Jim Shooter
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Jim Shooter (born September 27, 1951 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is an American writer, occasional fill-in artist, editor, and publisher for various comic books.
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[edit] DC Comics
When he was 13 years old, Shooter began selling stories to DC Comics for Adventure Comics, starting with Adventure Comics #346 (July 1966), for which he provided not only writing but pencils as well. Shooter created characters for the Legion of Super-Heroes that appeared in the series at the time, including Karate Kid, a teenage superhero who predated the martial arts fad of the 1970s, and Ferro Lad, a teenage superhero who can transform to living iron. Karate Kid is a noted example of Shooter's ability to analyze a comic-book feature and address its weaknesses. Shooter noticed that most of the Legionnaires in the Legion of Super-Heroes had super-powers which could be described as "strike a pose and point". As a contrast to such characters, Shooter created Karate Kid as a character who used his entire body in martial-arts combat, usually in direct physical contact with a foe.
Shooter retired from the comics industry after his Legion series ended, but was coaxed back out of retirement by members of Legion fandom. He enjoyed a second run writing the Legion in the mid-1970s.
[edit] Marvel Comics
Shooter succeeded Archie Goodwin to become the ninth editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics from 1978 to 1987. Shooter was made editor-in-chief over more established personnel at Marvel, and, during his tenure, certain long-time key staff defected to DC.
Nonetheless, Marvel enjoyed some of its best successes during Shooter's tenure as editor-in-chief, most notable among which was Chris Claremont and John Byrne's X-Men. Although Claremont had begun writing the series long before Shooter became editor, it reached the heights of popularity during his tenure. He believed that every title, no matter how unpopular it was, deserved a chance to succeed. Some have maintained that he abandoned a long-time Marvel Comics policy that allocated the best writers to the best-selling titles; however, the notion of best is subjective at best, and his introduction of royalties had the opposite effect, encouraging star writers to stick with the better-selling titles. Although some of the second-string titles, such as The Uncanny X-Men and Daredevil, reached then-unprecedented heights of popularity, this was done under the aegis of writers and artists who, at the time they were assigned to the titles, had been unknowns.
Shooter was, however, responsible for seriously angering staff and fans alike with his declaration that there were no gay heroes in the Marvel Universe (see Northstar). A story he wrote for The Rampaging Hulk magazine portrayed an ugly side to gay life, depicting an attempted rape of Bruce Banner in the shower of a YMCA.
Shooter angered and alienated a number of creators by insisting on strong editorial control and strict adherence to deadlines. Despite his success in revitalizing Marvel, and his implementation of a policy which gave creators royalties when the characters they worked on were licensed as toys, Shooter still found himself in constant conflict with many of Marvel's top writers and artists, which led to many leaving to work for DC. Shooter also failed to attract 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 cast Marvel as a conservative force in the industry. Shooter himself scripted the 12-part limited series Secret Wars which set modern records for comic book sales but was criticized by some as an over-hyped series that served no purpose other than to bring together all the company's major characters.
Shooter was often blamed, sometimes demonized, by the comics fan press for corporate decisions his position required him to defend, most notably with respect to Marvel's long-running disputes with Jack Kirby over creator's rights and the return of the latter's original artwork from 1960s comics. Shooter did pioneer a series of innovations in the American comics industry with toy tie-ins such as Shogun Warriors, Rom the Spaceknight and Transformers and the mini-series and graphic novel formats. In 1981, Shooter also brought Marvel into the lucrative comic book specialty shop market with Dazzler #1. But his relationships with company executives as well as with the freelance writers and artists on whom the company depended deteriorated, and the reaction within the comics community at his termination was, at least initially, overwhelmingly positive. He was replaced by Tom DeFalco.
[edit] Valiant Comics
After leaving Marvel, Shooter fronted an effort to purchase the floundering publisher from its corporate ownership, losing out at the last minute to Ronald Perelman's slightly higher bid. He then founded a new company, Voyager Communications, which published comics under the Valiant Comics banner. Shooter brought many of Marvel's big name creators with him, including Bob Layton and Barry Windsor-Smith.
Valiant stormed onto the market in the 1990s, selling more than 80 million books in its first five years. Its characters have seen print in numerous languages across the globe and have featured in best selling video games, and Jim Shooter was one of the key architects in building the Valiant universe. With the new company enjoying great success in the direct market, Shooter was ousted in a corporate dispute sparked by his venture capitalist partners' desire to sell off the company and realize their profits. There was also a dispute about the number of titles Valiant should publish. Shooter felt that he couldn't control the quality of more than ten titles (he insisted on editing each title separately). His partners believed that more titles equaled more profits. Valiant was eventually sold to video game giant Acclaim Entertainment for $65 million.
Acclaim then changed Valiant's name to Acclaim Comics. Sales for all comic book publishers plummeted as the comics market contracted and Valiant/Acclaim Comics was no exception. Sales dropped despite the success of such video games titles based on the Valiant characters as Turok and Shadowman. Losing their sports licences and poor sales of titles such as BMX XXX proved too much.
[edit] Other Companies
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 quickly folded thirteen months after its first title appeared, its resources drained in part by a prolonged court battle with Marvel Comics over Defiant's use of a title resembling one used on a failed title from Marvel's British imprint.
Shooter went on to found Broadway Comics, which was related to Broadway Video, the production company that made Saturday Night Live; but this line folded after its parent sold the properties to Golden Books. He then announced his intention to form yet another comic book publisher, Daring Comics, but nothing came of it. He returned to Acclaim for a brief stint in 2000 to writing 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 not been updated for over two years (as of December 2006). In a 2004 interview by Tim Hartnett, of www.silverbulletcomicbooks.com, Jim discusses that his "main occupation is working for a company called TGS, Inc. developing entertainment content for an internet site." The website states that TGS, Inc. was acquired by Ascent Media Systems & Technology Services in October 2005.
[edit] External links
- An interview with Jim Shooter
- Evaluation of Shooter's tenure by former Marvel editor James Owsley / Christopher Priest
| Preceded by Archie Goodwin |
Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief 1978–1987 |
Succeeded by Tom DeFalco |
| 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 |
