The Countdown to SDCC 2025!

[SDcomics]

From SDCC 1982, Jim Shooter.

Photo ©Alan Light 1982

James Charles Shooter was without a doubt one of the most important figures in modern comics history. That point cannot be argued. His tenure as Marvel's Editor-In-Chief brought about some of that companies greatest innovations. And also it's biggest controversies.

Jim Shooter was born on September 27, 1951, in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. He read comics as a child and at age 13 he wrote and drew two Legion of Super-Heroes stories and mailed them to DC Comics. On February 10th, 1966 he received a phone call from DC Editor Mort Weisinger, who wanted to buy Shooter's stories. Weisinger also commissioned two more stories from Shooter for Supergirl and Superman. And thus began Jim's career in the comics industry. At age 14 he became the regular writer of Legion of Super-Heroes in Adventure Comics.

Jim's Legion stories, with artist Curt Swan, are considered by fans and historians to be some of the finest ever produced in the Silver Age. Jim co-created Legionnaires Karate Kid, Ferro Lad, and Princess Projectra, as well as the villainous group known as the Fatal Five. The Shooter and Swan team also devised the first race between Superman and the Flash in Superman #199.

Jim left the comics industry in 1969 and worked in advertising for a few years. An interview for a Legion of Super-Heroes fan magazine led to his return to DC comics. Jim was writing Superman and the Legion again but it didn't last. Shooter's relationships with both Superman editor Julius Schwartz and Legion editor Murray Boltinoff were unpleasant, and he claimed that both forced him to do unnecessary rewrites. In December 1975, Marvel editor-in-chief Marv Wolfman called to offer Shooter an editorial position. On January 2, 1976, Shooter joined the Marvel staff as an assistant editor and writer. Jim rapidly found himself rising in the ranks, and on the first working day of January 1978, he succeeded Archie Goodwin to become Marvel's ninth editor-in-chief. Shooter's tenure as EIC of Marvel was remarkably successful. Among his many accomplishments were instituting creator royalties, the creator owned Epic imprint, direct market only titles like Marvel Fanfare and Ka-Zar, introducing the concept of company wide crossovers with Secret Wars, a line of European style deluxe graphic novels and an original art return program for the artists.

But, despite his success at revitalizing Marvel, Jim's heavy handed style and draconian methods angered and alienated a number of long-time Marvel creators. Talent such as Steve Gerber, Marv Wolfman, Gene Colan, John Byrne, and Doug Moench left to work for DC or other companies.

Shooter was fired from Marvel on April 15, 1987. But that was not the end.

In 1989 he founded Valiant Comics. He was ousted from there in 1992. In 1993 Jim and some ex-Valiant employees started another new company, Defiant Comics but they just never found an audience in the increasingly crowded direct market. He tried one more time with Broadway Comics which was an offshoot of Broadway Video, the production company that produces Saturday Night Live, but this line ended after its parent sold the properties to Golden Books.

Over the next several years Jim was in and out of the comics industry, briefly returning to write Legion for DC and the old Gold Key characters for Dark Horse. In his last years, Shooter worked as consulting editor and freelance writer for custom comics company Illustrated Media.

Shooter was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in 2024, and died of the disease at his home in Nyack, New York, on June 30, 2025. He was 73.

There is a LOT that has been said about Jim Shooter, both the man and his legacy. "Complicated" is a word that is used quite a bit to describe him, and yes he most certainly was. But I'm not going to get into any of that right now. About Jim Shooter, all I can say is I spoke to him a few times at SDCC in years past, and I can tell you that he was always nice to me. He treated the fans with courtesy and respect, and that's how I'll choose to remember him.

6 Days Until SDCC 2025!

 

[robw]

I think he means either Ryan won't be at the panel or Ryan will be on the panel but not leading the panel, so it won't feel the same or have the same energy.

Yeah, I think it’s a pre-emptive ‘I know it sucks Ryan has gone, but please don’t take it out on us at the panel’ statement.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Misfit]

It's also Dan's usual pre-con routine as I'm sure they get lots of "Why haven't you made X?" or "This figure is too expensive!" comments. There's a lot of Comic Book Guys in the real world who aren't shy about sharing their opinion or making demands of people in a public setting (or on social media).

 

[SDcomics]

From SDCC 2009, Kevin Smith.

