Legion of Substitute Podcasters » Blog Archive » Episode 86 – Back To The Future: The Return of Paul Levitz

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Legion of Substitute Podcasters » Blog Archive » Episode 86 – Back To The Future: The Return of Paul Levitz

Episode 86 – Back To The Future: The Return of Paul Levitz

May 31st, 2010 by Paul

Paul Levitz joins the Subs for an in depth discussion of Legion of Super Heroes #1. Then keep listening to learn more about what’s coming up in Adventure Comics, and Legion of Super Heroes as Paul discusses his very busy schedule, some thoughts on the digital revolution, and the advantages of playing baseball at superspeed.

DC Universe: The Source » Blog Archive » THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES returns

In honor of a new Legion of Super-Heroes #1, I proclaim this LEGION DAY!!  (Flight Rings are optional)

DC Universe: The Source » Blog Archive » THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES returns

Wednesday, May 19th, 2010

By Alex Segura

It’s time to go back to the future, gang, as fan-favorite LEGION writer Paul Levitz teams with rising star artist Yildiray Cinar to chronicle the adventures of the 31st century’s premiere super team. Picking up on threads from SUPERMAN AND THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES and creating its own, the first issue is no slouch in the action department, as an entire planet is destroyed. And, because that’s what we do, we’ve got a first look at the issue right here.

LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #1 hits today.

Newsarama – PAUL LEVITZ Talks LEGION OF SUPERHEROES @ C2E2 2010

Some how I missed this when it came out a while back, but this is a great little interview. Warning, there are some spoilers!

Check it out here

Newsarama.com : PAUL LEVITZ Prepares for a LEGION of DC Writing Assignments

Read the rest of the article at the link below…

Newsarama.com : PAUL LEVITZ Prepares for a LEGION of DC Writing Assignments

PAUL LEVITZ Prepares for a LEGION of DC Writing Assignments
By Vaneta Rogers

For Paul Levitz, this year marks a return to writing comics and the characters he helped define at DC Comics almost two decades ago.

For fans, it means some of their favorite teams and characters are returning, getting Levitz’s unique brand of treatment again.

In May, the writer will launch a brand new Legion of Super-Heroes title, returning to a group of characters he helped define during his run on the title in the 1980s, and he’ll also be writing a story in the revamped Superman/Batman.

And now comes news that Levitz will be writing Lucien of Sandman fame, a character he created back in 1975 that now resides in the Vertigo universe, as he takes part in a chain-written issue of House of Mystery in May.

Although Levitz was a prolific writer for DC during the mid- to late-’80s, most modern readers have known Levitz as an editor and later the company’s publisher, a role he left late last year when DC Comics became DC Entertainment. In his new role at DC, under the direction of the company’s new president, Diane Nelson, he is serving as a contributing editor and consultant while also returning to his writing roots.

Besides all the Levitz projects that readers will see in May, the writer is also taking over Adventure Comics later this year, beginning with a storyline called Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes: Secret Origin.

Newsarama talked to Levitz to find out more about all these writing projects and how it feels to return to some familiar characters.

Levitz Serves Duty With “Legion,” Gets Dirty With Vertigo – Comic Book Resources

See the rest of the article at link

Levitz Serves Duty With “Legion,” Gets Dirty With Vertigo – Comic Book Resources

Levitz Serves Duty With “Legion,” Gets Dirty With Vertigo

Thu, February 4th, 2010 at 12:28PM (PST) | Updated: February 4th, 2010 at 4:54PM

From the looks of it, Paul Levitz hasn’t had much time to relax since stepping down as the President and Publisher of DC Comics. While the September changing of the guard that saw DC Comics become DC Entertainment brought with it the news that Levitz would stay on as a consultant and freelance writer for the publisher, few may have expected that the industry veteran would produce piles of comics work in the immediate future, but this May sees the longtime DC staple contributing to three series. For one, his previously announced gig as writer of the relaunch of “Legion of Super-Heroes” with artist Yildiray Cinar gets underway that month, with DC today releasing a first look at the artist’s interior work. Levitz will also step into “Superman/Batman” for an arc titled “Worship” starting in issue #72 taking the Man of Steel and the Dark Knight to mythic adventures and contribute a chapter to a comics jam in the form of “House of Mystery” #25, which has a round robin script co-written by a host of writers including series regular Matthew Sturges.

