David first became interested in comics when he was about five years old, reading copies of Harvey Comics' "Casper" and "Wendy" in a barbershop. He became interested in superheroes through the "Adventures of Superman" TV series. Although David's parents approved of his reading Harvey Comics and comics featuring Disney characters, they did not approve of superhero books, especially those published by Marvel Comics, feeling that characters that looked like monsters, such as the Thing or the Hulk, or who wore bug-eyed costumes, like Spider-Man, did not appear heroic. As a result, David read those comics in secret, beginning with his 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.