Scoop last talked with former Marvel Comic Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter in our September 28, 2007 Main Event, shortly after it was announced that he was returning to write DC’s Legion of Super-Heroes, the characters he first scripted when he was 13-years-old.

His early work on the characters was done in an age before collected editions, trade paperbacks, and hard covers existed, and Shooter said he never imagined they would survive as they have. "I was just trying to help support my family," he said. "I didn’t think about much else besides saving our house from the bank."

With a notoriously dedicated fan element, many of his stories did much more than just survive. They served as fuel for other creators, ranging from acting as jumping-off points for storylines to the inspiration for the Legion animated series.

Now his first two issues are out, more are on the way, and it seems like he’s hitting his stride out there in the thirty-first century where the Legion lives, and Scoop talked with him again about his view of the characters.

Scoop: Historically, what do you think has made the Legion stand out from other superhero characters?
Jim Shooter (JS): Many things. The LSH is set in the future and it has (usually) been a fantastic, positive future. It stars young heroes, a small army of them. Most of the heroes are not household-name icons, and therefore have grown and developed in wonderful ways. There’s also something fascinating and great about the idea of young men and women who are ordinary on their own worlds becoming heroes because they want to be–off on a magnificently noble, naive quest to make a difference in the universe. All that and lots more.

Scoop: What were the circumstances when you first became aware that there were Legion fans?
JS: A few fans in my hometown, Pittsburgh, located me somehow. I remember seeing fanzines for the first time. I remember doing a couple of really bad drawings for them, and otherwise embarrassing myself in this strange, new fan-tasy world. I thought it was just a ‘Burgh thing, a few guys really into comics who happened to live in the same metro area.

Scoop: What was your first experience with fans knowing who you were?
JS: I’m not sure which year–1973, ’74? Don’t know. But some of the fans I had met were going to New York City to Phil Seuling’s convention, called July Con, I think, at the Commodore Hotel. I had never heard of "conventions." They talked me into going. I went, and stayed in a roomful of fans, I think. I was amazed by the whole thing. I had no idea there were such events. Two great things happened: I heard that Gil Kane was being interviewed onstage in some ballroom. Gil had drawn two of my stories, and I loved his work, so I went. As it happened, one of the Pittsburgh guys who knew me was the interviewer! He asked Gil which writers he liked to work with. Gil had a pretty low opinion of all writers–but he said there was one that he enjoyed working with, a young lad named  Jim Shooter. The interviewer asked him if he was aware that I was in the room.No, we’d never met. The interviewer called me up on stage, where I met Gil Kane for the first time, to tremendous applause. P.S. I think the reason Gil enjoyed working with me was that I provided rough layout sketches for every panel, which made his job easier. I don’t for a second consider myself, or imagine that he meant that I was the best writer he ever worked with [laughter]. Later, I was asked to introduce fans dressed as the Legionnaires at the costume contest. I went out on stage, said, "Hello, I’m Jim Shooter," into the mic and got a standing ovation. 

Scoop: Your first run on Legion is itself the stuff of comic book legends, but what were the circumstances when you started your second run on the book?
JS: My second run was in the mid-1970s. Harry Broertjes, who had interviewed me about the Legion, called friends at Marvel and told them I might be available. An editor from Marvel called me, and I ended up going to New York, meeting with Roy Thomas and others and being offered Man-Wolf. Marvel staffers I had lunch with encouraged me to stop by DC, too, since the either/or days were over, and I might get work there too. I did. They offered me LSH and Superman (which both had other writers as well). I went with DC because I knew the LSH and Superman, and had no idea who Man-Wolf was.

My most recent stint on the LSH came about because Mike Marts got in touch with me right when I happened to be open to new work. A discussion with Mike, Dan Didio, and Jann Jones settled it–back to the future with the LSH.  

Scoop: We’ve talked before about how when you started your current run that it didn’t take you long to feel comfortable again with the characters. For you, is that just about writing comics or is it something specific about the Legion?
JS: Both, I guess. At this point in my career, I found it wasn’t hard to get back in the saddle. Working with characters I know well helped.

Scoop: In the years since your second stint with the characters, there have been numerous different iterations of the team and the DC Universe as a whole. Did that complicate matters when you started writing or did the thirty-first century setting shield you from some of that?
JS: The LSH was/is pretty much insulated from the crisis du jour. All I really had to cope with was Mark Waid’s "reimagining," and that was no problem. He’s good. The work he did was good. He left me a good foundation and lots of stuff to work with.

Scoop: Do you get any reaction from fans who have discovered or re-read the older stories through DC’s Legion archives? And if so, what are those reactions?
JS: Lots of people have said kind words about that old stuff. Some people really seem to enjoy it. A lot of people have commented that many things from that era have been "mined" by other writers, and pop up all over the DC Universe. To me, when I read it (usually for reference), all I see are the flaws, my many, many youthful mistakes. 

Scoop: Aside from your own work, do you have any favorite Legion stories?
JS: Dave Cockrum’s. Paul Levitz’s stuff–which, I think, was his breakout stuff.

Scoop: Which of your own stories would you point to as one you were happy with?
JS: I’m never happy with my work. I suppose, if I had to pick one, it would be one of the Fatal Five arcs–issues #365 and 366, "The Escape of the Fatal Five," and "The Battle for the Championship of the Universe." Loved those Neal Adams covers…. and great interior art by Swan and Klein, I think. Working with the current team is going to produce some "favorites" for me, though, I think. I’m looking forward to seeing issue #40. 

Scoop: Your first couple new issues of Legion seem to be strongly character driven, something that seems true of much of your work on The Avengers and other team titles. Is that a conscious choice on your part or is that reading too much into just a few issues?
JS: No. It’s always about the characters to me. They drive everything.

Scoop: What do you have in store for the team (and for readers)?
JS: This is the LSH’s 50th anniversary year. There will be new costumes, a huge new-character introduction, a wedding, a tragic event, a triumph of spacetime-sweeping proportions and, most importantly, the emergence of a future hall-of-fame artist, Francis Manapul. This guy gets better panel by panel. I want to be there when he gets his Harvey and his Eisner so he has to say something nice about me. [laughter] 

Scoop: Anything else you’d like to add?
JS: Long Live the Legion!