And all of that is only step one for Levitz’s writing future. He’ll also pick up the monthly “Adventure Comics” series in June. “The genesis of the ‘Adventure’ arc is that Geoff challenged me to do the story that could be collected into one book that you could hand to somebody to introduce them to the Legion. That doesn’t really exist right now. So that’s why we’re going back and looking at the origins and how they develop,” Levitz told CBR. However, readers shouldn’t expect his tenure with the superteam he twice made his name on to be all building blocks and origins, as Levitz explained in an in depth interview where he addressed how to best integrate the Legion into modern DC canon as well as the modern DC publishing plan, why the series expansive cast is a boon to their stores and much, much more.

Episode 70 – Back To The Future: A Conversation with Paul Levitz – The Legion of Substitute Podcasters

I can’t wait to listen to this today!!

The Legion of Substitute Podcasters

Episode 70 – Back To The Future: A Conversation with Paul Levitz

Posted: February 8th, 2010 under Blog.
Tags: Bwana Beast, Paul Levitz

In this episode, Darren, Matt, Scott and Paul interview once and Future Legion of Super Heroes writer Paul Levitz. They talk about his past runs on the Legion and the JSA, his upcoming runs on Legion of Super Heroes and Adventure Comics, and how to really put together a great comic room. Check it out as the guys try to hold it together and not ask the question

Remember that time when you had the Legion fight Darkseid? That was awesome…

Levitz & Nelson on DC Entertainment – Comic Book Resources

The rest of the article at the link below

Levitz & Nelson on DC Entertainment – Comic Book Resources

News broke Wednesday that Paul Levitz, the President and Publisher of DC Comics since 2002 and a chief architect of the publisher’s success in other roles since the 1970s, had resigned. Levitz saw DC through such publishing milestones as “Watchmen” and “The Dark Knight Returns,” the formation of its influential Vertigo imprint, and guided the publisher through the creation of the direct market. Once a hugely popular writer of such DC titles as “The Legion of Super-Heroes,” Levitz will return to writing comic books full time, beginning with next year’s “Adventure Comics” #7. Levitz will also serve as a multipurpose consultant as the company continues its restructuring, a process which includes hiring a new Publisher.

Concurrently, DC Comics parent company Warner Bros. Entertainment announced the formation of DC Entertainment, a new entity under which DC Comics will continue to operate. DC Entertainment’s stated mission is to strategically exploit the DC brand across all media, such as video games and feature film. DC Entertainment’s President is Diane Nelson, who most recently served as the President of Warner Premiere, WB’s direct-to-consumer brand responsible for the “Green Lantern: First Flight” and “Batman: Gotham Knight” DVD features, among other projects. Most auspiciously, Nelson has managed the Harry Potter franchise for Warner Bros. since 1999, turning JK Rowling’s best-selling novels into a multimedia empire.

To learn more about DC Entertainment’s plans for DC Comics and what role Levitz will play in the newly organized company, CBR News spoke with Levitz and Nelson about all the day’s big news.

CBR Staff Writer Andy Khouri contributed to this story.
Story continues below

Busiek.com: Paul Levitz

Busiek.com: Paul Levitz

Paul Levitz

Some years ago, while I was negotiating with DC Comics over their offer to publish Astro City after the initial 6-issue run at Image, I was in Paul Levitz’s office talking over contract terms. I mentioned there were a couple of points that were troubling to me, and Paul told me he couldn’t take them out of the contract, but he could assure me, if it had value to me, that as long as he was sitting in the Publisher’s chair at DC those clauses wouldn’t be activated. I said that no offense meant, but there was no guarantee that he was going to stay in that chair, so while I believed him and appreciated the gesture, I still had to negotiate as if those clauses could be triggered tomorrow. He nodded, and acknowledged that while he had no intention of leaving DC any time soon, that yeah, there were no guarantees. I wound up signing with Wildstorm—and then DC bought Wildstorm, and has published Astro City ever since. Though I’m glad to report that the contract doesn’t have those two clauses that troubled me, because DC bought the Wildstorm contract along with the company.

