Comics has lost a pioneer…
Shooter in his younger years
Jim Shooter, one of the most talented and complicated people to ever work in comics, has died at the age of 73.
“I’ve just received word that Jim Shooter passed away of esophageal cancer, which he’s been battling for some time,” writer Mark Waid said on Facebook. “I realize that for many he’s been a controversial figure in the past (game knows game), mostly with regards to his managerial 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.
Shooter’s first issue as writer
“For those who don’t know, Jim broke into comics at the age of 13,” Waid added. “Let me say that again: 13. I don’t know about you, but when I was 13, 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.”
Shooter’s first Legion issue was Adventure Comics #346, which was released in May 1966. He wrote and did the story’s layouts, which were pencilled and inked by Sheldon Moldoff. His time on the Legion gave the team a jolt of popularity, which it enjoyed well into the 1980s, through other creators, including Paul Levitz, Mike Grell, Keith Giffen and many others.
Shooter, who was born in Pittsburgh on Sept. 27, 1951, later moved to Marvel and eventually became the publisher’s editor-in-chief, a tempestuous, well-documented period of both strife and creativity at the House of Ideas. For better and for worse, he wrote comics’ first maxiseries — 1984’s Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars. He also launched a number of comics companies.
This only scratches the surface. We’ll have much more on Shooter’s legacy as the week goes on.
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MORE
— Our Favorite Stories Written by JIM SHOOTER. Click here.
— COMIC BOOK DEATH MATCH: Secret Wars #1 vs. Crisis on Infinite Earths #1. Click here.
June 30, 2025
Wow ! What horrible news.
July 1, 2025
As you say, he made The Legion of Superheroes really fun to read. And at 13!!!
June 30, 2025
Wow! Well, love him or hate him, and I think a lot of us did both, we can’t deny his impact.
June 30, 2025
I enjoyed Shooter’s work for years. RIP…
July 1, 2025
The guys at Comic Book Historians did a fascinating 10-hour career retrospective interview with him about four or five years ago that I thought was really, really interesting.
Part 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBh709_dLNs
Part 2
July 1, 2025
Secret Wars was one of my gateways into the larger Marvel Universe. I was six. I had no idea who most of the characters on the cover were. People who hated Shooter don’t realize how many kids like me he brought into the market.
July 1, 2025
An absolute legend. If you met him at a show in the last decade or so, you’d never understand why there were people who disliked him because he was so generous with his time to fans, signing books, telling stories, talking about storytelling and the craft of making comics.
I’ve always felt that a lot of the vitriol directed at Shooter was because he was the public face of corporate actions by Marvel (the publisher, the company president, the CFO, the board of the holding company, the legal department, etc) and people (incorrectly) and blamed the public face they knew for things they didn’t like, and the creative types who never forgave him for making them hit deadlines and re-do crappy work (actually being an editor-in-chief, not just Head Writer, which was kind of what the job had been under someone like Stan).
He might have been a stubborn cuss, but he was also a great writer who understood the fundamentals of storytelling as well as anyone in the business, recognized talent, and pushed the industry in new and important ways. He also made a lot of creative people a lot of money, who were more than happy to stick the knife in him.
RIP, Jim Shooter.
July 1, 2025
I have heard lots of things about Jim Shooter, often from creative types who had a difference of opinion. His editorship will be remembered as having a huge impact on Marvel. However, I came here today to say how much I appreciated his first run on the Avengers, which influenced me as a kid discovering comics. A joy to read and re-read. Terrific writing. Thanks, Jim.
July 1, 2025
I couldn’t agree more, JML. I met him at a convention about a year ago, and he was so nice and accommodating. He was great to talk to and the interaction wasn’t rushed at all. He was great with my kids too. I have heard all the stories and never had to work with him, so I can’t speak to any of that, but I can say that at least in his later years, he was a true gentleman. He was responsible for so many of the comics I loved as a kid. RIP.
July 1, 2025
I hate to be **that** guy, but SECRET WARS was not comics’ first maxiseries, though it was the first comics event maxiseries, and the one that completed first. CAMELOT 3000 was actually the first maxiseries.
That said, I always enjoyed Shooter’s Legion stories. I loved reading “Mordru the Merciless” and “The Devil’s Jury” when DC reprinted them in a tabloid in the ’70s. Good stuff!
July 1, 2025
Excellent point!
July 1, 2025
Despite the friction he had with some creators, and not all of his ideas landing that successfully (thinking Secret Wars 2 and New Universe), I will forever associate Jim Shooter with my personal golden age of Marvel. Not just for the amazing runs created on his watch, or the exciting formats he introduced (like Marvel Graphic Novels, Limited Series, Special Editions and Official Handbooks), but also because while he took comics seriously, he was open to them not taking themselves too seriously. The Fantastic Four Roast, the Marvel No-Prize Book, and the whole Assistant Editors’ Month stunt really appealed to me as a kid, and painted the image of Marvel as a fun House of Ideas in a way probably similar to how kids reacted to Stan Lee’s marketing when Marvel was getting started. So nice that some gritty drama was still allowed to go hand-in-hand with an innocence that welcomed young readers, which became less and less prominent in the years following Shooter’s departure. Every comic was indeed somebody’s first, and under his tenure those firsts were inviting and could really hook you. Rest in peace, Jim, and thank you for the memories.
July 1, 2025
Very sad to learn of the passing of Jim Shooter. Adventure Comics 346 was the second Legion comic I ever bought when I was very young and I was hooked and stuck with Adventure Comics through Mr. Shooter’s run (Adventure 346-380, but 350-351 were written by Nelson Bridwell). Consider all the creations from Jim Shooter during this run: new Legionnaires: Karate Kid, Princess Projectra, Ferro Lad, Shadow Lass, Chemical King; new villains: Nemesis Kid, the Fatal Five (Emerald Empress, Mano, the Persuader, Validus, and Tharok), the Sun-Eater, Dr. Regulus, Universo, the Hunter, Dr. Morlo, the Dark Circle, the Khunds, the Dominators, the Controllers, the Wanderers, Mordru the Merciless, as well as the first appearance of the Legion of Super-Villains. I’m sure I have forgotten (or missed) others but it was a great and entertaining run (the first appearances of the Fatal Five and Mordru are big favorites of mine). Jim also wrote many enjoyable Superman stories in the 60s including Action 340 with the first new formidable new supervillain in years with the Parasite and he also created the space pirate Amalak. And Jim wrote the first Superman-Flash race in Superman 199. And I haven’t even mentioned his Marvel work. He had 2 important runs on the Avengers; I really enjoyed his first run with one of the scariest versions of Ultron ever seen; and of course the very memorable Korvac saga. And his second controversial run was memorable for the court martial of Yellowjacket and the split-up of Hank and Jan. Naturally there’s much more to be said about his time at Marvel, his editorship and work on series like Secret Wars, and his stewardship of other companies but I’ll leave that to others to comment on. I have very fond memories of Jim’s work as a writer for DC and Marvel. He was innovative and one of a kind and he will be missed.
July 2, 2025
As stated many times here, a legend. Not just for his DC/Legion work and his landmark stint as EIC at Marvel – which really was MY era of Marvel – but for his completely formative work giving us the Valiant Universe as we know it today. Sometimes, the early Valiant artwork wasn’t so great – but the storytelling was marvelous. And getting characters like Magnus and Solar back in the 90s, along with compelling works about Eternal Warrior and Unity (which I thought worked just fine), was great. He did tremendous worldbuilding at Valiant, before he was forced out. And I even have some fond memories of the New Universe….!