It really is blown out of proportion. But it became comic book internet culture. It's always "Ow, creepy guy, look at how he looks. Wolfman self insert."
He was not really doing anything wrong tho. And if you compare the way he acted with Donna with what Gar and Roy where doing at the time, he was a gentlemen.
But he became much horrible as the years went on, alongise the writing on the book.