“But What I Have, No One Can Buy.”- An Exclusive Interview With Andy Olsen, Creator of The First Wolverine

I believe without doubt that Andy Olsen is the smoking gun.

Andy Olsen may not agree with that and certainly doesn’t want me to speak for him. Nevertheless, Olsen is without doubt the undeniable proof that Roy Thomas did not create Wolverine in any significant size, shape, or form. And that’s a lot of pressure, maybe a lot of responsibility and I understand that the well-adjusted Mr. Olsen doesn’t ask or seek to have that responsibility. But I ask the rest of you to consider the case.

People know the story. Marvel’s FOOM #2, published in June 1973, contained the winning entries of a contest announced in the initial issue, inviting its readers to submit a character that would appear in a future issue of a Marvel comic book.

One of the entries would later become notable to a small percentage of comic buffs due to its name and apparent similar, if hinted, qualities with a later and more famous character that would share that name: The Wolverine. Created by the then-15 year old Andy Olsen.

Now do your best to mentally envision a website like The Hollywood Reporter or/and Variety with a variation on the following headline: How Marvel stole one of its biggest characters from a High School Student.

Roy Thomas has been on a campaign with his manager to rewrite history to steal credit away from the proper architect of the Wolverine fans are understandably more familiar with: Len Wein. An Editor, Thomas gave the assignment of creating and developing to the able Wein with the simple directive of that character being called “Wolverine” and secondly, being from Canada.

(A quick aside here: On the last article, I shared how a reader pointed out to me her incredulity that, in 1974 at least, wolverines were considered, as Thomas put it, “inherently Canadian” to people. “I’d have thought a Moose!“, she said. I shared it with Olsen before our interview, and he cracked me up with his response:

“I chuckled reading the lady’s reaction to “Canada”. When I heard that I remarked, “a very convenient alibi.” Quick. What’s the first animal that comes to mind when you hear CANADA? I’ll bet it ain’t a wolverine. Moose, bear, beavers… hey, ‘Beaverman!’ Dams for Justice!”

The character chosen was ‘Humus Sapiens‘, by an affable guy named Michael. His story has been told so I won’t cover it now, though it does occur to me that, just possibly, Marvel never intended to use Sapiens and published this article covering that character’s victory to hide their true intentions to obtain new concepts to develop and own- this time from a largely teenaged fanbase. Wouldn’t be shocking.

My point is this: all Thomas could reasonably take credit for was giving Len Wein the name “Wolverine”.

Andy Olsen’s submission is inescapable proof that Thomas got the name from him.

There can be no doubt; Thomas may claim not to remember- but he is credited in the article excerpted above as having plans and development for the “Humus Sapiens” character and is credited as a contributing Editor to the magazine. How could he NOT know?

I’m not speaking for Andy Olsen whom I believe does not share my outlook, for the record. I found Andy to be witty and engaging, with no illusions about the reality of things and with no expectations. In short, he was the exact opposite of how Roy Thomas acts. That’s just my take. I appreciated our conversation and I believe now, more than ever, any person that cares about the medium and artform of comic book storytelling, who cares about artists and their contributions, needs to speak up and shout out for Andy Olsen.

Andy Olsen is the smoking gun that completely deflates Thomas’s claims of co-creator and “having the initial idea” before handing it off to Wein. What happened in actuality is that Thomas, a habitual borrower of other creators’ concepts and names, simply took what Olsen handed in, and told Wein, unaware of a fan submission, to run wild.

But enough of my prattling on. Here’s the interview with Andy.

This is the first question Andy and I hope you’ll forgive me for getting right into it- but, in our initial talks, I got the impression that you do have something to get out, some things in your system that you might want to share, or ‘rant’ about. Do you want to start with getting anything off your chest at the outset?

“Well, I just want to start off with I am not accusing anyone of anything. Everyone wants to find the bad guy, yelling and gnashing of teeth to get their pound of flesh.
I feel that is counterproductive especially since this involves large corporations with
deep pockets without souls. Hindsight makes me feel I should have pursued this earlier before the statute of limitations expired, but there it is.”

