WonderCon, 1995.
In the photo here from right: Jim Shooter, DC editor Julius Schwartz, artists Gil Kane and Dick Ayers and me. At that time, I had been in the comics’ biz about eight years. The four Hall of Famers with me had more than 170 years combined experience in comics at that point!
So now, with the passing of Jim Shooter, I’m the last one standing.
Honestly, I didn’t really know Jim Shooter. I know he was a complicated person (aren’t we all?). We talked a few times, the first time in early 1986 when Marvel agreed to designate Stockton CA as the “Official Birthplace of the Fantastic Four.”
Jim asked me to shoot a couple rolls of film (!) of Stockton and the surrounding area so that artists working on the Stockton issue could have a sense of what the city looked like.
Problem was, I didnt have a lot of time to take the photos, have them developed and get them to Marvel’s New York office. That meant a bunch of photos of Stockton draped in drab weather and oppressive fog. Oh well.
I recall having a conversation with Jim at San Diego Comic-Con at his Valiant booth. While we were talking, an aspiring comics artist asked Jim to look at his portfolio.
After looking through it, Jim offered some advice, then pulled out an old Jack Kirby Captain America comic book and proceeded to show the young artist the magic of Kirby’s dynamic storytelling. Shooter animatedly acted out the action demonstrating the excitement superhero artists need to put in every panel they draw. I loved being a bystander to that lesson.
Jim started writing for comics when he was just 13 years old… and that fact has likely inspired legions (see what I did there?) of young hopefuls to dream of comics writing careers.
Comics is a career for dreamers.
