Goodbye, Writer of Stuff

“There are no such things as happy endings. Never. They’re totally manufactured by fiction writers who choose to end the story on a high point.”

Peter David was self described a Writer of Stuff, and it’s really the perfect epithet. He was a mainstay in comics for decades, also a prolific writer of novels and short stories, and shared opinions of all sorts over the years in essays, blog posts, and his But I Digress column.

Peter was one of my favorite writers and I’ve read a ridiculous amount of his stuff, starting pretty early on in his career.

I was an avid comic reader when I was young, and I am one today. In between my interest and ability continue with them waned, except for Peter’s work. There was a period where his comic were pretty much all I was reading, remaining thoroughly engrossed in titles like Aquaman, Supergirl, X-Factor, and Young Justice.

While he did great work on a number of popular characters, one of the things Peter is known for was taking second string characters and making something special with the freedom such things involve.

One great example of this was his work on X-Factor, spanning three different conceptual iterations featuring different lineups of misfits over the course of years. During his first run on X-Factor, he’d write one one of the most interesting and beloved single issue stories of all time. X-Factor #87 portrayed his government sponsored X-Factor team going to mandated therapy sessions in the aftermath of an X-men crossover event. It was an unusual aspect of Earth shaking events in comics that was captivating to see explored. Peter dug deep into the characters and created an enduring, compelling tale will little more than 36 pages of characters talking to each other.

The Incredible Hulk itself, the comic Peter’s best known for, was a low selling title before he originally took it over leading to an award winning run. During that run he notably explored the concept of Hulk as an aspect of Banner’s fractured psyche, leading to his creation of the Banner Hulk combined version of Hulk that would eventually inspire MCU’s “Smart Hulk.”

One of my favorite stories of all time is David’s two part Future Imperfect from 1994, showing the Hulk faced with his own dark potential.

Echos of his work also reverberate through the stories that followed and adaptations, such as Miguel O’Hara’s appearance in Across the Spider-Verse. Peter co-created and was the primary writer of Spider-Man 2099.

Peter pushed boundaries in his work, willing to test limits of subject matter, creative direction, and format.

One of his early comic stories that groundbreaking at the time and helped establish Peter as a writer, The Death of Jean DeWolff, created waves off the bat by proclaiming its intention to kill a popular supporting character in the title of the story.

His work crossed and combined genres and styles. Sometimes his over the top humor with mountains of wordplay and puns inundated the reader. Sometimes drama and heavy topics anchored his stories. And often those elements are more combined in ways no one else would dare.

His approach and convictions sometimes led to controversy and conflict, and occasionally didn’t land in the stories themselves, but Peter always kept trying and overall things came together into an incredible catalog of writing that will endure.

Another of Peter’s strengths was fitting stories within past continuity without heavy reconning, attempts to add context and depth between existing stories. Several of his well loved Star Trek novels took this approach.

A lot of his later work also focused on this concept, including writing stories that fleshed out Spider-Man’s time unknowingly wearing the alien symbiotic costume that would later become Venom. Given Peter’s start as a comic writer was in the aftermath of the original symbiote comics (when Peter was wearing a cloth replica of the black suit), it was nice bookend to an incredible career.

Peter had been facing severe health issues for quite some time, and passed away on May 24, 2025.

Thank you for a lifetime of stories Peter. Rest in Peace.