John Byrne

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John Byrne
Birth name	John Lindley Byrne
Born	July 6, 1950 (age 56) Walsall, England
Nationality	Naturalised American (immigrated British, Canadian)
Area(s)	Penciller, Inker, Writer
Notable works	Next Man X-Men Superman

John Lindley Byrne (born July 6, 1950) is a British-born naturalised American author and artist of comic books. Since the mid-1970s Byrne has worked on nearly every major American superhero. His most famous works have been on Marvel Comics's X-Men and Fantastic Four and the 1986 relaunch of DC Comics's Superman franchise. During the 1990s he produced a number of creator-owned works including Next Men and Danger Unlimited. He is sometimes considered a controversial figure due to opinions he has expressed regarding his experiences within the comic industry.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early life and career 1.2 Marvel Comics 1.3 Superman 1.4 Return to Marvel 1.5 Creator-owned works 1.6 Later works 1.7 Controversies 2 Art style 3 Awards 4 Selected bibliography 4.1 Marvel Comics 4.2 DC Comics 4.3 Dark Horse Comics 4.4 Novels 4.5 Webcomics 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life and career

Byrne was born in Walsall, England where along with his parents (Frank and Nelsie) he lived with his maternal grandmother.^[1] While living there, he was first exposed to the American superheroes that would dominate his professional life through reruns of American programs such as The Adventures of Superman. In Britain, he was able to read domestic comics such as Eagle as well as reprints of DC Comics.^[2] When he was eight years old he left England with his parents and moved to Canada. According to Byrne himself, he was not an academically gifted student. Later he was married to photographer and actress Andrea Braun Byrne for 15 years.

His first encounter with Marvel Comics was in 1962 with Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's Fantastic Four #5. He later commented that, "the book had an 'edge' like nothing DC was putting out at the time."^[3] Jack Kirby's work in particular had a strong influence on Byrne and he has worked with many of the characters Kirby created or co-created. Besides Kirby, Byrne was also influenced by the naturalistic style of Neal Adams.

In 1970, Byrne enrolled at the Alberta College of Art and Design in Calgary. He created the superhero parody Gay Guy for the college newspaper which poked fun at the campus stereotype of homosexuality among art students. Gay Guy is also notable for featuring a prototype of the Alpha Flight character Snowbird. While there, he also published his first comic book, ACA Comix #1, featuring "The Death's Head Knight".^[4]

Byrne left the college in 1973 without graduating. He broke into comics illustrating a two-page story by writer Al Hewetson for Skywald Publications' black-and-white horror magazine Nightmare #20 (August 1974). He then began freelancing for Charlton Comics, making his color-comics debut with the E-Man backup feature "Rog-2000". This starred a robot character he'd created in the mid-1970s that colleagues Roger Stern and Bob Layton named and began using for spot illustrations in their fanzine CPL (Contemporary Pictorial Literature). A Rog-2000 story written by Stern, with art by Byrne and Layton, had gotten the attention of Charlton Comics writer Nicola Cuti, who extended Byrne an invitation. Byrne went on to work on the Charlton books Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch, Doomsday + 1, Space: 1999, and Emergency!, and drew Rog-2000 as a back-up feature in Charlton's E-Man.

[edit] Marvel Comics

Byrne's first story for Marvel Comics was "Dark Asylum" (written by David Anthony Kraft), published in Giant-Sized Dracula #5. He began drawing Marvel's lower-selling titles, including Iron Fist, The Champions, and Marvel Team-Up. For many issues, he was paired with writer Chris Claremont.

In 1978, he joined Claremont on The Uncanny X-Men with issue 108. Their work together would make them both fan favorites and the X-Men became one of the industry's best-selling titles. Byrne has repeatedly compared his working relationship with Claremont to Gilbert and Sullivan, and has said that they were "almost constantly at war over who the characters were."^[5] Byrne became "increasingly unhappy" and left the title with issue 143. He has described his current relationship with Claremont as "cordial" but said it would be "too frustrating" to work with him again.^[3] In 2004, however, the two teamed up once more for a brief run on DC's JLA; they avoided the "frustration" of collaboration by having Byrne work from a full script, without getting involved in plotting the books.

