|
Career 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. In 1974 Wein and Wolfman moved to Marvel Comics as protegés of then-editor Roy Thomas. When Thomas stepped down, Wein and Wolfman took over as editors, the former initially in charge of the color comics and the for latter black and white titles. After about a year, Wolfman succeeded Wein as editor-in-chief of the color line. During his time at Marvel Wolfman wrote lengthy runs of Amazing Spider-Man (where he co-created The Black Cat); Fantastic Four; and Doctor Strange. He co-created Nova in that character's namesake 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. In 1980, Wolfman returned to DC after a dispute with new Marvel editor-in-chief Jim Shooter. 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 hit in years, and its first serious competitor to Marvel since the late 1960s. During the early 1980s Wolfman also collaborated with artist Gil Kane on a run on Superman, and rejoined Colan (who had also moved to DC) on the short-lived Night Force. 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. Wolfman reportedly suffered an extended bout of writer's block later in his run, and finally, after several years, asked to be taken off the title and put onto another book. 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. A decade later, he began writing in comics again, scripting Defexx, the flagship title of Devil's Due Productions's 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 of 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. Also it has recently been announced that as of October 2006, Wolfman will be writing for DC's Nightwing series. Initially scheduled for a four-issue run, it was announced at Baltocon that he will be on for at least twelve issues. He is also currently working with George Perez on a direct-to-DVD movie adaptation of the popular "Judas Contract" storyline from their tenure on Teen Titans. Trivia 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 was forbidden to use the name "Wolfman" in print due to the company's interpretation of the Comics Code Authority's ban on the mention of werewolves or wolfmen. • Awards Wolfman won the Shazam Award for Best Writer (Humor Division) in 1973. Wolfman's and artist George Perez's Crisis on Infinite Earths won the 1985 Jack Kirby Award for Best Finite Series. The duo's The New Teen Titans 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 Characters Created by Wolfman Footnotes | ||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||
 |
|
| |