About Danny Fingeroth

DANNY FINGEROTH is a longtime popular culture critic and historian. He writes and speaks about topics that tell us about ourselves and the cultural icons that impact our lives.

His most recent book is JACK RUBY: THE MANY FACES OF OSWALD’S ASSASSIN, a look into the mind of the strange, violent man who changed history when, on November 24, 1963, he murdered Lee Harvey Oswald—presumed assassin of President John F. Kennedy—on live TV.

He’s also the author of the definitive biography A MARVELOUS LIFE: THE AMAZING STORY OF STAN LEE, published in 2019 by St. Martin’s press/Macmillan. Danny has done the audio narration of the Jack Ruby and Stan Lee books, as well as for his books Superman on the Couch and Disguised as Clark Kent. (He’s eager to do audiobooks for other authors.) Danny has done the audiobooks versions of the Ruby and lee books, as well as for other books he’s written.

Danny started his career in the comics and graphic novel worlds, having spent close to two decades as a writer and editor for Marvel Comics, best known for his work on iconic character SPIDER-MAN.

He has created and run literally hundreds of pop culture panels and events and curated exhibitions relating to comics and their history and serves as Chair of Will Eisner Week, an annual series of close to 100 events worldwide celebrating the legacy of pioneering graphic novelist Eisner and serves as an overall consultant to Will Eisner Studios and the Will and Anne Eisner Family Foundation.

Danny has spoken and taught about popular culture at venues including the Smithsonian Institution, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Columbia University, the Pop Culture Association, San Diego Comic Con, the Bob Dylan Conference in Tulsa, the Center for Jewish History, and the Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas. He has discussed pop culture on NPR’s All Things Considered and NBC’s Today Show, and has written about them for publications including The Los Angeles Times and The Baltimore Sun.

Danny is also the author of the books Superman on the Couch: What Superheroes Really Tell Us About Ourselves and Our Society and Disguised as Clark Kent: Jews, Comics, and the Creation of the Superhero, both published by Continuum/Bloomsbury, and The Rough Guide to Graphic Novels, published by Penguin.

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  DANNY FINGEROTH is a longtime popular culture critic and historian. He writes and speaks about topics that tell us about ourselves and the cultural icons that impact our lives. His most recent book is JACK RUBY: THE MANY FACES OF OSWALD’S ASSASSIN, a look into the mind of the strange, violent man who changed history when, on November 24, 1963, he murdered Lee Harvey Oswald—presumed assassin of President John F. Kennedy—on live TV.

  He’s also the author of the definitive biography A MARVELOUS LIFE: THE AMAZING STORY OF STAN LEE, published in 2019 by St. Martin’s press/Macmillan. Danny has done the audio narration of the Jack Ruby and Stan Lee books, as well as for his books Superman on the Couch and Disguised as Clark Kent. (He’s eager to do audiobooks for other authors.)

  Danny started his career in the comics and graphic novel worlds, having spent close to two decades as a writer and editor for Marvel Comics, best known for his work on iconic character SPIDER-MAN.

  Danny spent several years touring with the Wizard World pop culture convention train inventing, organizing, and moderating numerous panels about popular culture topics, featuring a wide array of creators, historians, and academics. He serves as Chair of Will Eisner Week, an annual series of close to 100 events worldwide celebrating the legacy of pioneering graphic novelist Eisner and serves as an overall consultant to Will Eisner Studios and the Will and Anne Eisner Family Foundation.

  Danny was instrumental in creating the Jewish Comics Experience (JewCE), an inclusive comic book convention held in New York in 2023, as well as earlier versions of the event held in Brooklyn in 2016 and 2018. He also curated an exhibition at the Center for Jewish History about the contribution of Jewish creators and publishers to the origins of the comics industry. He also served as Chair of the JewCE Awards, given out at the convention.

  Danny has spoken about popular culture at venues including the Smithsonian Institution, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Columbia University, the Pop Culture Association, San Diego Comic Con, the Bob Dylan Conference in Tulsa, and the Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas.

  He has taught comics writing and appreciation at New York University, the new School, and the MiMaster Institute in Milan, Italy. He served as Sr VP of Education at New York’s Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art (MoCCA).

  

  Danny was the longtime Group Editor of Marvel’s Spider-Man line and has written many comics including The Deadly Foes of Spider-Man limited series and the entire 50-issue run of Darkhawk. He was a consultant to the Fox Kids Spider-Man animated series and has written episodes of the 4Kids’ Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series. He has served as Editor-in-Chief of Byron Preiss’ Virtual Comics and as Sr. VP for Development at animation studio Visionary Media.

  

  Danny is also the author of the books Superman on the Couch: What Superheroes Really Tell Us About Ourselves and Our Society and Disguised as Clark Kent: Jews, Comics, and the Creation of the Superhero, both published by Continuum/Bloomsbury, and The Rough Guide to Graphic Novels, published by Penguin. He has written comics for the Harvey Pekar/Paul Buhle books Studs Terkel’s Working (The New Press) and Yiddishkeit (Abrams).

  He was creator and editor-in-chief of Write Now! magazine, published by TwoMorrows, the leading publication about writing for comics and related media. The Best of Write Now! is available from TwoMorrows. He and Mike Manley have produced a book, How To Create Comics from Script to Print, and a DVD, How to Draw Comics from Script to Print, also from TwoMorrows. 

  Danny is co-editor, with Roy Thomas, of The Stan Lee Universe, a book which features Lee-rarities including interviews from over the decades with and about Stan, articles about him from many eras, and many rarely and never-published artifacts of his life and career, including transcripts of 1960s-vintage radio programs (one co-featuring Jack Kirby) and other discoveries from The Stan Lee Archives at The University of Wyoming, as well as many amazing photographs and illustrations.

  

  Danny co-curated two acclaimed and crowd-gathering exhibitions at MoCCA: “Is This the Al Jaffee Art Exhibit?” (co-curated with Arie Kaplan), and “Will Eisner’s New York” (co-curated with Denis Kitchen).

  Danny has spoken about comics on NPR’s All Things Considered and NBC’s Today Show, and has written about them for publications including The Los Angeles Times and The Baltimore Sun. He has taught at The New School, NYU, the Media Bistro, and MoCCA. He is on the Board of Directors of The Institute for Comics Studies.

  Danny has been an expert interview subject in many DVDs and documentaries, most notably The History Channel’s Batman Unmasked: The Psychology of The Dark Knight, also featured on The Dark Knight blu-ray DVD, and the PBS SUPERHEROES documentary series, directed by Michael Kantor (Comedy in America).

  He is an honors graduate of the legendary Cinema Department of Binghamton University, where he studied with filmmakers including Ken Jacobs, mentor to Maus creator Art Spiegelman.