In the early 1980s Byrne worked on a number of other Marvel books. His nine-issue run (#247-255) with writer Roger Stern on Captain America included an issue (#250) in which the Captain was nominated for the US presidency. Marvel persuaded Byrne to write and draw Alpha Flight, a Canadian superhero team who were first introduced "merely to survive a fight with the X-Men".^[3] The book was popular (its first issue sold 500,000 copies^[6] and critically well regarded)^{[citation needed]}, but Byrne has said the book "was never much fun" and that he considered the characters two-dimensional.^[3] One of those characters, Northstar, became Marvel's first openly gay superhero. Though intended by Byrne to be gay from the beginning, his homosexuality could only be hinted at during Byrne's tenure on the book. After issue 28, he swapped books with Bill Mantlo, writer of The Incredible Hulk. According to Byrne, he discussed his ideas with editor-in-chief Jim Shooter ahead of time, but once Byrne was on the book, Shooter objected to them.^[3] Byrne only wrote and drew six issues (314-319) of the Hulk.

Byrne's most important post-X-Men body of work at Marvel was his six years on The Fantastic Four (#232-293), considered by many to be a "second golden age"^[7] on that title. Byrne said his goal was to "Turn the clock back...Get back and see fresh what it was that made the book great at its inception."^[8] However, he also made a number of significant changes to the title: the Thing was replaced as a member of the quartet by the She-Hulk, while the Thing had adventures in his own comic (also written by Byrne), and his longtime girlfriend Alicia Masters left him for his teammate the Human Torch; the Invisible Girl was developed into the most powerful member with her heightened control of her refined powers and the self-confident assertiveness to use it epitomized by her name change to the Invisible Woman; and the Baxter Building, their headquarters, was destroyed and replaced with Four Freedoms Plaza. Byrne has cited multiple reasons for leaving the book, including "internal office politics"^[3] and that "it simply started to get old".^[9]

[edit] Superman

Near the end of his time at Marvel he was hired by DC Comics to revamp its flagship character Superman. This was part of a company-wide restructuring of the history of the DC universe and all of its characters following the miniseries Crisis on Infinite Earths. Byrne's reworking of Superman in particular gained widespread media coverage outside the comic book industry, including articles in Time Magazine and The New York Times.

At the time, Byrne said "I'm taking Superman back to the basics...It's basically Siegel and Shuster's Superman meets the Fleischer Superman in 1986".^[10] He also cited the Superman films starring Christopher Reeve as an influence (Byrne even used Reeve's face as the visual model for his Superman, mostly because Byrne found that he couldn't quite capture the face that the previous Superman artist Curt Swan had drawn).^{[citation needed]} Byrne significantly reduced Superman's powers (though he was still one of the most powerful beings on Earth), eliminated the Fortress of Solitude, Krypto, and his childhood career as Superboy, and had his foster parents the Kents still alive while Superman was an adult to enjoy their adopted son's triumphs as well as to provide him with support, grounding and advice whenever he needed it. One of the biggest changes was in Clark Kent, whom Byrne felt was the real personality while Superman was just a disguise, and that the heart of the character was not so much an outsider seeking his heritage but a young man who grew up in the American heartland and embraced its ethics;^{[citation needed]} Byrne wrote Clark Kent as having a more aggressive and extroverted personality, even making him a top football player when he was in high school. Byrne also did his part to come up with explanations for how Superman's disguise works, such as the public simply does not realize that he has a secret identity since he is unmasked, that Superman would vibrate his face via his super speed in order to blur his image to photographers and having Kent keep a weight training set around to explain how the human and presumably weaker Kent could have a frame as massive as Superman's. Byrne's Superman felt that his deepest roots were on Earth, and that his home planet of "Krypton is anathema to him."^[10] This can be seen as a reflection of Byrne's convictions concerning his own roots; although born in England and raised in Canada, he considers himself staunchly American.^{[citation needed]}

