In some truly sad news, the legendary Len Wein has passed away at the age of 69.

Where the world of comic books and modern pop culture is concerned, Wein was a bona fide legend of his craft – as highlighted by his 2008 induction in to the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame – with him most notably co-creating Wolverine and Swamp Thing in addition to editing Watchmen.

With his first professional foray in to the comic book industry taking place way back in 1968 with Teen Titans #18, Wein would soon go on to mark himself out as one of the hottest names in the business. Over the subsequent decades, his work took in characters such as Spider-Man, Thor, Hulk, Daredevil, and the Fantastic Four, not to mention teaming with Dave Cockrum to bring new life to the X-Men in 1975 by creating characters such as Storm, Colossus and Nightcrawler. And after his relationship with Marvel hit some problems as the 1970s came to a close, Wein would head on over to DC Comics to lend his hand to Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Blue Beetle, and the Teen Titans. Elsewhere, the ‘90s would see him serve as a writer and consultant on Batman: The Animated Series and FOX’s X-Men and Spider-Man: The Animated Series in addition to his plentiful comic book output.

Back in early 2015, Len underwent successful quintuple bypass heart surgery, and the past few months had seen him undergo a number of other further surgeries – the most recent of which took place only a matter of days ago.

In Len Wein, the comic book world has lost an undoubted legend of the field, a genuine master of his craft, a member of comic book royalty, and somebody who raised the bar when it came to true excellence.

The thoughts of all here at STARBURST go out to the family, friends and fans of Len Wein. Rest in peace, sir.