So while I can’t answer too many questions — confidentiality issues, general decency, and limits on the number of hours in the day I can spend here — I’ll try to answer questions that seem of general interest as often as I can.

General caution: please don’t ask me to review portfolios, scripts, or help you get work (time just doesn’t permit).


Hi Paul, just read Stalker 1-4 , really enjoyed it. Why did the series end so abruptly? Was a 5th issue ever done ? 3. July 2021

Sorry it took so long to answer (I’ve been off the website for a while) but no, there was no further work done on the series. Carmine Infantino was the company’s leader at the time and made the cancellation decision (actually originally with #3, but it was extended to #4 after a clerical error). He never explained the decision, but no sales figures were in yet, so I have to assume it was in reaction to the quality of the work we were doing or the direction of the material.


Hello! This isnt much a question, but a thank you. The first c-mics of yours I got into was in middle school. Your works have lead me on a ride of where I’m going to college to start my own comics in the future. Thank you! Sincerely, A. 27. December 2020

You’re welcome!


Hi Paul I loved your work on the Justice Society, Legion and Huntress and I was a returned DC comics fan when you, Dick and Jeanette lead the company in the 80s. Can I ask you if you actively participated in the recruitment and subsequent work that John Byrne and Geroge Perez did in their mid-80’s re-launches of Superman and Wonder Woman and (oops another question..sorry sorry) what did you enjoy and not enjoy about their drawing styles?? 14. December 2020

My part in the ’80s Superman relaunch was mainly creating a memo of what couldn’t be changed…a memo I wish I kept a copy of, but didn’t. I probably worked on John’s agreement for the work, and certainly signed it, but don’t recall any role in ‘recruiting’ him. He was one of several folks ‘competing’ to do the relaunch. I think I had even less to do with George’s work on Wonder Woman.

As a reader, I enjoyed both relaunches. JOhn’s art always had immaculate storytelling and crisp clarity, and George’s had that incredible sense of detail.


I was recently reading about original art of older stories being destroyed at DC during the 60’s, and your name keeps popping up in my research. Is there anything you can tell me that may help me in my quest to find some of it? 14. December 2020

That was before my time on staff. A somewhat older group of fans like Marv Wolfman, Len Wein, Steve Mitchell and others were on the tours where they gave original art away and sometimes chopped it before their eyes.


hi paul! mary alice wilson, dark star books, here. suddenly thought of you as someone i could contact who could maybe help. twice i have downloaded to my kindle gene yung’s THE TERRIFICS, 2 different issues, and there is no READ HERE link. what can i do to read them? maw 20. July 2020

Hi, Mary Alice, so good to connect again. Hope all’s well with you.

I’m not much use of tech questions, Dc-related or otherwise…too much of a luddite to have learned enough to be helpful, sorry.


Dear Paul. I am in the process of translating The Great Darkness Saga for a foreign publisher and I must admit that the ending baffles me. I have trouble understanding where Daxam is, where Apokolips is, where Darkseid and pseudo-Orion are, and who or what gets switched by the White Witch’s spell. At the end, Daxam should be back under a yellow sun, I guess. But I don’t understand how it could work if the White Witch exchanges only the individuals on both planet’s surface, instead of the worlds themselves. Or is it something that’s adressed in subsequent issues? Thank you for your help and congrats on your fabulous career! – J. 12. July 2020

It’s been a long time since I reread the book, and I do recall the world switching as something that was challenging. Sorry my memory isn’t clear enough to help. Thanks!


My question is coming, but first: My career has been as a marketing person in broadcasting. Lots of writing involved for public consumption and much of it in :60 and :30 mandatory lengths. While I can really appreciate great art from the Jacks, Gils,Carmines, Neils, Steve’s, etc. I have always been more interested in great writing. As you probably have, I have a list in my mind of favorite writers and when wandering the aisles I look for their names on the covers or splash pages. You probably can guess their names. When I see one of these names listed and I haven’t been following that title I immediately pick up the title and always enjoy it. Yours was always one of those names. Some great stories… particularly liked Justice Society and Starman tales…. Bravo! Thanks for hours of good reading. But one day I noticed your name in the indica of DC comics, but missing from title pages…. “hmmph, probably kicked upstairs. Waste of a great writer.” You and I met once and you were pleasant and businesslike and enthusiastic. But I never paid much attention to anything you did… until your interview with Mark. I know Mark a bit, a nice guy in all manners but he doesn’t suffer fools! He has spoken highly of you in the past and your discussion with him last week provided a few, but probably not all, of the reasons. Most of them not generally known information outside the industry. Some pros like John Byrne get praise for being a “dulie”; a great writer and artist. You are absolutely unique in that you are both an outstanding writer AND one of the very best and influential upper management people, too. I would guess if you hadn’t been around lots of exciting and creative and FAIR things wouldn’t have happened. And lots of talented fabulous creators would have left the industry and never created the great material they did. Thank you sir for lurking behind the scenes for so many years and working your magic. Now my question. We’re the same age by the way. The comics I’ve seen from the 40’s were pretty simplistic. Short simple four or eight pages of story that got by on uniq 20. May 2020

Your comment got cut off before you got to the question (I have no idea why…I guess there’s a word count limit). Thanks for the kind words, and please post again to finish your question.


Hi Paul — I’ve been trying to find out when the term ‘DC universe’ came into general use, and who coined it. Was it you? On one of the Facebook groups I posed the question on, John Wells, one of the authors of the wonderful American Comic Book Chronicles series, had this to say: “The first person I can find who used the term “DC Universe” was Paul Levitz in his DC continuity articles in AMAZING WORLD OF DC COMICS #8 (Sept.-Oct. 1975) and #12 (July 1976). In between, Carl Gafford used it in the AWODCC SPECIAL EDITION (Feb. 1976). Marv Wolfman probably did more than anyone to popularize the phrase though, first using it in the letter column of GREEN LANTERN #143 (on sale in May 1981).” 15. May 2020

Wow…I suppose it’s possible I coined it, but I wouldn’t claim that. Could also be Mark Gruenwald, who did so much ‘universe’ organizing in his early fanzines.


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