from Mighty Marvel Calendar 1976, 1977, and 1978 (Marvel, 1975-1977)
from FOOM #8 (Marvel, December 1974)
Here's a better look at Len's hat!
from 1975 Mighty Marvel Convention Program Book (Marvel, 1975), photograph by Michele Wolfman
Yes, it's a whole wide world of Wein, as we'll see in this post!
from "Bullpen Bulletins" in Marvel Comics cover-dated January 1975
from FOOM #10 (Marvel, June 1975)
from FOOM #19 (Marvel, September 1977)
from Marvel Treasury Edition #5 [The Hulk on the Rampage] (Marvel, 1975), pencils and inks by Marie Severin, side illustrations by Herb Trimpe
Len has written and edited for so many different companies that it's hard to keep track of! In addition to DC and Marvel, his work's also been at: Bongo, Comico, Dark Horse, Defiant, Disney, Eclipse, Gold Key, IDW, Image, Skywald, Warren — probably more!
from FOOM #7 (Marvel, September 1974)
Which means — as you know from this feature — that there's a lot of Len Wein appears within the comics as well! Here: in this crowd of Marvel Bullpen members!
from Iron Man #85 (April 1976), co-plot by Len Wein, co-plot and script by Roger Slifer, breakdowns by Herb Trimpe, finishes by Kim Seong Hwan, colors by Marie Severin, letters by Gaspar Saladino
Speakin' of ol' Shellhead, here's Len with Stan Lee and George Tuska about Iron Man's notorious nose from Stan Lee's autobio GN:
from Amazing Fantastic Incredible: A Marvelous Memoir (Simon & Schuster, January 2019), script by Peter David and Stan Lee, art by Colleen Doran
Here's an early '70s "tale of mystery" from Len!
'
from "Dragondoom" in Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery #34 (Gold Key, April 1971); script by Len Wein; pencils, inks, and letters by John Celardo
Now, the protagonist's name is "Leonard Wayne," and he doesn't look anything like Wein, but c'mon, that's Glynis Oliver, eventually Len's wife, and "Len Wayne" ~= "Len Wein"...so I say that's the first appearance of Len Wein inside comics!
Here he is with artist Chuck Patton in the opening pages of a DC Challenge issue…
from DC Challenge #2 (DC, December 1985); co-plot and script by Len Wein, co-plot and pencils by Chuck Patton, inks by Mike DeCarlo, colors by Carl Gafford, letters by John Costanza
...in a taxi driven by Paris Cullins...
from Blue Beetle (1986 series) #6 (DC, November 1986), script by Len Wein, pencils by Paris Cullins, inks by Bruce Patterson, colors by Gene D'Angelo, letters by John Costanza
...with Marv Wolfman, Archie Goodwin, and Roy Thomas as fans at a comic book convention...
from Freedom Fighters (1976 series) #9 (DC, July 1977), script by Bob Rozakis, pencils by Dick Ayers, inks by Jack Abel, letters by Gaspar Saladino
...and, along with Steve Englehart, Gerry Conway, and then-wife Glynis Wein, participated in the very first DC/Marvel crossover story, first teaming up with the Beast:
from Amazing Adventures (1970 series) #16 (Marvel, January 1973), script by Steve Englehart, pencils by Marie Severin and Bob Brown, inks by Frank McLaughlin, colors by Glynis Wein, letters by Charlotte Jetter
Then, the JLA:
from Justice League of America (1960 series) #103 (DC, December 1972), script by Len Wein, pencils by Dick Dillin, inks by Dick Giordano, letters by Ben Oda
And then with Thor, all of them appearing in one of the goofball but entertaining Rutland Halloween Parade sagas!
from Thor #207 (Marvel, January 1973), script by Gerry Conway, pencils by John Buscema, inks by Vince Colletta, caricatures by Marie Severin, colors by Glynis Wein, letters by Denise Wohl
Here's a fun one: Len introduces his own monster chiller horror tale! BUT: only in the reprint! The original was narrated by HEADSTONE GRAVELY, Marvel's attempt at a Cain or Destiny-type chiller narrator! Original on the left; reprint on the right!
from (L) Tower of Shadows #3 (Marvel, January 1970), script by Len Wein, pencils by Gene Colan, inks by Mike Esposito, Len caricature by Marie Severin, letters by Jean Simek
(R) Giant-Size Chillers #3 (Marvel, August 1975), Len Wein caricature by Marie Severin
(Click top picture to tomb-size)
Chillers also included a wrap-around story starring Len (and his fabulous belt buckle) and scripter Tony Isabella, who got the last word in here!
from "[Death is a Typewriter]" in Giant-Size Chillers #3, script by Len Wein, pencils by Marie Severin, inks by Dan Adkins, letters by Gaspar Saladino
Speakin' o' chills: Len in the House of Mystery! Here, he's replacing the fleeing Jack C. Harris as the...hee hee hee...new blood on the title...
from the introduction page of House of Mystery (1951 series) #282 (DC, July 1980), script by Len Wein, pencils and inks by Romeo Tanghal
Now, he's just "hanging around" with Karen Berger, while Paul Levitz is..."all tied up!" (insert howls of laughter)
from House of Mystery #303 (DC, April 1982), script by Karen Berger, pencils and inks by Adrian Gonzales
Super-cool factoid: who on the DC staff do you think looks most like House of Mystery host Cain? Go ahead, guess…Yes, it's Len Wein! (With Joe Orlando's assistant Mark Hanerfield as Abel!)
