Karl Kesel (born January 7, 1959, Victor, New York) is an American comics writer and inker whose works have primarily been under contract for DC Comics. He is a member of Periscope Studio.
Kesel worked with comic book illustrator Brandon McKinney on issues #6 and #13 of the comic series Aliens: Space Marines (published through Dark Horse Comics), which accompanied alien figures in the first line of Alien figures released by Kenner in 1992. He is the creator of the modern Superboy character, Kon-El, who debuted and was defined during the "Return of Superman" story arc, starting from Adventures of Superman #500.
He has also written a "lost" Captain America comic strip from the 1940s which will be published one every day on Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited.
Personal life
For several years, he was married to fellow comics writer Barbara Kesel (née Randall), with whom he wrote Hawk and Dove; they have since divorced.