…I’m inspired to ask this question after seeing a recent Wonder Woman comic, in which it’s shown that our esteemed Ms. Diana has just published a collection of her essays and speeches.
I’ll tell ya’, you ain’t going to see that happening in “Wolverine” anytime soon.
So, how many other comic characters are supposed to be published authors?
Works published under a “Secret Identity” name count, of course.
And the only other character I could think of would be Clark Kent, with his newspaper articles (Didn’t he even win a Pulitzer?).
Depending upon which version of Superman you’re reading, Lois Lane, Perry White, and Clark Kent have all won Pulitzers.
Professor X (X-Men) has published papers and books on genetics. Hank McCoy was also a published researshc scientist.
Nite Owl 1 (Watchmen) published a book about his days as a member of a JSA type supergroup. Nite Owl 2 was a published writer of articles about birds for nature magazines. Ozymandias wrote about his spritual journey and early adventures in a book.
Peter “Spider-Man” Parker had a book published. “Webs” was a collection of his best Spidey photos, IIRC. Not sure if that counts as an “author”, though.
(And IIRC [again], if Slapstick#2 is to be believed, “Webs” bombed at the bestsellers list and ended up in the bargain bins… )
For a while, Steve (Captain America) Rogers worked as a commercial artist. He eventually became the artist on the Marvel Universe version of the Captain America comic book. (Marvel comics exist in the Marvel Universe, but they publish “official licensed version” comics of the FF, Avengers, etc.
In Jon Sable, Freelance (First Comics, early to mid 1980s), the title character’s day job was an author of a popular series of children’s books. If memory serves, he wrote under the pen name “B.B. Flemm,” and had to wear a disguise to do public appearances as Flemm.
His other job, of course, was crimefighter, mercenary-for-hire, that sort of thing. He wasn’t a superhero, but artist and writer Mike Grell told some damn good adventure stories with him.
One of the more interesting issues was the one that told one of Flemm’s stories, in comic form. Sergio Aragones took over from Mike Grell to do the art for that one.
Daredevil is/was a lawyer in his civilian life so the likelihood is good that he has published at the very least articles in various law reviews and/or journals. Ditto Jennifer Walters/She-Hulk.
Mister Fantastic/Reed Richards is a world-renowned scientist and has undoubtedly published any number of scientific papers. The same might go for Tony Stark/Iron Man.
Howard the Duck ran for president so he may have published one of those campaign biographies that seem to be required of candidates.
Green Lantern/Kyle Ranier is a freelance artist and so is published in the same way Captain America is as noted earlier.
Captain Carrot/Rodney (ne “Roger”) Rabbit is a cartoonist, most known for his work on Justa Lotta Animals. His teammate Yankee Poodle/Rova Barkit is a gossip columnist.
Jesse Quick, the super-fast daughter of the Golden Age speedster Johnny Quick and heroine Liberty Belle, wrote a book about growing up around the Justice Society of America.
The Tarantula, aka Jonathan Law, wrote a similar book about his experiences as a superhero (as mentioned above). So did the original Nite Owl, Hollis Mason, from Watchmen.
Ethan Crane, aka Supreme, works for Dazzle Comics as the artist of the Omniman comic book series (which mirrors his own adventures as Supreme in many ways).
Many of the characters in Alex Robinson’s critically-acclaimed Box Office Poison are published authors, including lead characters Ed, Jane, Stephen and Dorothy.
Doc Savage’s crew appeared in Marvel comics, and Long Tom published at least one book, so advanced that the average electrical engineer had to struggle for it. It’s a safe bet that the rest of the gang published papers in various journals.
I believe Dragon of the Southern Knights wrote sci-fi paperworks under a pseudonym
Clark Kent has published novels. In one fight scene a decade or so ago, he was punched through a bookstore window and saw a stack of one of his novels, remaindered.
Superman: “Remaindered? Now I’m really in a bad mood.”