Longshot - Publication History

Publication History

Ann Nocenti, an editor at Marvel Comics in 1985, wrote Longshot at a time when, according to Arthur Adams, Marvel expected its editors to have written at least one work. Every artist she showed the script to had declined to take on the project, so it was offered to aspiring artist Arthur Adams, whose samples had been given to editor Carl Potts and Nocenti, his assistant editor, by editor Al Milgrom.

A design for the character of Longshot was put forward by Carl Potts, who outfitted the character in a jumpsuit that Adams thought to be reminiscent of the Starfleet uniforms from Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Adams created his own design, basing the character's mullet haircut on that of musician Limahl. Adams, who disliked the practice of having characters produce weapons and other devices from their boots or secret pockets that had never before been established, decided to include some pouches on the character's belt, a practice that influenced the artwork of the founders of Image Comics.

Longshot debuted in a six-issue, eponymous 1985–1986 mini-series. The series featured the "Mojoverse", an alien dimension whose residents are addicted to gladiator-like entertainment and ruled by the tyrannical network head Mojo. Longshot, who possesses probability-altering or "luck" powers, is an action star who escapes enslavement by Mojo.

After the series, Longshot joined the X-Men in Uncanny X-Men Annual #10 in 1986, and remained with them until Uncanny X-Men #248 (September 1989), appearing in various Marvel books occasionally, such as Exiles, the 1997 one-shot Fools and X-Factor, a book whose cast he joined in issue #35 (November 2008).