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Jason K Fulton
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Joined: 23 September 2016
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| Posted: 29 December 2024 at 5:46pm | IP Logged | 1
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JB - was Mark Gruenwald's John Walker / Captain America story a response to Shooter's idea that anyone could be that character?
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Michael Penn
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| Posted: 29 December 2024 at 6:24pm | IP Logged | 2
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John Romita Sr, quoted in John Romita, And All That Jazz:
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
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| Posted: 29 December 2024 at 6:53pm | IP Logged | 3
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Words of wisdom. At the time I said what really needed to happen was for Shooter and Dick Giordano to swap jobs every five years or so. When Shooter had come in, Marvel was very much a stumbling giant, in need of someone to lay on a strong hand. Shooter did that, but having fixed things, he was unable to stop “fixing”. Dick, on the other hand, was the kindly uncle, always encouraging, no matter what was being produced.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
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| Posted: 29 December 2024 at 6:55pm | IP Logged | 4
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…was Mark Gruenwald's John Walker / Captain America story a response to Shooter's idea that anyone could be that character?••• Not directly. It was more part of Mark’s drive to turn Marvel into DC. (Think of Walker as Guy Gardner.
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Casey Sager
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| Posted: 29 December 2024 at 7:48pm | IP Logged | 5
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I remember talking to a couple of Marvel writers at a local con in 1985 and they both mentioned that they would receive notes from Shooter on whatever issue they were working on that would essentially say "see Secret Wars # (whatever ) to see how this is done right".
They were annoyed by that to say the least. They also seem annoyed that he had given himself a series ( Secret Wars ) that was guaranteed to make great royalties.
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Mark Haslett
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| Posted: 29 December 2024 at 8:58pm | IP Logged | 6
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In Bullpen Bulletins, interviews and letter columns, it seemed like Jim could
be a funny guy. Did you both have similar senses of humor ?
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Eric White
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| Posted: 30 December 2024 at 12:13am | IP Logged | 7
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I first saw the term "graphic novel" used on a DC comics cover, Jan 1972.
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Kevin Ricci
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| Posted: 30 December 2024 at 2:39am | IP Logged | 8
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From an outsider's perspective, I completely agree with Mr. Romita's and Mr. Byrne's take - Mr. Shooter was a positive force in the 1970s and early 1980s that seemed to put Marvel on track for success. That period was one of my favorites, as we had Frank Miller's Daredevil, Mr. Byrne and Mr. Claremont's X-Men, Mr. Byrne's Fantastic Four, Walt Simonson's Thor, and other great runs. The icing on the cake was that continuity was respected and books arrived on time each month. However, as the years wore on, things seemed to change, with Secret Wars II and New Universe being emblematic of how Marvel's stories lost their appeal to me, leading to my following Mr. Byrne to DC (something that a Marvel Zombie would have never imagined!).
Edited by Kevin Ricci on 30 December 2024 at 2:41am
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James Woodcock
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Joined: 21 September 2007
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| Posted: 30 December 2024 at 9:13am | IP Logged | 9
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For me, the series runs that Kevin mentions above were the pinnacle of
comics. What a time to be reading them on a monthly basis.
The mini series was also an exciting thing - telling really good stories such
as Wolverine.
Secret Wars was the nail that shattered things for me. We were starting to
experience the swap out of heroes, something I never liked, & then this
great big maxi-series happened. I felt it was weak, characterisations were
poor, most of its consequences were removed before the series had
finished & the script was terrible.
Secret Wars II made the first look like a masterpiece, but with even worse
art.
The New Universe cemented my feeling that Shooter had become more
about himself than about Marvel. The stories were entering the comics
press & we eventually got to the ‘Ding dong the witch is dead’ article.
Having said all that we then had the Tom DeFalco era - which I really didn’t
care for either, & as for Bob Harris? Yeah, maybe not.
But Shooter?
Shooter started really well, got a boat load of creators to produce beyond
the top of their game, & for a period really had an amazing Marvel.
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John Byrne
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| Posted: 30 December 2024 at 2:24pm | IP Logged | 10
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The series that tend to be remembered so fondly from Shooter’s time happened more in spite of him than because of him.
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John Byrne
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| Posted: 30 December 2024 at 2:35pm | IP Logged | 11
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They also seem annoyed that he had given himself a series ( Secret Wars ) that was guaranteed to make great royalties.••• Keep in mind, SECRET WARS began as a toy promotion. At the start nobody expected it to be a hit. It was only when Shooter forced all the other titles to tie in to SW that we saw its sales climb. And that was at the expense of the other titles. Fans who were operating on limited budgets flocked to the book that had virtually all the characters in it. The numbers SW accrued were basically subtracted from the other books.
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Steven Myers
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| Posted: 30 December 2024 at 4:12pm | IP Logged | 12
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I've never liked anything Jim Shooter wrote. He's a very below average writer who did the same story over and over. There are some writers who wrote some book I really enjoyed, (Bill Mantlo comes to mind) that would rate average overall and had some really weak runs, but they had some huge highlights also. Shooter should never have written anything. Especially Secret Wars with all the characters. He needed someone who could write a big cast and he had plenty of writers available. However, I met Shooter at a convention and he was a very nice and funny guy. I'm glad I got the chance to hear him speak, and I do think he led Marvel to new heights.
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