Книга: Robin Furth, Peter David «Dark Tower: The Gunslinger: Last Shots»

Peter Allen David (born September 23, 1956^[1]), often abbreviated PAD,^[2] is an American writer of comic books, novels, television, movies and video games. His notable comic book work includes an award-winning, 12-year run on The Incredible Hulk, as well as runs on Aquaman, Young Justice, Supergirl, and Fallen Angel.

His Star Trek work includes both comic books and novels, such as Imzadi, and co-creating the New Frontier series. His other novels include film adaptations, media tie-ins, and original works, such as the Apropos of Nothing and Knight Life series. His television work includes series such as Babylon 5, Young Justice, Ben 10: Alien Force and Space Cases, the latter of which David co-created.

David often jokingly describes his occupation as "Writer of Stuff",^[3] and is noted for his prolific writing, characterized by its mingling of real world issues with humor^[4] and references to popular culture, as well as elements of metafiction^[2] and self-reference.^[5][6]

David has earned multiple awards for his work, including a 1992 Eisner Award, a 1993 Wizard Fan Award, a 1996 Haxtur Award, a 2007 Julie Award and 2011 GLAAD Media Award.

Early life and career

Peter David’s paternal grandparents, Martin and Hela David, and Peter's father, Gunter, came to the United States in the 1930s after the political situation in Nazi Germany deteriorated to the point that Martin's Berlin shoestore became the target of antisemitic vandalism.^[7][8][9] David was born September 23, 1956 in Fort Meade, Maryland^[1] to Gunter and Dalia,^[10] an Israeli-born Jewish mother,^[11][12][13] to whom David credits for his sense of humor.^[10] He has two siblings,^[14] a younger brother named Wally,^[15] who works as a still life photographer^[16] and musician,^{[dead link][17]} and a sister named Beth.^[18][19]

David first became interested in comics when he was about five years old, reading copies of Harvey Comics' Casper and Wendy in a barbershop. He became interested in superheroes through the Adventures of Superman TV series.^[20] His favorite title was Superman,^[2][21] and he cites John Buscema as his favorite pre-1970's artist.^[22]

David's earliest interest in writing came through the journalism work of his father, Gunter, who would sometimes review movies, and take young Peter along if it was age-appropriate. While Gunter would write his reviews back at the newspaper’s office, Peter would write his own, portions of which would sometimes find their way into Gunter's published reviews.^[21][23] David began to entertain the notion of becoming a professional writer at age twelve, buying a copy of The Guide to the Writer’s Market, and subscribing to similar-themed magazines,^[24] in the hopes of becoming a reporter.^[2]

David lived initially in Bloomfield, New Jersey,^[25] but later moved to Verona, New Jersey, where he spent his adolescence. David's best friend in junior high and freshman year in high school, Keith, was gay, and David has described how both of them were targets of ostracism and harassment from homophobes. Although his family eventually moved to Pennsylvania,^[26] his experiences in Verona soured him on that town, and would shape his liberal sociopolitical positions regarding LGBT issues. He would later make Verona the home location of villain Morgan le Fay in his novel Knight Life, and has often discussed his progressive views on LGBT issues in his column and on his blog.^[27][28][29]

A seminal moment in the course of his aspirations occurred when he met writer Stephen King at a book signing, and told him that he was an aspiring writer. King signed David's copy of Danse Macabre with the inscription, "Good luck with your writing career.", which David now inscribes himself onto books presented to him by fans who tell him the same thing.^[30] Other authors that David cites as influences include Harlan Ellison, Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert B. Parker, Neil Gaiman,^[31] Terry Pratchett,^[21] Robert Crais^[23] and Edgar Rice Burroughs.^[32] Specific books he has mentioned as favorites include To Kill a Mockingbird, Tarzan of the Apes, The Princess Bride, The Essential Ellison, A Confederacy of Dunces,^[33] Adams Versus Jefferson, and Don Quixote.^[23] David has singled out Ellison in particular as a writer whom he has tried to emulate.^[34]

