Peter David facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Peter David |
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David at Midtown Comics in Manhattan in 2017
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| Born | Peter Allen David September 23, 1956 Fort Meade, Maryland, U.S. |
| Died | May 24, 2025 (aged 68) East Patchogue, New York, U.S. |
| Area(s) | Superhero fiction, science fiction, fantasy |
| Pseudonym(s) | David Peters |
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Notable works
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The Incredible Hulk X-Factor Young Justice Star Trek: New Frontier Fallen Angel |
| Awards |
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| Spouse(s) |
Myra Kasman
(m. 1977; div. 1998)Kathleen O'Shea
(m. 2001) |
| Children | 4 |
| Signature | |
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| Education | New York University (BA) |
| Occupation |
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| Years active | 1985–2025 |
Peter Allen David (September 23, 1956 – May 24, 2025), often called PAD, was an American writer. He wrote comic books, novels, TV shows, movies, and video games. He was famous for his 12-year work on The Incredible Hulk. He also wrote for Aquaman, Young Justice, Supergirl, and X-Factor.
Peter David also wrote many Star Trek comics and novels. His novel series New Frontier was very popular. He wrote other books, including movie stories and his own original series. For TV, he worked on shows like Babylon 5, Young Justice, and Space Cases. He even helped create Space Cases with Bill Mumy.
David often joked that his job was "Writer of Stuff". He wrote a lot and was known for mixing real-world topics with humor. He also included references to popular culture in his stories.
He was a very important and busy comic book writer. He won several awards for his work. These included an Eisner Award in 1992 and a GLAAD Media Award in 2011.
Contents
Early Life and Interests
Peter David was born on September 23, 1956, in Fort Meade, Maryland. His parents were Gunter and Dalia David. His mother, Dalia, was a scientist. His father, Gunter, was a journalist. Peter said his sense of humor came from his mother. His grandparents and father moved to the United States in the 1930s. They left Germany because of difficult times there.
Peter first liked comics when he was about five years old. He read Casper and Wendy comics. He became interested in superheroes from the Adventures of Superman TV show. His parents didn't like superhero comics at first. They thought characters like the Thing or the Hulk looked like monsters. So, Peter read them in secret. His first Marvel comic was Fantastic Four Annual #3. Later, his parents let him read superhero comics. Superman became his favorite.
Peter's interest in writing started with his father's journalism. His father sometimes reviewed movies and took Peter along. Peter would write his own reviews. Parts of his writing sometimes ended up in his father's published reviews. He thought about becoming a writer at age twelve. He bought books about how to become a writer.
He lived in Bloomfield, New Jersey, and later in Verona, New Jersey. When he was a teenager, he lost interest in comics. He felt he had grown out of them. His experiences in Verona shaped his views on social issues. He later used Verona as a setting in his novel Knight Life.
His interest in comics came back when he saw Superman vs. Muhammad Ali (1978). Then he found X-Men #95. These were the first comics he bought in years.
A big moment for his writing dreams was meeting author Stephen King. King signed a book for him, wishing him luck. Peter later did the same for his own fans. He was also influenced by writers like Harlan Ellison and Neil Gaiman. He went to New York University and earned a degree in journalism.
Writing Career
Early Work
Peter David's first professional writing job was covering a science fiction convention in 1974. This was for a newspaper called the Philadelphia Bulletin.
He later moved to writing fiction. His first published story appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction in 1980. He also sold an opinion piece to The New York Times.
Comics Writing
1980s Comics
Peter David worked in book publishing before comics. He then worked in the Sales Department at Marvel Comics for five years. While there, he tried to sell stories.
His first comic story was for The Spectacular Spider-Man #103 in 1985. He then wrote "The Death of Jean DeWolff" for Spectacular Spider-Man. This story was darker than typical Spider-Man tales. Later, Bob Harras offered him The Incredible Hulk. This comic was not selling well, so David had a lot of freedom with it.
He wrote Hulk for 12 years. He explored the Hulk's different personalities, like the raging Green Hulk and the smarter Grey Hulk. He also showed how Bruce Banner had a difficult childhood. These ideas were later used in the 2003 movie. David made Hulk a very popular comic. He worked with famous artists like Todd McFarlane and Dale Keown. He also created new characters like the Riot Squad.
After a year of writing full-time, David felt his career was set. He wrote a four-issue series for The Phantom at DC Comics. He also briefly wrote Green Lantern comics.
David took over Dreadstar comics in 1989. His other Marvel work in the 1980s and 1990s included Wolverine and X-Factor. He also co-created and wrote Spider-Man 2099. This series was about a new Spider-Man in the year 2099. He left Spider-Man 2099 after 44 issues.
