Christian Cooper

Christian Cooper (born 1963) is an American science writer and editor, and also a comics writer and editor. He is based in New York City. In 2023, Random House published Cooper's memoir, ''Better Living Through Birding: Notes from a Black Man in the Natural World''. He gained cultural notoriety after a false police report was made by a white woman who went viral for her erratic behavior while calling the police on him in a New York park in 2020, known as the Central Park birdwatching incident.

Career

Cooper is currently a senior biomedical editor at Health Science Communications and has become a frequent substitute co-host for the public access television news series '' Gay USA''. On May 16, 2022, National Geographic announced Cooper would host a show on their American TV channel called ''Extraordinary Birder'', exploring the world of birds alongside experts in the field. The show premiered on June 17, 2023.

On June 8, 2024, Cooper won a Daytime Emmy Award in the Outstanding Daytime Personality category for his work on '' Extraordinary Birder''.

Comics

Cooper was one of the first openly gay editors at Marvel; colleague and friend Kelly Corvese was the first. He introduced the first gay male character in ''Star Trek'', Yoshi Mishima, in the ''Starfleet Academy'' series, which was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award in 1999. He also introduced the first openly lesbian character for Marvel, Victoria Montesi and created and authored ''Queer Nation: The Online Gay Comic''. Cooper was also an associate editor for ''Alpha Flight'' #106 in which the character Northstar came out as gay.

Cooper has written stories for ''Marvel Comics Presents'', which often feature characters such as ''Ghost Rider'' and ''Vengeance''. He has also edited a number of X-Men collections, and the final two issues of the '' Marvel Swimsuit Special''.

Personal life

Born in 1963 to parents who were both teachers, Cooper found his interest in birds while reading a birdwatching book during a roadtrip from his Long Island childhood home to California. In the 1980s, he was president of the Harvard Ornithological Club, and is currently on the board of directors for NYC Audubon. Cooper has a long history of LGBT activism including being the co-chair of the board of directors of GLAAD in the 1980s.

On May 25, 2020, Cooper was involved in a confrontation with a dog walker in Central Park, with the woman calling the police over a disagreement on whether her dog should be leashed in the area, characterising Cooper's behavior as "threatening". The incident led to the creation of Black Birders Week, and is the basis for Cooper's online comic book about racism, illustrated by Alitha Martinez and published by DC Comics, called ''It's a Bird''.

Bibliography

* ''Marvel Comics Presents'':
** "Return of the Braineaters" (featuring Ghost Rider and Werewolf by Night, with pencils by John Stanisci and inks by Jimmy Palmiotti, in ''Marvel Comics Presents'' #107–112, Marvel Comics, 1992)
** "Siege of Darkness" (featuring Ghost Rider, with pencils by Reggie Jones and inks by Fred Harper, in ''Marvel Comics Presents'' #144–146, Marvel Comics, 1993–1994)
** "Tower of Blood" (featuring Vengeance, with pencils by Reggie Jones and inks by Fred Harper, in ''Marvel Comics Presents'' #147–148, Marvel Comics, 1994)
** "The Price" (featuring Vengeance, with Fred Harper, in ''Marvel Comics Presents'' #149, Marvel Comics, 1994)
** "Dangerous Games" (featuring Vengeance, with pencils by Reggie Jones and inks by Fred Harper, in ''Marvel Comics Presents'' #152–153, Marvel Comics, 1994)
** "Altered Spirits" (featuring Vengeance, with pencils by Reggie Jones and inks by Fred Harper, in ''Marvel Comics Presents'' #156–157, Marvel Comics, 1994)
** "Final Gambit" (featuring Vengeance, with pencils by Reggie Jones and inks by Fred Harper, in ''Marvel Comics Presents'' #175, Marvel Comics, 1995)
* ''Darkhold'' #1–16 (with Richard Case, Marvel Comics, 1992–1994)
* ''Excalibur'' #77–81 (Marvel Comics, 1994)
* '' Star Trek: Starfleet Academy'' #1–19 (with pencils by Chris Renaud and inks by Andy Lanning, Marvel Comics, 1996–1998)
* ''Songs of the Metamythos'' (as C. F. Cooper)
* "It's a Bird" (with Alitha E. Martinez, Mark Morales, Emilio Lopez, and Rob Clark Jr., DC Comics, 2020)
*

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Christian
1963 births
20th-century African-American writers
20th-century American male writers
21st-century African-American writers
21st-century American LGBTQ people
African-American male writers
American comics writers
American gay writers
American television hosts
Birdwatchers
Black Lives Matter
American comic book editors
DC Comics people
Harvard University alumni
African-American LGBTQ people
LGBTQ comics creators
LGBTQ people from New York (state)
Living people
Marvel Comics writers
Place of birth missing (living people)
Writers from New York City