We're not gonna do a big long bio on this guy because you probably already know a lot about him already. He was born in Red Bank New Jersey in 1970. He's a screen writer and director and has made numerous films, such as Clerks, Mallrats, Dogma, and Chasing Amy. He had a childhood love for comic books and has written several of them, including Daredevil, Spider-Man, Batman, Green Arrow and the Green Hornet. He's written four prose novels. And he hosts a podcast called SModcast

Let me just tell you this: If you're ever in San Diego for Comic-Con and Kevin has a spotlight panel in Hall H, you really HAVE to see it. He is one funny guy. You'll laugh so hard your sides will ache for a week.

5 Days Until SDCC 2025!

 

[Chooch555]

If you get the chance to see him live it's also totally worth it!

 

[SDcomics]

From SDCC 1977, Harvey Kurtzman.

Comic Con founder Shel Dorf is on the left, Harvey Kurtzman is on the right.

Who are the top 10 greatest comic book artists of all time? Great question. If you were to ask me, I would tell you that Harvey Kurtzman would definitely be in the top 3. The criteria I use to measure greatness in the field are technical skill, imagination, style, influence, longevity, composition, tone and visual rhythm. And Harvey Kurtzman was an absolute master of all those things and more. He, along with Jack Kirby, Carl Barks and Will Eisner defined comics art for generations of readers.

Harvey was born on October 3rd, 1924, in Brooklyn New York. Kurtzman fell in love with comic strips and the newly emerging comic books in the late 1930s. At 14 Kurtzman won a cartooning contest for which he received a dollar and had his cartoon published in Tip Top Comics #36 in April 1939. He was drafted for service in the military in 1943. After the war, Harvey got a job with Timely Comics working for editor Stan Lee doing one page fillers.

In 1950, Kurtzman began working for Max Gaines at EC Comics and that's when he created some of the greatest stories and art ever put to paper. Among these were Two-Fisted Tales and Frontline Combat. These were not ordinary war comics. The stories were not only about modern war, but also derived from deep in history, such as the Roman legions and Napoleonic campaigns. Kurtzman rejected the idealization of war that had swept the US since World War II. He spent hours in the New York Public Library in search of the detailed truth behind the stories he was writing, sometimes taking days or weeks to research a story.

And then in 1952, Harvey created Mad Magazine. Mad came along at a time when society really needed something like that, a magazine that made us question authority and changed the way we looked at the world. It was political and cultural satire at it's finest. And the rest is pretty much history. Mad was one of the greatest publishing successes of the 20th century and continues to inspire generations of artists worldwide.

That right there would surely cement his place in comic book history, right? But wait. There's more. Following his work on MAD, Kurtzman would go on to create a variety of seminal works of the medium including Trump, Humbug, Little Annie Fannie, The Jungle Book and Help! During this time, he helped to discover and mentor a number of diverse talents including Terry Gilliam, Gloria Steinem, Gilbert Shelton and Robert Crumb.

Harvey, who had suffered from Parkinson's Disease and liver cancer in his later years, died on February 21st, 1993. I was fortunate enough to meet him once, at the 1992 San Diego Comic Con. He struck me as being shy and quiet but very intelligent, not to mention funny as hell. I asked him to autograph my copy of Jungle Book and this is what he wrote:

"Hi, Mike!" and then a picture of a microphone. It took me a second or two to get that.

Honestly, I think Harvey knew he was dying and did a farewell tour that summer. He stopped at the Chicago and Atlanta cons, too. I think he just wanted to say goodbye to his fans. The world will remember Harvey Kurtzman as a great cartoonist and humorist. I'll remember him as that, but also as a kind, gracious man. Thank you for everything, Mr. Kurtzman.

4 Days Until SDCC 2025!

 

[PanchaMaestro]

I was reading a big pile of Harvey Kurtzman EC war comics the other day. They are just phenomenal. Probably the best comics EC put out and some of the best comics of the Golden Age of comics. Shockingly human and honest about war in 50's America when that just was so rarely done outside the arena of higher art and literature. Of course he wasn't alone in those comics and had killer co-storytellers in Will Elder, Wally Wood, John Severin, Jack Davis and others. They truly predict the notion of comics as a more complex medium for non genre type storytelling that we are so accustomed to today. Won't even go into the influence of Mad Magazine across ALL forms of American comedy for decades.

