Photograph of Paul Levitz.
Paul Levitz

Overview

Paul Levitz (born 21 October 1956) is an American comic book writer, editor and executive. Currently the President of DC Comics, the oldest comics company in the United States, he has previously served as a writer, editor, vice president, and executive vice president at DC.

Levitz was born in Brooklyn, New York to Hannah and Alfred Levitz. He attended Stuyvesant High School during which time he co-wrote and published a popular comic fan magazine, "The Comic Reader." He later enrolled at New York University but left before graduating to work full time at DC Comics, where he had begun working during high school.

Since the mid-1970s, Levitz has been an integral part of DC. Along with publisher Jenette Kahn and managing editor Dick Giordano, he was responsible for hiring such writers as Marv Wolfman, John Byrne and Alan Moore, artists such as George Perez and Keith Giffen, and editor Karen Berger, who contributed to the 1980s revitalization of the company's entire line of comic book heroes.

Levitz has also worked as an editor, most notably on the Batman line of comics. As a writer he is best-known for his work on the title The Legion of Super-Heroes, which he wrote off and on from 1974 until 1989. Of particular note are his collaborations with artists Michael Netzer (Nasser), James Sherman and Keith Giffen. He also wrote the Justice Society series in All Star Comics during the late 70's after Gerry Conway left the book. He was the co-creator of the Earth-2 Huntress with artist Joe Staton and of Lucien the Librarian with artist Nestor Redondo. Levitz recently returned to writing the JSA with issue #82 of JSA.

While he has sometimes provoked controversy — for example, limiting - through censorship - the instances of direct reference to homosexuality in the title The Authority spawned a public fight with its then writer, Mark Millar — Levitz's reign at DC helped the company weather steeply declining sales for superhero comics in the late 1990s. Levitz was also instrumental in the push towards graphic novels and trade paperback collections, which could be sold in bookstores and have a longer shelf life than the traditional monthly pamphlet format.

Levitz married Jeanette Cusimano in 1980 and has three children, Nicole, Philip, and Garret. One of the characters he introduced to the Legion in his second run on the book, GiGi Cusimano, was named after his wife. He currently resides in Chappaqua, New York.

References

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This biography says:

...Since the mid-1970s, Levitz has been an integral part of DC. Along with publisher Jenette Kahn and managing editor Dick Giordano, he was responsible for hiring such writers as Marv Wolfman, John Byrne and Alan Moore, artists such as George Perez and Keith Giffen, and editor Karen Berger, who contributed to the 1980s revitalization of the company's entire line of comic book heroes...

That biography says:

...Initially the editor of the Batman titles, Giordano was named the company's new managing editor in 1981. With Kahn and Paul Levitz, Giordano helped relaunch such major characters as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, the Justice League of America, and the Teen Titans...

This biography says:

...While he has sometimes provoked controversy — for example, limiting - through censorship - the instances of direct reference to homosexuality in the title The Authority spawned a public fight with its then writer, Mark Millar — Levitz's reign at DC helped the company weather steeply declining sales for superhero comics in the late 1990s...

That biography says:

...The title was a success for Millar and Wildstorm but suffered from self-censorship from DC, which caused friction between Millar and Warner Bros, especially DC publisher Paul Levitz. After the events of 9/11, DC became more sensitive to violence and scenes of destruction in titles such as The Authority...

This biography says:

...Of particular note are his collaborations with artists Michael Netzer (Nasser), James Sherman and Keith Giffen. He also wrote the Justice Society series in All Star Comics during the late 70's after Gerry Conway left the book. He was the co-creator of the Earth-2 Huntress with artist Joe Staton and of Lucien the Librarian with artist Nestor Redondo...

This biography says:

...Along with publisher Jenette Kahn and managing editor Dick Giordano, he was responsible for hiring such writers as Marv Wolfman, John Byrne and Alan Moore, artists such as George Perez and Keith Giffen, and editor Karen Berger, who contributed to the 1980s revitalization of the company's entire line of comic book heroes...