And I’ve been glad to have Paul at the helm; had it not been for those two minor contractual terms, I’d have happily signed with DC then and there.

Well, today—over a decade since that conversation—the day came. The internet’s abuzz with the news that Warner Bros. is reorganizing DC Comics, creating a new company called DC Entertainment to shepherd DC’s characters and concepts more smoothly into movies, TV and other media. And as part of that restructuring, Paul is stepping down as President and Publisher and will return to writing, as well as being a contributing editor and a consultant to the new management.

As I’ve told a couple of the comics news organizations already, the DC Entertainment news, like the Disney-buys-Marvel news, doesn’t much interest me—it’s all about movies and video games and brand management, and I’m sure it’ll change the way things get done in some ways, but the part of the industry I care most about, the comics—it doesn’t seem to affect that much at all.

But Paul Levitz leaving DC management?

That’s huge. That’s the story that’s going to change things.

Paul has been at the forefront of just about every industry development of the last couple of decades, and has been key to how the industry’s shaped itself over those years. Shifting from a periodicals-only business to a strong backlist-oriented business with trade paperbacks and hardcovers, adding imprints like Vertigo, creating new opportunities for creators and for creator ownership, seeing that DC gave a fair (or at least fairer) deal to the creators who originated the concepts that turned up in DC-based movies, from Arkham Asylum and Lucius Fox to Robin’s motorcycles (yeah, because they called Chris O’Donnell’s ride the “Redbird” in one of the movies, Paul Levitz saw to it that Chuck Dixon got money) and more, Paul was an important part of a huge number of changes that DC’s seen, and that the whole industry’s seen. Some of them big changes everyone’s noticed, some of them behind-the-scenes stuff few people know about.

And some people have been impatient that Paul was cautious, and wanted him to move faster, to leap into new things instead of easing into them. But in an industry where many publishers throw money into the latest cool thing, only to find themselves overextended and floundering, Paul was always careful that growth and change should be sustainable, doing things like building a backlist of trade paperbacks slowly, so the revenue from the existing books would fuel the addition of new ones, and a large library was built over time. And often, when other publishers’ precipitous actions had made things unstable, DC Comics provided a backstop, a stability that let the comics industry ride out the rough waters and get to the next safe haven. To mix metaphors shamelessly.

Paul is one of a very few people who’ve been absolutely key in shaping the comics industry from what it was in the mid-Seventies to what it is today. Staggering changes, built slowly over time, so that DC (and the companies that adopted DC’s innovations) could build from strength to strength.

I don’t know who’ll sit in that chair next, and I don’t know what they’ll do. But whoever they are, whatever their experience, instincts, skill and priorities, they’ll be different from Paul’s, and that’ll change comics. In a good way? In a bad way? Probably a mixture of the two. But this, I’m confident, is where the big changes for comics publishing will be coming from. Not Disney deals and movie plans, but a new guy in what for a long time was the most stable, influential, skilfully-run office in the business.

On the other hand, while the freelancer in me braces for change, the reader part of me is delighted that we’re going to see Paul Levitz writing comics again, starting with Legion of Superheroes, the feature that established his name for so many enthusiastic fans. No door closes but a window opens somewhere, and I can’t wait.

And just to wrap up—I’m reminded of a text feature, back in DC books in the mid-Seventies, one of those “DC ProFiles” or “Meet the Staff” features, that gave a quickie bio of and interview with Paul. At the time, he was attending college and paying his way by working for DC in his spare time, and the bit of it I’ve always remembered is the part where Paul said that he couldn’t see staying in comics after he graduated, that he loved what he was doing, but his career plans would take him elsewhere.

Well, maybe you didn’t see it then, Paul, but your plans changed, and took you along a pretty damn cool career path. And comics has been better off for it. So congratulations on all you’ve done.

And now new possibilities open up, and we’ll get to see what Paul Levitz does next. Whatever it is, it’ll be worth watching.

[And I haven't been able to find that mid-70s DC text feature again, so if anyone knows where it ran, let me know so I can dig it out, huh?]