The new Superman debuted in the six-issue mini-series The Man of Steel, which described his origin and early career. Byrne wrote and drew two monthly Superman titles with the hero's current adventures: a new Superman title beginning with issue one (January 1987) and Action Comics, in which, beginning with issue 584, Superman teamed up with another hero or group. The original Superman book was renamed Adventures of Superman starting with issue 424 and was initially written by Marv Wolfman and drawn Jerry Ordway, but the writing chores were taken over by Byrne after a year (from issues #436-442, and 444).

Byrne spent about two years on the Superman titles before leaving. He cited the lack of "conscious support" for his work from DC Comics and the fact that the version of Superman that the company licensed for merchandise was different from his version in the comic books as the reasons for his dissatisfaction. He said "After two years of this nonsense, I was just worn down. The fun was gone".^[3]

[edit] Return to Marvel

In 1986, Marvel began publication of a new line of superhero titles created by then-Editor-In-Chief Jim Shooter, which took place in a continuum removed from the Marvel Universe proper, called the New Universe. In 1987, the New Universe line saw a revamp under the auspices of new Editor-In-Chief Tom DeFalco, and Byrne took over writing and art breakdowns on the line's flagship title, Star Brand (which was renamed The Star Brand during Byrne's term on the book). Byrne's run started with issue #11 and continued until the cancellation of the title eight issues later (upon Marvel's discontinuation of the entire New Universe line). The most significant event that occurred in that title under Byrne's tenure was the destruction of that continuum's city of Pittsburgh by the wielder of the Star Brand.

In 1989, Byrne returned to work on a number of titles for Marvel Comics. His work on West Coast Avengers (issues 42-57, soon renamed Avengers West Coast) was contingent on his being allowed to do what he called "my Vision story".^[3] The Vision was a long standing Marvel superhero and member of The Avengers, an android originally created by the villain Ultron constructed with the body of the original Human Torch. The Vision went on to join the team, marry his teammate the Scarlet Witch, and father two children by her. Byrne radically changed this, revealing that Ultron lied about the Vision's creation. The android Human Torch was found and joined the WCA. The Vision was disassembled and stripped of his emotions. The couple's twins were revealed to be pieces of the soul of the demon Mephisto. In addition to these changes, Byrne's run is remembered for the introduction of the Great Lakes Avengers, an eclectic group of new superheroes.

On the request of editor Mark Gruenwald, Byrne wrote and drew a new series, the Sensational She-Hulk. Gruenwald demanded that it be significantly different from the character's 1970s series, the Savage She-Hulk.^[6] Byrne's series was comedic and the She-Hulk, who was aware she was in a comic book, regularly broke the fourth wall. Byrne left the book after writing and drawing only the first eight issues. Traditionally at Marvel, writers and editors of regular series are consulted regarding side projects involving those characters, and Byrne was asked for input on Dwayne McDuffie's She-Hulk: Ceremony graphic novel. According to Byrne, most of his objections to the story and notations of errors were ignored, and his editor, Bobbie Chase, "was rewriting my stuff to bring it into line with" the story in Ceremony. When Byrne complained to Editor-In-Chief Tom DeFalco, he reports that he was fired from the series.^[11] He later returned to write and draw issues 31-50 under new editor Renée Witterstaetter.

Byrne took over writing Iron Man (#258-277), which was drawn by John Romita Jr. and later by Paul Ryan. Byrne launched a second Armor Wars story arc, restored The Mandarin as a major Iron Man nemesis and featured the 1950s monster Fin Fang Foom.

Byrne also started a new series called Namor, the Sub-Mariner. Byrne's take on the undersea antihero Namor cast him as the head of a surface company, Oracle, Inc. (no relationship to the real-life software company of the same name), and had him involved in corporate intrigue. Byrne wrote and drew the book for 25 issues, until new artist Jae Lee inspired a sharp change in the mood and plot of the book. Byrne wrote the book until issue 32.

