Mark Waid (; born March 21, 1962) is an American comic book writer best known for his work on DC Comics titles The Flash, Kingdom Come and Superman: Birthright as well as his work on Captain America, Fantastic Four and Daredevil for Marvel. Other comics publishers he has done work for include Fantagraphics, Event, Top Cow, Dynamite, and Archie Comics. From August 2007 to December 2010, Waid served as Editor-in-Chief and later Chief Creative Officer of Boom! Studios, where he also published his creator-owned series Irredeemable and Incorruptible. In October 2018, Waid joined Humanoids Publishing as Director of Creative Development before being promoted to Publisher in February 2020. Early life Waid was born in Hueytown, Alabama. He has stated that his comics work was heavily influenced by Adventure Comics #369–370 (1968), the two-part "Legion of Super-Heroes" story by Jim Shooter and Mort Weisinger that introduced the villain Mordru. Waid has stated that the story is "a blueprint for everything I write." Career 1980s–1990s Waid entered the comics field during the mid-1980s as an editor and writer on Fantagraphics Books' comic book fan magazine, Amazing Heroes. Waid's first comic book story "The Puzzle of the Purloined Fortress", an eight-page Superman story, was published in Action Comics #572 (Oct. 1985). In 1987, Waid was hired as an editor for DC Comics where he worked on such titles as Action Comics, Doom Patrol, Infinity, Inc., Legion of Super-Heroes, Secret Origins, and Wonder Woman, as well as various one-shots including Batman: Gotham by Gaslight. With Gotham by Gaslight, and in tandem with writer Brian Augustyn, Waid co-created DC's Elseworlds imprint. In 1989 Waid left editorial work for freelance writing assignments. He worked for DC's short-lived Impact Comics line where he wrote The Comet and scripted dialogue for Legend of the Shield. In 1992 Waid began the assignment which would bring him to wider recognition in the comics industry, when he was hired to write The Flash by editor Brian Augustyn. Waid stayed on the title for an eight-year run. He wrote a Metamorpho limited series in 1993 and created the character known as Impulse in The Flash #92 (July 1994). Impulse was launched into his own series in April 1995 by Waid and artist Humberto Ramos. In November of that same year, Waid and Howard Porter collaborated on the Underworld Unleashed limited series, which served as the center of a company-wide crossover storyline. His