I have a tiny Len Wein story which is almost inconsequential, but it gets me to my eventual point. Years ago, I had created a comic book property called Dinosaurs For Hire that was published by Malibu Comics. It attracted some media attention and a couple of deals were put into place. One of those deals was an option by 20th Century Fox to turn my characters into an animated television series.

There was no way Fox was going to let me be involved in the project – I was at the time just a comic book writer, after all, who had merely created the characters – but they invited me down to attend a courtesy meeting with the writer assigned to the project.

So I headed down to the Fox studio one afternoon. Imagine my surprise when I walked into the conference room and was introduced to Mr. Wein.

He was the writer Fox had assigned to turn my comic book into a cartoon show. I instantly felt better – if the rules of the world prohibited my involvement, at least I felt my characters were in good hands with Len, the guy who created the new X-Men with Dave Cockrum and Swamp Thing with Bernie Wrightson and who had written (and edited) lots of my favorite comics. I had no complaints.

I listened attentively as executives asked their silly questions – Where do these characters sleep? Do they brush their teeth? Do we ever show their origin? I gave my thoughts, Len gave his, the meeting ended and Len was off to write the development bible.

Ultimately, the series based on Dinosaurs For Hire never went anywhere – these things rarely do, you know, but it was a fun, early window into how a comic book gets translated to another medium. Besides, all rights eventually reverted back to me where they reside to this day.

As most of you know by now, Len Wein’s house burned down recently and he lost a lot of his collection: comics, books, original art. You can read about that tragic event here. One of Len’s many friends, Mark Evanier, is spearheading the “Let’s Rebuild Len Wein’s Comic Book Collection” Project to help Len out. The specifics are on Mark’s blog. If you have some extra Len stuff laying around, pitch in and help with the rebuilding.

For those of you who want to show Len a little love in person, he’ll be appearing at Galaxy of Comics in Van Nuys, California on April 29th from 2-6pm.

For those interested in tracking Len, he has his own blog. He only posts about once a month or so and obviously hasn’t posted since the fire, but it’s a site worth bookmarking and coming back too. Also, you can read through his archives for some great stories about his days in comics.

(artwork: Cover to Swamp Thing #2 © DC Comics)