Jurgens' first professional comic work was for DC Comics on Warlord #63. He was hired due to a recommendation of Warlord-series creator Mike Grell who was deeply impressed by Jurgens' work after being shown his private portfolio at a convention. In 1984, Jurgens was artist for the limited series Sun Devils at DC Comics, published between July 1984 and June 1985, with writers Gerry Conway and Roy Thomas, where Jurgens would eventually make his debut as a comic book writer with Sun Devils as well (Jurgens began scripting from Conway's plots with #8 and fully took over the writing duties on the title with #10). He was one of several artists who contributed art for Batman Annual #9 (July 1985). In 1985, he created the character Booster Gold, who became a member of the Justice League and who went on to have a very successful run in the series thanks to the writing of Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis. His first work on Superman was as penciller for the 1987 Annual of Adventures of Superman. In 1989, Dan began working full-time on Superman when he took over the writing/pencilling of the monthly Adventures of Superman with Art Thibert providing inks, and later Brett Breeding being Jurgens' regular inker. Dan Jurgens was the penciller of the 1990—1991 limited series Armageddon 2001 and co-created the hero Waverider with Archie Goodwin. In 1991 Jurgens assumed the writing/pencilling of the main Superman comic book, where he created a supporting hero named Agent Liberty. During his run on Superman, Dan created two very popular villains, Doomsday and the Cyborg. Doomsday was the main antagonist in the runaway hit Death of Superman storyline. He also wrote and drew Justice League America for about one year. In 1993, Jurgens pencilled the Metal Men four-issue miniseries, which was a retcon of their origin story. Jurgens wrote and pencilled the landmark 1994 comic book miniseries and crossover Zero Hour storyline that ran in DC Comics. He wrote and penciled layouts (with finished art by Brett Breeding) to the Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey miniseries, which was a follow-up to the successful Death of Superman storyline (Jurgens would write and pencil another miniseries later on, Superman: The Doomsday Wars). In 1995 Jurgens and Italian artist Claudio Castellini worked on the highly publicized crossover Marvel vs DC. In the same year, he gave up the pencilling duties on Superman to artists Gil Kane, Ron Frenz and Steve Epting with Joe Rubinstein as inker. Jurgens scripted and provided layout art for the Superman vs. Aliens miniseries. The story was about a battle between Superman and the aliens created by H. R. Giger (a.k.a. the Xenomorph), from the Alien film series. It was published by Dark Horse Comics in unison with DC Comics in 1995. In January 1996, Jurgens was writer and penciller of the new Spider-Man series, The Sensational Spider-Man (Vol. 1), at Marvel Comics. The title was initially conceived to be the flagship showcase for the new Ben Reilly Spider-Man (it replaced the Web of Spider-Man series). The initial seven issues (#0—6, January—July 1996) were written and pencilled by Jurgens. Jurgens pushed strongly for the restoration of Peter Parker as the true Spider-Man and plans were made to enact this soon, but Bob Harras, the new Editor-in-chief, demanded the story be deferred until after the Onslaught crossover. Jurgens had by this stage become disillusioned with the immense amount of group planning and constant changes of ideas and directions and took this as the last straw, resigning from the title. In a past interview several years after his Spider-Man run, Jurgens stated that he would like to have another chance on the character, since his run was with the Ben Reilly character during the Spider-Man Clone Saga, and not Peter Parker. Jurgens had also written and pencilled Teen Titans (vol. 2) for its entire two year, 24 issue run. New Teen Titans co-creator George Pérez came on board on this incarnation of the Titans as inker for the series' first 15 issues. The series debuted in October 1996, and ended in September 1998. Jurgens' run was unpopular with readers due to the use of new characters that had no ties with previous incarnations of the team. In autumn 1999, after 10 years working on the character, Jurgens ended his Superman run as the book's writer with Superman (vol. 2) #150 (November 1999). Also in 1999, Jurgens was writer and layout artist for the tabloid-sized graphic novel Superman/Fantastic Four, with finished art by his former Adventures of Superman inker Art Thibert. This publication was a joint publishing between DC Comics and Marvel Comics where the story dealt with DC's Superman teaming up with Marvel's superhero team Fantastic Four against the threat of Galactus. In 2000, he was the writer and provided layouts for the four issue prestige miniseries Titans/Legion of Super-Heroes: Universe Ablaze, with finishes provided by Phil Jimenez. From January 2000 to January 2001, Jurgens was hired on Aquaman (Vol. 3) to replace Erik Larsen as writer with issue #63. Jurgens oversaw the series through to its cancellation with issue #75. Jurgens was also the debut writer of the comic book Tomb Raider: The Series licensed to Top Cow Productions and Image Comics, which started in 1999. The debut issue of Tomb Raider was the number one selling comic book of 1999. Jurgens remained as writer of the series up to issue #21. In November 2002, Jurgens wrote and pencilled the four-issue weekly miniseries Superman: Day of Doom (January 2003), which was a special 10 year anniversary look back to the Death of Superman event from 1992. Jurgens also worked with Marvel Comics as writer/artist on Captain America (vol. 3), writer on Thor (vol. 2) with pencilling from John Romita Jr. and in 1995 as writer/penciller on Solar #46 from Valiant Comics where he was inked by the legendary Dick Giordano, and with penciller Tom Grindberg joining in with issues #51—54 after Jurgens relinquished penciller duties with issue #50. After a hiatus from comics, Jurgens recently returned to DC Comics, providing layouts for the lead story in the Infinite Crisis Secret Files 2006 special (April 2006) and has been doing art in the weekly series 52 and to the six issue limited series Crisis Aftermath: The Battle For Blüdhaven written by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Grey, with Palmiotti as inker. He has been recently announced as the new artist on the series Nightwing with returning writer/creator Marv Wolfman. He and Wolfman will work together on a four part story, from issues 125—128, before Jurgens begins work on the six-issue limited series Metamorpho: Year One. On Metamorpho: Year One, Jurgens was writer and artist. He would only pencil issues 1 and 2, with Mike Norton providing the pencils for issues 3—6 and Jesse Delperdang was inker for the entire series. Jurgens also provided layouts for an issue of The Nuclear Man (#33, April 2007). Jurgens was writer and artist of the History of the Multiverse back-up stories in the weekly Countdown (which appears in issues #49 through #38). At the Los Angeles Comic Con in March 2007, DC announced a new, ongoing Booster Gold series written by Geoff Johns and pencilled by Jurgens, to begin shortly after the end of 52. Norm Rapmund will ink Jurgens' pencils. Jurgens subsequently spoke in depth with Sebastian Piccione of the comic book website Project Fanboy about his return to the Booster Gold series in a three part interview the site published. He is the writer of Tangent: Superman's Reign limited series in 2008, revisiting the Tangent Comics characters. He also wrote and illustrated (with inks by Norm Rapmund) an issue of The Brave and the Bold (Vol. 2) #23 (July 2009), which featured Booster Gold and Magog.

