Paul Kupperberg (born June 14, 1955)[1] is an American writer and comics editor. He is currently a writer and executive editor at Charlton Neo Comics and Pix-C Webcomics, and a contributing author with Crazy 8 Press. Formerly, he was an editor for DC Comics and executive editor of Weekly World News, as well as a writer of novels, comic books, and newspaper strips.
Paul Kupperberg entered the comics field from comics fandom. He and Paul Levitz produced the comics fanzineThe Comic Reader between 1971 and 1973, and Etcetera between 1972–1973.
Kupperberg's prose credits include The Atlas to the DC Universe (Mayfair Games, 1992), The Doom Patrol Sourcebook (Mayfair Games, 1993), and the Spider-Man novels Crime Campaign and Murdermoon (both Pocket Books, 1979). He has had short stories published in the anthologies The Further Adventures of Batman Featuring Catwoman (Bantam Books, 1993), Fear Itself (Warner Books, 1995), Superheroes (Ace Books, 1995, edited by John Varley) and Oceans of Magic (DAW Books, 2001). His adult novel, JSA: Ragnarok, was scheduled to be published in 2006 but was delayed due to the bankruptcy of its publisher, iBooks. It was published in November 2020 by Crazy 8 Press.
His other published work includes the young adult novel Wishbone Mysteries: The Sirian Conspiracy (co-written with Michael Jan Friedman, Big Red Chair Books, 1999), as well as color and activity books featuring Firehouse Tales. In 2005, Kupperberg began writing for the weekly satiric and humor tabloid, Weekly World News.
From 1981 to 1982, Kupperberg was assistant editor on Video Action Magazine, one of the first newsstand magazines to focus on the then-burgeoning home video market. He also wrote numerous articles for the magazine. Among his other non-fiction work are many introductions and historic prefaces to various DC collected editions and Archives ('The Essential Showcase', The Flash Archives Volume 1, Action Comics Archives Volume 2, etc.), as well as essays for the anthology You Did What?: Mad Plans And Great Historical Disasters (Harper Paperbacks, 2004). Since 2003, Kupperberg has written numerous non-fiction books for young adults, including: Spy Satellites, The Tragedy Of The Titanic, Astronaut Biographies: John Glenn (a Society Of School Librarians International Honor Book, 2004), Critical Perspectives On The Great Depression, The Nature Of Disease, Edwin Hubble And The Big Bang, The History Of The New York Colony, Rodeo Clowns, Origins Of The Action Heroes: Spider-Man, Cutting Edge Careers In Robotics, and In The News: Hurricanes for Rosen Publishing.
He wrote the Harvey Award and Eisner Award nominated Life with Archie series for Archie Comics which began in August 2010 in the second issue of Life With Archie: The Married Life, in magazine format. The series continues the Michael Uslan/Stan Goldberg best-selling Archie wedding series, two ongoing series each featuring one of Archie's two possible futures, one married to Betty Cooper and another married to Veronica Lodge. The series also featured the controversial gay marriage of Kevin Keller (the first gay character in the Archie Comics Universe) and ended with the 2014 "The Death of Archie" storyline, which made news all over the world. He wrote the young adult novel Kevin (Penguin Books), which was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award and won the 2014 Scribe Award from the International Association of Media Tir-In Writers. He has written Captain Action Classified, children's books based on Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman for Stone Arch Books, and numerous color and activity books based on DreamWorks properties for Dalmatian Press, as well as Mad Libs featuring Archie, DC Superheroes, and Marvel Superheroes.
Kupperberg is currently executive editor of Charlton Neo and the online webcomics site, Pix-C, for which he has created numerous titles and features, including Paul Kupperberg's Secret Romances, Unusual Tales featuring N.E.O., "The Scarry Squad," "Edison Corliss' Industrial Steam and Ironworks," "Digger Graves, Paranormal P.I.," and "Blank."
DC Comics — introductions and historic forewords for collected editions of classic comic books, including Action Comics Archive Vol. 2, The Flash Archives Vol. 1, Challengers of The Unknown Archives Vol. 1, Superman: Whatever Happened To The Man Of Tomorrow?, The Essential Showcase, The Doom Patrol Archives Col. 3, Superman: The World Of Krypton, and Superman: The Bottle City Of Kandor.
