Marv Wolfman
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| Marv Wolfman | |
 Wolfman at the 1982 Comic-Con |
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| Birth name | Marvin A. Wolfman |
| Born | May 13, 1946 Brooklyn, New York City, New York |
| Nationality | American |
| Area(s) | Writer |
| Notable works | Blade New Teen Titans |
| Awards | Shazam Award
Jack Kirby Award
|
Marvin A. "Marv" Wolfman (born May 13, 1946) is an American comic book writer. He is best known for lengthy runs on Tomb of Dracula, creating Blade for Marvel Comics, and The New Teen Titans for DC Comics.
Wolfman was born in Brooklyn, New York City, New York.
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[edit] Career
[edit] 1960s
Active in fandom before he broke into professional comics at DC in 1968, he often collaborated (particularly in his early years) with friend Len Wein. When asked what a book about the both of them would be like, Wein and Wolfman replied it would resemble the Three Stooges minus one.
[edit] 1970s
In 1974, Wein and Wolfman moved to Marvel Comics as protégés of then-editor Roy Thomas. When Thomas stepped down, Wein and Wolfman took over as editors. Initially Wein was in charge of the color comics and Wolfman the black and white titles. After about a year, Wolfman succeeded Wein as editor-in-chief of the color line. One innovation which Wolfman instituted was the "warehouse story"; when writers and artists missed deadlines, it cost Marvel a great deal of money to delay the release of a scheduled issue, and using reprints to tread water wasn't as appealing to readers. So, Wolfman had various creative teams produce complete stories for various titles, which were then stored for possible later use if a book went off schedule, allowing the editor to keep the book on track with an entirely original story that wouldn't alienate readers.
Because Marvel was producing an ever-expanding line of comics, Wolfman found it difficult to both supervise their titles and still write comics. He opted to step down as editor-in-chief in order to spend more time editing and writing.
While at Marvel Wolfman wrote lengthy runs of Amazing Spider-Man (where he co-created the Black Cat); Fantastic Four; and Doctor Strange. He created Nova in that character's eponymous first issue.
His best-received work was Tomb of Dracula, a fledgling horror comic which Wolfman turned into a rich, complex piece of high gothic, well matched with the moody shade-and-light pencilling of Gene Colan. Taking Bram Stoker's basic story, Wolfman created his own vampire mythology and introduced a set of new characters, including Blade.
[edit] 1980s
In 1980, Wolfman returned to DC after a dispute with new Marvel editor-in-chief Jim Shooter, who offered to renew Wolfman's contract as a writer, but not as an editor. Teaming with penciller George Pérez, he relaunched DC's Teen Titans. The New Teen Titans added the Wolfman-Pérez creations Raven, Starfire and Cyborg to the old team's Robin, Wonder Girl, Kid Flash and Beast Boy (renamed Changeling). The series became DC's first new hit in years, and its first serious competitor to Marvel since the early 1970s.
During the early 1980s Wolfman also collaborated with artist Gil Kane on a run on Superman, rejoined Colan (who had also moved to DC) on the short-lived Night Force, and worked with Carmine Infantino on a revival of Dial H for Hero.
In 1985, Wolfman and Pérez launched Crisis on Infinite Earths, a 12-issue limited series celebrating DC's 50th anniversary. Featuring a cast of thousands and a timeline that ranged from the beginning of the universe to the end of time, it killed scores of characters, integrated a number of heroes from other companies to DC continuity, and re-wrote 50 years of DC universe history in order to streamline it.
Wolfman was also involved in the DC Comics relaunch of the Superman line, reinventing nemesis Lex Luthor and initially scripting the Adventures of Superman title.
After Pérez left The New Teen Titans in 1986, Wolfman continued with other collaborators - including pencillers Jose Luis Garcia Lopez, Eduardo Barreto and Tom Grummett - but never enjoyed the same level of commercial or critical success. It was around this time that Wolfman had begun a brief run on the Batman titles, most notably creating Robin III Tim Drake and writing an anniversary adaptation of the first ever Batman story which was printed along with two other adaptations and the original.
Wolfman got into disputes with DC over a proposed ratings system,[1] and finally, after several years, asked to be taken off the title and put onto another book.
[edit] 1990s
Wolfman's writing for comics decreased as he turned to animation and television, though he wrote the mid-1990s DC series The Man Called A-X.
[edit] 2000s
A decade later, he began writing in comics again, scripting Defex, the flagship title of Devil's Due Productions' Aftermath line. He also wrote an "Infinite Crisis" issue of DC's "Secret Files", and consulted with writer Geoff Johns on several issues of The Teen Titans.
