Among the features in THE X-MEN CHRONICLES, the fanzine published by FantaCo, who were the publishing arm of a comic shop of the same name situated in Albany, New York, there was a relatively candid interview with Marvel’s Editor in Chief, Jim Shooter. At the time, the Death of Phoenix was still a relatively new event, and this piece gave Shooter an opportunity to give his perspective on how and why the changes to the storyline happened, something that especially the section fo fandom that had been devastated by Jean’s death were hot to know.
The conversation was conducted by Harry Broertjes, an old friend of Shooter’s from Legion of Super Heroes fandom. This may help explain who Shooter is so forthcoming with him.
The Tom Brevoort Experience 
IIRC there’s a story where the Legion hosts a fan-contest winner and the name is something like Flint Broetjes, named for two real-life fans.
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I found this a fascinating read. Jim Shooter had a massive impact on Marvel throughout his tenure and here we see his thought process about stuff and it’s easy to see why he thought as he did and why others argued with it. It would have been interesting to see either Cockrum’s Teen Titans crossover or see the X-Men team up with LOSH. A what if worth reading if there ever was one. Recently finished Marvel the Untold story book and this was a lovely little addition to all that.
Thanks for posting this
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A few things struck me as odd. One his idea of a story that reverses any killing that Wolverine had done (Xavier sending checks in the mail?!). Also the crossover, where Marvel should use their hot property (X-Men), but he frowns upon DC using theirs (Teen Titans). Maybe prejudice due to his having worked on the LSH. I do like his thoughts on What-If, the follow up to current stories is smart from a sales perspective. I often felt that What If stories were just cranked out, but could have been something better. There were a few gems, but a lot of filler.
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While I can understand “heroes don’t kill” I’d have thought “stop killing now” would do the trick, not worrying about what had happened already.
And of course “Galactus destroying entire planets is good for the cosmos!” made it hard for me to take Shooter’s stance seriously.
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There seemed to be a number of contradictions. Granted, in a casual phone conversation, I imagine he’s speaking off the cuff and probably no one edited his statements afterwards like they would do nowadays.
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Regarding how Shooter wanted Louise Jones to show that ‘Wolverine hasn’t killed anyone’:
I believe this was addressed in the New Mutants graphic novel where Sunspot has a run-in with the Hellfire Club guards that Wolverine definitely killed… I mean gravely wounded in X-Men 133.
They explicitly say, āā¦A mutie named Wolverine cut us to ribbons – – near killed us! Now weāre bionic.ā
My thirteen year old self thought this was a cop out and 40 years later I still feel the same way.
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Jim Shooter is an interesting figure in American entertainment and in American venture caoital in the period between late 1978 and about 1993,
He built Marvel to be the dominant company of the “Big Two” in a very definitive way.āHe was then forced out of Marvel.āHe tried (and failed) to do an LBO of Marvel.āLaunched Valient and had something that looked like the real “big, new thing” . . . got forced out again.āCame back and launched Defiant . . . which failed.
I think a really detailed analysis of Shooter’s career as a writer, as an editor and as a businessman would capture a lot of lessons about American Business and American (Pop AND Business) culture when it most dominated the World.
Many gifted writers shy away from the task, since much of it is personal to Shooter himse;f.āHistory is changed when gifted (and, often, conflicted) people interact with the World at times of real change.āShooter is one example and (at about the same time) GE’s Jack Welsh was another.
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