John Byrne

John Byrne
John Byrne.JPG
At the 1992 San Diego Comic Book Expo.
Photo by Corey Bond.
Born July 6, 1950 (1950-07-06) (age 59)
West Bromwich, West Midlands, United Kingdom
Nationality Naturalized American
(immigrated British, Canadian)
Area(s) Penciller, Inker, Writer, Letterer
Notable works Next Men
X-Men
Fantastic Four
Superman
Awards Eagle Awards, Favourite Comicbook Artist, 1978, 1979.
Inkpot Award, 1980.
Squiddy Award for Favorite Penciller, 1993.
Official website

John Lindley Byrne (born July 6 1950) is a British-born Canadian-American author and artist of comic books. Since the mid-1970s Byrne has worked on nearly every major American superhero.

Byrne's best-known work has been on Marvel Comics’ X-Men and Fantastic Four and the 1986 relaunch of DC Comics’ Superman franchise. Coming into the comics profession exclusively as a penciler, Byrne began co-plotting the X-Men comics during his tenure on them, and launched his writing career in earnest with Fantastic Four (where he also started inking his own pencils). During the 1990s he produced a number of creator-owned works, including Next Men and Danger Unlimited. He also wrote the first issues of Mike Mignola's successful Hellboy series.

He is sometimes considered a controversial figure due to opinions he has expressed regarding his experiences within the comics industry.

Contents

Biography

Early life and career

Byrne was born in West Bromwich, West Midlands, 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.

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,” starring 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 editor Nicola Cuti, who extended Byrne an invitation. Written by Cuti, "Rog-2000" became one of several alternating backup features in the Charlton Comics superhero series E-Man, starting with the eight-page "That Was No Lady" in issue #6 (Jan. 1975).

Byrne went on to work on the Charlton books Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch, Space: 1999, and Emergency!, and co-created with writer Joe Gill the post-apocalyptic science-fiction series Doomsday + 1. Byrne additionally drew a cover for the supernatural anthology The Many Ghosts of Doctor Graves #54 (Dec. 1975).

Marvel Comics

Byrne’s first story for Marvel Comics was "Dark Asylum" (plotted by Tony Isabella and written by David Anthony Kraft), published in Giant-Size Dracula #5 (June 1975).[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, with whom he also teamed up for some issues of the black-and-white Marvel magazine Star-Lord (inked by Terry Austin, who soon after teamed up with Claremont and Byrne on X-Men).

The Uncanny X-Men

Byrne joined Claremont beginning with The X-Men #108 (Dec. 1977). Their work together (along with inker Terry Austin) would make them both fan favorites, and 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".[6] Byrne became "increasingly unhappy" and left the title with issue #143 (Mar. 1981).

The Avengers

During the course of 1979 — while serving as the regular penciler on X-Men — Byrne displayed his prolificness by also taking on penciling duties for The Avengers. Working for the most part with writer David Michelinie, Byrne drew issues #181-191 of the Marvel team title.

Captain America

In the early 1980s, Byrne worked on a number of other Marvel books. His nine-issue run (#247–255, 1980–1981) with writer Roger Stern on Captain America included an issue (#250) in which the Captain was nominated for the U.S. presidency.

The Fantastic Four

Byrne’s most important post-X-Men body of work at Marvel was his six-year run on The Fantastic Four (#232-293, 1981-1986), 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] 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]

Alpha Flight

In 1983 — while still at the helm of Fantastic Four — 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] For more than two years, from 1983–1986, Byrne penciled every issue of both titles. Alpha Flight was popular (its first issue sold 500,000 copies[10], 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 was only hinted at during Byrne's tenure on the book.

The Incredible Hulk

In 1985, after issue #28 of Alpha Flight, Byrne 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 Incredible Hulk.

DC

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 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.”[11] 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 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.

Byrne also did away with the character’s childhood/teenage career as Superboy; in Byrne’s revamped history, Clark Kent does not put on a costume and become a super-hero until he's an adult. Byrne has since admitted this was a mistake, since it completely gutted the basic premise of the Legion of Super-Heroes, a team of super-powered teenagers existing a thousand years in the future, who were inspired by Superboy.

In the Superman mythos, Byrne wrote Clark Kent as having a more aggressive and extroverted personality than previously depicted, even making him a top high-school football player. 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".[11]

The new Superman debuted in the six-issue miniseries The Man of Steel, which described his origin and early career. Byrne wrote and drew two monthly Superman titles with the hero’s present-day adventures: a new Superman title beginning with issue #1 (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 by Jerry Ordway, but the writing chores were taken over by Byrne after a year (from issues #436–442, and 444). As 1988 marked the 50th anniversary year of Superman’s creation, Byrne managed to do more Superman-related projects while working on the core Superman monthly titles at the same time: he wrote the prestige format graphic novel, Superman: The Earth Stealers, while also writing three separate four-issue mini-series: The World of Krypton, The World of Metropolis, and The World of Smallville. He also supplied the cover art for a Time magazine cover and interior spread which featured Superman, where his pencils were inked by Jerry Ordway. Around this time while working on the Superman titles, Byrne also penciled the 6-issue DC Universe crossover mini-series Legends in 1986-1987.

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.[3]

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.

The Star Brand

In 1987, the New Universe line saw a revamp under new Editor-in-Chief Tom DeFalco, and Byrne took over writing and art-breakdowns on the line's flagship title, Star Brand (renamed The Star Brand during Byrne’s term on the book). Byrne’s run started with issue #11 and continued until the series' cancellation eight issues later upon Marvel's discontinuation of the New Universe line.

Avengers West Coast

In 1989, after leaving Superman, 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 Master Pandemonium. In addition to these changes, Byrne’s run is remembered for the introduction of the Great Lakes Avengers, an eclectic group of new superheroes.

The Sensational She-Hulk

During She-Hulk’s tenure with the Fantastic Four, she appeared in Marvel Graphic Novel #18 in November 1985, titled The Sensational She-Hulk, which Byrne also wrote and illustrated.

On the request of editor Mark Gruenwald, Byrne wrote and drew a new series in 1989, The Sensational She-Hulk (maintaining the 1985 graphic novel’s title). Gruenwald directed that it be significantly different from the character’s 1970s series, The Savage She-Hulk.[12] Byrne’s take 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 the first eight issues. Byrne was asked for input on writer Dwayne McDuffie’s She-Hulk: Ceremony graphic novel, and 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. Upon complaining to DeFalco, Byrne says he was fired from his series.[12] He later returned to write and draw issues #31–50 under new editor Renée Witterstaetter.

Iron Man

Byrne took over writing Iron Man (#258–277), 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 “pre-superhero Marvel” monster Fin Fang Foom.

Namor, the Sub-Mariner

Byrne also started a new series, Namor, the Sub-Mariner. Byrne’s take on the undersea antihero Namor cast him as the head of a surface company, Oracle, Inc., in order to help keep the ocean unpolluted, and had Namor involved in corporate intrigue. Byrne wrote and drew the book for 25 issues, until new artist Jae Lee inspired a sharp change in the series’ mood and plot of the book. Byrne wrote the book until #32.

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 (one prominent example is Image Comics). 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, and Danger Unlimited, a mature readers book about a 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 hibernating until such time as the market improves.”[3]

Later career

In later years, Byrne has done titles for Marvel, DC, and other publishers, including the 1992 prestige format graphic novel Green Lantern: Ganthet’s Tale with science fiction author Larry Niven at DC. He also returned to the X-Men franchise at Marvel from 1991–1992, succeeding longtime writer Chris Claremont, who left after 17 years working on the various X-Men related titles. Byrne's return as the new writer was brief, as he only wrote Uncanny X-Men # 281-285 and 288 with artist Whilce Portacio, and X-Men (vol. 2) # 4-5 with artist Jim Lee. Like Claremont before him, Byrne left writing the X-Men titles due to editorial differences with then X-Men editor at the time, Bob Harras.

He also wrote and drew another of DC’s signature series, the long-running Wonder Woman title from 1995–1998. During that time he relegated the superheroine to the status of observer in a many issues, spotlighting supporting characters such as Queen Hippolyta in their own adventures. He additionally took over New Gods vol. 4 at the end of 1996, as writer-artist of issues #12–15, continuing with it as the series was rebooted with a new #1 as Jack Kirby’s Fourth World. That ran 20 issues from 1997–1998. During his tenure on the New Gods, Byrne was also writer of the four-issue comic book mini-series crossover Genesis, a storyline published weekly by DC Comics in August 1997. The series was drawn by Ron Wagner and Joe Rubinstein. Byrne also wrote a Wonder Woman prose novel, Wonder Woman: Gods and Goddesses (1997, Prima Lifestyles, ISBN 0-7615-0483-4).

His late-1990s Marvel work has been controversial. In the series Spider-Man: Chapter One, Byrne sought to retell some of Spider-Man’s earliest adventures, changing some key aspects, and declaring that the new version had supplanted the original stories as official Spider-Man canon. In late 1998, Byrne also took over as writer of the flagship series, The Amazing Spider-Man, at the end of the series with issue #440, by which time Marvel had decided to relaunch the book. The "last" issue of Amazing Spider-Man was #441 (Nov. 1998), with Marvel initiating The Amazing Spider-Man with a new issue #1 (Jan. 1999) with Howard Mackie as writer and Byrne as penciler. Byrne penciled issues #1–18 (from 1999–2000) and wrote #13–14.