Comics work includes:

Dark Horse Comics

• Superman vs. Aliens (1995 limited series; story and layout art)

DC Comics

• Adventures of Superman (writer & penciller, 1989—1991); Annual #1 (pencils, 1987)
• Agent Liberty Special # 1 (1992) (writer & cover artist); with art by Dusty Abell (pencils); Jackson Guice, Steve Mitchell & Mike Machlan (inks)
• Aquaman (Vol. 3) #63-75 (writer, Jan. 2000-Jan 2001)
• Armageddon 2001
• Batman Annual # 9 (1985) (pencils)
• Flash Gordon #1-9 (miniseries) (writer/artist, 1989)
• Brave and the Bold (vol. 2) #23 (writer/artist, 2009)
• Booster Gold #1-25 (artist, 1986—88)
• Booster Gold (vol. 2) #1-12, 16-29 (artist)
• Countdown (writer & artist of the "History of the Multiverse" back-up stories in issues #49 through #38)
• Superman (vol. 2) (writer/artist, 1991—1999; writer: 1991-1999; pencils: 1991-1995)
• Superman 80-Page Giant #1 (Feb. 1999) (cover artist pencils & writer for 10-page short story)
• Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey (1994 limited series; story & layouts)
• Superman: The Doomsday Wars
• Superman: Day of Doom
• Superman: Secret Files (Jan. 1998) (writer & layout art for lead story; plus pencil art for character profiles)
• Superman/Fantastic Four (1999) (writer & layout art, with finished art by Art Thibert)
• Justice League America
• Metal Men (limited series, 1993) (layouts)
• Zero Hour
• Titans/Legion of Super-Heroes: Universe Ablaze (2000). 4-issue prestige miniseries. writer & layouts, with finishes by Phil Jimenez.
• Teen Titans (vol. 2)
• 52
• Infinite Crisis Secret Files 2006 (April, 2006) (layouts for lead story)
• Crisis Aftermath: The Battle For Blüdhaven (2006 mini-series) (pencils)
• Nightwing
• Metamorpho: Year One (writer & pencils (issues 1 and 2 only); with Mike Norton (pencils issues 3-6) & Jesse Delperdang (inker)) (6 issue limited series, 2007)
• The Nuclear Man (vol. 3) #33 (April 2007) (layouts only)
• Sun Devils (writer and artist, 1984)
• Tangent: Superman's Reign (2008 limited series) (writer)
• Warlord #75- (artist)

Marvel Comics

• Captain America (vol. 3) #25-50 (writer), #33-50 (penciller)
• The Sensational Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #0-6 (January—July, 1996) (writer & penciller)
• Thor (vol. 2) #1-79 (writer); Annual 1999; Annual 2000; Annual 2001

Valiant Comics

• Solar # 46-54 (July 1995-Dec. 1995) Writer/Penciller on #46-50; writer only from #51-54

Awards

His work has earned him several awards over the years, including the 1994 National Cartoonists Society Award for Best Comic Book.