1990s Comics
In 1990, David wrote The Atlantis Chronicles for DC Comics. This was a miniseries about the history of Atlantis, Aquaman's home. He was very proud of this work. In 1994, he wrote a new Aquaman series. His run on Aquaman became famous because Aquaman lost a hand and got a harpoon instead. David made Aquaman a tougher, more respected hero. He left the book due to creative differences.
David wrote Star Trek comics for DC from 1988 to 1991. He also co-wrote the DC vs. Marvel crossover event in 1996. He wrote for Supergirl and Young Justice. Young Justice was later canceled so its characters could be used in Teen Titans.
For Dark Horse Comics, David wrote the teen spy adventure SpyBoy. He also worked on Heroes Reborn: The Return for Marvel. He created his own comics like Soulsearchers and Company and Sachs and Violens.
2000s Comics
In the early 2000s, David wrote for Captain Marvel.
He and his second wife, Kathleen, wrote the English text for the Negima manga series.
In 2003, David started his own comic, Fallen Angel. He created it to use ideas he had for Supergirl. He also wrote a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series that tied into the TV show.
DC canceled Fallen Angel, but David restarted it at IDW Publishing. He also wrote Spike comics based on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV show.
In 2005, David briefly returned to The Incredible Hulk. He also started a new series, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. This included a story called "The Other". In this story, Spider-Man gained new powers.
David wrote a MadroX miniseries. Its success led to a new X-Factor series, which he also wrote. This new X-Factor team worked as detectives. David's work on this series was praised. He also showed that characters Shatterstar and Rictor were in love. This caused some discussion, but David won a 2011 GLAAD Media Award for his work on X-Factor.
In 2006, David signed a special contract with Marvel Comics. He also wrote the dialogue for The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born. This was a comic book based on Stephen King's The Dark Tower novels.
David took over Marvel's She-Hulk comic. His work on it was well-liked. He also wrote a miniseries based on his Sir Apropos of Nothing novels.
Other comics David wrote in the 2000s included Halo: Helljumper, based on the Halo video game. He also wrote a Ben 10: Alien Force manga book. He adapted the film Tron into a comic.
2010s Comics
On November 24, 2011, David helped pull the Spider-Man balloon in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
In October 2013, X-Factor ended. It was then relaunched as All-New X-Factor. This new series featured a corporate-sponsored team.
In July 2014, David returned to Spider-Man 2099. He wrote the second volume of the series. He was writing two series at once again, just like he had done years before.
In 2014, David wrote a six-part story for The Phantom. He had wanted to write this story for many years.
In 2015, he co-wrote Stan Lee's autobiography, Amazing Fantastic Incredible. It became a New York Times bestseller.
In April 2017, Marvel started a new series called Ben Reilly: The Scarlet Spider. David was the writer. He explained that he was interested in writing a hero with a more complicated view of the world. His other Spider-Man work included the miniseries Symbiote Spider-Man and Symbiote Spider-Man: Alien Reality.
Novels
David's novel writing career grew alongside his comic book work. He sold his first novel, Knight Life, in 1987. This book was about King Arthur appearing in modern New York City. Another early novel, Howling Mad, was about a wolf that turned into a human. He also wrote the Photon and Psi-Man novels. These were published under the name "David Peters" at first. Later, Knight Life was updated and became a trilogy. His other early novels were also re-released under his real name.
David started writing Star Trek novels because an editor liked his Star Trek comics. His Star Trek novels are very well known. These include Q-in-Law and Imzadi. Imzadi was very popular and told the love story of William Riker and Deanna Troi. He also created the Star Trek: New Frontier novel series. He wrote 21 books in this series, and many became bestsellers.
He also wrote novels based on movies like The Rocketeer, Batman Forever, and the Spider-Man films. He wrote an original Hulk novel, The Incredible Hulk: What Savage Beast.
David's 2009 novel Tigerheart was a new version of Peter Pan. It was praised and recognized by the School Library Journal. His Sir Apropos of Nothing fantasy trilogy was also popular. He also wrote Darkness of the Light, the first book in his The Hidden Earth trilogy.
In 2010, he co-wrote Year of the Black Rainbow with musician Claudio Sanchez. He also wrote a Fable novel called The Balverine Order. In 2011, David and other writers started Crazy Eight Press to publish e-books directly to fans.
Writing Style
David tried to work on different projects on different days. He usually wrote novels in the morning and comics in the afternoon. He used a computer for his writing. When writing novels, he sometimes planned the story out, and sometimes he just wrote as ideas came to him. After he had a stroke in 2012, he started using voice recognition software to write.
He used to write comic scripts using the Marvel Method. But he later switched to the full script method. He liked to plan his comic stories in six-month parts. He often dedicated his work to specific people. For example, he wrote Supergirl for his daughters. He said events in his own life sometimes showed up in his stories.
David said his favorite female character he created was Lee from Fallen Angel. He was interested in writing for characters like Batman and Tarzan.