from The Dreaming (1996 series) #10 (DC/Vertigo, March 1997), originally published in Elvira's House of Mystery #4 (DC, June 1986)
Len Wein...a advertising spokesman for DC Comics?Say it ain't so, Len!
house ad from DC COmics cover-dated June 1980
Out driving, Len and Glynis almost run over a jack russell...I mean, the Jack Russell, Werewolf by Night!
from Werewolf by Night (1972 series) #9 (Marvel, September 1973), script by Gerry Conway, pencils and inks by Tom Sutton, colors by George Roussos, letters by Gaspar Saladino and Tom Sutton
...and on the street, they gawk at Spidey, Cyclops, and Colleen Wing! Now, I'm not certain who's who in this segment. I think they are the tiny couple at the bottom of panel 3, but I'm welcome to corrections! Others in the panels: Chris Claremont and Bonnie Wilford (panel 1, left); Roger Stern (panel 2, lower left), and Terry Austin (not sure where he is)! ID suggestions welcome!
from [Uncanny] X-Men (1963 series) #123 (Marvel, July 1979), co-plot and script by Chris Claremont, co-plot and breakdowns by John Byrne, finishes by Terry Austin, colors by Glynis Oliver, letters by Tom Orzechowski
As well, is this Len playing catcher in this Marvel Bullpen softball game? (Or is it Gerry Conway?)
from Marvel Premiere #24 (Marvel, September 1975), script by Chris Claremont, pencils by Pat Broderick, inks by Vince Colletta, Marvel creators' caricatures pencils and insk by Marie Severin, colors by Phil Rachelson, letters by Karen Mantlo
Is this a hipster caricature of Len behind the counter of the aptly named Wein's Bar? If so, is the guy at right possibly Dale Keown?
from Immortal Hulk #46 (Marvel, July 2021), script by Al Ewing, pencils by Joe Bennett, inks by Ruy José and Belardino Brabo, colors by Paul Mounts, letters by Cory Petit
Len Wein, is that you going through Peter Parker's garbage???
from Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #48 (Marvel, November 1980), script by Roger Stern, pencils by Marie Severin, inks by Bruce Patterson, colors by Barry Grossman, letters by Rick Parker
Well, he does like stuffed bears! (And take it from me…there is nuthin' wrong with having stuffed animal pals, folks!)
from "A Titanic Tale of Titans' Tomfoolery!" in The New Teen Titans (1980 series) #20 (DC, June 1982), script by Marv Wolfman, breakdowns by George Pérez, finishes by Romeo Tanghal, colors by Adrienne Roy, letters by John Costanza
Some familiar silhouettes (in order): Roy Thomas, John Romita, and Len Wein prep a little-known character for his first on-page appearance. Herb Trimpe (unseen) rings up the curtain!
from Marvel Comics #1000 (October 2019); script by Roy Thomas; pencils, inks, and colors by Rod Reis; letters by Cory Petit
Wein hangs out with pre-Crisis Earth-1 Wonder Woman (alongside Jenette Kahn)...
from Wonder Woman (1942 series) #246 (DC, December 1981), script by Robert Kanigher, pencils by Jose Delbo, inks by Dave Hunt, colors by Mario Sen, letters by Ben Oda
...and Post-Crisis Wondy! (with Jenette Kahn again, and George Pérez and Karen Berger):
from Wonder Woman(1987 series) #8 (DC, September 1987), plot and pencils by George Pérez, script by Len Wein, inks by Bruce Patterson, colors by Tatjana Wood, letters by John Costanza
Clockwise from left: Len Wein, Joe Orlando, Bernie Wrightson, unidentified muck-encrusted mockery of man
from Roots of the Swamp Thing #5 (DC, November 1986), art by Joe Orlando
It's another Where's Waldo-style seek-'n'-find: Where's Len?!?
back cover of The Best of DC Blue Ribbon Digest #5 (DC, May 1980), pencils by Ross Andru, inks by Dick Giordano
Len Wein passed away in 2017. We miss him, but his work is forever.
from Swamp Thing Winter Special (DC, March 2018)
Happy birthday, Len!
from The Kamandi Challenge #12 (DC, February 2018), pencils by José Luis García-López, inks by Joe Prado, colors by Mark Chiarello
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3 comments:
FWIW, despite the "Len Wayne" character and the fact that he named his blog Wein's World, Len pronounced his last name "ween" rather than like "wane" or "wine".
@Blam!: You know, I was wondering that all through writing this (because I did take German once upon a time and know the difference bertween the "ie" and "ei" sounds), but I was too invested in making "rhymes with wine" jokes that I didn't pursue it. Another critical Bull research failure! Thanks!
I believe the rule of "ie" and "ei" in German is that, from the perspective of English, you pronounce the second vowel — that is, "ei" means a long "i" like "hi" and "ie" means a long "e" like "hee". So "Wein" in that case would sound like "wine" even though Len said it like "ween". I always pronounced his name like "wane"/"Wayne" in my head, despite knowing Weinbergs and Weinstocks using the "wine" pronunciation, until I heard Mark Waid* say "ween". (*Fun fact: Waid pronounces his own last name "flugelhorn".)
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