Legendary comic book writer and editor Len Wein passed away last month, aged 69.
This week, DC Comics ran tributes to Len in all their titles. And yesterday at New York Comic Con, DC announced that his final story would see print in the upcoming Swamp Thing Winter Special, starring the character he co-created for DC Comics with Bernie Wrightson, and then a few years later, as editor, hired Alan Moore to write.
The story will be drawn from Len’s outline by Kelly Jones, who most recently worked with Len on a Swamp Thing mini-series.
The Swamp Thing Winter Special also features a story by Tom King and Jason Fabok, presumably the art from this.
Wein was the co-creator of the All-New All-Different X-Men with Dave Cockrum including Nightcrawler, Storm, and Colossus, as well as co-creator of Wolverine before at Marvel. On the DC Comics end, he was the co-creator of Swamp Thing and hired Alan Moore for the character.
He wrote and edited so many comic books in his decades working in the medium – including editing Watchmen. He was one of the most influential people in modern-day comic books, with his best-known characters now earning billions in the movies. He also appeared in a cameo role in X-Men: Days of Future Past was an editor at Disney Comics, wrote for video games and television, and so much more.
He was an old school writer and creator and editor. He had some great ideas that helped shape the comic world today and he will be missed. Sadly he died way too soon.