The best time of Marvel Comics was supervised by its most controversial publisher
One of the shooter’s first policies was to install strict deadlines for Marvel writers and artists. (The writer Steve Gerber, for example, was withdrawn from “Howard the Duck” because he could not meet deadlines.) In 1978, Shooter also obtained the little enviable work to demand that Marvel’s writers and artists sign a new contract “Work for Hire” in accordance with the modification of the law on copyright.
As the shooter noted for years later, “the new copyright law had been promulgated in 1976 but entered into force in 1978, giving publishers two years to prepare. Marvel, of course, had done nothing.” He thus became the villain in many writers and the eyes of artists to give them the newspaper.
Howe writes that Shooter “has expanded the editorial staff but siphoned the power of the enclosure of the lifts” in Marvel, which means that it has focused more power over writers and artists among its editorial. He exercised this power to intervene in narration. In 1980, Chris Claremont and “X-Men” by John Byrne had reached what is now called “The Dark Phoenix Saga”. The psychic X-Woman, Jean Gray, becomes powerful beyond belief and loses control of herself-in “X-Men” # 135, it consumes an entire star, killing billions.
Claremont and Byrne wanted Jean to lose his powers at the end. The shooter did not have it: “This, for me, would be like Hitler’s German army widespread and let him return to Germany.”
So when Claremont (not seriously) suggested killing Jean instead, Shooter said yes. He defended his actions because ” [editor-in-chief] is responsible for governing, managing and protecting all the characters. It was my job to make sure that the characters were in character, and I was the last word on what “character” was.
The shooter was right; “Dark Phoenix” is a more powerful story because Jean dies. However, all shooting interventions were not so large. His “Avengers” # 200 present a sadly famous Carol Danvers who has brainwashing to love a being named Marcus and become pregnant with Marcus. Yes, Ms. Marvel gives birth to her rapist. Claremont was so dismayed that he wrote a refutation in “Avengers Annual” # 10, where Carol Excoriates the Avengers so as not to have helped her.
Like Stan Lee, Shooter had a strong commercial instinct. He credited Marvel Publishing “Star Wars” Comics (and, in turn, printing money) in the late 1970s as the reason why the company had survived a difficult period. Thus, as EIC, he supported similar partnerships and sponsorships. For example, “Secret Wars” from 1984 by Shooter in 1984 (designed by Mike Zeck and Bob Layton) was completely promoted a line of Marvel Comics action figurines produced by Mattel. In the 1980s, Marvel also became the publisher of Tie-in Comics for Hasbro Action Figure Lines. (Shooter himself wrote the original treatment of the story for “Transformers”.) More insidiously, he also maintained the prohibition of Marvel Comics with gay characters.
The shooter could also have a sense of blunt humor. In 1984, he sent a memo to his publishers declaring:
“Make with immediate effect to make good comics. I realize that this directive reflects a substantial gap compared to the policy of the previous company, but try to comply.”
But the fact is that they did conform. The shooter had a great talent for tracking Talent, and under its tight management, some of the largest Marvel comics ever written and successful.
