DC Comics
At the age of 14, Shooter began selling stories to DC Comics. Writing for both Action Comics and Adventure Comics, beginning with Adventure Comics #346 (July 1966), Shooter provided not only writing but pencil breakdowns as well. Shooter created several characters for the Legion of Super-Heroes including Karate Kid, a teenage superhero who predated the martial arts fad of the 1970s; Ferro Lad, a teenage superhero who can transform to living iron; and Princess Projectra, who could cast realistic illusions. He also created the Superman villain The Parasite.
After his Legion series ended its run in Adventure Comics, Shooter retired from the comic book industry, as he concurrently graduated from high school and the Legion of Super-Heroes stories were relegated to a small back-up feature in Action Comics in the late 1960s. Several years later, however, he undertook a second run writing the Legion in the mid-1970s, now in their own book, Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes. Eventually Shooter left the title, and DC.
Marvel Comics
In the mid-1970s, Marvel Comics was undergoing a series of changes in the position of Editor-in-Chief. After Roy Thomas retired from the post in order to focus on writing, a succession of other editors, including Gerry Conway, Len Wein, Marv Wolfman and Archie Goodwin, took the job during a relatively short span of time, only to find the task too daunting as Marvel continued to grow and add new titles and a larger staff to turn out material. Shooter joined the Marvel staff as an assistant editor and writer, being most remembered for the Korvac Saga in Avengers.
With the quick turnover at the top, Shooter rapidly found himself rising in the ranks, and in 1978 he succeeded Archie Goodwin to become Marvel's ninth editor-in-chief. During this period, publisher Stan Lee relocated to Los Angeles to better oversee Marvel's animation, television and film projects, leaving Shooter largely in charge of the creative decision-making at Marvel's New York City headquarters. Although there were complaints among some that Shooter imposed a dictatorial style on the "Bullpen," he cured many of the procedural ills at Marvel, successfully managed to keep the line of books on schedule (ending the widespread practice of missed deadlines), add new titles, and develop new talent. Marvel enjoyed some of its best successes during Shooter's nine-year tenure as Editor-in-Chief, most notably Chris Claremont and John Byrne's run on the Uncanny X-Men and Frank Miller's run on Daredevil. Also under Shooter's editorial reign, Walt Simonson revamped The Mighty Thor and made it again a bestseller.In 1981, Shooter brought Marvel into the lucrative comic book specialty shop market with Dazzler #1. Featuring a disco-themed heroine with ties to the X-Men (based upon an unproduced motion picture set to star Bo Derek), the first issue of this series was sold only through specialty stores, bypassing the then-standard newsstand/spin rack distribution route altogether, as a recognition by Marvel of the growing comics shop sector. (Subsequent issues of Dazzler, however, were sold through newsstand [returnable] accounts as well.) Dazzler was the first direct sales-only ongoing series from a major publisher; other Marvel titles, such as Marvel Fanfare and Ka-Zar #1, soon followed. In 1981, Shooter was recognized as one of six "New Yorkers of the Year" by the New York chapter of the JayCees, for his "contributions toward revitalizing the comics industry and helping Marvel Comics achieve a new pinnacle of success." Shooter also institutionalized creator royalties, starting the Epic imprint for creator-owned material in 1982; introduced company-wide crossover story arcs, with Contest of Champions and Secret Wars; and launched a new, albeit ultimately unsuccessful, line named New Universe, to commemorate Marvel's 25th anniversary, in 1986.
As a writer, Shooter's 200th issue of the Avengers proved controversial when Ms. Marvel was kidnapped, brainwashed, seduced, and impregnated. Feminist and comic book historian Carol A. Strickland criticized the storyline in an essay titled "The Rape of Ms. Marvel." Former writer of the Ms. Marvel solo title Chris Claremont also commented on the inappropriateness of the storyline, and effectively "undid" the story in Avengers Annual #10 (1981). However, contrary to these accusations of bias, Shooter also wrote a story wherein the (male) character Thor was similarly sexually coerced by the (female) telepath Moondragon.
Despite his success in revitalizing Marvel, Shooter angered and alienated a number of long-time Marvel creators by insisting on strong editorial control and strict adherence to deadlines. Although he instituted an art return program, and implemented a policy which gave creators royalties when their books passed certain sales benchmarks or when characters they worked on were licensed as toys, Shooter still found himself in near-constant conflict with many of the company's top writers and artists. This led to many, including Steve Gerber, Jack Kirby, Roy Thomas, Marv Wolfman, George Pérez, Gene Colan, John Byrne, Dave Cockrum, Doug Moench, Mike Ploog, and other Marvel mainstays, leaving to work for DC or other companies. Shooter also failed to attract much new talent from the United Kingdom (as DC managed to do, resulting in considerable success and critical acclaim). Shooter's opposition to dropping the Comics Code cast Marvel as a conservative force in a rapidly changing comics industry.
