I'm a Shooter fan too. They really had him in a terrible spot. Truly sad he's never been able to really get back into the industry the way he deserves.

I've always had the impression that Shooter's tragic flaw was knowing that he's a genius. He broke into the industry at a record age, had an unprecedented rise in the ranks, and found himself in a situation where he had to be a leader of people that he felt knew less than him. At least half the time that Shooter railroaded a creative team, he was right, but he lost people's trust and respect every time he did that all the same. I recall a story about him personally rewriting an entire issue of either Harbinger or X-O Manowar at the 11th hour one night because he realized there was a continuity glitch in how the two titles were intersecting. He was right; it made for a better product, but at what cost to the writer who saw his work thrown in the trash, Shooter deciding he could do it better himself?

Shooter reminds me of my father -- brilliant, and (as a result) dangerously overconfident and totally unable to exercise common sense and bite his tongue when it meant empowering others and earning their trust/respect. Shooter meant well, he had profound vision, and many (not all) of his editorial edicts made a lot of sense, but being right at the expense of others doesn't win you much credit with a bullpen, especially at Marvel, where the atmosphere had been incredibly laid back prior to his arrival, writers often functioning as their own editors.


Granted, I've never worked in comics, and I've never even met Shooter. This just seems to align well with what I've read of the man.

Besides Weiss, they also had the previously mentioned Steve Ditko. I know lots of fans from back in the day that really liked his Dark Dominion. It was pretty good, and perfect for Ditko.

They also had Steve Leialoha, Charlie Adlard, J.G. Jones, Dave Cockrum, David Lapham, Mike Chen, Jim Fern, and Mike Netzer on art.

Writers included Chris Claremont, Len Wein, and Dan Chichester.

I also hoped maybe someone would buy these characters and add them to Valiant, which would've been really cool.

Shooter has said the bad guy was going to win in Schism. Too bad that didn't get to play out.

How interconnected are the various Defiant series? My impression is that they are, and I'm asking because I have the opportunity to buy pretty much the entire run of Warriors of Plasm for the equivalent of a few dollars. I've always been extremely curious about Defiant.

Thanks, hondobrode.