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 Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...

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 ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...

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 The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York-based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NA ...

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 ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the Star Trek: The Original Series, series of the same name and became a worldwide Popular culture, pop-culture Cultural influence of ...

'', Yoshi Mishima, in the ''

Starfleet Academy Starfleet is a fictional organization in the ''Star Trek'' media franchise. Within this fictional universe, Starfleet is a uniformed space force maintained by the United Federation of Planets ("the Federation") as the principal means for condu ...

'' series, which was nominated for a

GLAAD Media Award The GLAAD Media Award is a US accolade bestowed by GLAAD to recognize and honor various branches of the media for their outstanding portrayals of LGBTQ people and the issues that affect their lives. In addition to film and television, the Awards ...

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 Alpha Flight is a fictional team of Canadian superheroes appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The characters premiered in ''The Uncanny X-Men'' #120 (April 1979), and were created to serve as part of the X-Men member Wolv ...

'' #106 in which the character

Northstar Northstar may refer to: * Polaris, a star Arts and entertainment * Northstar (band), an emo band from Alabama * Northstar (rap group), a rap group affiliated with the Wu-Tang Clan * "Northstar", a 2019 song by XXXTentacion from the album '' Bad ...

came out as gay. Cooper has written stories for ''

Marvel Comics Presents ''Marvel Comics Presents'' is an American comic book anthology title that was published in three series by Marvel Comics: from 1988 to 1995; 2007 to 2008; and in 2019. Volume 1 The first volume was released on a bi-weekly basis and lasted for ...

'', which often feature characters such as ''

Ghost Rider Ghost Rider is the name of multiple superheroes or antiheroes appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Marvel had previously used the name for a Western character whose name was later changed to Phantom Rider. The first s ...

'' and ''

Vengeance Vengeance may refer to: *Vengeance (concept) or revenge, a harmful action against a person or group in response to a grievance Film * ''Vengeance'' (1930 film), action adventure film directed by Archie Mayo * ''Vengeance'' (1937 film) or ''W ...

''. He has also edited a number of

X-Men The X-Men are a superhero team in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer/editor Stan Lee and artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby, the team first appeared in Uncanny X-Men, ''The X-Men'' #1 (September 1963). Although initial ...

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 Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

Ornithological Club, and is currently on the board of directors for NYC Audubon. Cooper has a long history of

LGBT activism Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) movements are social movements that advocate for LGBTQ people in society. Although there is not a primary or an overarching central organization that represents all LGBTQ people and their ...

including being the co-chair of the board of directors of

GLAAD GLAAD () is an American non-governmental media monitoring organization. Originally founded as a protest against defamatory coverage of gay and lesbian demographics and their portrayals in the media and entertainment industries, it has since ...

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 Black Birders Week is a week-long series of online events to highlight black naturalists, nature enthusiasts and to increase the visibility of black birders, who face unique challenges and dangers when they are engaged in outdoor activities. The e ...

, and is the basis for Cooper's online

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

about racism, illustrated by

Alitha Martinez Alitha E. Martinez is an American comic book artist best known for her work on for Marvel Comics's ''Iron Man'', the '' Heroes'' webcomics, and DC's ''Batgirl''. Over the course of her career she has worked for all the major comic book publishers ...

and published by

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

, called ''It's a Bird''.

Bibliography

* ''

'': ** "Return of the Braineaters" (featuring

and

Werewolf by Night The Werewolf by Night (also known as the Werewolf) is the name of two Werewolf, werewolves appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The first incarnation of Werewolf by Night, Jack Russell, first appeared in ''Marvel Spotlig ...

, with pencils by John Stanisci and inks by

Jimmy Palmiotti James Palmiotti (born August 14, 1961) is an American writer and inker of comic books, who also does writing for games, television and film. Early life Palmiotti attended the High School of Art and Design in New York City. Career Palmiotti star ...

, 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

, 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 The comic book stories published by Marvel Comics since the 1940s have featured several noteworthy concepts besides its fictional characters, such as unique places and artifacts. There follows a list of those features. Places Certain places fe ...

'' #1–16 (with

Richard Case Richard Case (born 1964) is an American comics artist best known for his work for DC Comics especially the Vertigo imprint. He is not to be confused with the similarly-named Richard Case, another comics artist who worked for the Iger Studio and ...

, Marvel Comics, 1992–1994) * ''

Excalibur Excalibur is the mythical sword of King Arthur that may possess magical powers or be associated with the rightful sovereignty of Britain. Its first reliably datable appearance is found in Geoffrey of Monmouth's ''Historia Regum Britanniae''. E ...

'' #77–81 (Marvel Comics, 1994) * '' Star Trek: Starfleet Academy'' #1–19 (with pencils by

Chris Renaud Chris Renaud (born December 1966) is an American filmmaker, designer, storyboard artist, and voice actor. He is best known for his work at Illumination (company), Illumination, including directing the company's animated films such as the Despica ...

and inks by

Andy Lanning Andy Lanning is an English comic book writer and inker, known for his work for Marvel Comics and DC Comics, and for his collaboration with Dan Abnett. Career Lanning works primarily at Marvel Comics and DC Comics as an inker. He has also pencil ...

, Marvel Comics, 1996–1998) * ''Songs of the Metamythos'' (as C. F. Cooper) * "It's a Bird" (with

Alitha E. Martinez Alitha E. Martinez is an American comic book artist best known for her work on for Marvel Comics's ''Iron Man'', the ''List of Heroes graphic novels, Heroes'' webcomics, and DC Comics, DC's ''Batgirl''. Over the course of her career she has worked ...

, Mark Morales, Emilio Lopez, and Rob Clark Jr., DC Comics, 2020) *

References

External links

* {{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