David attended New York University, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism. His first professional assignment was covering the World Science Fiction Convention held in Washington in 1974 for the Philadelphia Bulletin.^[21][35]

David eventually gravitated towards fiction after his attempts at journalism did not meet with success.^[2] His first published fiction was in Asimov's Science Fiction. He also sold an Op-ed piece to The New York Times, however, his submissions overall were met with rejection that far outnumbered those accepted.^[36]

Comic book career

Peter David and Larry Stroman at a comic book signing for X-Factor in the early 1990's

David eventually gave up on a career in writing, and came to work in book publishing, first for Elseviser/Nelson,^[37] and later working in sales and distribution for Playboy Paperbacks. He subsequently worked for five years in Marvel Comics' Sales Department, first as Assistant Direct Sales Manager under Carol Kalish, who hired him, and then succeeding Kalish as Sales Manager.^[21][38][39] During this time he made some cursory attempts to sell stories, including submission of some Moon Knight plots to Dennis O'Neil, but his efforts were unfruitful.^[40] Three years into his tenure as Direct Sales Manager, Jim Owsley became editor of the Spider-Man titles. Although crossing over from sales into editorial was considered a conflict of interest in the Marvel offices, Owsley, whom David describes as a "maverick," was impressed with how David had not previously hesitated to work with him when Owsley was an assistant editor under Larry Hama, and thus, when he became an editor, he purchased a Spider-Man story from David, which appeared in Spectacular Spider-Man #103 in 1985.^[2][41] Owsley subsequently purchased from David "The Death of Jean DeWolff", which ran in issues #107-110 of that title in 1985. Responding to charges of conflict of interest, David made a point of not discussing editorial matters with anyone during his 9 to 5 hours as Direct Sales Manager,^[42] and decided not to exploit his position as Sales Manager by promoting the title.^[36] Although David attributes the story's poor sales to this decision, such crossing over from Sales to Editorial, according to him, is now common.^[36] Nonetheless, he says he was fired from Spectacular Spider-Man by Owsley due to editorial pressure by Marvel's Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter, and has commented that the resentment stirred by Owsley's purchase of his stories may have permanently damaged Owsley's career.^[2] Months later, after Shooter was replaced by Bob Harras, Harras offered David The Incredible Hulk, as it was a struggling title that no one else wanted to write.^[36][42]

During his run on Hulk, David explored the recurring themes of the Hulk's multiple personality disorder, his periodic changes between the more rageful and less intelligent Green Hulk and the more streetwise, cerebral Gray Hulk, and of being a journeyman hero, which were inspired by Incredible Hulk #312 (October 1985), in which writer Bill Mantlo (and possibly, according to David, Barry Windsor-Smith) had first established that Banner had suffered childhood abuse at the hands of his father. These aspects of the character would later be used in the 2003 feature film adaptation by screenwriter Michael France and director Ang Lee.^[39][43] Comic Book Resources credits David with making the formerly poor-selling book "a must-read mega-hit".^[2]

It was after he had been freelancing for a year, and into his run on Hulk, that David felt that his writing career had cemented.^[21] After putting out feelers at DC Comics, and being offered the job of writing a four-issue miniseries of The Phantom by editor Mike Gold, David quit his sales position to write full-time.^[44]

David also took over Dreadstar during its First Comics run, with issue #41 (March 1989) after Jim Starlin left the title, and remained on it until issue #64 (March 1991), the final issue of that run.^[45] David’s other Marvel Comics work in the late 1980s and 1990s includes runs on Wolverine, the New Universe series Merc and Justice, a run on the original X-Factor, and the futuristic series Spider-Man 2099, about a man in the year 2099 who takes up the mantle of Spider-Man, the title character of which David co-created.

