Jim Shooter

Jim Shooter (born September 27, 1951 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is an American writer, occasional fill-in artist, editor, and publisher for various comic books.

Shooter began selling stories to DC Comics for their Legion of Super-Heroes title when he was only 13. He eventually became the controversial editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics from 1978 to 1987. Shooter was made editor in chief in favour of more established personnel at Marvel and as a result key staff 'defected' to DC. During his tenure the company enjoyed some of its best successes, especially with titles headed by Chris Claremont and John Byrne. He believed that every title, no matter how unpopular it was, deserved a chance to succeed. He abandoned the long-time Marvel Comics policy that allocated the best writers to the best-selling titles. This allowed some of the second-string titles, such as The Uncanny X-Men and Daredevil, to reach then-uprecedented heights of popularity.

However Shooter believed in strong editorial control and strict adherence to deadlines. This resulted in a number of clashes with some of Marvel Comics' best talent, which ultimately resulted in mass defections to DC. Shooter also failed to act in attracting new talent from Britain (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 Secret Wars which struck most as a poor imitation of DC's Crisis on Infinite Earths and also managed to offend many fans by ignoring nuances in some characters.

In 1985 it emerged that Marvel was in legal dispute with Jack Kirby over creator rights. At the fourtieth anniversary of the establishment of Marvel Comics, Jim Shooter launched "The New Universe". His critics saw this as an attempt to shore up the company in case Kirby's suit was succesful and robbed Marvel of many key characters. Shooter didn't help matters by insisting that New Universe reflected what he believed was Stan Lee's original vision before Jack Kirby entered the picture. Shooter did pioneer a series of innovations in the industry with toy tie-ins such as Shogun Warriors, Rom and Transformers and the mini-series and graphic novel formats. Shooter also recognised that direct distribution through specialist shops would make up a larger share of the market and so set up the Epic Comics off-shoot to penetrate that market.

After leaving Marvel, he founded his own company, Voyager Communications, which published comics under the Valiant Comics banner. After a failed attempt at adapting Nintendo properties, it acquired the rights to a number of older Gold Key characters and used them to launch a tightly integrated universe based on Jim Shooter's vision. Two years later, he was outsted from Valiant Comics. While there is no consensus as to what exactly happened, Steven J. Massarsky is considered the primary architect of Jim Shooter's departure. Shortly afterward, most employees of Voyager Communication who showed loyalty to Shooter were either fired outright or defected at first opportunity. With their help, Shooter founded Defiant Comics , but after a prolonged court battle with Marvel Comics, Defiant Comics folded.

Shooter went on to found Broadway Comics, which was related to the Broadway Videos, the production company that made Saturday Night Live. After Broadway Videos abruptly pulled the plug on Broadway Comics, Jim Shooter announced his intention to form yet another comic book publisher, Daring Comics , but nothing came of it. Since August 2000, he is owner and creative consultant for the sci-fi firm Phobos Entertainment.

External links

• An interview with Jim Shooter