Other Published Works
- Before becoming a professional writer, he wrote fan fiction.
- David wrote a weekly opinion column called "But I Digress..." for Comics Buyer's Guide. He used the column to talk about the comic industry. He donated his earnings from the column to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.
- He helped Star Trek actor James Doohan with his autobiography, Beam Me Up, Scotty.
- David wrote an instructional book called Writing for Comics with Peter David.
- His short story "Colors Seen by Candlelight" appeared in Tales of Zorro.
- In 2009, David organized a funny story project called "Potato Noon".
- In 2022, David put together a collection of stories called The Fans are Buried Tales.
Other Media Work
Peter David wrote for several TV shows and video games. He wrote two episodes for Babylon 5 and one for its sequel, Crusade. He co-created the TV series Space Cases with Bill Mumy. This show ran for two seasons on Nickelodeon and was his most successful TV work. David also appeared in an episode of Space Cases. His oldest daughter, Shana, also appeared in the show.
He wrote and helped produce several films for Full Moon Entertainment. He also had small acting roles in some of them.
David wrote an episode of Ben 10: Alien Force called "In Charm's Way". He later wrote three episodes of Ben 10: Ultimate Alien.
He wrote the script for the Xbox 360 video game Shadow Complex in 2009.
David wrote several episodes of the Young Justice animated TV series. This show was based on the comic book series he wrote. He also wrote a graphic novel for the video game Epic Mickey.
In 2011, David wrote the video game Spider-Man: Edge of Time.
In 2012, Stan Lee announced a new YouTube channel. One of the shows, Head Cases, was a superhero comedy created by David and his wife Kathleen.
Awards and Recognition
Peter David received many awards for his writing:
Awards
- 1992 Eisner Award for Best Writer/Artist or Writer/Artist Team (for The Incredible Hulk)
- 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
- 1996 Haxtur Award for Best Script (for Para que la oscuridad no nos alcance ["So That the Dark Does Not Reach Us"])
- 2007 Julie Award for achievements in many types of writing
- 2011 GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Comic Book (X-Factor vol. 3)
- 2011 International Association of Media Tie-In Writers Grandmaster Award
- 2016 Inkpot Award from Comic-Con International
Nominations
- 1992 Haxtur Award for Best Script (for Crónicas de Atlantis)
- 1992 Prometheus Award (for Star Trek: The Rift)
- 1992 Eisner Award for Best Continuing Series (for The Incredible Hulk)
- 1994 Eisner Award for Best Writer (for The Incredible Hulk)
- 1995 Haxtur Award for Best Long Story (for Sachs & Violens)
- 1997 Cable Ace Award for Best Children's Series (for Space Cases)
- 1998 Harvey Award for Best Single Issue or Story (for The Incredible Hulk #-1)
- 1999 Eisner Award for Best New Series (for Young Justice)
- 1999 Eisner Award for Best Title for a Younger Audience (for Young Justice)
Personal Life
Peter David lived in Patchogue, Long Island, until his death.
He met his first wife, Myra Kasman, at a Star Trek convention. They married in 1977 and had three daughters: Shana, Guinevere, and Ariel. They divorced in 1998. David then started dating Kathleen O'Shea, a bookseller and writer. They married in 2001. Their daughter, Caroline Helen David, was born in 2002. She was named after David's friend and co-worker, Carol Kalish.
David was a fan of bowling and the New York Mets. He also practiced tai chi. He enjoyed music by The Beatles and loved musicals. He also acted in local plays.
Health and Death
In June 2010, David had surgery for severe back pain. He recovered his strength over several months.
On December 29, 2012, David had a stroke while on vacation. He lost some use of his right arm and leg and had blurred vision. He worked hard in physical therapy. His vision problems went away, and he could move around his house without a wheelchair. He also started bowling and practicing tai chi again. He continued to improve slowly. In January 2015, he shared that he had been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.
In March 2017, David announced that he needed to pay a large amount in unpaid taxes. He started a fundraising campaign, and friends and fans helped him raise the money. He also started a Patreon account to publish new work and help with taxes.
In November 2022, another fundraising campaign was started. It explained that David's health was declining again. He had kidney failure, more strokes, and a mild heart attack.
Peter David passed away on May 24, 2025, at the age of 68. He had been in the hospital for a long time due to his health issues. His wife said the cause was another stroke. He was cremated, and a memorial was planned for later in the year.
Screenwriting Credits
- Ben 10: Alien Force
- "In Charm's Way"
- Ben 10: Ultimate Alien
- "Reflected Glory"
- "Prisoner Number 775 Is Missing"
- "Solitary Alignment"
- Babylon 5
- "Soul Mates"
- "There All the Honor Lies"
- Young Justice
- "Secrets"
- "Insecurity"
- "Bloodlines"
- "Intervention"
- "Triptych"
See also
In Spanish: Peter David para niños
