Jim Shooter

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

1 History
2 Valiant Comics
3 Other Companies
4 External links

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History

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 such beloved characters as "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 an excellent 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 eventually succeeded Archie Goodwin to become the controversial 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 some longtime 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-unprecedented 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 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 criticised 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 in Marvel's long-running disputes with Jack Kirby over creator's rights and the return of his 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 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.

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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.

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. The Valiant characters are often called the most important of those created after the Marvel revolution in the 1960s (when Spider-Man, X-Men, Fantastic Four etc were created). 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. Valiant was eventually sold to video game giant Acclaim Entertainment for $65 million.

Acclaim and the newly christened Acclaim comics floundered despite the success of such video games titles as Turok.

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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.

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