[edit] Creator-owned works

In the early 1990s, Byrne began creating a series of original, creator-owned works for publisher Dark Horse Comics. This was during a general trend in the industry for established creators working for Marvel and DC to bring their original works to other publishers or create their own companies to publish the works themselves. A number of these creators, including Byrne, Frank Miller, Mike Mignola, and Art Adams, banded together to form the Legend imprint at Dark Horse.

Byrne's first title for Dark Horse was Next Men, a work he considered darker and more realistic than his previous work. The Next Men were five young people who were the product of a secret government experiment. Byrne said, "I thought I would see what I could do with superheroes in the 'real world'" and "[e]xplore the impact their existence would have."^[3] Byrne's other Dark Horse titles were Babe (a kind of She-Hulk for mature readers) and Danger Unlimited, the latter about a Fantastic Four-like team of heroes in the future fighting an alien occupation of Earth.

The Next Men lasted until issue 30 in 1994, when Byrne ended the series, intending to return "in no more than six months". However, Byrne says he "did not count on...the virtual collapse of the whole comic book industry, which seemed to occur at just the time I put Next Men on the shelf...In the present, very depressed marketplace, I don't feel Next Men would have much chance, so I leave the book hybernating until such time as the market improves."^[3]

[edit] Later works

In later years, Byrne has done titles for Marvel, DC, and other publishers.

In particular, his work in the late 1990s for Marvel is thought to be somewhat controversial (and criticized by fans). The most prominent example of this is the Spider-Man: Chapter One project, where Byrne sought to revive interest in the Spider-Man character by retelling his earliest adventures, changing some key aspects, and declaring that the new version had supplanted the original stories as official Spider-Man canon.

Around this time he also wrote and drew DC's Wonder Woman title from 1995-1998. He did manage to incorporate various aspects of the pre-Crisis version of the character into the series, but along the way also managed to kill off the main character twice during his run as well as relegating her to the status of observer in a majority of the storylines, having supporting characters such as Queen Hippolyta spotlighted in their own adventures. During his run on the Wonder Woman comic, he also wrote an original novel, Wonder Woman: Gods And Goddesses (1997,Prima Lifestyles, ISBN 0-7615-0483-4).

His post-2000 works has involved characters and events in time periods mostly skipped over by other comics (Marvel: The Lost Generation), or alternate timelines (DC's Superman & Batman: Generations); a common feature is to have characters who actually age during the course of the series, unlike typical characters in ongoing comics. His most recent works were all at DC Comics: JLA (issues #94-99 Tenth Circle story arc), Doom Patrol, Blood of the Demon, and a brief return stint on drawing Superman (with writer Gail Simone) on the title Action Comics (issues #827-835). Right after their Action Comics run, both Simone and Byrne would head off to launch The All-New Atom series in 2006 (with Byrne only pencilling the book's first 3 issues).

At the present moment, Byrne is not working on any monthly title but talking at his Byrnerobotics forum stated that "If I am offered work, I will of course consider it on its own merits, but for now I am not actively seeking "regular employment".

[edit] Controversies

Over the years, Byrne has gained a reputation as a controversial figure,^[12] and has noted this himself, stating that "as the people who have figured me out have said, I just don't suffer fools gladly."^[13] Gail Simone, who worked with Byrne on The All New Atom (2006), described Byrne as "very opinionated", although she qualified her statement, noting Byrne's talent and assessing his personality as integral to his abilities: "I think John Byrne is brilliant and his forceful personality is part of that."^[14] Byrne's opinions can lead to disputes, and commentators, particularly Rich Johnston, have noted disputes with Peter David ^[15], Jim Shooter, Joe Quesada, Mark Evanier, Marv Wolfman^[16] and Erik Larsen.^[17] Byrne's opinionated nature has also been evinced by The Comics Journal. In 1982, during a panel discussion at the Dallas Fantasy Fair, Byrne made unflattering comments about Roy Thomas. After a transcript of the panel was published in The Comics Journal #75 (September 1982), Thomas threatened a libel suit if Byrne did not apologize. In a letter printed in TCJ #82 (July 1983), Byrne retracted his statements, claiming he was only repeating information from Wolfman and Wein and wrote "I acted only in the office of a parrot."^[18]

