Editing Jim Shooter (section)

=== DC Comics ===
[[File:Jim Shooter 1982 (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.85|Shooter at [[San Diego Comic-Con International|San Diego Comic-Con]] in 1982]]
At age 13, in mid-1965, Shooter wrote and drew stories featuring the [[Legion of Super-Heroes]], and sent them in to [[DC Comics]]. On February 10, 1966, he received a phone call from [[Mort Weisinger]], who wanted to purchase the stories Shooter had sent, and commissioned Shooter to write [[Supergirl (Kara Zor-El)|Supergirl]] and [[Superman]] stories. Weisinger eventually offered Shooter a regular position on ''Legion'', and wanted Shooter to come to New York to spend a couple of days in his office. Shooter, who was 14 and lived in Pittsburgh, had to wait until school was in recess, after which he went to New York with his mother,<ref name=GraphicNYC /> spurred in part by the need to support his financially struggling parents.<ref>Shooter, Jim (March 11, 2011). [http://www.jimshooter.com/2011/03/regrets.html "Regrets? "]. jimshooter.com.</ref><ref>Sacks, Jason (2001), [http://comicsbulletin.com/interviews/1022/bill-schelly-joe-kuberts-art-is-like-the-difference-between-a-pop-song-and-a-symphony/ "Bill Schelly: Joe Kubert's Art is Like the Difference Between a Pop Song and a Symphony"] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20130120001955/http://comicsbulletin.com/interviews/1022/bill-schelly-joe-kuberts-art-is-like-the-difference-between-a-pop-song-and-a-symphony/ |date=January 20, 2013 }}. [[Comics Bulletin]]. Retrieved December 19, 2012.</ref><ref>Schelly, Bill. [https://books.google.com/books?id=XfyEJgBjkdsC&dq=Marvel+jim+shooter+steel+workers&pg=PA103 ''Sense of Wonder: A Life in Comic Fandom : a Personal Memoir of Fandom's Golden Age''], [[TwoMorrows Publishing]], p. 103</ref><ref>Cadigan, Glen; [[Grell, Mike]] (2003), [https://books.google.com/books?id=lEWHfXUwUAwC&dq=Marvel+jim+shooter+steel+mill+father&pg=PA51 ''The Legion Companion''], TwoMorrows Publishing, p. 51</ref>

According to Shooter, his father earned little as a steelworker,<ref>{{cite web | last = Shooter | first= Jim | date = December 27, 2011 | url = http://www.jimshooter.com/2011/12/sex-and-drugs-part-2.html | title = Sex and Drugs – Part 2 | publisher=JimShooter.com (official site) | access-date = December 27, 2012}}</ref><ref name=regrets>{{cite web | last = Shooter | first= Jim | date = March 11, 2011 | url = http://www.jimshooter.com/2011/03/regrets.html | title = Regrets? | publisher=JimShooter.com (official site) | access-date = December 27, 2012 | quote = Deadlines.  Had to sit there – the left end of the couch was my spot – sketch the pictures and write the words}}</ref> and Shooter saw comic-book writing as a means of helping economically. Shooter reflected in a 2010 interview:

{{blockquote|My family needed the money. I was doing this to save the house; my father had a beat-up old car and the engine died – this is before I started working for DC – and that first check bought a rebuilt engine for his car so he didn't have to walk to work anymore. I was doing this because I had to, working my way through high school to help keep my family alive.<ref name=GraphicNYC />}}

