Jim Shooter (1951-2025)

 

Comic book writer and editor, Jim Shooter died a few weeks ago (June 30^th) and I just wanted to write a quick post about who he was.

At age 13, in mid-1965, Shooter wrote and drew stories featuring the Legion of Super-Heroes, and sent them in to DC Comics. On February 10, 1966, he received a phone call from editor Mort Weisinger, who wanted to purchase the stories Shooter had sent, and commissioned Shooter to write Supergirl and Superman stories.

"The editor called up and said, 'We want you to write for us regularly' and started giving me assignments and I worked my way through high school. He didn't realize that -- about that time I'd just turned 14 -- until some time later. I lived in Pittsburgh and he asked me to come to New York, spend some time in the office and learn a few things. I was kind of hesitant, because I was in school. I said, ‘I'm 14.’ He said, 'Put your mother on the phone.' My mother had to come with me on my first business trip. Which is a little embarrassing. I worked for them for five years essentially."

Shooter did the job because he needed to support his financially struggling parents. He said, “My family needed the money. I was doing this to save the house; my father had a beat-up old car and the engine died – this is before I started working for DC – and that first check bought a rebuilt engine for his car so he didn't have to walk to work anymore. I was doing this because I had to, working my way through high school to help keep my family alive.”

Shooter has studied the recently rising Marvel comics and adopted their character-based narrative approach. He created new Legionnaires Karate Kid, Ferro Lad, and Princess Projectra, as well as the villainous group known as the Fatal Five. He also created the Superman villain Parasite in Action Comics #340 (Aug. 1966). Shooter and artist Curt Swan devised the first race between the Flash and Superman, two characters known for their superhuman speed, in "Superman's Race with the Flash!" in Superman #199 (Aug. 1967).

In 1969, Shooter was accepted into New York University, but after graduating from high school he successfully applied for a job at Marvel Comics in New York but he only lasted three weeks before quitting and moving back to Pittsburgh. After leaving Marvel, Shooter took up work in advertising concepts, writing, and illustration for several years, supporting himself through several menial jobs during periods when advertising work was unavailable.

A few years later Shooter was back at DC writing Superman and the Legion of Super Heroes again. However, Shooter's relationships with both Superman editor Julius Schwartz and Legion editor Murray Boltinoff were unpleasant, and he claimed that both forced him to do unnecessary rewrites. In December 1975, Marvel editor-in-chief Marv Wolfman called to offer Shooter an editorial position. And on January 2, 1976, Shooter joined the Marvel staff as an assistant editor and writer.

Because of the quick turnover at the Editor-in Chief position at the time, Shooter rapidly found himself rising in the ranks, and in January 1978, he succeeded Archie Goodwin to become Marvel's ninth editor-in-chief. During this period, publisher Stan Lee relocated to Los Angeles to better oversee Marvel's animation, television and film projects, leaving Shooter largely in charge of the creative decision-making at Marvel's New York City headquarters.

Although there were complaints among some that Shooter imposed a dictatorial style on the "Bullpen", he cured many of the procedural ills at Marvel, successfully managed to keep the line of books on schedule (ending the widespread practice of missed deadlines popularly known as "the Dreaded Deadline Doom"), added new titles, and developed new talent. Shooter in his nine-year tenure as editor-in-chief oversaw Chris Claremont and John Byrne's run on the Uncanny X-Men, Byrne's work on Fantastic Four, Frank Miller's series of Daredevil stories, Walt Simonson's crafting of Norse mythology with the Marvel Universe in Thor, and Roger Stern's runs on both Avengers and The Amazing Spider-Man. Shooter also had two great runs writing for Avengers. And he was also the editor that oversaw the famous “Secret Wars” crossover event.

Despite his success in revitalizing Marvel, Shooter angered and alienated a number of long-time Marvel creators by insisting on strong editorial control and strict adherence to deadlines. Shooter occasionally found himself in well-publicized conflicts with some writers and artists. Creators such as Steve Gerber, Marv Wolfman, Gene Colan, John Byrne, and Doug Moench left to work for DC.

John Byrne said “Shooter came along just when Marvel needed him – but he stayed too long. Having fixed just about everything that was wrong, he could not stop "fixing"…Shooter had put Marvel into a place where all that was needed was a kindly father figure at the helm – and that was not Shooter!”

Shooter was fired from Marvel on April 15, 1987.

I was lucky enough to meet Jim Shooter at the Big Apple Comic Con in NYC in 2008.  I was surprised by how tall he was. (6’ 7”).

I had Shooter sign Adventure Comics 346, the first comic he did when he was 13. He didn’t think much of it, “Yeah you could tell how young I was when I did that.” Then he signed Adventure Comics 352 and he said “I was just starting to really get it when I did this one.”

He signed Avengers 161 for me next and he said, “Someone in the business told me the other day this was their favorite Avengers. That made me feel pretty good.”  Lastly, he signed Avengers 171 for me.

Shooter’s Avengers and Legion stories were important to me when I was a kid and I still think they stand the test of time today. And when you look at everything else that was happening at Marvel while he was in charge Claremont/Byrne's X-Men, Byrne's FF, Miller's Daredevil, Simonson's Thor, Secret Wars, etc. These are comics that still resonate with readers today and continue to fuel the Marvel today in comics, and movies/TV.