Spy Satellites (Rosen Publishing, 2003)
The Tragedy of the Titanic (Rosen Publishing, 2003)
You Did What?: Mad Plans and Great Historical Disasters (Harper Paperbacks, 2004)
Astronaut Biographies: John Glenn (Rosen Publishing, 2004 — Society of School Librarians International Honor Book, 2004)
Critical Perspectives On The Great Depression (Rosen Publishing, 2005)
The Nature of Disease (Rosen Publishing, 2005)
Edwin Hubble and the Big Bang (Rosen Publishing, 2005)
The History of the New York Colony (Rosen Publishing, 2005)
Rodeo Clowns (Rosen Publishing, 2006)
Origins of the Action Heroes: Spider-Man (Rosen Publishing, 2006)
Cutting Edge Careers in Robotics (Rosen Publishing, 2007)
In the News: Hurricanes (Rosen Publishing, 2007)
Great Historic Disasters: The Influenza Pandemic of 1918–1919 (Facts On File, 2008)
Building America, Then and Now: The Alaska Highway (Facts On File, 2008)
The Multi-Path Adventures of Superman: Bizarro — six-part animated series for the Internet (BDE, 1998)
Specialty advertising and custom comic books for clients including Radio Shack, Power Tool Institute, Bariatric Health Institute, Silly Putty, Mattel Toys, Fruit-of-the-Loom, NASCAR, Schering-Plough Pharmaceutical
Role playing game manuals for Mayfair Games
Color and activity books for Scholastic, Simon Scribbles (Simon & Schuster), Dalmatian Publishing, Meredith Books
^McAvennie, Michael; Dolan, Hannah, ed. (2010). "1970s". DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle. London, United Kingdom: Dorling Kindersley. p. 175. ISBN978-0-7566-6742-9. Showcase #94 (Aug.-Sept. 1977) Writer Paul Kupperberg and artist Joe Staton revived DC's "try-out" series from its seven-year slumber by resurrecting the super-hero team, Doom Patrol.{{cite book}}: |first2= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^Browning, Michael (July 2013). "The Doom Patrol Interviews: Paul Kupperberg". Back Issue! (65). Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing: 42–45.
^Wallace, Dan (2008). "Arion, Lord of Atlantis". In Dougall, Alastair (ed.). The DC Comics Encyclopedia. London, United Kingdom: Dorling Kindersley. p. 24. ISBN978-0-7566-4119-1.
^Manning, Matthew K. "1980s" in Dolan, p. 198 "With the guidance of writer Paul Kupperberg and prolific artist Carmine Infantino, Supergirl found a home in the city of Chicago in a new ongoing series."
^Manning "1980s" in Dolan, p. 199: "[Ambush Bug] made his debut in the pages of DC Comics Presents #52...[by] writer Paul Kupperberg and artist Keith Giffen."
^Manning "1980s" in Dolan, p. 229: "October [1987] saw a new Doom Patrol series, by writer Paul Kupperberg and artist Steve Lightle."
^Manning "1980s" in Dolan, p. 235: "The clandestine government operation Checkmate began its monthly adventures in April [1988] in its self-titled ongoing series by writer Paul Kupperberg and artist Steve Erwin."
^McAvennie "1970s" in Dolan, p. 181: "The worldwide success of Superman: The Movie motivated [DC] to publish more Superman-related titles. With that, editor E. Nelson Bridwell oversaw a project that evolved into comics' first official limited series – World of Krypton...Featuring out-of-this-world artwork from Howard Chaykin, [Paul] Kupperberg's three-issue limited series explored Superman's homeworld."
^Callahan, Tim (February 2013). "World of Krypton Comics' First Miniseries". Back Issue! (62). Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing: 59–62.
^Manning "1980s" in Dolan, p. 192: "This was DC's third foray into the world of the world of the miniseries...Plotted by E. Nelson Bridwell, with a script by Paul Kupperberg, Secrets of the Legion of Super-Heroes featured the art of Jim Janes."
^Greenberger, Robert (August 2017). "It Sounded Like a Good Idea at the Time: A Look at the DC Challenge!". Back Issue! (98). Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing: 40.