And ANOTHER Shooter interview...!

CLA · Post by **CLA** » Sat Jul 24, 2004 1:18:11 am

There's a recent interview (July 14-21) in Silver Bullet Comic Books.
It has two parts: ONE and TWO.

dino · Post by **dino** » Sat Jul 24, 2004 1:29:05 am

Not much on valiant but whats there is great. I love this:

TH: If you were the current EIC of Marvel, what would you do differently?

JS: Make the books better.

because you know he could.

CLA · Post by **CLA** » Sat Jul 24, 2004 12:33:56 pm

dino wrote:Not much on valiant but whats there is great. I love this:

TH: If you were the current EIC of Marvel, what would you do differently?

JS: Make the books better.

because you know he could.

I love that line. Your right, he could make the Marvel books way better.

I also liked this line:
"DEFIANT (all caps, always)..."

Knightt_333 wrote:And get this... Shooter is currently NOT working in the comics industry. Just imagine what he would be doing today if only someone would hire him to do what he does best.

I was hoping he was working on something with Phobos. He didn't even mention the company. He's still working for them, right?

Something in the interview on Valiant:
Tim Hartnett: What led to your departure from VALIANT and what happened to VALIANT afterwards? What do you think are some of the lessons the modern industry can learn from Valiant?

Jim Shooter: Steve and Melanie eventually got married. When VALIANT finally started to take off, they came up with a plan -- and remember between them they had control -- to sell controlling interest in the company to a group from Allen and Company led by Melanie's brother (!) on terms that were great for them and terrible for me. I resisted. They enticed Bob Layton, Barry Windsor-Smith, and Jon Hartz into siding with them -- funny how gobs of money can get things like that done. Then they got rid of me. Their cover story was, "Jim was a megalomaniac. He insisted on control." What I wanted was not to be sold down the river.

After I was gone, they strip-mined VALIANT, then sold if for $65,000,000 to Acclaim Entertainment. My settlement in arbitration as a result of being fired, dilutions, etc., was not quite enough to pay my lawyer. By the way, I understand that later they screwed Barry over too. Barry is the only one of the lot who ever apologized to me, after he'd found out how they'd misled and manipulated him.

The lesson? Greed kills.

Todd Luck · Post by **Todd Luck** » Sat Jul 24, 2004 1:43:00 pm

Knightt_333 wrote:And get this... Shooter is currently NOT working in the comics industry. Just imagine what he would be doing today if only someone would hire him to do what he does best.

I'm sorta surprised by that too. When he was EIC of Marvel his hiring, firing, editoral positions, etc rubbed some people in the older generation of comic creators the wrong way so some of them wouldn't want to work with him (how long can you hold a grudge?). But there's a whole new generation of creators out there that, to my knowldge, would have nothing against the man. Ofcourse, he's making much better money doing just about anything outside the comic industry than he would make writing comics.

Loved the questions about his hieght and the Playboy Club. Funny stuff.

I wish there had been a bit more about his own companies. Though I've never seen anyone ask him more than a question or two about Broadway and Defiant in an interview since either company "died". Those companies might make for some interesting interviews.

wrunow · Post by **wrunow** » Sat Jul 24, 2004 2:06:57 pm

I for one am not surprized that he is not involved in comics at this time. What's really left for him to do that would drive his ambition. He couldn't buy Marvel, the big 2 went right at him when he tried todo his own thing with VALIANT, DEFIANT, and Broadway. He can probably make a better living consulting in the entertainment industry than just writing comics.

Remember, he wanted to havehis own company and it didn't work out, why would he really want to do anything else in the industry? I can't say I blame him, I think I would be the same way

depluto · Post by **depluto** » Sun Jul 25, 2004 1:57:59 pm

I can't get their web site up. Is it just me?

CLA · Post by **CLA** » Mon Jul 26, 2004 2:47:04 pm

depluto wrote:I can't get their web site up. Is it just me?

It's working right now. Check it out.

CLA · Post by **CLA** » Mon Jul 26, 2004 8:44:32 pm

Here they are (it's in two parts):
http://www.silverbulletcomicbooks.com/c ... 075481.htm
http://www.silverbulletcomicbooks.com/c ... 713107.htm