Peter David

His Star Trek work includes comic books, novels such as Imzadi, and co-creation of 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^[6] and Nickelodeon's Space Cases, which he co-created with Bill Mumy.


David often jokingly describes his occupation as "Writer of Stuff",^[6][7] and he is noted for his prolific writing, characterized by its mingling of real-world issues with humor^[8][9] and references to popular culture, as well as elements of metafiction^[5] and self-reference.^[10][11]


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 a 2011 GLAAD Media Award.

Early life[edit]

Peter David's paternal grandparents, Martin and Hela David, and his father, Gunter, emigrated to the United States in the 1930s after the antisemitism in Nazi Germany progressed to the point that Martin's Berlin shoestore became the target of vandalism.^[12][13][14] David was born September 23, 1956, in Fort Meade, Maryland,^[3] to Gunter and Dalia David (née Rojansky),^[15][16] an Israeli Jewish mother^[17][18] who had worked with DNA mappers James Watson and Francis Crick^[16][19] and to whom David credits his sense of humor.^[15] He has two siblings,^[20] a brother Wally,^[21] seven years his junior,^[22] who works as an IT Systems Administrator in the financial sector, and a younger sister named Beth.^[23][24][25]


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.^[26] Although David's parents approved of his reading Harvey Comics and comics featuring Disney characters, they did not approve of superhero books,^[27] especially those published by Marvel Comics, feeling that characters that looked like monsters, such as the Thing or the Hulk, or who wore bug-eyed costumes, like Spider-Man, did not appear heroic. As a result, David read those comics in secret,^[28][29] beginning with his first Marvel book, Fantastic Four Annual #3 (November 1965), which saw the wedding of Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman.^[30] His parents eventually allowed him to start reading superhero titles,^[27] his favorite of which was Superman.^[5][31] He cites John Buscema as his favorite pre-1970s artist.^[32] David attended his first comic book convention around the time that Jack Kirby's New Gods premiered, after asking his father to take him to one of Phil Seuling's shows in New York, where David obtained Kirby's autograph, his first encounter with a comics professional.^[28]


David's earliest interest in writing came through the journalism work of his father, Gunter, who sometimes reviewed movies and took young Peter along (if it was age-appropriate). While Gunter wrote his reviews back at the newspaper's office, David wrote his own, portions of which sometimes found their way into Gunter's published reviews.^[31][33] 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,^[34] in the hopes of becoming a reporter.^[5]


David lived in Bloomfield, New Jersey,^[35] in a small house at 11 Albert Terrace,^[28] and attended Demarest Elementary School.^[36] His family later moved to Verona, New Jersey, where he spent his adolescence.^[37] By the time he entered his teens, he had lost interest in comic books, feeling he had outgrown them.^[38] David's best friend in junior high and first 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,^[37] his experiences in Verona soured him on that town and shaped his liberal sociopolitical positions regarding LGBT issues. He later made 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.^[39][40][41]


David's interest in comics was rekindled when he saw a copy of Superman vs. Muhammad Ali (1978) while passing a newsstand,^[42] and later, X-Men #95 (October 1975), and discovered in that latter book the "All-New, All-Different" team that had first appeared in Giant-Size X-Men #1 (May 1975). These two books were the first comics he had purchased in years.^[38]


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.^[43] Other authors that David cites as influences include Harlan Ellison, Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert B. Parker, Neil Gaiman,^[44] Terry Pratchett,^[31] Robert Crais^[33] and Edgar Rice Burroughs.^[45] 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,^[46] Adams Versus Jefferson, and Don Quixote.^[33] David has singled out Ellison in particular as a writer whom he has tried to emulate.^[47]


David attended New York University, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism.^[31]

Public image[edit]

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.^{[46][171][172]} He resigned from Spider-Man 2099 to protest the firing of editor Joey Cavalieri and from Aquaman over other creative differences.^[5][173] When David abruptly left his first stint on The Incredible Hulk due to editorial pressures,^[127] some of the plot points of the character that David established were retconned by later creative teams.^[46]