At DC Comics in 1990, David wrote a seven-issue Aquaman miniseries, The Atlantis Chronicles, about the history of Aquaman's home of Atlantis, which David has referred to as among the written works of which he is most proud.^[46] He would later write a 1994 Aquaman miniseries, Aquaman: Time and Tide, which would lead to a relaunched monthly Aquaman series, the first 46 issues of which he would write from 1994–1998. His run on Aquaman gained notoriety, for in the book's second issue, Aquaman lost a hand, which was then replaced with a harpoon, a feature of the character that endured for the duration of David's run on the book. He also wrote the Star Trek comic book for DC from 1988–1991, when that company held the licensing rights to the property, though he has opined that novels are better suited to Star Trek, whose stories are not highly visual.^[2] David also enjoyed considerable runs on Supergirl and Young Justice, the latter eventually being canceled so that DC could use that book's characters in a relaunched Teen Titans monthly.

David's work for Dark Horse Comics has included the teen spy adventure, SpyBoy, which appeared in a series and a number of miniseries between 1999 and 2004, and the 2007 miniseries The Scream.

Other series David worked on in the 1990s include the 1997 miniseries, Heroes Reborn: The Return, for Marvel, and two creator-owned properties: Soulsearchers and Company, which is published by Claypool Comics, and the Epic Comics title Sachs and Violens, which he produced with co-creator, artist George Pérez.

David's early 2000s work includes runs on two volumes of Captain Marvel, which debuted in 2000 and 2002.

David and his second wife, Kathleen, wrote the final English-language text for the first four volumes of the manga series Negima for Del Rey Manga.^[33]

In 2003, David began writing another creator-owned comic, Fallen Angel, for DC Comics, which he created in order to make use of plans he had devised for Supergirl after the "Many Happy Returns" storyline, but which were derailed by that series' cancellation. That same year, he also wrote a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series for Dreamwave that tied into the animated television series broadcast that year.^[2] DC canceled Fallen Angel after 20 issues, but David re-started the title at IDW Publishing at the end of 2005. Other IDW work included a Spike: Old Times one-shot and the Spike vs. Dracula mini-series, both based on the character from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel television series.

David with writer Dan Slott at Jim Hanley's Universe in Manhattan, October 25, 2007, promoting the beginning of David's tenure as writer on She-Hulk.^[47]

In 2005, David briefly returned to Incredible Hulk, though he left after only 11 issues because of his workload.^[48] He also started a new series, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, beginning with a twelve-part crossover storyline called "The Other", which, along with J. Michael Straczynski's run on Amazing Spider-Man, and Reginald Hudlin's run on Marvel Knights Spider-Man, depicted the webslinger as he discovered he was dying, lost an eye during a traumatic fight with Morlun, underwent a metamorphosis and emerged with new abilities and insights into his powers. As tends to be the case when fundamental changes are introduced to long-standing classic comics characters, the storyline caused some controversy among readers for its introduction of retractable stingers in Spider-Man's arms, and the establishment of a "totem" from which his powers are derived.^[49] David's final issue of that title was #23.^[50]

David also wrote a MadroX miniseries that year, whose success led to a relaunch of a monthly X-Factor (volume 3) written by him. This was a revamped version of the title starring both Madrox and other members of the former X-Factor title that David had written in the early '90s, now working as investigators in a detective agency of that name. David's work on the title garnered praise from Ain't it Cool News,^[51] and David has stated that the opt in/opt out policy and greater planning with which Marvel now executes crossover storylines has made his second stint on the title far easier.^[2] However, his decision to explicitly establish male characters Shatterstar and Rictor as sharing a homosexual attraction to one another (a confirmation of clues that had been established in X-Force years earlier^[52]), drew criticism from Shatterstar's co-creator, Rob Liefeld,^[53] though Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada supported David's story.^[54] David would eventually win a 2011 GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Comic Book for his work on the title.^[55][56][57]

On February 11, 2006, David announced at the WonderCon convention in California in that he had signed an exclusive contract with Marvel Comics. Fallen Angel, Soulsearchers and Company and David's Spike miniseries were "grandfathered" into the contract, so as to not be affected by it.^[58] The first new project undertaken by David after entering into the contract, which he announced on April 5, 2006, was writing the dialogue for The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born, the comic book spin-off of Stephen King's The Dark Tower novels, which would be illustrated by Jae Lee.^[59] He would also script the subsequent Dark Tower comics as well.

