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| Happy birthday to Deathstroke's co-creator, Marv Wolfman! |
Today the Deathstroke Files celebrates the 73rd birthday of Deathstroke the Terminator's legendary co-creator, Marv Wolfman. Wolfman's first professional work was in 1968 as a plotter for DC Comics' Blackhawk (1956) #242. Marv has worked as a writer and an editor for both DC Comics and Marvel Comics and continues to put out great stories to this day.
He has written some of the most important comic book titles ever published in the United States including DC Comics' House of Secrets (1956), Green Lantern (1960), Superman (1939), Action Comics (1938), Adventure Comics (1935), Batman (1940), The New Teen Titans/Tales of the Teen Titans (1980), the landmark maxi-series Crisis on Infinite Earths (1985), Vigilante (1983), The New Teen Titans/The New Titans (1984), and of course, Deathstroke the Terminator (1991).
Wolfman also made significant contributions to the Marvel Comics Universe, not only as its one-time Editor-in-Chief, but with seminal runs as a writer on titles such as Amazing Spider-Man (1963), Daredevil (1964), Fantastic Four (1961), Marvel Two-in-One (1974), Nova (1976), and Tomb of Dracula (1972).
In addition to his mainstream work, Wolfman also had successful runs on some independent comics like Sable (1988) for First Comics, a creator-owned series The Man Called A-X (1994) for Malibu Comics' Bravura imprint (volume 2, however, landed at DC Comics), both Rob Liefeld's Brigade (1992) and Darren G Davis' 10th Muse (2000) at Image Comics and Defex (2004) for the Aftermath imprint of Devil's Due Productions. The man's work is prolific!
Wolfman has left comics at times to make some pop culture contributions in other genres of speculative fiction. After the release of Transformers: The Movie in 1986, fans and many parents were outraged at the death of Optimus Prime and were resistant to his successor, Rodimus Prime during season three of the animated television series. To assuage angry fans and toy buyers, in Wolfman was charged with co-writing a two-part story that aired in early 1987, which resurrected Optimus Prime after the original season finale had aired in 1986. In 1999, Wolfman developed the series Transformers: Beast Machines to air on Fox television. In addition to his work in television, in 2005, Wolfman wrote a prose novelization of his watershed comic book, Crisis on Infinite Earths, and then he novelized the film, Superman Returns in 2006, which almost by most accounts was the superior way to experience the story.
Wolfman is still putting out excellent comic book work today. He returned to his New Teen Titans creation, Raven, for two well-received limited series, Raven (2016) and Raven: Daughter of Darkness (2018). Originally written for the ultimately canceled Superman Confidential (2007), Wolfman's Man and Superman 100-Page Super Spectacular (2019), which Wolfman himself describes as “...the best Superman story I’ve ever written,” was a critical success as evidenced by a 9.6 rating on comic book review aggregator, ComicBook Round Up.
No matter how much I write here, I can never come close to doing Wolfman's career justice. With that said, happy birthday, Marv Wolfman!
He has written some of the most important comic book titles ever published in the United States including DC Comics' House of Secrets (1956), Green Lantern (1960), Superman (1939), Action Comics (1938), Adventure Comics (1935), Batman (1940), The New Teen Titans/Tales of the Teen Titans (1980), the landmark maxi-series Crisis on Infinite Earths (1985), Vigilante (1983), The New Teen Titans/The New Titans (1984), and of course, Deathstroke the Terminator (1991).
Wolfman also made significant contributions to the Marvel Comics Universe, not only as its one-time Editor-in-Chief, but with seminal runs as a writer on titles such as Amazing Spider-Man (1963), Daredevil (1964), Fantastic Four (1961), Marvel Two-in-One (1974), Nova (1976), and Tomb of Dracula (1972).
In addition to his mainstream work, Wolfman also had successful runs on some independent comics like Sable (1988) for First Comics, a creator-owned series The Man Called A-X (1994) for Malibu Comics' Bravura imprint (volume 2, however, landed at DC Comics), both Rob Liefeld's Brigade (1992) and Darren G Davis' 10th Muse (2000) at Image Comics and Defex (2004) for the Aftermath imprint of Devil's Due Productions. The man's work is prolific!
Wolfman has left comics at times to make some pop culture contributions in other genres of speculative fiction. After the release of Transformers: The Movie in 1986, fans and many parents were outraged at the death of Optimus Prime and were resistant to his successor, Rodimus Prime during season three of the animated television series. To assuage angry fans and toy buyers, in Wolfman was charged with co-writing a two-part story that aired in early 1987, which resurrected Optimus Prime after the original season finale had aired in 1986. In 1999, Wolfman developed the series Transformers: Beast Machines to air on Fox television. In addition to his work in television, in 2005, Wolfman wrote a prose novelization of his watershed comic book, Crisis on Infinite Earths, and then he novelized the film, Superman Returns in 2006, which almost by most accounts was the superior way to experience the story.
Wolfman is still putting out excellent comic book work today. He returned to his New Teen Titans creation, Raven, for two well-received limited series, Raven (2016) and Raven: Daughter of Darkness (2018). Originally written for the ultimately canceled Superman Confidential (2007), Wolfman's Man and Superman 100-Page Super Spectacular (2019), which Wolfman himself describes as “...the best Superman story I’ve ever written,” was a critical success as evidenced by a 9.6 rating on comic book review aggregator, ComicBook Round Up.
No matter how much I write here, I can never come close to doing Wolfman's career justice. With that said, happy birthday, Marv Wolfman!
