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Comic Writer, Editor Jim Shooter Dies at 73

American comic book writer Mark Waid announced on his official Facebook account that comic writer, editor, and publisher Jim Shooter died on Monday due to esophageal cancer. He was 73.

Shooter was born on September 27, 1951 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He began his career writing for DC Comics in 1966, when he was about 14, and wrote Supergirl and Superman stories. Shooter also wrote stories for Action Comics and Adventure Comics magazines. Shooter created several characters for DC's Legion of Super-Heroes including the Legion of Super-Heroes' Karate Kid, Ferro Lad, and Princess Projectra. Shooter also created the villainous group Fatal Five.

In 1978, Shooter became an editor-in-chief at Marvel, holding the position for nine years. While there, he wrote the first six-page story treatment for Hasbro's Transformers rebranding of Takara's Diaclone and Micro Change toys, and the treatment became the basis for the Transformers comic series, animated series, and films that followed. (Previously, he licensed the comic rights to Mego's Micronauts rebranding of Takara's Microman toys, and served as editor-in-chief over the comic of Mattel's Shogun Warriors rebranding of Popy robot toys.)

In 2003, Shooter started working for custom comics company Illustrated Media as creative director and editor-in-chief. As of 2023, Shooter worked for Illustrated Media as consulting editor and freelance writer.

As a publisher, Shooter founded Valiant Comics in 1989, and mainly published comics based on Nintendo and the then World Wrestling Federation (WWF) licensed characters. He then founded the short-lived Defiant Comics publishing in 1993, and then Broadway Comics in 1995.

Source: Mark Waid's Facebook account via Transformer World 2005