RIP Jim Shooter
Jim Shooter was a complicated man.
The other day, Erik Larsen (of Savage Dragon fame) wrote
this about him: “Shooter’s reputation was
earned. He had very specific rules of what he thought comics should be and he
was not shy in imposing them. He rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. He
absolutely did a lot of good but it wasn’t all good. A number of creative people
left the company in his time in office” as editor-in-chief at Marvel.
Shooter’s death made the Hollywood
Reporter and the New York Times.
“Some people swear by
him, and other people swear at him,” Bill Sienkiewicz said in the New York
Times interview. “Every bad thing you’ve
heard about Jim Shooter has a bit of truth to it,” said Danny Fingeroth in
the same interview, “But so does every
good thing you’ve heard.”
But let’s rewind.
Shooter was a 13-year old boy who read Marvel and DC comics,
and wondered why DC’s weren’t as fun and dynamic as Marvel’s (just compare the
Superman and Batman stories of the mid-60s with what Marvel was doing, for
example). So he figured he’d sit down and write a story about one of DC’s teams
that he felt had promise but wasn’t living up to its potential. He wrote and penciled
a story on notebook paper for Adventure Comics featuring the Legion (because he
didn’t know how comics were actually made). He got a call from editor Mort Weisinger
asking for more, which he readily accepted because it meant that he could help
provide for his family. That story became Adventure Comics #348. The “more”
turned into Adventure Comics #346-347 (cover-dated July and August 1966), which
were printed after he turned 14 years old. Weisinger asked him to come up with
scripts for Superman and Supergirl stories (he co-created the Parasite and
wrote the first Superman/Flash race), too. Then he stuck around for a few more
years (his last issue was Adventure #380, cover-dated 1969) until he graduated
high school, and left the business. Not long after, Weisinger retired and the
Legion moved to the backup of Action Comics and then in the backup of Superboy.
In the early 70s, Legion fandom had just begun, with letters appearing in the comics regarding some fanzines (like Interlac and the Legion Outpost). The Outpost, run by fans Mike Flynn and Harry Broertjes (prounced “Brodges”, like “bridges” but with an “o”), decided to track down Shooter for an interview in 1974 or 1975, when Shooter was 23 years old. That eventually led to Shooter deciding to come back to DC to write the Legion again starting with issue #209 cover dated June 1975 (where the backup story had a new character as a fan of the Legion named “Flynt Brojj”), and then after a couple of years, Marvel poached him as a writer and he eventually became an editor - and by age 28, he was Marvel's Editor-in-Chief.
Shooter’s time at Marvel was simultaneously applauded and condemned, depending on who you talk to. He had Frank Miller on Daredevil, Walt Simonson on Thor, Chris Claremont and John Byrne on the X-Men, and later Byrne on the Fantastic Four. He created the first company-wide crossover miniseries with Contest of Champions, and then a couple years later he wrote Secret Wars at the request of his bosses who had a joint deal with toy makers (and co-created Spider-Man’s black costume which eventually became Venom). He launched the New Universe, and co-created the Transformers comic and storyline that influenced the cartoon series and then the movies.
On the other hand, he was responsible (at least in part) for
killing the original JLA/Avengers crossover, for instituting a “no gays in
Marvel comics” (except the ones who tried to rape Bruce Banner in the shower in
a story in the “Hulk” magazine, see this
article for details), for driving Miller and Byrne to DC (where they did
Dark Knight and the Superman revamp, respectively) along with Marv Wolfman and
Roy Thomas (for not allowing writers to be editor on their own stories), and being the Marvel face of the lawsuit between Jack Kirby and
Marvel about relinquishing rights to his characters in exchange for his
original art (here’s
Shooter’s version).
