Jim Shooter

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Jim Shooter
Shooter at the November 2008 Big Apple Con in Manhattan.
Born	September 27, 1951 (1951-09-27) (age 57) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Nationality	American
Area(s)	Writer, Editor, Publisher, Penciller
Pseudonym(s)	Paul Creddick
Notable works	Legion of Super-Heroes Secret Wars
Awards	Eagle Award, 1979 Inkpot Award, 1980

James Shooter (born September 27, 1951 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is an American writer, occasional fill-in artist, editor, and publisher for various comic books. He is most notable for his successful and controversial run as Marvel Comics' ninth editor-in-chief, and his work as publisher of the short-lived but influential company Valiant Comics.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 DC Comics 1.2 Marvel Comics 1.3 Valiant Comics 1.4 Defiant Comics 1.5 Broadway Comics and beyond 2 Editorial philosophy 3 Awards 4 Notes 5 References 6 External links 6.1 Interviews

[edit] Biography

Shooter's parents Ken and Eleanor ("Ellie")^[1][2] were of Polish extraction.^[3]

[edit] DC Comics

At the age of 14, Shooter began selling stories to DC Comics for Adventure Comics, beginning with Adventure Comics #346 (July 1966), for which he provided not only writing but pencil breakdowns as well. Shooter created several characters for Legion of Super-Heroes including Karate Kid, a teenage superhero who predated the martial arts fad of the 1970s; Ferro Lad, a teenage superhero who can transform to living iron; and Princess Projectra, who could cast realistic illusions.

After his Legion series ended its run in Adventure Comics, Shooter retired from the comic book industry, as he concurrently graduated from high school and the Legion of Super-Heroes stories were relegated to a small back-up feature in Action Comics in the late 1960s. Several years later, however, he undertook a second run writing the Legion in the mid-1970s, now in their own book, Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes. Eventually Shooter left the title, and DC.

[edit] Marvel Comics

In the mid-70s, Marvel Comics was undergoing a series of changes in the position of Editor-in-Chief. After Roy Thomas retired from the post in order to focus on writing, a succession of other editors, including Gerry Conway, Len Wein, Marv Wolfman and Archie Goodwin, took the job during a relatively short span of time, only to find the task too daunting as Marvel continued to grow and add new titles and a larger staff to turn out material.^[4] Shooter joined the Marvel staff as an assistant editor and writer, being most remembered for the Korvac Saga in Avengers.^{[citation needed]} With the quick turnover at the top, he rapidly found himself rising in the ranks, and in 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.

Marvel enjoyed some of its best successes during Shooter's nine-year tenure as Editor-in-Chief, most notably Chris Claremont and John Byrne's run on the Uncanny X-Men and Frank Miller's run on Daredevil. Also under Shooter's editorial reign, Walt Simonson revamped The Mighty Thor and made it again a bestseller. Although there were complaints among some that Shooter imposed a dictatorial style on the "Bullpen," he successfully managed to keep the line of books on schedule, add new titles, and develop new talent.^[5]

In 1981, Shooter brought Marvel into the lucrative comic book specialty shop market with Dazzler #1. Featuring a disco-themed heroine with ties to the X-Men (based upon an unproduced motion picture set to star Bo Derek),^[6] the first issue of this this series was sold only through the specialty stores, bypassing the then-standard newsstand/spin rack distribution route altogether, as a recognition by Marvel of the growing comics shop sector. (Subsequent issues of Dazzler, however, were sold through newsstand [returnable] accounts as well.) Dazzler was the first direct sales-only ongoing series from a major publisher; other Marvel titles, such as Marvel Fanfare and Ka-Zar #1, soon followed.^[5]

In 1981, Shooter was recognized as one of six "New Yorkers of the Year" by the New York chapter of the JayCees, for his "contributions toward revitalizing the comics industry and helping Marvel Comics achieve a new pinnacle of success."^[7]

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.^[4] Although he instituted an art return program, and implemented a policy which gave creators royalties when their books passed certain sales benchmarks or when characters they worked on were licensed as toys, Shooter still found himself in near-constant conflict with many of the company's top writers and artists. This led to many, including Steve Gerber, Roy Thomas,^[8] Marv Wolfman,^[9][10] George Pérez,^[11] Gene Colan,^[10] John Byrne,^[12] Dave Cockrum,^[13] Doug Moench, and other Marvel mainstays, leaving to work for DC or other companies.^[9][14] Shooter also failed to attract much new talent from the United Kingdom (as DC managed to do, resulting in considerable success and critical acclaim). Shooter's opposition to dropping the Comics Code^{[citation needed]} cast Marvel as a conservative force in a rapidly changing comics industry.

In 1987, after being fired from Marvel,^[15] Shooter spearheaded an effort to purchase the then-floundering publisher Marvel from its corporate ownership — "buying Marvel Comics" as it were. He lost out at the last minute to Ronald Perelman's slightly higher bid.^[16]

[edit] Valiant Comics

Shooter and his investors then founded a new company, Voyager Communications, which published comics under the Valiant Comics banner, entering the market in the 1990s. Shooter brought many of Marvel's big name creators with him, including Bob Layton and Barry Windsor-Smith, as well as veterans such as Don Perlin. Valiant also established "knob row" — taking in raw talent and teaching them how to make comics Valiant-style — and launched many careers, most notably Joe Quesada's.