David took over Marvel's She-Hulk after writer Dan Slott's departure, beginning with issue #22.^[60][61] His run, which won praise,^[62] ended with issue #38, when the series was canceled.^[63] He also wrote a 2008-09 Sir Apropos of Nothing miniseries, based on the character from his novels, which was published by IDW Publishing.^[64]

David's other 2000s comics based on licensed or adapted properties include Halo: Helljumper, a 2009 miniseries based on the Halo video game, a 2009 Ben 10: Alien Force manga book published by Del Rey, Ben Folds Four,^[65] a "Little Mermaid" story in Jim Valentino's Fractured Fables anthology that was praised by Ain't It Cool News,^[4] an adaptation of the 1982 film Tron that was released to tie in with that film's 2010 sequel,^[66] and a John Carter of Mars prequel to the 2012 feature film.^[32]

Novels

David's career as a novelist developed concurrently with his comic book writing career. David had been working at a publisher that went out of business, and a former coworker from that publisher became his agent, through whom he sold his first novel, Knight Life, to Ace Books.^[21] Although the sale was made before he wrote any comic books, the novel was not published until eighteen months later, in 1987.^[39] The novel depicts about the reappearance of King Arthur in modern-day New York City. Another early novel of his, Howling Mad, is about a wolf that turns into a human being after being bitten by a werewolf. Ace Books also hired David to write the Photon and Psi-Man novels, though they published them under the "house name" David Peters, over David's objections.^[67] David updated Knight Life years later when Penguin Putnam brought it back into print in 2003, and made it a trilogy with the sequels One Knight Only and Fall of Knight, which were published in 2004 and 2007, respectively.^[36] Penguin would also rerelease Howling Mad and the Psi-Man books under David's actual name.

David first began writing Star Trek novels at the request of Pocket Books editor Dave Stern, who was a fan of David's Star Trek comic book work.^[36][68] His Star Trek novels are among those for which he is best known, including Q-in-Law; I, Q; Vendetta; Q-Squared; and Imzadi, one of the best-selling Star Trek novels of all time. He created the ongoing novel series, Star Trek: New Frontier, a spin-off from Star Trek: The Next Generation, with John J. Ordover in 1997. New Frontier continued until April 2011, with the publication of Blind Man's Bluff, the final New Frontier novel on David's contract at the time, after which the series' future was unclear to David.^[3][69] David's other science fiction tie-in novels include written five Babylon 5 novels, three of which were originals, and two of which were adaptations of the TV movies Thirdspace and In the Beginning.

His other novel adaptations include those of the movies The Return of Swamp Thing, The Rocketeer, Batman Forever, Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man 3, Hulk, The Incredible Hulk, Fantastic Four, and Iron Man. He also wrote an original Hulk novel, The Incredible Hulk: What Savage Beast, based on story ideas that he was not permitted to use in the comic book, and an adaptation of an unused Alien Nation television script, "Body and Soul".

David's 2009 novel Tigerheart is a re-imagining of Peter Pan with a mix of new and old characters, told as a Victorian bedtime story, much like the classic tale. It was praised by Ain't It Cool News,^[70] and honored by the School Library Journal as one of 2008's Best Adult Books for High School Students.^[71] His Sir Apropos of Nothing fantasy trilogy, Sir Apropos of Nothing, The Woad to Wuin and Tong Lashing, features characters and settings completely of David’s own creation, as does his 2007 fantasy novel, Darkness of the Light, which is the first in a new trilogy of novels titled The Hidden Earth. The second installment, The Highness of the Low, was scheduled to be published in September 2009,^[65] but David has related on his blog that it has been delayed until the winter of 2012.^[10]

