Borrowing this section from the Jim Shooter interview topic:

 Originally Posted By: Wonder Boy
  • THE EARLY DAYS, 1966-1970

    TIM HARTNETT, SilverBullet : ...How did you acquire your fascination with the medium?

    JAMES SHOOTER: I read comics as a kid in the fifties. Got bored with them around age eight. When I was about 12, I discovered the then-new Marvel Comics, and got very much interested again. Those early Marvels started what has become a lifetime passion.

    TH: You entered the industry at a rather early age. How did this come about?

    JS: I had the crazy idea that if I could learn to write like Stan Lee, I could sell comics scripts to DC since their comics, I thought, weren't nearly as good as the Marvels of the time. So, I spent a year literally studying comics trying to suss out what I liked, what I didn't, and why. Then, when I thought I was ready, at age 13, I wrote a Legion of Super-Heroes script with rough layouts (because I had no idea what the proper format for a comics script was) and sent it to DC Comics. Editor Mort Weisinger wrote back and asked me to send him another story. I sent a two-parter. The he called, bought all three, and gave me an assignment to write a Supergirl story. I never lacked for work from DC for the next five years. I worked my way though high school.






    TH: During your run on Legion of Super-Heroes, you wanted to introduce one of the first Black superheroes but the idea was shot down?

    JS: Ferro Lad (who was masked, remember) was supposed to be black. My plan was that when this was revealed, no one would bat an eye---it would be a total non-issue as one might expect in the enlightened future. Mort vetoed it on the grounds that if we had a black character ID wholesaler distributors in the South would refuse to carry DC Comics. Hmf.

    TH: What about the Legion being the first comic to have a "drug" story?

    JS: I believe it was. The "Lotus Fruit" story starring Timber Wolf [ACTION COMICS 378, July 1969] I think was rejected by the Comics Code. We had to eviscerate the ending and way downplay the obvious drug reference to get it into print. Stan ran his Spider-man drug story, which I think -- not sure -- came soon after without the Code Seal, a risky thing to do in those days.


    TH: While at DC, you worked on some pretty hefty properties. Superman comes to mind in the '70s. What did you get from your time at DC that later helped you in your tenure as EIC of Marvel? Why did you decide to leave DC? Did DC have an "A-list writers get A-list books, B-list writers get B-list books" system similar to the one you scrapped when you first came to Marvel?

    JS: The first script I submitted was a Legion of Super Heroes script. Legion of Superheroes and all "Superman family" books were under Mort's purview and as a writer in his stable that's what I wrote. There was no such thing as A-list or B-list. You were competent or you weren't. The point which I carried with me to Marvel was to find the writer best suited for each book. I demonstrated to Mort I guess that I could write any Superman family book. Mort not only taught me a lot about the creative side of comics, but also about the business -- managing a creative organization, art production, separations, printing, licensing, merchandising, media, advertising, and more. I think he was grooming [me] for editorial/management work someday. All of what I learned from him and others at DC was useful to me at Marvel.




This is one of the few times I'm optimistic about a creator returning to a series he formerly worked on. Shooter did quite a bit to develop the Legion's continuity during his run (ADVENTURE COMICS issues 346-380, and ACTION COMICS 378, 380-382, 384, together spanning from July 1966-Jan 1970) and make it more engaging to read, injecting a Lee/Kirby brand of dynamic storytelling to the series.

I hope Shooter is able to resurrect some semblance of the 35-year continuity that existed until the series was scrapped, or "re-booted" in 1994 after the "Zero Hour" crossover event.
Of the 37 Legion members established in the original series from 1958-1994, only 7 were created after 1968. And Shooter introduced quite a few of the series' enduring heroes and villains.


Here's a fun website that nostalgically explores the 60's-era continuity, with story chronology, covers, checklists, and a lot of art panels displayed from those stories: