nelson,President of DC Entertainment, gave a statement saying:
“Len Wein was one of the most welcoming people and legends in comics from the moment I joined DC eight years ago. He wrote or edited almost every major DC character - there’s hardly a facet of DC’s world that Len didn’t touch. I, DC and the industry will miss him and his talent very much. Our love and prayers go out to Christine, his family and his fans.”
Many fans and fellow comic-writers have been influenced by Wein’s work, including such names as Joss Whedon and Mark Millar of Millarworld. They took to Twitter to express their grief and gratitude:
Hugh Jackman, the actor who portrayed Wolverine in the X-Men films, also tweeted:
To honor Len Wein, let us know which comic property (there’s a lot of them) that he worked on was your favorite in the comments below.