In 1987, after being fired from Marvel, Shooter spearheaded an effort to purchase the then-floundering publisher Marvel from its corporate ownership ... "buying Marvel Comics" as it were. He lost out at the last minute to Ronald Perelman's slightly higher bid.
Valiant Comics
Shooter and his investors then founded a new company, Voyager Communications, which published comics under the Valiant Comics banner, entering the market in the 1989 with comics based on Nintendo and WWF licensed characters. Two years later Valiant entered the superhero market with a relaunch of the Gold Key Comics character Magnus, Robot Fighter. Shooter brought many of Marvel's big name creators to Valiant, including Bob Layton and Barry Windsor-Smith, as well as veterans such as Don Perlin. Valiant also established "knob row" ... taking in raw talent and teaching them how to make comics Valiant-style ... and launched many careers, most notably Joe Quesada's.
Occasionally over the years, Shooter was required to fill in as penciller on various books he wrote and/or oversaw as editor. During his period as Valiant's publisher, money and talent were often at a premium, and Shooter was forced to pencil a story sporadically. To conceal this fact, he drew under the pseudonym of Paul Creddick, which is the name of his brother-in-law. Shooter said he only "got away with it" because of having a "great inker" like Layton embellish his sub-par pencil work.
Defiant Comics
After being ousted from Valiant in 1992, in early 1993 Shooter, together with several of his loyalist co-workers, went on to found Defiant Comics. Despite some initial success with the first title, the new company failed to secure an audience in the increasingly crowded direct sales market and folded thirteen months after its foundation.
Broadway Comics
In 1995, Shooter founded Broadway Comics, which was an offshoot of Broadway Video, the production company that produces Saturday Night Live, but this line folded after its parent sold the properties to Golden Books.
Return to Acclaim
Shooter returned to Valiant (now called Acclaim Comics) for a brief stint in 1999 to write Unity 2000 (an attempt to combine and revitalize the older and newer Valiant universes) but Acclaim folded after the completion of only three of the planned six issues.
Phobos Entertainment and TGS, Inc.
In August 2000, he became part-owner and creative consultant for the sci-fi firm Phobos Entertainment. However, the website has disappeared since. In a 2004 interview by Tim Harnett that is no longer available on the former Silver Bullet Comic Books website, Shooter discussed that his "main occupation is working for a company called TGS, Inc. developing entertainment content for an internet site." TGS, Inc. was acquired by Ascent Media Systems & Technology Services in October 2005 and no longer recognizes TGS, Inc. as a separate entity and does not list employee names on the website.
Seven
In 2005 Shooter was approached by former Marvel Comics letterer Denise Wohl to create Seven, a series based on the Kabbalah. Writer Shooter created a team of seven characters, one from each continent, who are brought together in New York because they share a higher consciousness. The project, which was to be self-published by Wohl, was announced at the 2007 New York Comic Con, to debut in July of that year, and was projected to "evolve into television and film projects, video games, blogs, interactive Q&A, animation, trading cards, apparel, accessories, [and] school supplies." Wohl was to donate a portion of her proceeds to the "Spirituality for Kids Foundation." To date, however, no issues of the title have been published.
Return to the Legion
In September 2007, DC Comics announced that Shooter would be the new writer of the current Legion of Super-Heroes (Vol. 5) series, beginning with issue #37, following the departure of writer Mark Waid who had left the series in mid-2007 with issue #30. Shooter's return to the Legion, a little over 30 years from his previous run, was his first major published comic book work in years. Shooter's run as Legion writer ended with issue #49, one issue before the book was canceled.
Gold Key at Dark Horse
In July 2009 Dark Horse Comics announced at the Comic-Con International in San Diego that Shooter will oversee the publication of new series based on classic Gold Key characters like Turok, Doctor Solar, and Magnus, Robot Fighter, and write some of them as well. In an interview with CBR News, Shooter, who previously oversaw publication of these characters at Valiant Comics, indicated that Dark Horse's versions of the characters would be both true to the original source material, but also exhibit some variation from the Gold Key and Valiant versions. Details about the project, such as which titles Shooter would write, as well as an expected launch date, were not yet finalized as of mid-2009. On Free Comic Book Day in 2010, Dark Horse released a Solar/Magnus special issue written by Shooter.