The recent announcement of Marvel’s decision to award Roy Thomas official co-creator credit on Wolverine has several people in the comics industry and fandom alike concerned. It’s generally established that Thomas gave the name and country of origin to Len Wein and directed him to create a character; Thomas was also the contributing Editor of FOOM and was “developing” the winning contest entry so there’s no doubt he say your character. What are your initial feelings or reaction to this?

“I have never met either of these guys and have no negative feelings. In all fairness the artists and writers have developed the character in creative ways I couldn’t imagine. Your fact finding of Thomas is quite interesting since he’s on record stating he has never seen anything by or heard of me. No negative feelings at all to you sorry assed m*****f*****s….”

As we’re now 50 years removed from the initial debut of Wolverine in Marvel Comics, how do you view your submission to FOOM’s contest as an idealistic, imaginative high school student? And to clarify, your illustration is establishing that your Wolverine is having some sort of skeletal procedure, right?

“Back then I was thrilled I got honorable mention. It meant I was actually recognized
and my work rose above many others who probably worked as hard as I did… I had no idea how many entered but to have Stan(?) give me a nod of approval was awesome. The metal skeleton just seemed a way to take a different direction on invulnerability… it was so long ago I really can’t recall the details.”

I know you’ve gone over this back in 2014 but, for the sake of today’s audience would you again describe- in any form of length you’d like- your ideas/concept of your Wolverine and how you created him?

“I started off with a theme or name and worked from there- I think. Usually, superheroes have a name describing their power or “handle”… I racked my brain for some time over that, until I remembered watching about the animal from a TV show. ‘Marlin Perkin’s Wild Kingdom‘- it was the Sixties and kid shows were on during the daytime.

Marlin (now THAT was a cool name) was then the director of the San Diego Zoo and hosted a kid’s nature show. He would showcase videos of animals and lands from around the world… one episode was on Canada or Northern America- he showed a short clip of a small, stout, furry animal that had a mean set of claws and teeth with a very short temper. Large animals like Grizzly left them alone. I somehow remembered that show when thinking up the character… Canada wasn’t part of it, just the name Wolverine. It sounded so unique and cool. I really didn’t do too much research on it (encyclopedias- so archaic), other than working the animal’s markings into the outfit.

The thought of claws as a superpower didn’t enter because I was always taught from a young age scratching was a ‘girl’s’ (sissy’s) way of fighting.

Today’s Wolverine uses ‘alimantium (whatever) claws’ as some sort of ghastly stabbing dagger to kill, which the animal doesn’t.”

You didn’t allow Marvel’s theft to deter you from a career as a professional illustrator. Have you ever created other characters outside of Wolverine (and Krypt) over the years? (I’m gonna assume you’ve been understandably hesitant to share them if so.)

“Confucius: ‘Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your
life.‘ It’s what I’m hardwired to do. I’ve done lots of other jobs from management to
grunt -but doing the commercial art thing brings me the most satisfaction and self
esteem. That said, I discourage others to avoid it because it has morphed into a
largely unappreciated, overly competitive, low paying occupation.

The technology that aided us is nowadays powered to render us obsolete. The work will be done as cheap as possible by those who don’t know or care about the creative process, sold to others who unknowingly feel the same.

Yes, it sounds bitter, the rules of the game have changed and is quietly rewritten by the lowest common denominator.

I created for a large Surf shop in the southeast a marketing character called ‘Surf
Cruiser’ a cartoon shark surfer. He existed on billboards and t-shirts in the closing
decades of the last century. Made a boatload of money for them and a few bucks for me… Fun facts: Surfboards with the ‘Surf Cruiser’ image hung inside Walt Disney’s Pleasure Island for some time before taken down. (Thou shalt not have non-Disney IP on hallowed grounds) also -Some idiot actually had it tattooed on his back… good times.”

What’s the main thing you’d like people to know or consider about what happened to you?

“Personally, I don’t give a flying— what anyone thinks. I’m doing OK.
I’ve managed to accomplish some remarkable things and if it wasn’t for the current
interest of my little-known footnote in the Marvel Universe, I would have simply carried on and chocked it up to just another life-lesson.”

If you could say anything to Roy Thomas or even to Marvel Comics, what would you say to them?

