Mark Waid has posted the following on Facebook:
"RIP Jim Shooter, 1951-2025.
I've just received word that Jim Shooter passed away of esophogeal cancer, which he's been battling for some time. I realize that for many he's been a controversial figure in the past (game knows game), mostly with regards to his managereal style, but my experiences with him lay outside that realm and began with my lifelong love for his writing beginning with the first time I ever picked up a copy of Adventure Comics in 1967.
For those who don't know, Jim broke into comics at the age of 14. Let me say that again: 14. I don't know about you, but when I was 14, I could barely put sentences together on paper. During a hospital stay, he'd been given some Marvel and DC comics and could clearly see how much more exciting the Marvel books were and couldn't understand why DC's books couldn't have that same vitality. Having no idea how comics scripts were done, he literally wrote and drew a Legion of Super-Heroes story on notebook paper and sent it in to editor Mort Weisinger, who put him to work immediately--having no idea how young he was until later.
Jim left comics in the late 1960s, returning in the mid-1970s to a DC that didn't quite know what to do with him before moving to Marvel and eventually serving as their EIC for many years. Subsequently, he launched a succession of long- and short-lived comics companies. Over the past few years, he'd been making frequent comic convention appearances.
My meals and conversations with Jim were always genial, and I never failed to remind him just how inspirational his work was to me; there are storytelling choices and stylistic influences I got from him in nearly all my work. I regret that I didn't get a chance to say goodbye, but I'm glad he's finally at peace after years of suffering.
Godspeed, Jim."
Replies
I know he was a controversial figure, and I certainly don't think that he was uniformly correct in his actions and decisions.
But it is a real loss.
Story
He was definitely an influential figure in American comics of our lifetimes.
This one caught me completely by surprise. (I hadn't known of his illness.) My feelings toward him run the gamut from anger to respect, but mostly respect.
I came into comics too late to have seen those Legion of Super Heroes stories Jim Shooter wrote, but I marvel (heh) at his ingenuity in finding a way to get his ideas over to the people at DC, and at their being astute enough to recognize his potential and creativity and hire him. (Absolutely no way would it happen like that today.)
I know him best from his tenure as a writer on The Avengers and Secret Wars, which I found plenty entertaining. Fandom generally holds its nose at Secret Wars, but I was unaware then that it was a toy tie-in, and learning so did not diminish my regard for it. It was perceived as Marvel's answer to Crisis on Infinite Earths and as being the lesser because it wasn't as ambitious, including not having its best artist and writer. Well, Shooter gave the job to himself, and as for the artist, he once said the book was a sure-fire best-seller, so it didn't need everyone's agreed-upon "best" artist; better to give the job to a very talented but unheralded artist whose reputation could use the boost.
As for his time as editor-in-chief of Marver, I never ever cared who was the editor on any comic I've read; that's behind-the-scenes stuff. And from what I've read about his tenure, most of the negatives sounded to me like the airing of gripes from people who were called on to stop acting like they're still in a fan club and be professional about their jobs.
But then, that was the key difference between the DC Jim Shooter started in and the Marvel he ran as editor-in-chief. There were no comics fans (save himself) working at comics companies; they weren't old enough. The comics creators of the 1930s, '40s and '50s were adults who moved over from magazine cartooning and illustration, comics strips, and publishing of various kinds, particularly pulps, science fiction and science fantasy. They took tnat professionalism into the business. But by the Bronze Age, many comics creators were fans who came up if not grew up reading comics, and the Marvel from that time is well-known for being slipshod about the way it was run.
So, Shooter had to crack the whip and make people do things as basic as actually meeting deadlines. Steve Gerber's "Dreaded Deadline Issue" in Howard the Duck #16 shows how out of hand things were. I know, making deadline is a problem even today, but Shooter was dealing with people who didn't care and didn't understand or care what missed deadlines meant down the line. He had to stop letting editors be just the buddies of the writer/artist team. His "every issue is someone's first issue" mantra is something I agree with, having been confused or turned of by coming in after the first, or sixth, or twentieth issue of some indulgent writer's never-ending epic.
Granted, some things he over-corrected on; but his mentor was Mort Weisinger, who, ruled with an iron fist inside a tempered-steel glove. (The way Shooter jerked around Gene Colan on art corrections was petty and unforgivable.) But Shooter was good for Marvel's business, and good for the creators, launching a program where creators got royalties when their titles hit certain sales targets or were licensed, and a program where artists got their pages back (although the terms were problematic, particulaly in the case of Jack Kirby).
But overall, I hold Jim Shooter in high respect and mourn his loss.
This one hits home more than most. Because Jim Shooter was one of the very few comics professionals from the Silver Age that I had met. The news of his death caught me by surprise. He and I were almost the same age, and the idea of death never crosses my mind. I'm lucky there. The same genes which put the bald spot on the back of my head and my (formerly) bad knees also gave me remarkably good health in all other respects. So, I never gave any thought to Jim Shooter passing away.