In his "But I Digress" column, which began appearing in the Comics Buyer's Guide on July 27, 1990, and in his blog, in operation since April 2002,^[174][175] 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,^[176][177] the practice of selling polybagged comics,^[178] 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.^[31][44] 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 he has lamented that the American comic book market is not very supportive of such books.^[5][93] David has spoken out about fans who are abusive or threatening to creators,^[179] and against copyright infringement,^[180] particularly that which is committed through peer-to-peer file sharing and posting literary works in their entirety on the Internet without the permission of the copyright holder.^[181]


On many occasions, he has offered criticisms of specific publishers, as when he criticized Wizard magazine for ageism.^[182][183] 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^[184] and Archie Comics for its treatment of Josie and the Pussycats creator Dan DeCarlo.^[185][186] He has criticized publishers for various other business practices,^[187] including Marvel^[188] and Image Comics.^[189] He has defended said companies from criticism he feels is unfounded, as when he defended Marvel from a February 17, 1992, Barron's magazine article.^[190] He has criticized deletionists on Wikipedia on more than one occasion.^[191][192]


On occasion, he has disagreed publicly with specific industry personalities such as Frank Miller^[183] and Jim Shooter.^[193] 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.^[194] David has since criticized McFarlane for other business practices,^[195] and has engaged in public disagreements with The Comics Journal editor Gary Groth,^[196] Erik Larsen,^{[197][198][199]} Rob Liefeld,^[177] Marvel Editor-In-Chief Joe Quesada,^[200] writer/director Kevin Smith,^[201] DC Comics Vice President and Executive Editor Dan DiDio,^[202] and John Byrne.^[203] 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.^[44]


Politically, David identifies himself as liberal.^[204] He was critical of the George W. Bush administration in general,^[205] and the Iraq War in particular,^[206][207] as well as other Republicans^[208][209] and the religious right.^[210] He also became a staunch critic of President Donald Trump and his administration, criticizing his policies on a weekly basis.^[211][212] 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.^[213] He favors gun control,^[214][215] and holds progressive or liberal views on LGBT issues, including favoring gay marriage^[40][41] and allowing openly homosexual individuals to serve in the military.^[216] He opposes capital punishment.^{[206][217][218]} He is an advocate of freedom of speech,^[215][219] having criticized various publicized instances of censorship in general,^[220] such as the targeting of comic book retailers for prosecution for selling certain comic books,^[204][221] and the Comics Code Authority in particular.^[222] He is a promoter and activist for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, which comes to the aid of such creators and retailers.^[223] He has criticized ideas associated with liberalism or political correctness,^[18] such as certain publicized cases of alleged sexual harassment or discrimination that he deems unfounded,^[224] and has not shied away from criticizing liberals and Democrats,^[225] including Bill Clinton,^[226] Al Gore,^[206] Hillary Clinton,^[227] Michelle Obama,^[228] Caroline Kennedy,^[209] and Barack Obama.^[229]


In October 2016, David generated controversy for remarks he made during a panel discussion at the New York Comic Con to Vicente Rodriguez, a fan and the founder of Roma Pop, an organization that seeks to promote more positive representation of the Romani in comics. Rodriguez had asked speakers at multiple panels at the convention about greater Romani representation in comics, in light of what he said were stereotypical depictions of that group. When he asked David about what the public could do about Marvel's editorial policies regarding this, David related an anecdote from a 1993 trip to Bucharest, where he was told by his guide that the crippled children he saw had been maimed by their parents to improve their success as beggars. David then angrily rebuffed further interjections by Rodriguez before moving onto the next question.^[230][231] David would later defend these beliefs on his blog, insisting that he had written Romani characters like Quicksilver in a positive manner, and was angered by the crippling of children.^[232] However Comics Beat, in reporting on the incident, stated that David's claim about the children is an urban myth commonly circulated in Romania, and that the malformed limbs seen in such children more likely resulted from lack of medical care, owing to the Romani distrust of the medical establishment that resulted from the forcible sterilization programs imposed upon them in many European nations until the 2000s.^[230] Two days after his first blog post, and the day after the Comics Beat article, David published a second blog post in which he apologized for his conduct, stating that after researching the matter, he concluded that the children he saw likely suffered from genetic conditions, and that he had no right to speak as he had to Rodriguez. David also related that he had apologized to Rodriguez in person in subsequent encounters at the convention, and resolved to treat Romani characters with respect.^[233]

