Thursday, January 4, 2007

Where It's Due...

I was doing a little casual websurfing earlier today and, thanks to the fabulous folks over at http://weblogs.variety.com/bags_and_boards, I discovered something wonderful.

Got a copy of the DVD version of "X-Men: The Last Stand" handy? Oh, of course you do. You know you do. We both know what your DVD collection looks like. Go get it. I'll wait.

"...Strangers in the night, exchanging glances, wond'ring in the night, what were the chances..."

Oh, good. You're back.

Okay, now turn the box over and check out the credits on the back. Look carefully. There's some bad dot break-up and an unfortunate lack of color contrast. See it? Look again. Hold the box up to the light and read the final credits across the bottom line.

Yeah. I know. I couldn't believe it either. The line reads "Wolverine character developed by Len Wein & Herb Trimpe - Storm and Colossus characters developed by Len Wein & Dave Cockrum"

For the first time, after two animated series and three major motion pictures, we've finally gotten a little credit. Now, that still doesn't put our names on those projects proper, and it definitely hasn't put a penny in our pockets, but it's a start.

What is it the Chinese say? "The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step."

Today I'm walking on air.

6 comments:

M. C. Valada said...

O.K. So I didn't dream that you came into the bedroom at 2 a.m. to wake and tell me this. I only hope that Dave and Paty saw it before he passed away.

Diane said...

(Kermit mode)Yayyyyyyy!(end Kermit mode)

Anonymous said...

That's great, Len! It's about time!

Anonymous said...

Ah, Hollywood. They'd take credit for creating the Universe if it made them any money. Glad you got a mention!

Gail Simone said...

Just wanted to say hello to one of the best writers the industry has ever had.

You are the ROCK, Len!

Gail

Anonymous said...

It has to be said...

Herb Trimpe did not develop Wolverine. Wolverine was co-created by Len Wein and John Romita, Sr.. Herb did draw Wolverine's first appearance, but even Herb tells people that he had nothing to do with Wolverine's creation, and he should know.

Plus... it was Dave Cockrum who designed what Logan looked like, and it's his Logan design which is used in the movies, not John, Sr.'s "cat suit." That doesn't take anything away from what John, Sr. did, it just states the facts.

I hate to write what could be perceived as a negative comment here when this is a big step forward, but facts do matter. Not saying that Mr. Wein doesn't know what happened (because he does), or that he was trying to give credit where credit wasn't due. He was just quoting the box. If only the box knew what it was talking about, we wouldn't have to start all over again where Wolverine's credits are concerned.