I’ve seen the sentiment expressed elsewhere that Paul Levitz has been personally involved in attempting to keep the Siegel estate from collecting their share of Superman’s copyright.
Let me say without even the slightest reservation that this is crap. Greg Morrow details how Levitz was personally involved in seeing that DC increased Siegel and Shuster’s pension back in the 70s here, and I’ll second his declaration that Levitz is a real mensch.
Yes, I have said previously that DC Comics are, collectively, being moneygrubbing assholes as regards the Siegels. But that’s a corporation, a legal fiction determined by fiat to be psychopathic in its intent to collect funds, and more importantly not even an independent one but rather a small wing of a media empire. There is a difference between saying that DC Comics are being assholes and saying that Levitz is being an asshole; for example, the former is true and the latter is not. Levitz has very little say in how corporate policies are executed; DC Comics’ policy regarding protection of its properties isn’t his to dictate.
Moreover, I’d like to go into Sharing Time for a second, and mention how, back when I was doing the original I Should Write The Legion series on my old Livejournal, a friend of mine called up Paul Levitz (whom he knew through old-school fan channels) and suggested we talk, if only to give me some insights into the business end of comics. And that’s how I came to have a hour-plus phone call, uninterrupted, with the managing director of DC Comics, on a weekday morning. The fact that Paul Levitz almost certainly had better and/or more important things to do than talk with a nigh-total nobody like me never even entered into the conversation at all.
That’s because Levitz is a good guy. And I just wanted to make that clear.
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Levitz has gotten his share of bad press for a number of decisions DC as a whole has made — from the alienation of Alan Moore to the pulping of most of the press run of a comic over Superbaby hopping in the microwave — but I’ve always wanted to believe he was a Good Guy, and I’d heard plenty of second- or third-hand stories to back that up. Nothing quite like this, though.
But then, I remember how he used to do the Legion Outposts himself, and that was always a good read, too.
Also, congrats. Because that’s one hell of a phone call to have.
Wow. That’s actually really impressive. But he’d’ve been an even gooder guy if he’d hired your ass.
Well, it’s not his job to hire me for any creative position. That would be the purvey of, you know, Dan Didio and the various editors and the like. I’m sure if I had been an accountant looking for a job, though, Levitz totally would have hired me!
Thanks for saying that. He really is a good guy and doesn’t deserve the drubbing he gets from some people. It ain’t easy working that line between company and creative.
Since I don’t actually know who any of the important people in the real live DC Universe are, I’m going to stay in my ignorant fantasy land and insist that Mr. Levitz still could’ve contacted the Magical Rainbow Pony Commander of the Kick-Ass Jobs Division on your behalf, in addition to sending you the Welcoming Fruit Basket of Unlimited Free Kittens. Then the Reasonable Intelligent Logical Internets That Totally Aren’t Ever Going To Exist would tell him how sorry it was that people are such dumb-ass ignoramuses. And we would all live happily ever after!
Jesus. I need a new job or something.
Actually, I just asked Paul if he might be willing to pass on your stuff to the Legion editor and/or take a look at it and/or let me drop his name when I contacted the Legion editor to hopefully indicate that your stuff was at a higher level than standard slush pile submission. He then suggested that you give him a call, so his getting in touch with you was really his idea from the start.