Jim Shooter

Jim Shooter, the longtime comic book writer and editor who ran Marvel Comics during the 1980s, overseeing the creation of some of the best-loved stories in superhero storytelling, died June 30, 2025, of esophageal cancer at the age of 73.

Shooter was just 14 years old when he started writing comics professionally, with his first published work - an issue of DC's "Legion of Super Heroes" - written when he was only 13 and published some months later. He continued to pen stories for DC throughout his teens, demonstrating an understanding of storytelling structure, character dynamics, and plot pacing that sometimes surpassed his adult peers.

His true legacy began to take shape in 1976, when he joined Marvel Comics as an assistant editor and writer. The company was in flux at the time, with a series of short-tenured editors-in-chief failing to make an impact. In January 1978, Shooter ascended to the EiC position, beginning one of Marvel's greatest periods of creativity and cultural impact, an impact that has continued to ripple out over the decades.

Shooter is widely credited with bringing structure and discipline to Marvel's editorial process, implementing rigorous editorial standards, firm deadlines, and tighter storytelling. Under his watch, Chris Claremont and John Byrne's "Uncanny X-Men" combined epic adventure with soap-opera drama in a saga that would eventually make the X-Men the most popular superhero team in the world. Creators like Walt Simonson and Peter David (1956–2025) began influential runs on "Thor" and "The Incredible Hulk" that defined how those characters are portrayed today. And Shooter's own massive "Secret Wars" saga helped create a blueprint for the gigantic "event" comics that not only defined the next several decades of superhero stories, but also helped shape the Marvel Cinematic Universe series of big-budget movies.

Along the way, he also shaped Generation X pop culture by writing the original story premise for the Transformers, creating the mythology of the mechanical planet Cybertron and its four-million-year civil war that brought the giant robots to Earth.

Shooter was also an advocate of creators' rights. He instituted a royalty program for Marvel's creators, and began the policy of returning original art to the artists. He also clashed with those who worked for him, however, and by the second half of the 1980s, his star had begun to dim. Marvel fired him in 1987.

He went on to help launch and lead several independent comics companies, beginning in 1989 with Valiant Comics, which still publishes comics today. He also formed the short-lived Defiant Comics, and later wrote and oversaw new launches of classic old titles like "Magnus: Robotfighter," "Turok," and "Dr. Solar" for Dark Horse Comics.

Most of all, he helped solidify the idea that an entire line of comics can have a broader vision and focus - an approach that still informs how superhero comics are written and published today.

Comic writers and creators, both those who worked under Shooter and those who were influenced by him alike, took to the Internet upon his passing to remember his legacy. "Jim's greatest strength was that he had a clear vision of what Marvel should be, how a story should be told, and he pursued it wholeheartedly," writer J.M. DeMatteis said on this blog. "I didn't always agree with that vision (and he didn't always agree with mine!) but I always respected it. His impact on Marvel Comics, and the comic book business as a whole, was massive."

Writer Mark Waid paid tribute to Shooter on Facebook: "My experiences with him… began with my lifelong love for his writing beginning with the first time I ever picked up a copy of Adventure Comics in 1967… My meals and conversations with Jim were always genial, and I never failed to remind him just how inspirational his work was to me; there are storytelling choices and stylistic influences I got from him in nearly all my work. I regret that I didn't get a chance to say goodbye, but I'm glad he's finally at peace after years of suffering."

By Eric San Juan

(Photo by Matt Carasella/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)