I met him at the Charlotte, NC Heroes Convention in 2017, which I attended with Jason Marconnet and Mark Sullivan. Remarkably, I got about twenty minutes with Mr. Shooter all to myself. You'd think that our conversation would be all Silver-Age, but it wasn't. It turned out to be unexpectedly personal, like two old war buddies catching up. A rare thing for me---I would've been comfortable calling him "Jim", just from that brief meeting. I found my report of that event from 2017, and I'll reprint it below. Bear in mind, that was back in the days before I had had my total knee replacements and before I lost sixty pounds.
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Jason pointed out a table with a long line of attendees standing at, and around, it, and he told me that was Jim Shooter's table. That got my attention. I hadn't even known Shooter was scheduled to be there.
Let me digress for a moment on the topic of Jim Shooter. Yes, us Legionnaires of . . . shall we say, a certain age . . . best remember Jim Shooter for being a wunderkind who started writing for DC comics when he was fourteen years old. But the rest of you are probably more aware of him because of his often-contentious term as Marvel Comics' editor-in chief from 1978 to 1987.
I've read Shooter's blog, including his own lengthy and detailed commentaries on his time as Marvel's editor-in-chief. I've also read accounts by his detractors of that period, as well as commentary by neutral parties. The chief complaint among the anti-Editor Shooter camp is that his strict requirements drove off the great talent that was writing and drawing Marvel comics at the time.
The opposing argument is that, before Shooter took over, the position of editor-in-chief was little more than a figurehead. There were a certain number of "writer-editors", which essentially meant that no-one was guarding the hen house at all. The result being that, while there were some good stories, a great deal of what Marvel was putting out in the mid-1970's was drek.
There's some validity to that. If one examines Marvel's output from c. 1973 to 1976, much of it is self-indulgent, directionless writer's whimsy. The writers were much more impressed with their brilliance than the readers were, and the sales figures reflected it.
As editor-in-chief, Shooter took charge. He laid down rules and requirements for stories, according the guidelines for good storytelling that he had learnt in the past twenty-odd years. And he didn't bend. That's what created the animosity between him and some of the talent. They weren't allowed to play unsupervised in the sandbox, anymore.
Despite this, Shooter instituted some groundbreaking benefits for writers and artists. Things like royalties and the return of original art. He never seems to get credit for that.
I took this little side-trip of explanation so my opinion on this would be clear: Shooter was right. As editor-in-chief, he bore the ultimate responsibility for the sales of Marvel Comics, and with ultimate responsibility, there must come ultimate authority. The writers and artists were hired to work for Shooter and follow his dictates. It's no different than any other job; the employees are supposed to do the job the way that the boss wants it done (as long as it's not illegal or immoral, of course). It doesn't even matter if the writer has a really does have a great idea for a story and the editor steps all over it. For good or for ill, the final onus for making Marvel comics sell was on Shooter, nobody else.
As you can guess, from the silver oak leaves I used to wear on my collar, I was in firm agreement with Shooter's authoritarian leadership style. And after reading his thoughts and decision-making process in his blog, I developed great respect for his leadership.
Also, in his blog, I read of his youth and discovered that writing for DC did not make his teen-age years the enviable life I had assumed it was, 'way back when. From an early age, Shooter's work-ethic and ability to deal with stress was impressive.
But, no, I didn't get in line at Shooter's table and wait thirty or forty minutes to tell him this. Why not? Because it's next to impossible to say anything meaningful, when you've got only thirty-to-sixty seconds, with a huge line of people behind you, and the object of your remarks having heard a steady drone of comments.
A bit later, Mr. Marconnet and I took some seats, and he mentioned that Shooter had a lecture on the craft of writing comics scheduled for 5 p.m. I hadn't planned on staying quite that late that first day, but the more we talked about it, and talked about with Mark Sullivan, when we got up with him, I decided that I couldn't miss it.
After sitting in on another lecture that Mark and Jason wanted to attend, we went to the room where Shooter's event was scheduled. We got there about fifteen minutes early, so the three of us were chatting idly when this tall man came down the aisle next to us, using a cane for support.
I know about canes. My bad knee sometimes forces me to use one, and though I had awakened that morning with my knee feeling pretty good, the hard floor of the exhibition hall is murder on it. So I had brought my own cane and was glad I had.
I'm tall, but Shooter---and it was Shooter coming down the aisle---is two inches taller than me, maybe a little better. Allowing for our difference in height, we're about the same degree of overweight. His hair is whiter than mine, but he's got more of it, so it kind of balances out.