In the late 80s he was finally ousted as Marvel’s Editor in
Chief, and he later went on to co-found Valiant Comics (which started with
Nintendo and WWE comics, later of course featuring Magnus, Dr Solar, Turok, and many
others), Defiant Comics, and Broadway Comics, with varying levels of success. He
returned to DC writing the Legion with great fanfare in 2008, picking up the
Threeboot after Waid and Kitson left (and after Supergirl left), only to meet
his greatest foe: DC Editorial, who were more interested in pursuing the Retroboot
than the Threeboot, so they told him to wrap up his 18 issue storyline several
issues early, leading him to leave the book with #50 being rewritten by a
still-anonymous DC person using the pseudonym “Justin Thyme” (reportedly Dan
DiDio).
Apparently he spent the last few years on the convention
circuit, conversing with fans (who were growing older and fewer) and pros
alike, and unbeknownst to many, had been diagnosed with esophageal cancer and
was undergoing treatments in between convention appearances. He finally passed
away last week at the age of 73.
From Paul Levitz: “Jim
was an excellent super hero writer, a character creator, an editor with an
eagle eye, and a man who gave his all to what he did. From my perspective, he was far weaker as an
enterprise leader, and unfortunately that was what he most wanted to be. His sense
of history was not, in my view, as good as his sense of fiction. But what he did well, he did gloriously...and
my inner child will always be grateful for his inspiration.”
From Mark Waid: “My
meals and conversations with Jim were always genial, and I never failed to
remind him just how inspirational his work was to me; there are storytelling
choices and stylistic influences I got from him in nearly all my work.”
Waid has credited the 2-part Mordru story for greatly influencing his own
writing style.
Looking back at the Legion, here’s what he co-created in his three runs as writer:
- Adventure Comics #346-349, 351-380 and Action Comics #378, 380-382, 384 (1966-1970): Ferro Lad, Karate Kid, Princess Projectra, Nemesis Kid, Dr Regulus (and Sun Boy’s origin story), Universo, Rond Vidar, the Time Cube, Emerald Empress, Mano, Tharok, Validus, Persuader (all as the Fatal Five), the Sun-Eater, the death of Ferro Lad, Beauty Blaze, Echo, the Controllers, Orion the Hunter, Takron-Galtos, the Dominators, Mantis Morlo, King Voxv, Shadow Lass, the second Legion Clubhouse, the Dark Circle, the Miracle Machine, Mordru, Chemical King, the Legion Academy, Tarik the Mute, the Tornado Twins, the Taurus Gang (including Black Mace), Leland McCauley III, the Wanderers, Eltro Gand
- Superboy #209-214, 217, 220-224 (1975-1977): Soljer, Karate Kid’s origin, the Legion of Super-Rejects, Benn Pares, Leland McCauley IV, Laurel Kent, Grimbor, Charma, Pulsar Stargrave, Holdur, Quicksand
- LSH v5 #37-50 (2008-2009): Gazelle, M’Rissey, UP Young Heroes
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Further reading:
- Eulogies from lots of comics professionals
- https://bleedingcool.com/comics/jim-shooter-marvel-eic-founder-of-valiant-has-died-aged-73-rip/
- https://www.cbr.com/jim-shooter-comic-book-icon-dc-marvel-obituary/
- https://aiptcomics.com/2025/06/30/marvel-comics-jim-shooter/
- https://www.comicsbeat.com/jim-shooter-73-has-reportedly-died-of-esphogeal-cancer/
- https://comicbook.com/comics/news/jim-shooter-dies-marvel-comics-editor-in-chief-secret-wars-legion-of-super-heroes/
- https://icv2.com/print/article/59934
- https://bleedingcool.com/comics/reaction-to-the-death-of-jim-shooter-the-man-who-made-comics-grow-up/
- https://www.thepopverse.com/comics-jim-shooter-marvel-comics-avengers-legion-of-super-heroes-hulk-secret-wars
- https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/jim-shooter-dead-marvel-comics-1236304076/
- https://www.gamesradar.com/comics/legendary-comic-writer-and-editor-jim-shooter-creator-of-secret-wars-and-writer-of-avengers-superman-and-more-dies-at-73/
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