David's 2010 novel work includes Year of the Black Rainbow, a novel cowritten with musician Claudio Sanchez of the band Coheed and Cambria, that was released with the band's album of the same name,^[72] and an Fable original novel The Balverine Order, set between the events of Fable II and Fable III.^[66] In April 2011, David announced that, in addition to another Fable novel, he and a number of other writers, including Glenn Hauman, Mike Friedman and Bob Greenberger, were assembling an electronic publishing endeavor called Crazy Eight Press, which would allow them to publish e-books directly to fans, the first of which would be David's Arthurian story, The Camelot Papers. David explained that the second book in his "Hidden Earth" trilogy would also be published through Crazy Eight.^[3][73]

Writing habits and approach

David (at far right) on a panel on comic book writing at the 2009 Brooklyn Book Festival. Beside him (left to right) are Jim McCann, Dan Slott and Fred Van Lente.

David has stated that he tries to block out different days and different times to work on different projects.^[74] He usually works in the morning, for example, on novels, and does comics-related work in the afternoon.^[10] Having previously used Smith Corona typewriters, he writes on a Sony Vaio desktop computer, using Microsoft Word for his comics and novel work, and Final Draft for his screenplays.^[23] When writing novels, he sometimes outlines the story, and sometimes improvises it as he is writing it.^[75]

David previously wrote his comic book scripts using the Marvel Method, but due to his tendency to overplot, as during his collaboration with Todd McFarlane on The Incredible Hulk, he switched to the full script method,^[76] which he continues to use as of 2003.^[21] He has stated that he prefers to plot his comics stories in six-month arcs.^[5] He has also stated that when he works on a particular title, he always does so with a particular person or group of people in mind to which he dedicates it, explaining that he wrote Supergirl for his daughters, Young Justice for a son he might one day have and The Incredible Hulk for his first wife, Myra, who urged him to first accept the job of writing that book. David has further explained that the events of his own life are sometimes reflected in his work, as when, for example, following the breakup of his first marriage, the direction of The Incredible Hulk faltered, with the Hulk wandering the world aimlessly, hopelessly looking to be loved.^[77]

David has stated that his favorite female character of his own creation is Lee, the protagonist of Fallen Angel, which he says is derived from the positive female fan reaction to that character.^[78] Characters that David has not written but which he has expressed an interest in writing for the comics medium include Batman, Tarzan, Doc Savage, the Dragonriders of Pern, the Steed/Peel Avengers, and Dracula. He has specifically mentioned interest in writing a Tarzan vs. the Phantom story.^[21][74]

Other published work

• Before David became a professional writer, he was a prolific author of fan fiction, including The TARDIS at Pooh Corner.
• David began writing his weekly opinion column, "But I Digress...", in Comics Buyer's Guide, since July 27, 1990, agreeing to do the column on the suggestion of an anonymous fan to Comics Buyer’s Guide editors Don and Maggie Thompson,^[79] David credits the existence of the column to Harlan Ellison, whom he has attempted to emulate with the column, and who wrote the introduction to the 1994 But I Digress collection.^[34][65] David donates his earnings from the column to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.^[36] David continued the column following CBG's switch to a monthly magazine format in 2004.^[80] A second collection, More Digressions, was published by Mad Norwegian Press in June 2009.^[65]
• David assisted Star Trek actor James Doohan with Doohan's 1996 autobiography, Beam Me Up, Scotty.
• David's instructional book, Writing for Comics with Peter David, was published by Impact Books in June 2006.^[81] A second edition, Writing for Comics and Graphic Novels with Peter David,was published in August 2009.^[65][82]
• David's short story, "Colors Seen by Candlelight", appeared in Tales of Zorro, the first collection of original Zorro short fiction ever authorized by Zorro Productions, Inc. The anthology, edited by Richard Dean Starr, was published by Moonstone Books in 2008.
• In 2009 David organized a satirical round-robin story called "Potato Noon", organized by David and hosted on his website.^[83][84] which was inspired by the announcement of Russet Noon, an unauthorized fan fiction novel based on Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series.^[85][86] Authors including Hugh Casey, Keith R.A. DeCandido, and Kevin Killiany participated in the story, with characters such as Michael Dukakis, Dan Quayle, and Ernest Hemingway appearing alongside satirical versions of Meyer's characters. David conceived the satire as a not-for-profit venture, and while he has no plans to publish the completed "Potato Moon", he has allowed for the possibility of a future charity release to benefit the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.^[87]

Other media

David with Warren Spector at the November 30, 2010 Times Square Disney Store launch party for Epic Mickey, which Spector designed, and for which David wrote two tie-in products.

