In 1969, DC prepared an issue of their comic House of Secrets. “Stories calm me,” says one character, breaking the fourth wall to introduce one story from the issue. “Let me tell you a story. It was told to me long ago by a wandering wolfman … “
The censors jumped on that line. The comic couldn’t say that. The Code strictly forbade references to werewolves, for reasons that made sense to them at the time. But editor Gerry Conway had a trump card: The following story (“The Stuff That Dreams Were Made Of”) was by a guy actually named Wolfman, DC writer Marv Wolfman. And oh yeah, comic dialog is all in caps, so “WOLFMAN” can mean either “wolfman” or “Wolfman.”
To complete the gag, the next page had to say “Script: Marv Wolfman.” That was something DC at the time never did with these comic books, whose writers normally went uncredited. After this, though, every writer wanted their name on their stories, so DC began crediting them all.
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For more on Marv Wolfman’s long comic career, check out:
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Top image: DC