702 WOLVERTON, BASIL
Robin from Batman’s sidekick to the independent hero, Nightwing. Wolfman also
reunited with his Tomb of Dracula collaborator Gene Colan on another supernatural
title, the short-lived Night Force. In 1985, Wolfman and Pérez created Crisis on Infi -
nite Earths , a year-long crossover that combined DC’s multiple universes into a single
one with a single continuity. During the Crisis , several long-running characters died,
including Th e Flash and Supergirl. Following the series, most DC heroes underwent
a revamp; Wolfman joined writer/artist John Byrne in the revamp of Superman , and
Wolfman in particular revised the villain Lex Luthor from an evil scientist to a ruthless
corporate executive. While continuing to write New Teen Titans for more than 10 years,
Wolfman also wrote Batman , where he introduced the character Tim Drake as the new
Robin after the death of Robin II, Jason Todd.
Wolfman’s writing on New Teen Titans combined soap-opera-style continuity and
detailed characterization with superhero action, wherein some subplots would last for a
year or more. For example, the storyline that involved new team member Terra betray-
ing the Titans to the villain Deathstroke, the Terminator, ran for more than 18 issues.
Th is kind of long-range plotting became a hallmark of Wolfman’s style. In addition,
after the success of Crisis on Infi nite Earths , he became known for his ability to write
large-scale “event” comics that involved many characters and plotlines.
With the end of his writing on Th e New Teen Titans in 1995, Wolfman’s comic work
decreased signifi cantly while he pursued a career in television and animation. In 1998,
he sued Marvel Comics over the ownership of the Blade and Deacon Frost characters,
which had recently been featured in a successful fi lm from New Line Cinema, but a
judge issued a ruling in favor of Marvel in 2000. He returned to comics again in 2006,
writing Nightwing and a revival of Vigilante (a version of which he created in New Teen
Titans ) for DC.
Andrew J. Kunka
WOLVERTON, BASIL (1909–78). Basil Wolverton is most widely known as an illustra-
tor for the early issues of EC Comics’ MAD , covers for DC Comics’ horror -humor
anthology title PLOP! , and his character for Timely (later Marvel ) Comics, Powerhouse
Pepper. Among Wolverton’s most popular images were his bizarre, distorted caricatures
of the human fi gure, although his total body of work included science fi ction , horror,
and humor.
Wolverton illustrated the Powerhouse Pepper series for Timely comics from 1942 to
1947, as a popular backup feature in various titles from Timely, including Joker , Gay ,
and Tessie the Typist. Th e character also briefl y had his own title, spanning fi ve issues
in 1948. Th e series was acclaimed for its humorous similarities to E. C. Segar’s Popeye
the Sailor. Powerhouse Pepper was eventually compiled and reprinted in a single volume
from Fantagraphics Books in 1997. Wolverton’s numerous other humor, science fi ction
and horror stories appeared from a number of publishers from 1938 to 1954, spanning,
as some have estimated, over 1,300 pages. Some of these stories have been reprinted
in Basil Wolverton in Space ( Dark Horse Comics , 1997), Basil Wolverton’s Gateway to