This biography says:

...Since the mid-1970s, Levitz has been an integral part of DC. Along with publisher Jenette Kahn and managing editor Dick Giordano, he was responsible for hiring such writers as Marv Wolfman, John Byrne and Alan Moore, artists such as George Perez and Keith Giffen, and editor Karen Berger, who contributed to the 1980s revitalization of the company's entire line of comic book heroes...

That biography says:

...Kahn was the driving creative force behind the growth of a comic book imprint into the multi-billion dollar home of some of the most recognized iconic characters in the world, including Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman (although all of which had been DC properties for at least 35 years prior to her association with the company). Along with editor and executive vice president Paul Levitz and managing editor Dick Giordano, she was responsible for the 1970s and 1980s revitalization of the company's entire line of heroes, including the introduction of Dollar Comics publications...

This biography says:

...Along with publisher Jenette Kahn and managing editor Dick Giordano, he was responsible for hiring such writers as Marv Wolfman, John Byrne and Alan Moore, artists such as George Perez and Keith Giffen, and editor Karen Berger, who contributed to the 1980s revitalization of the company's entire line of comic book heroes...

This biography says:

...Along with publisher Jenette Kahn and managing editor Dick Giordano, he was responsible for hiring such writers as Marv Wolfman, John Byrne and Alan Moore, artists such as George Perez and Keith Giffen, and editor Karen Berger, who contributed to the 1980s revitalization of the company's entire line of comic book heroes...

That biography says:

...DC would always fill his time with a backup story or something else in the case of a script delay, so Don never would stop drawing. When this did not happen at Marvel, Newton panicked. Don contacted Paul Levitz at DC and re-upped his contract with them....

That biography says:

...The two writers were enthusiastic about their ideas, which included a fight between Batman and Marvel villain Bullseye as well as another between Catwoman and Elektra. DC editors Matt Idelson and Bob Schreck were also enthusiastic, but DC executive editor Paul Levitz objected to the project due to a prior disagreement with Marvel editor-in-chief Joe Quesada...

That biography says:

...The title was a huge success and was followed by a second six issue series followed which again proved successful but issue five was recalled by Paul Levitz due to a real advert for a Victorian "Marvel Douche" due to him not wishing to offend Marvel Comics...

That biography says:

...His father finished the work with the help of 25 other writers and artists, all of whom were friends of Sam, including Art Adams, Joe Casey, John Cassaday, Joyce Chin, Ian Churchill, Allan Heinberg, Geoff Johns, Joe Kelly, Mike Kunkel, Jim Lee, Pat Lee, Rob Liefeld, Paul Levitz, Joe Madureira, Jeff Matsuda, Ed McGuinness, Brad Meltzer, Carlos Pacheco, Duncan Rouleau, Tim Sale, Richard Starkings, Michael Turner, Brian K...

This biography says:

...Along with publisher Jenette Kahn and managing editor Dick Giordano, he was responsible for hiring such writers as Marv Wolfman, John Byrne and Alan Moore, artists such as George Perez and Keith Giffen, and editor Karen Berger, who contributed to the 1980s revitalization of the company's entire line of comic book heroes...

That biography says:

...However, various incidents continued to irritate Moore: for example, in League of Extraordinary Gentlemen #5, an authentic vintage advertisement for a "Marvel"-brand douche caused DC executive Paul Levitz to order the entire print run destroyed and reprinted without the advertisement. A Cobweb story Moore wrote for Tomorrow Stories #8 featuring references to L...

That biography says:

...Shade was later revived, without Ditko's involvement, in the DC's mature-audience imprint Vertigo Comics. With Paul Levitz (writer) and Wally Wood (inker), he co-created Stalker (1975-76) which ran for four issues...

That biography says:

Paul Kupperberg is a former editor for DC Comics, and a prolific writer of comic books and newspaper strips. Kupperberg entered the comics field from comics fandom where he, along with Paul Levitz, did the comics fanzine The Comic Reader (1971-1973) and Etcetera (1972-1973)...