Andy Olson - The Original Creator Of Marvel’s Wolverine?
- Thread starter Vivek
- Start date
Alan Cross
Sr Member
I don't see anything in his drawing that definitely resembles the iconic designs of Wolverine: The Claws. The twin-peaked swept back hair. The two pointed ears on the mask. The yellow costume, etc. The mechanical portion of the fan drawing looks like a robot body covered in human skin. Wolverine has a metal spine/skeleton. But he's not fully robotic under his skin. Then, of course, there is the name, Wolverine. I suppose you could make a case for Marvel stealing the name. Though in the scheme of things it's a fairly common animal name. And the Wolverine's temperament is well known. So I kind of shrug at this. Don't see enough of a match to cry foul. By the way, I had lunch with Len Wein years ago, just as the first X-Men movie was coming out. Super nice guy. Len Wein is officially credited with creating Wolverine (well, Len Wein, Roy Thomas, John Romita, and Herb Trimpe, probably all contributed in some way).
Jannix Quinn
Sr Member
I bet if you read the competition rules it would say something like 'all entries become the property of marvel' etc.
JLeezy23
Sr Member
Adds to Wolvie's whole "who am I? Where did I come from?" mythos HAHA! well Marvel used just about every animal as a superhero name, and a Wolverine character would eventually happen given its characteristics. Andy's sketch has a Captain America styled cowl, which the first Wolverine looked like. He says he doesnt remember anything else about the drawing and says it seemed to have a metal skeleton. If they actually did use his idea, all you can really do is say "oh well"
Those other classic traits of Wolverine were indeed the creation of Len Wein and John Romita, along with Herb Trimpe.
But Marvel rolling out a character named Wolverine mere six months after that contest seems more than a coincidence. It was Roy Thomas who insisted on the character's name and his origin, so the germ of his idea for the character was very likely inspired by this contest entry, along with the rough idea of the character having a metal skeleton though they didn't go with the whole body being robotic under the skin bit. The cowl design as JLeezy23 mentioned is another similarity.
These are no blatant creation rip-offs here, but it's just the nature of artistic creations in general, which are often partly inspired by other elements (consciously and subconsciously sometimes) leading to an somewhat original creation.
Marvel or any other company accepting to this will be asking for unnecessary trouble. It's probably why many companies don't accept product concept ideas and suggestions to avoid such future comparisons.
But Marvel rolling out a character named Wolverine mere six months after that contest seems more than a coincidence. It was Roy Thomas who insisted on the character's name and his origin, so the germ of his idea for the character was very likely inspired by this contest entry, along with the rough idea of the character having a metal skeleton though they didn't go with the whole body being robotic under the skin bit. The cowl design as JLeezy23 mentioned is another similarity.
These are no blatant creation rip-offs here, but it's just the nature of artistic creations in general, which are often partly inspired by other elements (consciously and subconsciously sometimes) leading to an somewhat original creation.
Marvel or any other company accepting to this will be asking for unnecessary trouble. It's probably why many companies don't accept product concept ideas and suggestions to avoid such future comparisons.
I recall as a kid, JC Penny's was sponsoring a Masters of the Universe contest. You could create a character, draw images and write up a bio of their powers, history, etc... They would be judged by Mattel and one winner would be picked to get that character made into a figure and they also got some type of prize package. I was stoked!!!
I sat down and created this cool snake head character that spit venum and wrote up a cool back story... But sadly I lost
Cut to a year later they released a bunch of new figures and low and behold, one was a snake guy who squirted water. Hmmmmm!!!
I suspected "all entries" became their property and despite only one winner.... Mattel walked away with hundreds of new ideas that legally they now owned.
I sat down and created this cool snake head character that spit venum and wrote up a cool back story... But sadly I lost
Cut to a year later they released a bunch of new figures and low and behold, one was a snake guy who squirted water. Hmmmmm!!!
I suspected "all entries" became their property and despite only one winner.... Mattel walked away with hundreds of new ideas that legally they now owned.
That's the one :lol
no, the guy with the suction cup face was Leech, the snake head guy was Khobra Khan I believe
He had an open mouth, I thought it might be a suction mouth.... But maybe not. It has been years.
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This is the figure:
I found a few more snake men they released, but this was the one that resembled the one I entered.