David has written for several television series and video games. He wrote two scripts for Babylon 5 (the second-season episodes "Soul Mates" and "There All the Honor Lies"), and the episode "Ruling from the Tomb" for its sequel series, Crusade. With actor/writer Bill Mumy, he is co-creator of the television series Space Cases, which ran for two seasons on Nickelodeon. He has also written and co-produced several films for Full Moon Entertainment and has made cameo appearances in some of the films as well.

David wrote an unproduced script for the fifth season of Babylon 5 called "Gut Reactions", which he wrote with Bill Mumy.^[88]

David wrote "In Charm's Way", an episode of Ben 10: Alien Force. The script was recorded in early 2009, and the episode premiered November 13, 2009.^[65][89] He later wrote three episodes of the spinoff Ben 10: Ultimate Alien, the first of which, "Reflected Glory", premiered October 15, 2010.^[90]

David wrote the script for the Xbox 360 video game Shadow Complex, which debuted in August 2009.^[91][92]

David wrote several episodes of the Young Justice animated TV series, which premiered in 2010, and is based on the comic book series he wrote from 1998 to 2003.^[93] The first episode he penned is episode #18.^[10] The same year, he wrote a graphic novel adaptation of the video game Epic Mickey, and a prequel digicomic, Disney’s Epic Mickey: Tales of Wasteland.^{[92][94][95][96]}

In 2011 David wrote the video game Spider-Man: The Edge of Time.^[97][98][99]

Awards and nominations

Awards

• 1992 Eisner Award for Best Writer/Artist or Writer/Artist Team (shared with Dale Keown for The Incredible Hulk^[100])
• 1993 Wizard Fan Award
• 1993 UK Comic Art Award
• 1994 Golden Duck Award for Young Adult Series (for Star Trek: Starfleet Academy)
• 1995 Australian OZCon 1995 Award for Favorite International Writer
• 1995 Comic Buyers Guide Fan Award for Favorite Writer^[101]
• 1996 Haxtur Award for Best Script (for Para que la oscuridad no nos alcance ["So That the Dark Does Not Reach Us"], in Hulk La caída del Panteón [Hulk: The Fall of the Pantheon])^[102]
• 2007 Julie Award for achievements in multiple genres^[103]
• 2011 GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Comic Book (X-Factor vol. 3)^[55][56][57]
• 2011 International Association of Media Tie-In Writers Grandmaster Award (aka Faust Award)^[104]

Nominations

• 1992 Haxtur Award for Best Script (for Crónicas de Atlantis)^[105]
• 1992 Prometheus Award for (Star Trek: The Rift)^[106]
• 1992 Eisner Award for Best Continuing Series (shared with Dale Keown for The Incredible Hulk)^[100]
• 1994 Eisner Award for Best Writer (for The Incredible Hulk)^[107]
• 1995 Haxtur Award for Best Long Story (shared with George Pérez for Sachs & Violens)^[108]
• 1997 Cable Ace Award for Best Children's Series (shared with Bill Mumy for Space Cases)^[109][110]
• 1998 Harvey Award for Best Single Issue or Story (shared with Adam Kubert and Bobbie Chase for The Incredible Hulk #-1)^[111]
• 1999 Eisner Award for Best New Series (shared with Todd Nauck and Larry Stucker for Young Justice)^[112]
• 1999 Eisner Award for Best Title for a Younger Audience (for Young Justice)^[112]