Occasionally over the years, Shooter was required to fill in as penciller on various books he wrote and/or oversaw as editor. During his period as Valiant's publisher, money and talent were often at a premium, and Shooter was forced to pencil a story sporadically. To conceal this fact, he drew under the pseudonym of Paul Creddick, which is the name of his brother-in-law.^[17] Shooter said he only "got away with it" because of having a "great inker" like Layton embellish his sub-par pencil work.^[17]

[edit] Defiant Comics

In 1993, Shooter, together with several of his loyalist coworkers, went on to found Defiant Comics. After some initial success with the first title, the new company failed to secure an audience in the increasingly crowded direct sales market and folded thirteen months after its first title appeared.

[edit] Broadway Comics and beyond

In 1995, Shooter founded Broadway Comics, which was an offshoot of Broadway Video, the production company that produces Saturday Night Live, but this line folded after its parent sold the properties to Golden Books.

Shooter returned to Acclaim for a brief stint in 1999 to write Unity 2000 (an attempt to combine and revitalize the older and newer Valiant universes) but Acclaim folded after the completion of only three of the planned six issues. In August 2000, he became part-owner and creative consultant for the sci-fi firm Phobos Entertainment. However, the website has disappeared since. In a 2004 article that is no longer available on the website Silver Bullet Comic Books, Tim Hartnett interviewed Jim Shooter. In the interview, Shooter discussed that his "main occupation is working for a company called TGS, Inc. developing entertainment content for an internet site." TGS, Inc. was acquired by Ascent Media Systems & Technology Services in October 2005 and no longer recognizes TGS, Inc. as a separate entity and does not list employee names on the website.^{[citation needed]}

In September 2007, DC Comics announced that Jim Shooter would be the new writer of the current Legion of Super-Heroes (Vol. 5) series, beginning with issue #37, following the departure of writer Mark Waid who had left the series in mid-2007 with issue #30. Shooter's return to the Legion, a little over 30 years from his previous run, is his first major published comic book work in years. It is slated to end with the discontinuation of the book with issue #50.

[edit] Editorial philosophy

While Marvel editor-in-chief in 1982, Shooter detailed what he considered the necessary qualities for a good comic book story:

• The characters must be introduced.
• Their situation must be established.
• The conflict must be introduced.
• Suspense must be built.
• A climax must be reached.
• A resolution must be achieved.

. . . When I evaluate a story, should one of the essential elements listed above be missing — say, the characters are not introduced properly when they are brought onstage — I immediately suspect that the author of the "story" knoweth not what he ith [sic] doing.

Second, I look for how well the story is told. Is the conflict worthwhile? Is the climax exciting? Is the resolution satisfying? Is the plot good? Are there interesting twists and turns? Is there a theme? Is there character development? Is it dramatic? Is it entertaining? This is the really important stuff. It should go without saying that a writer or a prospective writer should know enough to meet the fundamental requirements of a story. It's the power and the passion and drama and characterization that I really look for.^[18]

[edit] Awards

• Eagle Award, 1979 (Best Continuing Story — The Avengers #167, 168, 170-177)
• Inkpot Award, 1980

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Jim Shooter at the Comic Book DB

[edit] External links

• Shooterworks — fan site devoted to Shooter's career
• Harbinger: The Beginning article at Variety Online
• Harbinger: The Beginning Press Release at Newsarama
• The Ten Most Important Comic Books of the 1990s (Harbinger by Jim Shooter is ranked #1)

[edit] Interviews

• Petrilak, Joe. "The Jim Shooter Interview," The Valiant Era Online (July 22, 1998).
• Vinnie Bartilucci interviews Shooter (Jan. 1992).
• Jamie Coville interviews Shooter (1998).
• Michael Thomas interviews Shooter, part 1. Comic Book Resources (Oct. 6, 2000).
• Michael Thomas interviews Shooter, part 2. Comic Book Resources (Oct. 10, 2000).
• Glamazonia.it (in Italian and English) (Sept. 7, 2008).

Preceded by Archie Goodwin	Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief 1978–1987	Succeeded by Tom DeFalco
Preceded by Mort Weisinger	Adventure Comics writer 1966–1969	Succeeded by Cary Bates
Preceded by Cary Bates	Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes writer 1975–1977	Succeeded by Paul Levitz
Preceded by Gerry Conway	Avengers writer 1977–1978	Succeeded by Tom DeFalco
Preceded by Marv Wolfman	Daredevil writer 1977–1978 (with Gerry Conway in early 1977)	Succeeded by Roger McKenzie
Preceded by Bob Budiansky & Danny Fingeroth	Avengers writer 1981–1982	Succeeded by Steven Grant
Preceded by Frank Springer	Dazzler writer 1984	Succeeded by Mike Carlin
Preceded by Mark Waid	Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 5 writer 2008–2009	Succeeded by N/A