 

[PanchaMaestro]

It's sort of sad that Kurtzman and the just as brilliant Will Elder had to work in Little Annie Fanny for such massive chunk of their careers. The revolution in comics they pioneered with their EC and other material would take decades to come into being. Hell we still often fall so short of it today. Not that that their Playboy work is bad; on the contrary it is excellent. Nor is it that I'm a prude; I certainly am not. But is is a very narrow bottle both those brilliant guys had to live in during a time they really could have been working on a series of Magnum Opuses for us. Imagine if in their 40s and 50s if Chris Ware, Daniel Clowes or Robert Crumb had to to 100s of 100s of pages about pee pee jokes. Well Crumb sorta did ... but in a different way.

 

[PantherCult]

Got my ComicCon 25 T-shirt in the mail. So now I can wear it into the con instead of buyingnit there and wearing it later.

 

[SDcomics]

From SDCC 1982, Carl Barks.

Carl Barks was a comic book artist, writer and painter. He's the creator of the beloved Disney character Uncle Scrooge McDuck. That by itself would be a pretty major accomplishment, but there is much more to his story than just that. Fans dubbed him "The Good Duck Artist" and "The Duck Man" for his work with Disney Studios and Western Publishing. He was the recipient of the Shazam Award for Best Humor Writing (1970), an Inkpot Award (1977), a Kirby Award (1987), a Sproing Award (1987), a Golden Adamson Award for his entire career (1990) and a Disney Legend Award (1991). In 1987, he was an inaugural inductee in the Will Eisner Hall of Fame. Animation Historian Leonard Maltin called Barks "the most popular and widely read artist-writer in the world". Will Eisner said he was "the Hans Christian Andersen of comic books." So yes. You could say he had a pretty storied career.

Clyde Hobson "Carl" Barks was born on March 27th, 1901, near Merrill, Oregon. Young Carl was hard of hearing and had a difficult time finishing his education. He took a series of menial odd jobs but had little success. Eventually Barks had started thinking about turning a hobby that he always enjoyed into a profession: that of drawing. Since his early childhood he spent his free time by drawing on any material he could find. By December 1918, he left his father's home to attempt to find a job in San Francisco, California. He worked for a while in a small publishing house while attempting to sell his drawings to newspapers and magazines with little success.

In November 1935, when he learned that Walt Disney was seeking more artists for his studio, Barks decided to apply. He was approved for a try out which entailed a move to Los Angeles, California. He was one of two in his class of trainees who was hired. His starting salary was 20 dollars a week. He started at Disney Studios in 1935, more than a year after the debut of Donald Duck on June 9, 1934, in the short animated film The Wise Little Hen.

Unhappy with the wartime conditions at Disney Studios, Barks quit in 1942. But to earn a living in the meantime he inquired whether Western Publishing, who had the Disney license, had any need for artists for Donald Duck comic book stories. He was immediately assigned to illustrate the script for a ten page Donald Duck story for the monthly Walt Disney's Comics and Stories. At the publisher's invitation he revised the story line and the improvements impressed the editor sufficiently to invite Barks to try his hand at contributing both the script and the artwork of his follow-up story. This set the pattern for Barks' career in that (with rare exceptions) he provided art (pencil, inking, solid blacks and lettering) and scripting for his stories. The Victory Garden, that initial ten page story published in April, 1943 was the first of about 500 stories featuring the Disney ducks Barks would produce for Western Publishing over the next three decades.

Barks distinguished himself from a lot of other children's comic artists by offering quality artwork and narratives. He was a master in crafting epic adventures, full of thrills, suspense and mystery. Donald and his family often take treasure hunts to exotic countries, ancient civilizations, mythological worlds and/or distant planets. Barks read National Geographic magazine, where he frequently found photographs and articles as inspiration. He spent many hours researching a new story. Whenever he drew a jungle, a desert, a mountainous area, ancient temples, tropic islands or vast oceans he wanted it to look believable, even if it was set in a fictional location. He drew everything with a keen eye for atmosphere and local color. It made Donald's world feel like its own universe.

Thanks to the global reach of the Disney empire, Barks' comics were read by millions of people across the world and are still in print to this day.

