Marv Wolfman

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Marv Wolfman
Birth name	Marvin A. Wolfman
Born	May 13, 1946 (age 60) Brooklyn, New York City, New York
Nationality	American
Area(s)	Writer
Notable works	Blade New Teen Titans
Awards	Shazam Award Best Writer (Humor Division) (1973) Jack Kirby Award Best Finite Series (1985, with George Perez)

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 and creating Blade for Marvel Comics, and The New Teen Titans for DC Comics.

Wolfman was born in Brooklyn, New York City, New York.

Contents 1 Career 2 Trivia 3 Awards 4 Characters Created by Wolfman 5 Footnotes 6 References

[edit] 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 protégés 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 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.

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 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. 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 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.

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 will also pen a miniseries starring the Teen Titan Raven, a character he and Perez co-created during their legendary run on the New Teen Titans. 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.

[edit] 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.^[2]

[edit] 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 #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.

[edit] Characters Created by Wolfman

• Nightwing
• Starfire
• Tim Drake
• Raven
• Cyborg
• Deathstroke
• Jericho
• Trigon
• Brother Blood
• Terra
• Blade
• Hannibal King
• Nova
• Black Cat
• Doctor Light
• Monitor
• Anti-Monitor
• Alexander Luthor, Jr.
• Bullseye
• 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 Denny O'Neil
Preceded by Bob Rozakis	Teen Titans writer 1980–1996	Succeeded by Dan Jurgens
Preceded by Judd Winick	Nightwing writer 2007–	Succeeded by '