I have a mess o' messages asking me to comment on a sudden controversy in the comic book industry. It has to do with the "created by" credits on the Marvel character Wolverine. The credits have always said that the character was created by writer Len Wein and artist John Romita, Sr.. That apparently has changed and a lot of folks are not happy about it. The whole controversy has been covered well by journalist Rob Salkowitz who writes for Forbes in this article and this article. But I'll quote from one to summarize here…
Last week, former Marvel editor Bobbie Chase broke the news on Facebook that Marvel had informed Christine Valada, the widow of original Wolverine writer and co-creator Len Wein, that Roy Thomas, Marvel's editor in chief at the time, was being added as a credited co-creator alongside Wein and John Romita Sr. on the hotly anticipated Deadpool & Wolverine feature film this summer. The report gained traction on social media, where numerous comics professionals chimed in on the unseemliness of Thomas, the last surviving member of the creative team, claiming a credit that is rarely if ever accorded to an editor.
I didn't chime in on this debate right away because I've been largely offline lately (both reading and writing) and because what I did see was others saying what I would have said — for instance, Mark Waid…
A rule in comics: Staff editors don't get to claim a co-creator credit on characters their writers and artists create for them. Throwing out suggestions and brainstorming is part of the editor's job. Change my mind.
I'm kidding. You'll never change my mind on this.
Or current Marvel editor Tom Brevoort writing about the role of editors in general…
Creators get the credit, editors get the blame. That is the compact of the job, and those who cannot abide by it do dishonor to our profession. Don Draper had the right of it: "That's what the money is for!"
Or former DC Comics editor, writer and president Paul Levitz…
That's always been a rule I believe in…Editors make small or very large contributions to the work, but the work, the credit, and the compensation for writers and artists shouldn't be diminished by it.
And there are plenty of others. I concur with Mark, Tom, Paul and the plenty of others. But I'd like to add this to the discussion…
The root problem here is that there are not, nor has there ever been, an agreed-upon rulebook as to how to assign creator credits for comic book properties. There are industry customs and a big one is that the writer of the first story and the pencil artist of the first story are the co-creators of the property. Or if one person did both, he or she is the creator. That custom was bent a little in the case of Wolverine by crediting John Romita (he designed the visual) instead of Herb Trimpe (he drew the first story). That might in this case have been a correct decision. I know it did not bother Herb.
But that original credit determination was made long ago when all the possible participants were still alive and able to object or at least speak for themselves. What has riled many about this new change in the credits is that it's being made way after the act of creation and after Wein, Romita, Trimpe and even Stan Lee (who might have had something to say about it) are deceased. Only Roy is still with us.
What do I think? As I said, I agree with the above quotes. I think Roy should get all the accolades he deserves for what he did contribute to the existence of a popular and valuable property. So should others who came along later and added to the mythos and popularity of that guy with the Adamantium claws. But co-creator credit? No. I also think I'm going to continue this in another article in a few days…and maybe another article after that. History does not have to be rewritten by the survivors.
TO READ THE NEXT PART IN THIS SERIES, CLICK HERE.