Because Walt Disney comics never listed the writers and artists who created their stories, Barks was an unsung hero throughout most of his active career. Apart from one tiny article by journalist Jean Records in the local newspaper The Hemet News, on 28 November 1947, his name and image weren't revealed to the public for a long time. Yet comic fans noticed that certain 'Donald Duck' stories were much better executed than others. They nicknamed this mysterious creator the "Good Duck Artist". In 1957, fan Malcolm Willits managed to identify Barks. Three years later, the brothers John and Bill Spicer tracked him down and met him at his house. Through articles in comic fanzines and lectures at conventions, they made his name more widespread. Since comics received more critical attention and appreciation from the 1960s on, Barks' name was soon established as an important comic artist. The 'Good Duck Artist' was interviewed, appeared at conventions and book signings and saw demand for his work rise significantly.

Carl Barks retired from drawing monthly comics in 1966. On August 25th 2000, he died quietly in his sleep at the age of 99.

The work of the always humble Carl Barks is still an influence on comic book artists today. He's considered the Grand Master of Disney Comics and he managed to create a global legacy. It's safe to say that very few cartoonists have had the same cultural impact as Carl Barks. Like his contemporaries Harvey Kurtzman, Will Eisner and Jack Kirby, Carl's work will remain in print forever. He's on my list of the top five greatest comic book artists of all time.

3 Days Until SDCC 2025!

 

[puckace]

Huge fan of Barks and his Uncle Scrooge comics. Along with Marvel and DC superhero comics, the Duck stories were my favorites and helped foster a love of reading I still have today.

 

[SDcomics]

From SDCC 1982, Will Eisner.

Will Eisner will probably always be best known as the creator, writer and artist of The Spirit, a comic strip that appeared as a Sunday supplement in newspapers during the 1940s and early 1950s. Moody, atmospheric and innovative, The Spirit was immensely influential on later comics creators and remains so to this day. As if that weren't enough, Eisner is also considered the "godfather of the graphic novel". In 1978 he wrote and drew A Contract With God and other Tenement Stories, a captivating, autobiographical and deeply moving saga about love, life and survival in 20th century New York City. Though the term "graphic novel" did not originate with Eisner, A Contract With God is credited with popularizing it's use.

William Erwin Eisner was born on March 6th, 1917 in Brooklyn New York, the son of Jewish immigrants. His early life and experiences growing up in New York tenements would become the inspiration for much of his graphic novel work. At DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx, Eisner's budding interest in art was fostered, and it was in the school newspaper that his first work was published. Eisner's first comic work appeared in 1936, kicking off a unique and groundbreaking career spanning almost seven decades.

Eisner formed a partnership with friend Jerry Iger, and the Eisner-Iger Studio was born. The studio was a veritable comics factory, churning out strips in a variety of genres in the hopes of placing them with American newspapers. Towards this end, Eisner-Iger recruited a number of young artists who would go on to become comics' legends in their own right: Bob Kane, the creator of Batman, Lou Fine, and Jack Kurtzberg (later Jack Kirby), co-creator of Captain America and The Fantastic Four, and Mort Meskin.

While partnered with Jerry Iger, Eisner created Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, Yarko the Great and soon after, Dollman and Blackhawk. All comics were made by commission for clients like Editors Press Service, Fox Comics, Fiction House and Quality Comics and sold not only to U.S. magazines, but also to the Canadian, British and Australian market.

In December 1939, Eisner left the company when Quality Comics offered him the opportunity to create a newspaper comic for them, with the possibility of being published in comic book format afterwards. He sold his share of Eisner & Iger's stock, and the company continued until 1955 under the new name "S.M. Iger Studio". Everett M. "Busy" Arnold, publisher of Quality Comics, asked Eisner to create a Sunday newspaper comic about a crime fighter, "something in the style of George Brenner's 'The Clock', but with better artwork." Instead of just one page a week, Arnold envisioned a weekly newspaper supplement of 16 pages per issue, with seven pages devoted to Eisner's new creation. Well aware that this would be very labor-intensive work, Arnold granted Eisner full rights over his creation. To manage the production, Eisner set up his own "Eisner Studio" in Manhattan's Tudor City apartment complex, employing some of his former colleagues, like Bob Powell and Lou Fine. On Jine 2nd 1940, The Spirit Section - as the newspaper supplement is generally referred to - made its debut, syndicated by Register & Tribune. It ran in various newspapers until 1952. Between October 13th 1941 and March 11th 1944, there was also a daily newspaper comic of The Spirit, created by Eisner's assistants Lou Fine and Jack Cole.

