first Marvel book, Fantastic Four Annual #3 (November 1965), which saw the wedding of Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman. His parents eventually allowed him to start reading superhero titles, his favorite of which was Superman. He cites John Buscema as his favorite pre-1970s artist. David attended his first comic book convention around the time that Jack Kirby's New Gods premiered, after asking his father to take him to one of Phil Seuling's shows in New York, where David obtained Kirby's autograph, his first encounter with a comics professional. David's earliest interest in writing came through the journalism work of his father, Gunter, who sometimes reviewed movies and took young Peter along (if it was age-appropriate). While Gunter wrote his reviews back at the newspaper's office, David wrote his own, portions of which sometimes found their way into Gunter's published reviews. David began to entertain the notion of becoming a professional writer at age twelve, buying a copy of The Guide to the Writer's Market, and subscribing to similar-themed magazines, in the hopes of becoming a reporter. David lived in Bloomfield, New Jersey, in a small house at 11 Albert Terrace, and attended Demarest Elementary School. His family later moved to Verona, New Jersey, where he spent his adolescence. By the time he entered his teens, he had lost interest in comic books, feeling he had outgrown them. David's best friend in junior high and first year in high school, Keith, was gay, and David has described how both of them were targets of ostracism and harassment from homophobes. Although his family eventually moved to Pennsylvania, his experiences in Verona soured him on that town and shaped his liberal sociopolitical positions regarding LGBT issues. He later made Verona the home location of villain Morgan le Fay in his novel Knight Life, and has often discussed his progressive views on LGBT issues in his column and on his blog. David's interest in comics was rekindled when he saw a copy of Superman vs. Muhammad Ali (1978) while passing a newsstand, and later, X-Men #95 (October 1975), and discovered in that latter book the "All-New, All-Different" team that had first appeared in Giant-Size X-Men #1 (May 1975). These two books were the first comics he had purchased in years. A seminal moment in the course of his aspirations occurred when he met writer Stephen King at a book signing, and told him