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.