Comic Book Questions Answered – where I answer whatever questions you folks might have about comic books (feel free to e-mail questions to me at brianc@cbr.com).

Reader Matthew D. wrote in to ask, "Did Stan Lee ever write a Wolverine story? Or at least Wolverine in a story?"

One of the funny things late in his life was the fact that Stan Lee had become SO associated with Marvel Comics in general that it didn't matter if he had any connection to the character at hand or not, people would still act like he was. This is why there is so much Deadpool merchandise out there that is signed by Stan Lee. Lee, of course, did not mind, he would pretty much sign whatever people wanted him to sign. It didn't matter to him. But it is interesting when you think about the fact that Lee really did not have much direct involvement in stories written for Marvel Comics after the early 1970s. Except, of course, his legendary run on Ravage 2099 (he DID help introduce She-Hulk in the first issue of her ongoing series in 1979).

Lee, of course, DID write a number of stories over the years even after he was generally retired from the daily grind. However, none of those stories were Wolverine stories. So that's a "no" to the first part of Matthew's question (EDITED TO ADD: Well, a "no" for TRADITIONAL comics. Read on for more!)

As to the second part of the question, there actually ARE a couple of comic book stories written by Lee that involved the ol' Canucklehead, with one fitting a LOT more than the other.

EDITED TO ADD: Reader Greg correctly noted that Lee had Wolverine appear in the Spider-Man newspaper comic strip for a story arc...

Not a comic book, but certainly worth mentioning! Thanks, Greg!

Okay, on to comic books!

First off, in 1991, Stan Lee's name, at least, was on a comic strip drawn by John Romita that appeared in Marvel's comics in mid-1991. It is just Wolverine on a T-Shirt, but, well, hey, beggars can't be choosers!

In 1997, Marvel needed something to fill their schedule when a planned Steve Ditko return to Spider-Man did not work out. I wrote about it in an old Comic Book Legends Revealed, namely:

Glenn Greenberg (who helped create Untold Tales of Spider-Man with Tom Brevoort) told me about the story in the first place, but he then wanted to also note that the project was not going to be a series or anything like that. It was likely just going to be a one-shot or something along the lines. In fact, Greenberg noted to me that when the project fell apart, Marvel replaced the project on their docket with a reunion of Stan Lee and John Romita on a one-shot technically just called Kingpin, but the title of the comic on the cover was Spider-Man/Kingpin: To the Death...

That comic book (scripted by Tom DeFalco and inked by Dan Green) was the last Stan Lee/John Romita Spider-Man comic book that the two longtime collaborators worked on together.

In any event, the plot of the story involved Spider-Man being framed for murder, so a bunch of New York area superheroes (which is, effectively, ALL of them) try to capture Spidey...

Similarly, Wolverine appears in the Silver Surfer: The Enslavers graphic novel by Stan Lee and Keith Pollard (thanks to Fabio M. for catching that one)...

Also, Wolverine makes a cameo appearance at the end of The Last Fantastic Four Story by Stan Lee and John Romita Jr...

Not exactly a whole lot in these examples in terms of "writing" Wolverine, but, well, they are something!

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In the special charity comic book, Heroes for Hope, Stan Lee scripted the first four pages of the comic book. The first two were drawn by John Romita Jr. and AL Gordon and the next two were drawn by John Buscema and Klaus Janson. A bunch of other people plotted the story, but Lee DID script these first four pages and Wolverine appears in them prominently...

So there ya go, the extent of Stan Lee's involvement in writing Wolverine.

Thanks for the question, Matthew!

EDITED TO ADD: Reader Jackson wrote in to note that Stan Lee did write a special digital Wolverine comic story with Jason Latour that was included on the Blu-Ray for The Wolverine...

It has never been collected in print. Marvel should really get on that!

If anyone else has a question about comics, drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com!