Public persona

On more than one occasion, editorial problems or corporate pressure to modify or re-script his plotlines have prompted David to leave books, particularly his decision to terminate his first run on Marvel's X-Factor, due to constantly having to constrain his plots to accommodate crossover events with other books.^{[33][113][114]} He also resigned from Spider-Man 2099 to protest the firing of editor Joey Cavalieri, and from Aquaman over other creative differences.^[2][115] When David abruptly left his first stint on The Incredible Hulk due to editorial pressures,^[77] some of the plot points of the character that David established were retconned by later creative teams.^[33]

In his "But I Digress" column, which has appeared in the Comics Buyer's Guide since July 27, 1990, and in his blog, in operation since April 2002,^[116][117] David has been outspoken in many of his views pertaining to the comic book industry, and numerous other subjects. He has criticized the low regard in which writers are held,^[118][119] the practice of bagged comics,^[120] so-called "poster covers" that showcase a character without indicating anything about the comic's content, the meaninglessness of killing off characters to be eventually revived, the poor commitment on the part of some to maintaining continuity in shared fictional universes, and the emphasis on gearing monthly comics series toward eventual collection into trade paperbacks. David has opined that failure on the part of consumers to purchase the monthly individual issues in favor of waiting for the trade collections hurts the sales of the monthly, and its chances of being collected at all.^[21][31] A father of four daughters, David has worked on a number of series that feature female leads, such as Supergirl, Fallen Angel and She-Hulk, and has lamented that the American comic book market is not very supportive of such books.^[2][63] David has spoken out about fans who are abusive or threatening to creators,^[121] and against copyright infringement,^[122] particularly that committed through peer-to-peer file sharing and posting literary works in their entirety on the Internet without the permission of the copyright holder.^[123]

On many occasions, he has offered criticisms of specific publishers, as when he criticized Wizard magazine for ageism.^[124][125] He has criticized companies for not sufficiently compensating the creators of their long-standing and lucrative characters, such as Marvel Comics for its treatment of Blade creator Marv Wolfman^[126] and Archie Comics for its treatment of Josie and the Pussycats creator Dan DeCarlo.^[127][128] He has also criticized publishers for various other business practices,^[129] including Marvel^[130] and Image Comics.^[131] He has also defended said companies from criticism he feels is unfounded, as when he defended Marvel from a February 17, 1992 Barron’s magazine article.^[132] He has criticized deletionists on Wikipedia on more than one occasion.^{[133][134][135]}

On occasion, he has also disagreed publicly with specific industry personalities such as Frank Miller^[125] and Jim Shooter.^[136] Particularly publicized were his disagreements with Spawn creator Todd McFarlane in 1992 and 1993, in the wake of the formation of Image Comics, the company McFarlane co-founded. This came to a head during a public debate they participated in at Philadelphia's Comicfest convention in October 1993, which was moderated by artist George Pérez. McFarlane claimed that Image was not being treated fairly by the media, and by David in particular. The three judges, Maggie Thompson, editor of the Comics Buyer's Guide, William Christensen of Wizard Press, and John Danovich of the magazine Hero Illustrated, voted 2-1 in favor of David, with Danovich voting the debate a tie.^[137] David has since criticized McFarlane for other business practices,^[138] and has also engaged in public disagreements with The Comics Journal editor Gary Groth,^[139] Erik Larsen,^[140] Rob Liefeld,^[119] Marvel Editor-In-Chief Joe Quesada,^[141] writer/director Kevin Smith,^[142] DC Comics Vice President and Executive Editor Dan DiDio,^[143] and John Byrne.^[144] Despite his differences with Byrne, David has stated that he is still a fan of Byrne's, citing Byrne's work on X-Men, Fantastic Four, Next Men, Alpha Flight and Babe.^[31]

