In 1974 Wein and Wolfman moved to Marvel Comics as proteges of then-editor Roy Thomas. When Thomas stepped down Wein and Wolfman took over as editors (Len initially in charge of the colour comics, Marv the B&W ones), before they too stepped down in 1976, while staying on as writer/editors.

During his time at Marvel Wolfman wrote memorable runs on Amazing Spider-Man, Fantastic Four and Dr Strange, and co-created the interesting "teen hero" title Nova, which tried to recapture the sense of fun and wonder of the early Stan Lee/Jack Kirby years.

His finest writing, however, was done for Tomb of Dracula, a run-of-the-mill horror comic which Wolfman turned into a rich, complex piece of high gothic. Taking Bram Stoker's basic story, Wolfman created his own vampire mythology and a slew of new characters, including Blade, the vampire hunter. It's hard not to wonder if Joss Whedon -- a self-acknowledged comics nut -- had Tomb of Dracula in the back of his mind when, years later, he created his own Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

On Tomb of Dracula Wolfman's writing was perfectly matched by the moody shade-and-light pencilling of Gene Colan.

In 1980 Wolfman moved back to DC after a dispute with new Marvel editor-in-chief Jim Shooter. Teaming up with penciller George Perez, he proposed a relaunch of DC's band of twice-cancelled teenage sidekicks: the Teen Titans.

The New Teen Titans, which added Wolfman/Perez creations Raven, Starfire and Cyborg to the old team's Robin, Wonder Girl, Kid Flash and Beast Boy (renamed Changeling), became DC's first bona fide hit in years, and its first serious competitor to Marvel since the late 1960s. Its success sparked a new creativity at DC, under managing editor Dick Giordano, which would eventually see revamps for all of its major characters: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash, and the Justice League.

The Titans deserved its success. Mixing cosmic adventures with subtle characterisation and taking full advantage of the rich tapestry of DC history, Wolfman and Perez created a title as influential at DC as X-Men had been at Marvel. Raven -- a sexually repressed helf-demon struggling (ironically for an empath) to purge herself of emotions -- is one of the company's most interesting female characters. Dick Grayson also received a revamp at Wolfman and Perez's hands, becoming the more adult Nightwing.

During the early 1980s Wolfman also collaborated with artist Gil Kane on a fine run on Superman, and rejoined Colan (who had also moved to DC) on the interesting but short-lived Night Force.

In 1985 he and Perez launched Crisis on Infinite Earths, a 12-issue miniseries (its title a nod to Gardner Fox's annual JLA/JSA team-ups) that wreaked major changes on the DC universe. Featuring literally a cast of thousands and a timeline that ranged from the beginning of the universe to the end of time,it killed scores of characters, added a number of heroes from other companies -- including Charlton Comics' Blue Beetle, Question and Captain Atom -- to DC continuity, and effectively simplified 50 years of history to start over again. It remains one of the very greatest superhero stories ever.

Perez left the Titans in 1986 to launch his own revamped Wonder Woman. Wolfman continued with other collaborators -- including pencillers Jose Luis Garcia Lopez, Eduardo Barreto and Tom Grummett -- but certainly at least some of the magic was gone.

Like Chris Claremont on X-Men, Wolfman probably stayed on Titans a little too long. There were some interesting storylines, in particular the lengthy Titans Hunt and the "Dark Raven" saga, and several spin-offs, including Team Titans and Deathstroke The Terminator. Increasingly, however, Wolfman was doing better writing on other titles (such as a fine run of Batman stories), and New Titans (as it was by then known) was eventually cancelled in January 1996 with issue 130. (In the finest DC tradition, it has since been relaunched -- twice, in fact -- and is undergoing a renaissance under writer Geoff Johns.)

Since then Wolfman's writing for comics has decreased as he has turned to other areas -- in particular, writing for animation and TV. His mid 1990s comics series The Man Called A-X was an interesting take on the idea of cyborgs and what it means to be human, and deserved a longer run than it received.

Wolfman's major publicity in recent years has come from a celebrated lawsuit with Marvel Comics seeking ownership of Blade, by then the subject of two highly successful movies. The judge eventually ruled in favour of Marvel.

At its best Wolfman's comics writing combines a sense of high adventure with skillful characterisation. When one thinks of a Wolfman comic, one thinks of the characters first and foremost: the elegant, strangely moral Dracula; Raven, fighting her own nature; billionaire businessman Lex Luthor, tortured by the idea that one person -- Superman -- cannot be corrupted by his influence. At the very least, he is one of the most influential superhero comics writers of the last 30 years.