Paul Levitz

Paul Levitz
Levitz at Butler Library in October 2014
Born	(1956-10-21) October 21, 1956 (age 60) Brooklyn, New York, US
Nationality	American
Area(s)	Writer, Editor, Publisher
Notable works	Legion of Super-Heroes, Batman

Paul Levitz (born October 21, 1956) is an American comic book writer, editor and executive. The president of DC Comics from 2002–2009, he has worked for the company for over 35 years in a wide variety of roles. Along with publisher Jenette Kahn and managing editor Dick Giordano, Levitz was responsible for hiring such writers as Marv Wolfman and Alan Moore, artists such as George Pérez, Keith Giffen, and John Byrne, and editor Karen Berger, who contributed to the 1980s revitalization of the company's line of comic book heroes.

Levitz was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Hannah and Alfred Levitz. He attended Stuyvesant High School 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. One of Levitz's teachers, the future Pulitzer Prize winner Frank McCourt, was impressed enough with Levitz's work that he arranged for Levitz to appear on McCourt's brother's radio show.

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.