Mark Waid has posted that controversial comic titan Jim Shooter has passed away from esophageal cancer which he had been battling for some time.
Shooter is one of those names tied to so many publishers and comic history. He began his career at the age of 14 after writing and drawing stories featuring the Legion of Super-Heroes. Mort Weisinger saw what he did and wanted to purchase the stories Shooter sent. Shooter was then commissioned to writer Supergirl and Superman stories. He eventually was offered a regular position on Legion of Super-Heroes and he’d commute after school from Pittsburgh to New York. In a 2010 interview, Shooter said his family needed the money.
After graduating high school, Shooter applied for a job at Marvel Comics. Though he was accepted to New York University, he decided to work for Marvel which forced him to quit DC as well. At Marvel he worked as an editor and occasional co-lotter but was forced to return to home after three works.
He then went to work in advertising but the lure of comics pulled him back in and he applied to both Marvel and DC and both companies offered him work but he decided to return to DC.
In 1976 Shooter rejoined the Marvel staff as an assistant editor and writer and found himself promoted quickly becoming the editor-in-chief in 1978. He held that position for nine years but some say his time in that position was dictatorial and unpleasant. Part of that was due to his strict focus on deadlines as well as his editorial control. He also forbade the portrayal of gay characters in the Marvel universe, forcing creators to conceal the sexuality of some characters.
At Marvel, Shooter helped launch the first direct market release for Marvel with Dazzler #1. He also instituted an art-return program, a policy giving creators royalties when they hit certain sales benchmarks or when their work was licensed as toys. He also oversaw Secret Wars, a toy promotion that was a huge success and some have stated that success went to Shooter’s head.
He left Marvel in April 1987.
Shooter went on to found Voyager Communications and published comics under the Valiant Comics banner which launched in 1989 with comics based on Nintendo and WWF characters. They hit it big when they relaunched the Gold Key characters like Magnus, the Robot Fighter and Solar, Man of the Atom.
He was ousted from Valiant in 1992 and went on to found Defiant Comics in 1993, Broadway Comics in 1995, and was to self-publish Daring Comics in 1998. He returned to Valiant, now owned by Acclaim Comics, in 1999 to write Unity 2000 but Acclaim went out of business before the series could be completed.
In the 2000s Shooter returned to write various comics including Legion of Super-Heroes and the Gold Key characters now at Dark Horse.
He’s been recognized with an Inkpot Award as well as Inkwell Awards Ambassador among other accolades. No matter your personal opinion of him, he shaped the comic industry we know today and is a key individual in its evolution over the decades.