In the 1980s Steve Gerber and Jack Kirby lampooned him in Destroyer Duck, drawing him as a character called Cogburn, possessing a removable spine and existing only to serve as a cog in the mammoth corporation that owned him.^[19] Erik Larsen created a villain in the 90s for his Savage Dragon and Freak Force series known as Johnny Redbeard/The Creator who also parodies Byrne: a massive cranium with atrophied appendages, he can bestow super powers indiscriminately.^[20] However, Byrne is also regarded as an enthusiastic talker, and someone with a warm love of his chosen medium.^[13] Tony Isabella has commented upon Byrne's approachability when at comic conventions, describing him as "friendly, funny, and well-received by those who attended the show".^[21]

Heroplay wrote an article examining Byrne's treatment of women in his comics and concluded that "As dynamic as his art can be, and as ambitious as his storylines are, he just seems to have an axe to grind with the female of the species" and that he made women "either bitchy, flighty, or evil". ^[22]

[edit] Art style

Byrne has stated his major influences on his art style are Jack Kirby, Gil Kane, Steve Ditko, Neal Adams, and Jean Giraud (best known as Moebius), as well as British comics artists Frank Hampson and Frank Bellamy and cartoonist Giles. He later described himself as "a Frank Miller sponge," and told several interviewers of his desire to incorporate influences from Miller and Gene Colan into his style. He has also cited science fiction artists John Berkey and Syd Mead as contributors to his style.^{[citation needed]}

Byrne's original work has been noted as being rough, with his drawings emphasizing curves over straight lines. Byrne has himself admitted to straight lines being "his least favorite artistic element."^[23]

Ron Goulart has called Byrne's artwork "an eminently acceptable mix of bravura, complexity and storytelling clarity".^[24]

In Scott McCloud's book Understanding Comics, Byrne is charted along with other comics artists in the "Big Triangle".^[25] McCloud's placement of Byrne within it identifies his style as similar to Gilbert Hernandez and Jim Lee, making the point that Byrne's line style is naturalistic without being overly detailed.

Byrne is, in 2006, an accomplished comic book creator, and is capable of producing virtually all aspects of a book, although he does still produce work in collaboration. The one exception is coloring, since Byrne is color-blind. He has problems distinguishing between some shades of green and brown and pencilled Iron Fist for a year believing the costume was brown. While he experimented with his own hand-developed lettering fonts in the early 1980s, he now utilizes a computer font based on the handwriting of the letterer Jack Morelli.^[26]

Byrne's artistic style, his layouts and his storytelling have been sources of instruction and inspiration to many comics artists, including George Perez,^[27] Jim Lee,^[28] Todd McFarlane,^[29] Bryan Hitch,^[30] and Marcos Martín.^[31]

[edit] Awards

He received the Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Award for Favorite Penciller in 1986 and 1998, and the Squiddy Award for Favorite Penciller in 1993.

For his writing, he was nominated for the Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Award for Favorite Writer six times. For his work as an artist, he was nominated for the Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Award for Favorite Cover Artist five times. For his work as an inker he was nominated for the Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Award for Favorite Inker three times. For his work as a penciller, he was nominated for the Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Award for Favorite Penciller three times.

[edit] Selected bibliography

A complete bibliography of Byrne's comics work is maintained at the Byrne Robotics Checklist.