Politically, David identifies himself as liberal.^[145] He was critical of the George W. Bush administration in general,^[146] and the Iraq War in particular,^[147][148] as well as other Republicans^[149][150] and the religious right.^[151] He has spoken out in favor of Israel's right to defend itself from aggressors, and has opined that certain criticisms of Israel indicate bias and double standards.^[152] He favors gun control,^[153][154] and holds progressive or liberal views on LGBT issues, including favoring gay marriage^[28][155] and allowing openly homosexual individuals to serve in the military.^[156] He opposes capital punishment.^{[147][157][158]} He is an advocate of freedom of speech,^[154][159] having criticized various publicized instances of censorship in general,^[160] such as the targeting of comic book retailers for prosecution for selling certain comic books,^[145][161] and the Comics Code Authority in particular.^[162] He is a promoter and activist for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, which comes to the aid of such creators and retailers.^[163] He has, however, also criticized ideas associated with liberalism or political correctness,^[13] such as certain publicized cases of alleged sexual harassment or discrimination that he deems unfounded,^[164] and has not shied away from criticizing liberals and Democrats,^[165][166] including Bill Clinton,^[167] Al Gore,^[147] Hillary Clinton,^[168] Michelle Obama^[169] Caroline Kennedy^[150] and Barack Obama.^[170]

Personal life

David met his first wife, Myra Kasman,^[10] at a Star Trek convention. They married in June 1977,^[171] with his childhood friend Keith serving as best man.^[26] Together they had three daughters, Shana, Guinevere and Ariel.^[172] They separated in late 1996,^[173][174] and were divorced^[175] by 1998.^[176] David began dating Kathleen O'Shea, a bookseller,^[177] puppeteer^[178] and writer/editor^[33] in 1998.^[176] After dating for three years, David proposed to O'Shea at the Adventurers Club in Disneyworld on September 3, 2000.^[179] They married on May 26, 2001^[180][181] in Atlanta, Georgia.^[182] Their daughter, Caroline Helen David, was born on December 5, 2002,^[183] and named after David's late friend and coworker, Carol Kalish.^[184] David and his family live on the south shore of Long Island.^[185]

On June 27, 2010, David's wife, Kathleen, announced on his website that he had successfully undergone surgery on June 25 to relieve serious back pain.^[186] On June 30, David himself explained on his site that the pain, which he had been suffering in his hips and knees for three weeks, left him unable to function, and was eventually diagnosed as a herniated disc caused by bone fragments and fluid buildup. He underwent a three-hour discectomy,^[187] and was told his full strength would return in six months.^[188]

David had been a conservative Jew, but as of October 2003, attends a reform synagogue.^[21] He has, however, expressed reservations about organized religion.^[189]

David has named Groo the Wanderer, Liberty Meadows, Fables, Y: The Last Man, Strangers in Paradise, Runaways, She-Hulk, Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane, Knights of the Dinner Table, The Crossovers and J. Michael Straczynski’s run on Spider-Man as comics that he has enjoyed.^{[21][23][74][190]}

David is an avid fan of bowling, and a bowler himself, as is his daughter Ariel.^[191][192] He is also a fan of the New York Mets.^[193][194] His favorite music includes the Beatles,^[21] and his favorite albums include Harry Chapin's Verities and Balderdash and the soundtracks to Amadeus and Terminator 2: Judgment Day.^[10] He is an enthusiast of movie musicals,^[195] in particular 1776, Man of La Mancha, Li’l Abner and Into the Woods, with a taste for Lerner and Loewe and Stephen Sondheim.^[21][75] He also acts in local stage productions.^{[196][197][198]}

His favorite movies include The Adventures of Robin Hood, That, Casablanca, and the early Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan films.^[74] His favorite TV shows have included Doctor Who, Hill Street Blues, Charmed, Carnivale, Boston Public, The Practice, Friends, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Alias and The West Wing.^[21][31]

Bibliography

References

External links

• David, Peter. But I Digress 1994 Collection. Krause Publications
• Peter David's official site
• Peter David at the Comic Book DB
• Peter David at the Grand Comics Database
• Fan-maintained bibliography
• Peter David at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database

Interviews

• X-POSITION Week 21: Peter David, Comic Book Resources, October 18, 2007
• X-POSITION Week 26: Peter David, Comic Book Resources, November 20, 2007