Jim Shooter has posted another new article on his blog, and it’s a follow-up to yesterday’s article that we posted regarding the secret origin of the Transformers franchise. This article covers some of the Marvel and Sunbow talks. as well as some of Shooter’s personal struggles while working in the business.
DJW107PRIME
Hunh.
Moonscream
I was kind of wondering that myself, as I'd think his account and Budiansky's would gel better than they seem to, and apparently he has a history of misremembering, aggrandizing his own role, and pretty much outright 'rewriting history' on much more important matters according to that Gary Groth article.
But I always find comic history/personalities/conflicts/gossip/etc fascinating anyway.
–Moony
Superquad7
I totally agree here, however it is disconcerting to read something like this with all of the biases for simply an attempt to gain historical information. On the other hand, I enjoy the read because of its admitted biases [that are admitted to some degree at least; the rest one just has to fish for and interpret].
As far as the 5+ different stories, I would like to be able to read those as well. That way, we could really get to see more of the puzzle here
EightiesKid
High Drama
Interesting stuff. I've been a comics fan for over 20 years, and am familiar with Jim Shooter's work and his reputation. Shooter is a controversial figure, and made enemies back in the day, but few dispute that Marvel had some big success under Shooter. In the interviews I've read, Shooter is often able to back up his side of the story with paperwork, documents and other evidence that lend support to his version.
My take on his TF postings is that there is most likely a lot of truth in here. As with all things, Shooter is admittedly biased, however we are talking about history here. Every person who was present during an event 20-30 years ago will have their own take, which will be colored by their own biases. If you ask five different people about a meeting that happened 30 years ago, you will likely get some differences in the five accounts.
So my bottom line is that Shooter's accounts are very informative, and definitely worth reading. There are parts here that are almost certainly accurate, and other parts that are maybe a bit more complicated than he recalls. I read one comic star once equate comics to hollywood, where he said that the comic business has all the drama, the backstabbing, ego tripping and turf battles that you see in Hollywood, but without the money that flies around in Hollywood.
If Shooter is correct about Bacal, then I find that very disappointing, as I always thought Bacal seemed very sincere in his interviews. This would certainly diminish Bacal's stature in my eyes.
C.W. McConvoy
artiepants
i don't really think so, the only thing he seems to be taking credit for is writing "the Pitch" for it after Denny O'neal's wasn't up to snuff ~ seems like Bob Budiansky was still given most of the credit.
SPLIT LIP
Mysterions sounds campy as hell. Transformers is the perfect name. It's cool, has longevity, and perfectly decribes the brand and it's characters. Mysterions describes nothing and sounds like some old 50's B-movie title.
We dodged a bullet, and the gun hadn't even been fired.
Killamarshan
Interesting read … as is all the info we get from the creatives who created the TF universe.
I actually like the name Mysterions, more fantastical than the matter of fact Transformers. Would have had me thinking of Captain Scarlett all the time though.
Snake_eyes1975
I read that one too…thanks for the link..
Am I like…WITNESSING an online pissing match for the title "I CREATED TRANSFORMERS"??
THE-TRANSFORMER
Yeah mate, he basically explains why he remembers Mysterion's and not so much Transformers also says that Bob was the main creator…
BB Shockwave
JIm Shooter?
Didn't Bob Budiansky develop the story bible? I recall him naming most of the G1 cast and coming up with their personalities and bios as well… I also find it odd that he remembers minute details about the meeting with the Mysterion guys… but nothing about the storyline or characters he has developed for them.
Mysterions is interesting. I wonder which japanese toyline it would have been.
Also… Knickerbocker? I thought back then, knickers meant the same thing as today. Not the best name for a toyline of transforming robots…
C.W. McConvoy
Most of these guys claim more credit that they probably deserve with regard to Transformers in these interviews (see Floro Dery), but remember that 27 years will cloud people's memories.
As nice as it would be to have a sole creator of The Transformers to laud, it was a group creation amongst dozens if not hundreds of people on at least two different continents, amongst several different companies. Even Griffin-Bacal.
The Crooked Man
"Shooter’s two blog entries purporting to accurately describe Kirby’s dispute with Marvel are such falsified claptrap that they reminded me of Mary McCarthy’s infamous quip about Lillian Hellman’s writing, made in an eerily similar context — that every word is a lie, including “and” and “the.” There are minor errors, but I’ll stick to the major, more partisan, and morally tendentious misstatements of fact. Otherwise, we’d be here all day."
Source
Snake_eyes1975
I would have never thought the behind the scenes of my favorite comics then would so DAMN fascinating..
One of the posters on Shooters blog summed it up perfectly
Bosch Fawstin said…
I think that all this could not only be a book, but a Comic Book. Thanks again for bringing us all in, it's fascinating stuff.
NOW THAT..is a damn sweet idea…
They could title it Adventures in Editing-Codename:SHOOTER
I would buy every damn cover of this…..Hope to hear more…
Smasher
Yeah, I found that particularly interesting, too.
artiepants
I'm guessing he just got the detail reversed, it was 30 yars ago and he's done a few things since then …
i thought this was interesting
and the bit about the guy flipping out on him saying he had nothing to do with creating TF.
Dormamu
This is an absolutely interesting industry read. Even if you don't like comics, or Transformers, for those looking into marketing and publishing careers, you should be reading this man.
General Tekno
Not true. The Sunbow/Marvel stuff is indeed fairly relevant to Transformers' history.
ScottyP
That second part of the blog read like a kid with ADHD telling people how he was bullied at school today, my brain hurts. Interesting content though, would love to see other sides of the story.
The Crooked Man
Don't bother reading the second installment. It's barely even tangentially related to Transformers.