[edit] Marvel Comics

• Alpha Flight (1983–1985; co-creator)
• Avengers and Avengers West Coast (1989–1999)
• Captain America (1979–1980, penciller)
• Fantastic Four (1979–1986)
• Iron Man (1990–1992 as writer) #258-277; Annual #10 (artist, 1989)
• Marvel: The Lost Generation (2000–2001)
• Namor the Sub-Mariner (1990–1992)
• New Mutants vol. 1 #75
• She-Hulk (1989, 1991–1993)
• Spider-Man: Chapter One (1998–1999)
• The Amazing Spider-Man vol. 2 (1999–2000; penciler issues 1-18; as writer 13 and 14)
• Uncanny X-Men (1977–1981 as co-plotter and penciller; 1991–1992 as scripter)
• X-Men: The Hidden Years (1999–2001)

[edit] DC Comics

• Action Comics (1987–1988 as writer and artist; 2005–2006 as artist)
• Adventures of Superman #436-442, 444 (writer, 1988); Annual #2 (inker, 1990)
• Blood of the Demon (2005–2006)
• Doom Patrol (2004–2005)
• The Man of Steel (1986, 6-issue limited series)
• Jack Kirby's Fourth World (1997–1998)
• JLA (2004, Tenth Circle story arc, with Chris Claremont)
• Lab Rats (2002–2003)
• Legends (1986, limited series)
• OMAC (1991, 4-issue miniseries)
• Superman (vol. 2) (1986–1988 as writer and artist; issues #1-22)
• Superman & Batman: Generations (1999, 2001, 2003; Volumes 1–3)
• The All-New Atom (2006)
• Wonder Woman (Volume 2, issues #101-136 from 1995–1998)

[edit] Dark Horse Comics

• Babe (1994)
• Danger Unlimited (1993)
• John Byrne's 2112 (1991)
• John Byrne's Next Men (1992–1994)

[edit] Novels

• John L. Byrne's Fear Book (1988; ISBN 0-446-34814-7)
• Whipping Boy (1992; ISBN 0-440-21171-9)
• Wonder Woman: Gods And Goddesses (1997, ISBN 0-7615-0483-4)

[edit] Webcomics

• You Go, Ghoul! (2004)^[32]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Byrne Robotics - Official Website
• The John Byrne Forum
• John Byrne's IMO - An opinion column at the UGO web portal.
• Lambiek Comiclopedia
• Byrne interview on his early career, Comic Book Artist #12, 2001
• Roger Stern interview re: Byrne, Comic Book Artist #12, 2001
• Interview with Top Two Three Films for Adventures Into Digital Comics
• Interview with Around Comics Audio Interview

Preceded by Dave Cockrum	Uncanny X-Men artist 1977–1981	Succeeded by Dave Cockrum
Preceded by Keith Pollard	Fantastic Four artist 1979–1980	Succeeded by Bill Sienkiewicz
Preceded by Doug Moench (writer) Bill Sienkiewicz(artist)	Fantastic Four writer and artist 1980–1986	Succeeded by Roger Stern (writer) John Buscema(artist)
Preceded by Roger McKenzie	Captain America writer 1980 (with Roger Stern)	Succeeded by Roger Stern
Preceded by Bill Mantlo	Incredible Hulk writer 1985–1986	Succeeded by Al Milgrom
Preceded by Joe Casey	(Incredible) Hulk writer 1999	Succeeded by Ron Garney & Jerry Ordway
Preceded by Ralph Macchio	Avengers writer 1989–1990	Succeeded by Fabian Nicieza (main stories) Mark Gruenwald (back-up stories)
Preceded by Dwayne McDuffie	Iron Man writer 1990–1992	Succeeded by Len Kaminski
Preceded by Rafael Kayanan	Amazing Spider-Man artist 1999–2000	Succeeded by John Romita, Jr.
Preceded by Chris Claremont	Uncanny X-Men writer 1991–1992	Succeeded by Scott Lobdell
Preceded by Chris Claremont	X-Men (vol. 2) writer 1992	Succeeded by Jim Lee
Preceded by William Messner-Loebs	Wonder Woman writer 1995–1998	Succeeded by Christopher Priest

Persondata
NAME	Byrne, John Lindley
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Comic book artist and writer
DATE OF BIRTH	July 6, 1950
PLACE OF BIRTH	Walsall, England
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH