Career
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.[9]
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.[10] In 1978, he succeeded Julius Schwartz as the editor of the Batman line of comics.[11]
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.[12][13] Levitz and artists James Sherman and Joe Staton worked on "Earthwar", a five-issue storyline in Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #241–245 (July–Nov. 1978).[14] 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.[15] Comics historian
With artist Steve Ditko, Levitz co-created the characters Stalker and the Prince Gavyn version of Starman.[18][19] 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.[20] He and Staton provided the JSA with an origin story in DC Special #29.[21] 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
Levitz eventually became an editor, and served as vice president and executive vice president, before assuming the role of president and publisher in 2002. Levitz consciously chose the combined title instead of "editor-in-chief", citing the negative results of the title he saw during Jim Shooter's tenure at Marvel and his desire to stay connected to the publishing arm of DC which he had help create.[2] 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,[23] and become the writer of both Adventure Comics vol. 2 and Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 6.[24][25]
Levitz mentioned in an August 2010 interview that he was working on "[his] first genuine book."[26] His 75 Years of DC Comics: The Art of Modern Mythmaking (ISBN 9783836519816) was published by Taschen America, LLC, in November 2010.[27]
In addition to Legion of Super-Heroes, Levitz wrote the Worlds' Finest series, which was initially drawn by George Pérez and Kevin Maguire.[28] Levitz and Keith Giffen collaborated on the Legion of Super-Heroes issues #17 and 18 in 2013.[29][30] 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.” [31][32] He joined the board of directors of Boom! Studios in February 2014.[33]
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.[35] He retired from the board in 2020.[36]
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.”[37]
From January[5][38] to May 2023, the 5-issue miniseries Avengers: War Across Time, which Levitz wrote, was published.[39] It his first work for Marvel Comics,[5] and received positive reviews.[38][40][41][42]