The Spirit quickly gained a cult following, which only grew in the following decades. The Spirit has no special powers, nor training. He is a good fighter, but still very vulnerable, much like other characters. The violence in The Spirit is often painful and brutal, leaving people seriously wounded or dead. Novelist Kurt Vonnegut (Slaughterhouse Five) once said that "Eisner introduced agony in comics." In one episode, published on 24 August 1947, the Spirit is temporarily blinded after an explosion. Rather than have his eyesight return in the next episode, Eisner kept him blind for several issues. This story arc made readers more engaged with the character's well-being, uncertain whether he would ever recover. Eisner constantly pushed the boundaries of what is possible in the medium, while never losing sight of a captivating plot and humanity. He proved that comics could be artistic and appreciated by adults too.

Will Eisner's work on the Spirit was interrupted in 1942 when he was drafted into the Army for service in World War II. The Army took advantage of his skills as a cartoonist, and during the war he was engaged in producing posters, illustrations and strips for the education and entertainment of the troops.

After the War, Eisner returned to work on The Spirit. The strip had faltered in less-able hands during his absence and he jumped back into full-time cartooning with a zeal that would produce stories and art that are considered classics today.

CONTINUED IN THE NEXT POST

 

[SDcomics]

In December of 1945 he reintroduced the strip with a retelling of the Spirit's origin, and the Spirit was quickly back on track. Now with the support of other artists such as a young Jules Feiffer and later Wally Wood, Eisner continued the weekly installments of the Spirit until 1952.

For years, Will Eisner had cherished the dream of creating more ambitious and personal comics. Yet many of his colleagues remained skeptical about his plans. Rube Goldberg discouraged him outright in 1960: "You are a vaudevillian like the rest of us... don't ever forget that!" However, as the status of The Spirit had grown considerably during the following decades, Eisner became convinced that there was a market for his new material. In 1969, Denis Kitchen and Art Spiegelman introduced him to underground comix, a genre partially inspired by his own work.

Seeking a more mature expression of the comics' form, Eisner spent two years creating four short stories of "sequential art" that became A Contract With God, first published by Baronet Books in 1978. In this book, with its 1930s Bronx tenements and slice-of-life moral tales, Eisner returned to his roots and discovered new potential for the comics form — the graphic novel.

Eisner followed A Contract With God with a series of graphic novels published by the alternative comics publisher Kitchen Sink Press. With subject matter ranging from semi-autobiographical (The Dreamer and To The Heart of the Storm), keen observations of modern life (The Building and Invisible People) and science fiction parable (Life on Another Planet) Eisner helped to break comics from the juvenile ghetto of superheroes and "funny books."

In addition to producing a legacy of great work from across different periods of his life — from The Spirit to his graphic novels — Will Eisner also taught cartooning at the School of Visual Arts in New York. Many of today's graphic novelists and industry professionals in North America were students of Eisners.

It's from these years of teaching that Eisner authored three definitive works examining the creative process, Comics and Sequential Art, Graphic Storytelling and Expressive Anatomy.

Throughout the '80s and until his untimely death, Eisner traveled as much as he could, giving lectures and attending conventions, spreading the word about the value and potential of comics as an art form as well as an educational tool. He spent many hours speaking with aspiring cartoonists, encouraging them to persist, to develop their own styles and experiment with the different aspects of graphic storytelling.

In 1988, The Eisner Awards were established in his name. Presented each year at the San Diego Comic Con, these awards have grown to become the 'Oscars' of the comic book industry and acknowledge the finest sequential art work of the year. Importantly, the ceremony also features the Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailing Award, honoring retail outlets and their owners.

Will died on January 3, 2005 of complications from a quadruple bypass surgery performed December 22, 2004, but he'll never be forgotten. He has been cited as an inspiration by comics' creators from all corners of the world and from all areas of the art form. As a creator who helped define the very language of comics, his influence will be felt for years to come. He will remain one of the most important and inspirational forces in the comics' field.

2 Days Until SDCC 2025!

 

[TFitz]

Man, it really stinks the Hasbro Legends pulled out at the last minute.

 

[Justice]

Man, it really stinks the Hasbro Legends pulled out at the last minute.

Something stinks alright! The smell of trickery.