Personal life[edit]

David met his first wife, Myra Kasman,^[15] at a Star Trek convention. They married in June 1977,^[234] with his childhood friend Keith serving as best man.^[37] Together they had three daughters, Shana, Guinevere and Ariel.^[235] They separated in late 1996^[236][237] and were divorced^[238] by 1998.^[239] David began dating Kathleen O'Shea, a bookseller,^[240] puppeteer^[241] and writer/editor^[46] in 1998.^[239] After dating for three years, David proposed to O'Shea at the Adventurers Club in Disney World on September 3, 2000.^[242] They married on May 26, 2001^[243][244] in Atlanta, Georgia.^[245] Their daughter, Caroline Helen David, was born on December 5, 2002,^[246] and named after David's late friend and coworker, Carol Kalish.^[247] David and his family live in Suffolk County, New York,^[248] on the south shore of Long Island,^[249][250] where his favorite local comics shop is Fourth World Comics in Smithtown, New York.^[22]: 159 David's father, Gunter, died of cancer on April 20, 2015.^[251] David's mother, Dalia, died May 27, 2017.^[16]


David had been a Conservative Jew but, as of October 2003, attends a Reform synagogue.^[31] His Hebrew name in patronymic form is Jacob Ben Joachim.^[252] He has, however, expressed reservations about organized religion.^[253]


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.^{[31][33][67][120]} Other creators whose work he has long-admired include John Romita, Sr., John Buscema, Gene Colan, and others he has stated he presently admires or are friends that he enjoys working with include George Pérez, Andy Kubert, and Rick Leonardi.^[254] He has named Pérez as his favorite artistic collaborator,^[255] and has named Pérez, Leonard Kirk and Dale Keown as the artists whose art has mostly closely matched the visuals he conceived when writing comic book scripts.^[120]


David is an avid fan of bowling, and a bowler himself, as is his daughter Ariel.^[256][257] He is a fan of the New York Mets,^[258][259] and practices tai chi.^[260] His favorite music includes The Beatles,^[31] and his favorite albums include Harry Chapin's Verities and Balderdash and the soundtracks to Amadeus and Terminator 2: Judgment Day.^[15] His favorite movies include the James Bond films,^[261] The Adventures of Robin Hood, That, Casablanca, and the early Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan films.^[120] 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.^[31][44] He is a fan of musicals,^[261][262] in particular 1776, Man of La Mancha, Li'l Abner and Into the Woods, with a taste for Lerner and Loewe and Stephen Sondheim.^[31][121] He acts in local stage productions.^{[263][264][265]}


In June 2010, David's wife announced on his website that he had successfully undergone surgery to relieve serious back pain.^[266] He later 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^[267] and was told his full strength would return in six months.^[268]


On December 29, 2012, David suffered a stroke while on vacation in Florida.^[269][270] The stroke occurred in the pons section of David's brain, from which he lost most of the use of his right arm and his right leg, and suffered from blurred vision in his right eye. While a total recovery was indicated to be unlikely, he remained in good spirits, and underwent physical therapy in order to return to his prior routine.^[271][272] Two and a half months later, his condition had improved. His vision problems were gone, and he was able to navigate around his house without a wheelchair, and resume bowling and practicing tai chi. He had made slow and steady progress on his right leg and arm, and was continuing his therapy.^[260] Six months after the stroke, David had completed his physical therapy, though he still suffered some pain in his shoulder, and intended to work on improving his reduced endurance.^[273] David revealed in January 2015 that he was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes a year prior.^[274]


In March 2017, David announced on his blog that the IRS was demanding that he pay $88,000 USD in unpaid taxes, penalty and interest, which began to accumulate when his divorce from his first wife used up his savings. He started a GoFundMe campaign to raise the money from friends and fans,^[141] which raised $68,000 by April 12. David announced that he would begin a Patreon account where he would publish new work, and which would be used to pay taxes, and asked his readers for their content requests.^[275] By May 11, having sold some original comics artwork acquired two decades earlier, the Davids' debts were paid off.^[276]


On November 27, 2022, another GoFundMe was launched by Graham Murphy, who explained David's health was once again in decline, following kidney failure, another series of strokes, and a mild heart attack.^[277][278]