“I’d say, Roy, I have no hard feelings toward you. I know what it’s like to make a living in a production environment – and make no mistake, publishing on a schedule is a heartless treadmill. You become ethically desensitized trying to maintain the schedule, meet deadlines, and a steady paycheck. I’ll bet dollars to donuts, my entry along with others wound up in a “morgue file”.

For those who don’t know- it used to be an old file cabinet stuffed with drawings, photos, clippings, notes, odds ‘n ends sort of organized for idea farming. What is called ‘Google’ today.

When Roy got the assignment, I doubt divine inspiration came from above. He likely thought – “Christ, I gotta get this thing out by Xxx, wtf am I gonna do here??”
Enter the dusty world of the morgue file, and leaf through until something clicks.
That click was courtesy of yours truly.

History was made. Glad it worked out for ya. Marvel isn’t a person. It’s a bunch of some creative, others not- employees, managers, officers and lawyers. Propping up a brand with: you guessed it: Production.“

How can people get in touch with Andy Olsen today? Would you consider doing commissions of YOUR Wolverine? There’s history there and an established market for commissioned art amongst collectors.

“As mentioned before Marvel is made up with Lawyers. I would have to get counsel
guidance to be comfortable with doing something like that. That also said, I’ve a long history of freelance and never liked leaving money on the table. Although I have a portfolio site, I prefer to leave it to the audience intended, interested employers, not webslingers, scammers, and the obligatory trolls. Being of Norwegian descent, I know trolls.”

Not to be too forward with this question (which just occurred to me as I was
typing it)- but would you consider pursuing your case in modern times if there
was some kind of groundswell of public support via GoFundMe or KickStarter?

“Fascinating thought. But I had talked to some intellectual property attorneys and
although they thought there was definitely smoke, the time had long passed on pursuit. I have little to no money, time or energy to directly spend on this.”

Did you ever follow what happened to Jack Kirby and his fight for creator credit and the return of his original art in the Eighties or did you swear off Marvel completely in the years following the FOOM contest?

“Yes, I heard about Kirby and if a company could crap all over the one man who put
them on the map, it brought a chill to think of what they’d do to a shrimp like me.
How much Lee had to do with it all is unclear, but from what I know he didn’t try to stop the crapping. Remember Stan Lee was a PUBLI$HER. Not your kindhearted uncle, a starry-eyed creative writer, artist, inker or anything else. His world was about image, branding, keeping presses running and making profit from it all. If you got in the way, he ran over you without a thought. Welcome to New York, baby.”

Art seems extremely important in your life in spite of all that’s happened; is there anything about art you’d like to express or expound upon?

“Well, in spite of my snarky remarks, I feel I accomplished what I set out to do back then even naively, entering the FOOM contest. Officially, I didn’t win. Some other guy did and faded off. But in a sense, I won. My character is alive and entertaining millions. All from a 15-year-old dweeb kid who loved what he thought was Marvel and wanted a small place in that universe.

Yeah, I ain’t making $$$ off it, but what I have, no one can buy.”

(The above photo caption prompted this brief delay to this article’s conclusion: I don’t think it’s too far-fetched to consider that the two entries I mentioned above could very well have been later developed into the Marvel properties shown here… just sayin‘.)

I thank Andy Olsen for being open and trusting enough to speak with me; it certainly isn’t my intent to use him as a device in the ongoing struggle to stop Marvel Editors from stealing credit and blatantly lying, but- more to illustrate that, even a NAME can be stolen and used to inflate and enrich someone else’s narrative. Thomas has been coasting on the claim that he gave Wein that name- the documented evidence proves that not to be the case.

June 1973 to November 1974 is quite a bit of time.

Please don’t hesitate to comment below if you have any messages for Andy; again, I don’t want to speak for him, but he did give me the strong impression that he believes no one really cares about what happened to him. I also really do believe collectors would commission him to illustrate something for him- imagine the historic potential alone. Basically, this is a big story. Andy Olsen is a humble man. Not for Four Color Sinners, but for him, please share this article. Thank you.

With thanks yet again to Andy Olsen and also every other dreamer, artist, and creative person that puts their talent into the world because they have something inside of them that needs to be expressed.