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Saturday, March 02, 2002 ( 3/02/2002 01:21:00 PM ) Bill S. THE SHOOTER QUESTION - Over at Mind Over What Matters, my friend Jay Zilber has taken time off from his ongoing exploration of things political to defend fannish bete noir Jim Shooter. Through the years, Shooter – who had the misfortune of being Editor-in-Chief at Marvel Comics just when the Creator’s Rights movement started gathering momentum – has become a symbol for many comics fans of everything that’s degraded and anti-creativity about Company Comics. In part because he was spokesman for a company that was in the process of screwing one of its most beloved creators (the great Jack Kirby), Shooter was mercilessly demonized in much of the comics fan press. Like most symbolic overstatements, the rap is unfair - though I don’t think Jay builds a strong case against it. Pointing out, for example, that Shooter gave out personal Xmas bonuses when the company quashed ‘em is no testament to his strengths or weakness as an administrator – if anything, the act comes off a bit paternalistic. And asserting that bad-mouthing Marvel’s dead-end New Universe line (which was ballyhooed and released during Shooter’s watch) isn’t fair because the company withdrew funding for it doesn’t wash either. The New Universe came out under Shooter’s name, and – fair or not – it’s part of his editorial legacy. So, it should be noted, are such fan faves as John Byrne’s Fantastic Four and Frank Miller’s Daredevil. Shooter has been subjected to plenty of sniping comments over the years (reading The Comics Journal’s recent 25th Anniversary timeline, I was struck by the number of anti-Shooter cracks made by both creators and critics), and I can understand Jay’s impulse to defend the guy. As a young comics scripter, Shooter produced an impressive body of superhero comic scripts: he's admired (and rightly so) by fans of DC's Legion of Superheroes for his work on that series. Early in his tenure at Marvel (Full Disclosure Alert!), the man even once called me on the misguided advice of a mutual acquaintance and asked me to submit something. (I did, but nothing came of it – for which both Jim and I should probably be grateful.) But if the larger-than-life myths that have grown around the man are unfair, it’s clear from the testimony he’s made on the issue of creators’ rights that Shooter’s vision of the role of writers and artists in a mainstream comics company conflicts with the views of many hard-working comics folk. Nothing wrong with that – but in that dichotomy lies the groundwork for plenty of bruised feelings. . . And, y’know, Marvel's New Universe really did suck. # | |
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