Marv Wolfman
Marv Wolfman had one of the coolest last names in comics. Everyone thought so. But even if he didn't have such an awesome surname, I'd still think he was one of the best writers to put pen to paper in the industry.
Marvin Arthur Wolfman was born on May 13th, 1946. He worked on Marvel Comics'
The Tomb of Dracula (1972–1979), for which he and artist Gene Colan created the vampire-slayer Blade, and DC Comics'
The New Teen Titans and the
Crisis on Infinite Earths limited series with George Pérez.
Among the many characters Wolfman created or co-created are Cyborg, Raven, Starfire, Deathstroke, Tim Drake, Rose Wilson, Nova, Black Cat, Phobia, Bullseye, Vigilante (Adrian Chase),
Night Force, the Omega Men, and the Nightwing identity of Dick Grayson.
Marv, like many young and aspiring comic creators in those early Silver and Bronze Age days, was active in fandom before he started working professionally. He got his first job at DC Comics in 1968 and then in 1972 he moved over to Marvel to work for Roy Thomas. And that's when his career really took off. Marv and a fantastic artist named Gene Colan were assigned to a fledgling horror title, Tomb of Dracula. Their run on that book has been called "one of the most critically-acclaimed horror-themed comic books ever" and I totally agree with that. Wolfman, with his powerful and compelling scripts combined with Colan's moody, atmospheric art to create a masterpiece that still stands up to this day. I don't know how many times I've read and re-read those comics, I am still blown away by them. They were magnificent.
In 1980, Marv was pushed out of Marvel by EIC Jim Shooter's draconian leadership style (A lot of people were) and he went back to DC. And lightning struck again. Marv teamed with George Perez (A man born to draw superhero comics) and they created the New Teen Titans. That series became DC's first major hit in years. The Titans appealed to fans who loved Marvel's X-Men and in the early 1980's there was no shortage of those. Sales skyrocketed and the team of Wolfman and Perez became huge fan favorites.
In 1985 DC celebrated their 50th anniversary and published Crisis on Infinite Earths, a 12 issue series by Wolfman and Perez that won awards, broke sales records and changed the DC Universe forever.
In 2011, Marv was inducted into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame. 80 years old now, Marv Wolfman has had an incredible and noteworthy career. He's a polite and thoughtful man who's made a lot of fans very happy and I'm very thankful he's still with us. I hope see him again this year. He's always such a pleasure to talk to. Thank you, Marv, for all the amazing stories.
Mike
(
11 Days Until SDCC 2026!)
% true fact. We wouldn't even be having this convention if it wasn't for the King. Thanks, Rod!