TODAY’S VIEWS – PAUL LEVITZ – Marvwofman.com

TODAY’S VIEWS

PAUL LEVITZ

If you are into comics, you already know Paul Levitz is stepping down from his position as President and Publisher of DC Comics. I’ve known Paul since he was 13 and consider him one of my closest and dearest friends. For years now, Paul has talked about retiring someday soon and returning to writing, his first love. For that reason alone I am so happy for him because I know that’s what he deeply cares about and has been wanting. As readers, we are in for some major treats.

I can also say, without fear of rebuttal by anyone who is in the know, Paul is probably the best, the smartest, the most creative and the most moral Publisher the business has ever seen. Most fans have no idea how important Paul is, not only to DC, but to the entire industry. I have often said, and mean, that without Paul there very well might not be a comics industry today. I am not speaking in hyperbole. I am being literal; I mean exactly what I wrote.

The other side of my mind is focused on the future of comics. When you look at the billion dollars plus that Dark Knight grossed, or the hundreds of millions grossed by Iron Man – a character few people outside of comics knew anything about – we see that people love what we do, but that love has not always been reflected in the sales of the comics themselves. Back in the 90s, when I was one of the two founding editors of Disney Adventures magazine – a magazine that sold over a million copies a month – I started calling regular comics a 32 page pamphlet. I meant that to be as derogatory as it sounds.

Comics were trapped in a ghetto; beloved and ignored at the same time. The days of the pamphlet are over. The tail of the dinosaur just hasn’t informed the brain. We need to look ahead to other formats, to other kinds of stories to tell and to other ways to distribute what we do. There is a generation now who gets all their entertainment over the net and that is not going to change. We are not going to go back to a 100% paper society. That is ridiculous both for distribution and for the environment. Computer book readers are going to get more popular and when they move to color, there will be no reason at all to have to print a magazine when you can download one to a perfect flat screen with no glare that looks exactly like paper anyway.

Comics have already become a staple of the net as well as the iPhone and other mobile devices. As any reader of this column knows from my endless sales pitches, my own comic, The Man Called A-X, has been available on the iPhone for months now. Yes, I know there are negatives, but technologically the world rarely moves backward. People all over the world love comics, we know that without doubt, but for the industry to grow to where it should be, we’ve got to find better ways of getting our ideas into their hands, and we also need to tell stories that appeal to all walks of life. I see a bright future for comics, but we’ve got to move and think forward if we hope to achieve it.

I think that Disney taking over Marvel, and Warner’s working more closely with DC, means new ideas can be tried in ways that they haven’t been able to before. When you are now part of a large whole, where each part of a company can work with and strengthen the other, the synergy created can bring more notice and therefore more eyes to comics. I’m not naive; I know there can also be downsides, but I believe you don’t spend the money Disney did or the effort Warners is unless you believe in the business. We all know there are comics today that sell only in the hundreds and many others in just 4 figures. There should be no reason for so much great material to sell so badly other than our current inability to get people to see it. By looking and moving ahead, by experimenting with new ways to get comics into our hands, we can reach the audience the material deserves to find.

Congratulations to my friend Paul for getting to do what he’s been wanting to for years. And congratulations and the very best of luck to Diane Nelson who will help guide DC into the future.

Labels: Paul Levitz

DC Universe: The Source » Blog Archive » Levitz returns to the 30th Century

I called it!!

DC Universe: The Source » Blog Archive » Levitz returns to the 30th Century

Levitz returns to the 30th Century

Wednesday, September 9th, 2009

By David Hyde

You may have heard that Paul Levitz will be once again adding his considerable talent, drive and creativity to our ever expanding universe as a regular DC Comics writer.

So, what’s his first writing assignment?

Paul is returning to the title he made great as both a writer and editor, ADVENTURE COMICS, and with his eyes set to the future, he brings several of his favorite characters with him. ADVENTURE is the first in a number of projects, both ongoing and mini-series that Paul will be taking on as he joins of our list of top notch creators here at DC.

As Executive Editor, and as a fan, I can’t wait for him to get started.

-Dan DiDio

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