Paul Levitz

Levitz was raised in Brooklyn, New York.[2] during which time he revived the defunct comic news fanzine, The Comic Reader, which according to Levitz, was the first regularly published comics industry news fanzine. Under Levitz's editorship The Comic Reader won two Best Fanzine Comic Art Fan Awards.[3] One of Levitz's teachers, Frank McCourt,[4] was impressed enough with Levitz's work that he arranged for Levitz to appear on McCourt's brother's radio show.[5]

During the course of his research for The Comic Reader, Levitz became well known at the offices of DC Comics, where in December 1972, editor Joe Orlando gave him his first freelance work, initially writing text pages and letter pages, and later working as a per diem assistant editor before writing stories. Levitz later studied business at New York University but had taken no formal education in writing, other than a journalism course. He dropped out after three years in order to concentrate on his writing career.[5]

Levitz at a May 22, 2010, signing for Legion of Superheroes vol. 6 #1 at Midtown Comics Times Square in Manhattan

After serving as Joe Orlando's assistant editor, in 1976 Levitz "fulfilled a lifelong dream" by becoming the editor of Adventure Comics on the eve of his 20th birthday.[6] In 1978, he succeeded Julius Schwartz as the editor of the Batman line of comics.[7]

As a writer, Levitz is best known for his work on the title The Legion of Super-Heroes, which he wrote from 1977–1979 and 1981–1989. Levitz wrote All-New Collectors' Edition #C-55 (1978), a treasury-sized special drawn by Mike Grell, in which longtime Legion members Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad were married.[8][9] Levitz and artists James Sherman and Joe Staton crafted "Earthwar" a five-issue storyline in Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #241–245 (July–Nov. 1978).[10] He and Keith Giffen produced "The Great Darkness Saga", one of the best known Legion stories, in Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 2, #290–294.[11] Comics historian Les Daniels observed that "Working with artist Keith Giffen, Levitz completed the transformation of Legion into a science-fiction saga of considerable scope and depth."[12] In August 1984, a new Legion of Super-Heroes series was launched by Levitz and Giffen.[13]

With artist Steve Ditko, Levitz co-created the characters Stalker[14] and the Prince Gavyn version of Starman.[15] He wrote the Justice Society series in All Star Comics during the late 1970s and co-created the Earth-2 Huntress with artist Joe Staton.[16] He and Staton provided the JSA with an origin story in DC Special #29.[17] Lucien the Librarian, a character later used in Neil Gaiman's The Sandman series, was created by Levitz and artist Nestor Redondo. Levitz was one of the contributors to the DC Challenge limited series in 1986.[18]

Levitz eventually became an editor, and served as vice president and executive vice president, before assuming the role of president in 2002. In 2006, Levitz returned to writing the Justice Society with issue #82 of JSA, completing that volume before writer Geoff Johns' relaunch.

On September 9, 2009, it was announced that Levitz would step down as president and publisher of DC Comics to serve as the Contributing Editor and Overall Consultant for the newly formed DC Entertainment,[19] and become the writer of both Adventure Comics vol. 2[20] and Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 6.[21]

Levitz mentioned in an August 2010 interview that he was working on "my first genuine book."[22] His 75 Years of DC Comics: The Art of Modern Mythmaking (ISBN 9783836519816) was published by Taschen America, LLC, in November 2010.[23]

In addition to Legion of Super-Heroes, Levitz wrote the Worlds' Finest series, which was initially drawn by George Pérez and Kevin Maguire.[24] Levitz and Keith Giffen collaborated on the Legion of Super-Heroes issues #17 and 18 in 2013.[25][26] In 2015, Levitz wrote Will Eisner: Champion of the Graphic Novel, an oversized, illustrated biography/art book on Eisner’s work for Abrams ComicArts. The book would garner Levitz a nomination in the 2016 Eisner Awards for “Best Comics-Related Book.” [27][28] He joined the board of directors of Boom! Studios in February 2014.[29] He wrote a new five-page story titled "The Game", which was drawn by Neal Adams, for the Action Comics: 80 Years of Superman hardcover collection.[30]

In 2004, Levitz joined the board of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, a non-profit organization founded in 1986 chartered to protect the First Amendment rights of the comics community.[31] He retired from the board in 2020.[32]

The Library of Congress hosting a discussion with Dan Jurgens and Levitz for Superman's 80th anniversary and the 1,000th issue of Action Comics.

On December 31, 2020, Levitz announced his retirement from DC via a posting on Facebook, saying it's “the end of an era for me personally, as I go off the payroll of Warner/DC after so many decades: over 47 years on 'staff', 36 of them on employment contracts.”[33]

Levitz received an Inkpot Award at the San Diego Comic-Con in 2002,[34] the Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award at the San Diego Comic-Con in 2008,[35] and the "Dick Giordano Hero Initiative Humanitarian of the Year Award" in September 2013 at the Baltimore Comic-Con.[36] He was inducted into The Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame in 2019 at the San Diego Comic-Con.[37]

Levitz has three children: Nicole, a public health executive; Philip, a lawyer; and Garret, who works in the entertainment industry.[38]

Levitz has named the run of All-Star Comics featuring the Justice Society of America as his favorite. He names Roger Zelazny as his favorite science fiction writer, J. R. R. Tolkien as his favorite fantasy writer, David McCullough as his favorite history writer and Agatha Christie as his favorite mystery writer.[22]

• Shoot (Hellblazer)— completed by Warren Ellis et al as the 141st issue of John Constantine, Hellblazer in 1999, Paul Levitz canceled "Shoot" before publication due to the theme of attacking the root cultural and societal causes of school shootings. It was finally released in 2010, after many more school shootings, to enormous critical praise and condemnation of Levitz's timidity. The editorial interference resulted in Ellis' resignation as series writer, aborting a critically acclaimed run on the comic. (See full Wikipedia article linked above for details.)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Paul Levitz.

• "DC Profiles #13: Paul Levitz" at the Grand Comics Database
• Rik Offenberger (August 20, 2003). "Paul Levitz: Living In An Amazing World". First Comics News.
• Paul Levitz at the Grand Comics Database
• Paul Levitz at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)
• Paul Levitz at Mike's Amazing World of Comics
• Paul Levitz at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database