The Father of Transformers G1 Lore has Passed Away

It is with a heavy heart that we share the news that Jim Shooter passed away in his home in Nyack, New York, on June 30, 2025, after battling esophageal cancer. He leaves behind quite the legacy when it comes to comics since he revitalized Marvel after he became editor in chief in 1978. He turned Marvel back into the powerhouse that it was in the 60s and continues to be. It is thanks to him that we got Frank Miller’s Daredevil and the Secret Wars, which he wrote himself (making him the creator of the black Symbiote).

But it’s maybe Transformers fans which owe him most since he was the one tasked with developing the lore for the Transformers brand. It is he who developed the concept of an intergalactic war between the Autobots and Decepticons and he also had the mandate to provide the toy bios, a task he gave to Bob Budiansky. As editor in chief, he spearheaded the Marvel Transformers comic into the juggernaut it became. The image below is a portrait of Shooter made by Bill Sienkiewicz, in light of his passing, which brings us full circle as this is the same artist who drew the cover for Marvel’s Transformers 1.