In other words, he and I are clearly of the same vintage. If we had been wine bottles, you would have had to wipe an inch of dust off of both of us to read the labels
There were two fairly low steps to the platform where the speaker's desk sat. I watched Shooter take them gingerly, one at a time, with a moment's pause between them, and I recognised that gait immediately. I knew then that he suffered from the same thing I did: arthritis in his knees. I'm a little luckier in that, in my right knee it's rarely an issue. Shooter appeared to be inflicted by pain in both of his.
I will tell you this right now. If you've never heard Jim Shooter's lecture on the craft of writing comics, or if you haven't read it on line, as I had before I heard him speak, then you absolutely must take it in. It's more interesting in person. Shooter is one of the most natural speakers and storytellers I've ever heard. So much so that even his digressions with anecdotes on persons of whom I had no interest were fascinating.
The principles of comics storytelling, which he illustrates in a slideshow of the lead story from Strange Tales # 114 (Nov., 1963), are cogent and straightforward. Nor do they limit an artist's creativity; they simply provide a basis from which that creativity can launch, if done progressively.
If you've never heard Shooter speak on this, do so, if you get the chance to. You'll be surprised what an old Silver-Age writer has to offer to modern comics storytellers.
There was a decent-sized crowd in attendance, and when the field opened up to Q&A, I was pleased to see that not only were there a fair number of questions for Shooter, they were all intelligent ones. Shooter tended to wax at length in his answers, so the hour set aside for his talk turned into ninety minutes before the moderator finally brought things to a halt.
As Jason and Mark and I got out of our chairs, I noticed that all the lecture's other attendees were filing out of the hall, except one. This fellow approached the speaker's desk and said briefly said something to Shooter. I also observed that there were no staff handlers to bar the public or usher Shooter to his next venue. He wasn't being given the Stan Lee treatment.
So I thought, "What the hell? Why not?"
The last thing Shooter said to the man who had stopped to talk with him was that he was no longer making active entries in his blog. I stepped forward, extended my hand, and told Shooter, "I've read your blog, and I have profound respect for your work ethic and for your leadership style and philosophy."
As he shook my hand, he seemed to be pleasantly surprised at what I had said. As I watched him descend those two steps from dais in the same fashion in which I go down stairs, I said, "I suspect that we have something in common," and told him about the arthritis in my knees and indicated my cane.
We stood there for a couple of minutes, talking about our relative arthritic conditions. I mentioned to him a treatment that I'm undergoing, of having an organic lubricant injected into my knees to replace my knee joints' original lubrication which was no longer there. Shooter replied that he had heard of that treatment. He told me that he was trying hard to avoid knee replacement surgery. I told him that I was trying to avoid a hospital stay, too.
"Somewhere," I said, "there's a floor of nurses who are very glad that I am not their patient." That coaxed a laugh out of Shooter. "Worse than me?" he replied.
We walked out of the hall, side by side, still talking about our various aches and pains. After I got home, it occurred to me: there we were, two veterans of the Silver Age, and did we talk about the Legion of Super-Heroes, or Mort Weisinger, or comics in general? No. We were just two grey-haired geezers, limping down the aisle on our canes, talking about how it sucks to get old.
As it turned out, we were both headed for the elevator. I made quick good-byes to Jason and Mark, who had more to do at the convention; I was headed home. Shooter and I got into the elevator, now talking about our early lives. Not that it went on forever; only about five or six minutes more. The elevator stopped at my level, and we shook hands again and said again how much I enjoyed his talk.
Now, let's talk real life here. Jim Shooter probably forgot about me two minutes after I got off the elevator. That's only natural. On the other hand, I will never forget my encounter with him. That's only natural, too.
Still, that encounter was more meaningful---for us both---than if I had stood in line for forty minutes at his exhibition-floor table.
That is a lovely memory, Commander. I remember that day, too. Ironically, Shooter was scheduled to be a guest at this year's HeroesCon but had to cancel, and now we know why.
That sounds like a wonderful encounter, Commander. And having seen Shooter conduct an earlier version of that lecture (sometime in the late 90s, in Philadelphia), I agree it was something not to be missed.
I never met Shooter in person, but he did once send me a letter. When I was in high school, I wrote a letter to Marvel Comics. I don't even remember what it was about (which is probably just as well), but I don't think it was entirely complimentary. A few weeks later a letter from Marvel Comics came in the mail. It was hand-written on Marvel letterhead stationary and signed by Jim Shooter. I said only three words: "We hear ya!" But it meant a lot to me at the time that he would take the time to jot down a few words to a dumb kid, and it means even more to me now.
I too received a letter from Jim Shooter. I had submitted some sample pages of my pencil art and Jim responded with encouragement and suggestions on what I needed to work on. My career path took me in another direction but I still have the drawing books Jim recommended and I'm still drawing - only now it is strictly for my own enjoyment.
Remembering Jim Shooter
An article in The Beat by Heidi MacDonald
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