I discovered that Jim Shooter, former teen scripter for Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes before he became Marvel's EIC, has set up his own blog earlier this month. He does have some interesting things to talk about, but the problem that puzzles me is that he uses titles like "The problems with Marvel Comics" and "The impending death of the comics industry" without actually telling what he thinks has gone wrong in modern times.
Certainly there's merit and interest in his memories of what life was like years before and his burgeoning career in comics, but it's a shame if he doesn't actually tell what he thinks has been leading to the demise of a once prominent art.
Certainly there's merit and interest in his memories of what life was like years before and his burgeoning career in comics, but it's a shame if he doesn't actually tell what he thinks has been leading to the demise of a once prominent art.
Labels: dc comics, marvel comics
It's possible he's holding back, in case he ever wants to return to the Big Two. Depends on who is left that has any bad blood about Shooter.
Shooter is complicated, but I can tell he did care about the story more than any writer's ego. Not saying he was perfect, but he definitely carved his mark in a more positive way (or positive enough in retrospect). DeFalco tried, but it wasn't the same. Then came Harras, and the rest.
In re-reading his blog, it seems like he's forming a narrative about his time in Marvel and working backwards. In which case, we'll see what happens in a month, or two, if he'll address anything modern. Either theory works.
Nice blog, though.
I doubt Marvel would ever take him back. I remember hearing how unpopular he was with the (cough!) talent when he was running the company. He did an interview with Chris Claremont and John Byrne some years back in which they talked about their differences regarding the "death of Jean/Grey" storyline. If I remember correctly, the interviews are included in a special release of the original ending. It's worth checking out just hear Shooter's perpective on the story.
Which is why I'm now leaning toward my second theory.
Wizard, several years ago, explored Shooter's time as EIC, and it was rather fair. Louise Simonson had more positive things to say, or acknowledged that he cared about the story more than anything. Back when Wizard was marginally useful.
I like the guy, anyway, as Valiant Comics had the Nintendo license in the early 90's. Good times.
(Then again, a Captain N issue had Joe Quesada as an inker, so maybe not so good. Heh.)
Shooter's responsible for Iron Man's "Armor Wars," FWIW. (His idea, hashed out over dinner with David Micheline and Bob Layton.)
Sigh, Valiant always gets me down. They had some good talent and superhero IPs to work with, but they decided to go adults-only and ramp up the nudity, gore and preachin' beyond Marvel levels. They also were at the forefront of the cover-gimmick nonsense. They could've revived the traditional superhero book, but took the path of Ennisism.
degu, most of those things happened after Shooter was evicted from the company.
Yeah, I can't recall the whole chronology. I jumped ship in disgust around 93 or so.
I wish somebody would do some stuff with Eternal Warrior today, he was very cool.