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.
DC Comics
Shooter began selling stories to DC Comics for their Legion of Super-Heroes title when he was only 13. It was during this period that he created Karate Kid (a teenage superhero who predated the martial arts fad of the 1970s) and Ferro Lad (a teenage superhero who could 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.
Marvel Comics
Shooter eventually 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. 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 enabled some of the second-string titles, such as The Uncanny X-Men and Daredevil, to reach then-unprecedented heights of popularity.
Shooter was, however, responsible for seriously angering staff and fans alike with his declaration that there were no gay characters in the Marvel Universe (see Northstar).
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 brought 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.
Valiant Comics
After leaving Marvel, he 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 Valliant should publish. Mr. 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 eventually plummeted, dropping from an average of 750,000 units a title to as little as 3000, 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.
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. Since August 2000, he is part-owner and creative consultant for the sci-fi firm Phobos Entertainment.
External links
- [An interview with Jim Shooter]
- [Evaluation of Shooter's tenure] by former Marvel editor James Owsley / Christopher Priest
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