Paul Levitz

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Paul Levitz
Paul Levitz at Comic-Con International in 2002
Born	October 21, 1956 (1956-10-21) (age 51) Brooklyn, New York
Nationality	American
Area(s)	Writer, Editor, Publisher
Notable works	Legion of Super-Heroes, Batman

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^[1] 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.