At 14, Shooter began selling stories to DC Comics, writing for both ''[[Action Comics]]'' and ''[[Adventure Comics]]'', beginning with ''Adventure Comics'' No. 346 (July 1966),<ref>{{cite book|last=McAvennie|first= Michael|editor-last=Dolan|editor-first=Hannah|chapter= 1960s|title = DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle|publisher=[[Dorling Kindersley]] |year=2010|location= London, United Kingdom|isbn= 978-0-7566-6742-9 |page= 118 |quote = In his first-ever published story, fourteen-year-old Jim Shooter admitted four new members into the Legion of Super-Heroes ... Shooter's long, memorable tenure as one of the Legion's greatest writers was officially underway.}}</ref> and providing pencil breakdowns as well.<ref name=regrets /> With considerable study of the writing style of [[DC Comics]] and of the recently rising Marvel Comics, Shooter created several characters for the Legion of Super-Heroes that benefited by him being one of the few writers at DC to understand the competitor's successful character-based narrative approach.<ref name=GraphicNYC>Irving, Christopher (July 20, 2012). [http://www.nycgraphicnovelists.com/2010/07/jim-shooters-secret-origin-in-his-own.html "Jim Shooter's Secret Origin, in his Own Words – Part One"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180820204839/http://www.nycgraphicnovelists.com/2010/07/jim-shooters-secret-origin-in-his-own.html |date=August 20, 2018 }}. Graphic NYC.</ref> This included Legionnaires [[Karate Kid (character)|Karate Kid]], [[Ferro Lad]], and [[Princess Projectra]], as well as the villainous group known as the [[Fatal Five]]. He also created the Superman villain the [[Parasite (comics)|Parasite]] in ''Action Comics'' No. 340 (Aug. 1966).<ref>McAvennie "1960s" in Dolan, p. 118: "With a story written by Jim Shooter and drawn by Al Plastino, the Parasite entered Superman's life."</ref> Shooter and artist [[Curt Swan]] devised the first race between the [[Barry Allen|Flash]] and [[Superman]], two characters known for their [[Speedster (fiction)|superhuman speed]], in "Superman's Race with the Flash!" in ''[[Superman (comic book)|Superman]]'' #199 (Aug. 1967).<ref>McAvennie "1960s" in Dolan, p. 124: "Since the dawn of comics' Silver Age, readers have asked 'Who's faster: Superman or the Flash?' Writer Jim Shooter and artist Curt Swan tried answering that question when the Man of Steel and the Fastest Man Alive agreed to the U.N.'s request to race each other for charity."</ref> Shooter wrote the first issue of ''[[Captain Action]]'' (Oct.-Nov. 1968), which was DC's first toy [[Brand licensing|tie-in]].<ref>{{cite book|author-link= Paul Levitz|last=Levitz|first= Paul|title= 75 Years of DC Comics The Art of Modern Mythmaking|publisher= [[Taschen]] America |year=2010| isbn= 978-3-8365-1981-6|page= 420|quote= Captain Action was DC's first toy tie-in title ... Editor Mort Weisinger ... brought in his young firebrand Jim Shooter to craft an identity and back story for the character.}}</ref>

In 1969 Shooter was accepted into [[New York University]], but after graduating from high school he successfully applied for a job at Marvel Comics. Unable to pursue both his studies and work for Marvel, he decided against going to New York University and quit working for DC as well.<ref name="Back34">{{cite journal| last = Vaughn | first= J. C. | date = June 2009 | title = Jim Shooter's First Day at Marvel Comics | journal = [[Back Issue!]] | issue = 34 | pages = 14–19 | publisher = [[TwoMorrows Publishing]]|location= Raleigh, North Carolina}}</ref> While at Marvel he worked as an editor and occasional co-plotter, taking his residence at the [[YMCA]], but after only three weeks his financial situation compelled him to give up the post and return home to Pittsburgh.<ref name="Back34"/>

After leaving Marvel, Shooter took up work in advertising concepts, writing, and illustration for several years, supporting himself through several menial jobs during periods when advertising work was unavailable. An interview for a ''Legion of Super-Heroes'' fanzine led to his again applying to both Marvel and DC. Though both companies offered him work, Shooter opted to return to DC because they had offered him more prestigious assignments: ''Superman'' and a chance to again write the Legion of Super-Heroes, now in their own book, ''Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes''. However, Shooter's relationships with both ''Superman'' editor [[Julius Schwartz]] and ''Legion'' editor [[Murray Boltinoff]] were unpleasant, and he claims that both forced him to do unnecessary rewrites. In December 1975, Marvel editor-in-chief [[Marv Wolfman]] called to offer him an editorial position.<ref name="Back34"/>