Wolfman also wrote a novel based on Crisis on Infinite Earths, but rather than following the original plot, he created a new story starring the Barry Allen Flash that takes place during the original Crisis story. Wolfman wrote the novelization of the film Superman Returns, and worked on a direct-to-video animated movie, Condor, for Stan Lee's Pow Entertainment.
In 2006, Wolfman was editorial director of Impact Comics, publisher of educational manga-style comics for high school students.
Starting with issue #125, Wolfman began writing DC's Nightwing series. Initially scheduled for a four-issue run, Wolfman's run was expanded greatly, and finished with issue #137. During the course of his run, Wolfman introduced a new Vigilante character. Following Wolfman's departure from the pages of Nightwing, Vigilante will be spun off into his own ongoing title, which Wolfman will write. He will also pen a miniseries starring the Teen Titan Raven, a character he and Perez co-created during their run on the New Teen Titans. He is also currently working with George Pérez on a direct-to-DVD movie adaptation of the popular "Judas Contract" storyline from their tenure on Teen Titans.
[edit] Trivia
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Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones. |
Wolfman, on the panel "Marvel Comics: The Method and the Madness" at the 1974 New York Comic Art Convention, told the audience that when he first began working for DC, he received DC's first writing credit on their mystery magazines. In those days Gerry Conway wrote pages between the actual stories which had the book's hosts tell you what was coming up. In one, knowing Marv wrote the next story, he wrote that the following story was told to him by a wandering Wolfman. The comics code, which did not permit the mention of werewolves or wolfmen, demanded it be removed. DC informed the code that the Wolfman in question was Marv's real name, so the code insisted that he be given a credit to show the Wolfman in question was a real person and not a monster. Once Marv was given a credit, the other writers demanded them, too. Shortly, credits were given to all writers and artists.[2]
In the November 1966 issue of Tales of Suspense (#83), a fan letter written by Wolfman was printed concerning the hate and bigotry represented by the character of the Red Skull.
[edit] Awards
Wolfman won the Shazam Award for Best Writer (Humor Division) in 1973.
Wolfman's and artist George Pérez' Crisis on Infinite Earths won the 1985 Jack Kirby Award for Best Finite Series. The duo's The New Teen Titans #50 (with inker Romeo Tanghal) was nominated that year for Best Single Issue.
He was nominated for the Comics' Buyer's Guide Award for Favorite Writer in 1986, and his work on the "Batman: Year Three" story arc in Batman #436-439 was nominated Comics' Buyer's Guide Favorite Writer Award in 1990.
In 2007 Wolfman won the "Scribe" Award, given by writers of novelization and tie-in fiction for his novel based on "Superman Returns."
in 2008 Wolfman's non-fiction book, Homeland, The Illustrated History of the State of Israel, won the prestigious National Jewish Book Award as well as many others.
[edit] Characters Created by Wolfman
- Nightwing (the identity, not the character)
- Starfire
- Tim Drake
- NKVDemon
- Jonny Double (co-created with Len Wein)
- Raven
- Cyborg
- Deathstroke
- Jericho
- Trigon
- Brother Blood
- Terra
- Blade
- Hannibal King
- Nova
- Black Cat
- Doctor Light
- Monitor
- Anti-Monitor
- Alexander Luthor, Jr.
- Bullseye
- Terrax
- Cat Grant
- Gangbuster
- Vigilante
[edit] Footnotes
[edit] References
- Marv Wolfman official web site
- Comic Book Awards Almanac
- Comic Geek Speak Podcast Interview (October 2005)
| Preceded by Len Wein |
Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief 1975–1976 |
Succeeded by Gerry Conway |
| Preceded by Bob Brown & Tony Isabella |
Daredevil writer 1975–1977 |
Succeeded by Gerry Conway & Jim Shooter |
| Preceded by Len Wein |
Thor writer 1976 (with Len Wein) |
Succeeded by Len Wein |
| Preceded by Len Wein |
Fantastic Four writer 1978–1980 |
Succeeded by John Byrne |
| Preceded by Len Wein |
Amazing Spider-Man writer 1978–1980 |
Succeeded by Dennis O'Neil |
| Preceded by Bob Rozakis |
Teen Titans writer 1980–1996 |
Succeeded by Dan Jurgens |
| Preceded by Bruce Jones |
Nightwing writer 2006–2007 |
Succeeded by Fabian Nicieza |
