Seriously.

It doesn't need to be at Marvel, I'd just like to see him in comics again, throwing out ideas and doing what he does.

This story at Newsarama reminded me (again) that despite all the stories about what an ogre of an editor he allegedly was, I really, really enjoyed the Shooter Era at Marvel. Big ideas, a focus on getting good books on the shelves, a willingness to try new things, and on and on.

The failed project talked about in the article sounded perfect. Shooter would be coming up with concepts, characters, storylines and the like, and then hand that off to others for development. He'd then guide the overall vision. Sounds cool to me; he does that well. Too bad it fell through.

Jim Shooter should be working in comics.

I vote yes.

And I hope Rich Johnston is right about this new Shooter Legion of Super Heroes project in 2007.

The Shooter era at Marvel ruled. I also liked his Valiant books too when he launched the line (with the whole Unity crossover)...but after that Defiant and the other universe just did not click..i wonder if he could still write a good yarn these days...

He got a lotta mileage outta being in the chair when a group of great creators were just reaching their prime. I don't think he really helped their work much and I don't think he writes well.

I just finished Shooter's stories in the Legion Archives. This was a man who was WAY ahead of his time - especially on how to write team books.

I find it sad that Warriors of Plasm is in legal limbo and may never be published in a trade. It was a great book.

I liked the defiant stuff.

Warriors of Plasm is in legal limbo?

Love Shooter. He may have been a hardass bastard to work for, but Marvel was only better than the Shooter era when Stan was running the show. I'd buy a Legion book by Shooter in a second. Hopefully it doesn't fall apart like the last time it was rumored.

Did you know they used to call Jack Kirby "Jack the Hack?"

Just thought I'd gratuitously point that out from out of left field. By mentioning it, I am subtly implying that any complaints about Shooter are unfounded.

I wonder what would be a catchy moniker for Shooter that is analogous to "Jack the Hack?" This is it, ladies and gents, your chance to make comics history.

Shooter the Booter?

Shooter the Looter?

And this thread puts the song "Bring Back Leroy Brown" by Queen into my head.

Shooty Wooty.

The Shooter-Downer

Jim "Poop" Shooter.

Shooter brought about the worst in Marvel.... The good stuff was going on way before he took over as EIC and remember he is the guy that made George Perez, John Byrne and Frank Miller leave Marvel and each one swore they would not return to Marvel until Shooter was gone....How soon we forgot the New Universe and Secret Wars....

Giving him credit for the books that were great in the 70's and 80s is like crediting Jerry Krause for Michael Jordan's ability and the Bulls championships...

A very good point on the former; hard to overlook the departure of three great talents like that. Those guys were peak performers in a big way during that period. A pretty big loss. No question that Shooter's personality appears to be his big stumbling point, or so I've been led to believe.

I've got to say, though, I liked Secret Wars just fine and really like the New Universe (if in theory more than execution, though Star Brand was great), so I don't consider them black marks on his record. The NU is widely considered a flop, but I don't think its failure is a fault of the concept, and while SW spawned a lot of later crap, it was a load of fun at first.

Maybe, maybe not. I seem to remember reading an interview with Shooter a few years ago where he was unsure of who owned the rights because of the nature of the ownership of Defiant.

Who was EIC right before Shooter at marvel?

I'm loving the new title called "New Universal" from Marvel, at least based on the first issue. So, by proxy, that means Shooter is undergoing a revival in my little world.

Newuniversal was very good, but then, I'm an Ellis-Whore so I have to say that. I'm not a big fan of using famous actor's for photo reference (I know I saw Hackman and Willis), but I was otherwise very impressed by Larocca's art. Huge step up from his Flash and X-Men work.

Technically, I think no one, was. Wasn't "Editor in Chief" a title that was created after Shooter became the head editorial honcho?

To answer the intent of your question, I looked back through my Avengers from the 70s to see if there was anything listed and I couldn't. I think the order after Stan Lee was Roy Thomas, Gerry Conway, Len Wein and Marv Wolfman. I don't know if there was anyone between Wolfman and Shooter.

Thanks Leo!

And yes NewUniversal is amazing..Ellis and Laroca have made the New U cool again for the very first time.

Interesting tidbit about Roy Thomas - he is credited with "saving" marvel comics in the 70s: they were bleeding cash and there was talk of shutting down the publishing business..Thomas convinced the powers that be to licence a Star Wars comic (after a BIG fight..no one wanted to do it) and Star Wars brought in enough dough to save Marvel and turn things around..cool eh?

Archie Goodwin.