Marvel hired Byrne in 1999 for a second volume of the series featuring The Incredible Hulk, re-titled Hulk, with Ron Garney penciling. Byrne wrote of his plans for the first year, but as with his previous tenure on the character back in 1986, creative differences led to his abrupt departure before the year was over. Byrne wrote the first seven issues, as well as that series’ summer annual.

From 1999–2001, Byrne returned to the X-Men once again, as he wrote and drew the flashback series X-Men: The Hidden Years. The series lasted 22 issues. Despite being one of the lowest selling X-Men titles in history, Byrne maintained the comic was still profitable and believed the cancellation to be unexplained. This disagreement factored in his decision to no longer work for Marvel Comics.[13]

Like X-Men: The Hidden Years works of this period have 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, which is uncommon for characters in ongoing comics.

In early 2003, Byrne spent ten weeks as guest penciler on the syndicated newspaper strip Funky Winkerbean. Byrne did this as a favor for Winkerbean’s creator, Tom Batiuk, who was recovering from foot surgery.[14][15]

His 2000s work has all been for DC Comics: JLA (#94–99, the “Tenth Circle” story arc), Doom Patrol, Blood of the Demon, a five-issue arc of JLA Classified and a brief return stint drawing Superman (with writer Gail Simone) in Action Comics #827–835. Afterward, Simone and Byrne reteamed to launch The All-New Atom series in 2006, with Byrne pencilling the first three issues.

For publisher IDW, Byrne worked on the final issue of the miniseries Star Trek: Alien Spotlight (Feb. 2008); on the series FX #1-6, written by Wayne Osborne, starting with the March 2008 issue; on the self-described "professional fan fiction," Star Trek: Assignment Earth #1-5; and on Star Trek: Romulans #1-2. His next projects are four issues of Angel, Crew (a Pike-era Star Trek comic book) and the final chapter of his Romulans story before he starts on the second Assignment: Earth series.[16]

Controversies

Over the years, Byrne has gained a reputation as a controversial figure, and has noted this himself, stating that “as the people who have figured me out have said, I just don’t suffer fools gladly.”[17] 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.”[18] Byrne’s opinions can lead to disputes, and commentators have noted disputes with Peter David,[19] Jim Shooter, Joe Quesada, Mark Evanier, Marv Wolfman,[20] and Erik Larsen.[20] In 1982, during a panel discussion at the Dallas Fantasy Fair, Byrne made unflattering comments about longtime comics writer and one-time Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Roy Thomas. After a transcript of the panel was published in The Comics Journal #75 (Sept. 1982), Thomas threatened a libel suit if Byrne did not apologize. In a letter printed in The Comics Journal #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.”[21]

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.[22] Erik Larsen created a villain in the 1990s for his Savage Dragon and Freak Force series, Johnny Redbeard/The Creator, who also parodies Byrne; a massive cranium with atrophied appendages, he can bestow superpowers indiscriminately.[23] However, Byrne is also regarded as an enthusiastic speaker, and someone with a warm love of his chosen medium.[17] 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.”[24]

The magazine Heroplay examined Byrne’s alleged treatment of women in his comics and concluded, “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.”[25]

Despite the subject matter of which he writes and draws, in real life he is a firm skeptic. In a letter to the editor in the May/June 2008 issue of Skeptical Inquirer, he wrote: "I don't believe in the supernatural in any way."[26]

The “Byrne Curse”

Byrne has referenced his alleged tendency to “predict” real-life events with his comic books, calling it the “Byrne Curse.”[27] In a letter to Skeptic magazine, he noted a 1977 issue of Marvel Team-Up depicting a blackout in New York, with a real-life blackout occurring the month the issue went on sale, six months after he had drawn it; an issue of Uncanny X-Men depicting a major earthquake in Japan, which again occurred in real life the month the comic was released; and an issue of Wonder Woman in which the death of the superheroine, who is an Amazon princess named Diana, is presented on the cover as a newspaper front page with the headline “Princess Diana Dies.” The issue went on sale on a Wednesday, and Britain’s Diana, Princess of Wales was killed in an accident three days later.[28]

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.

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.”[29]

Ron Goulart has called Byrne’s artwork “an eminently acceptable mix of bravura, complexity and storytelling clarity.”[30]

In Scott McCloud’s book Understanding Comics, Byrne is charted along with other comics artists in the “Big Triangle.”[31] 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.[32]

Byrne’s artistic style, his layouts and his storytelling have been sources of instruction and inspiration to many comics artists, including George Pérez,[33] Jim Lee,[34] Todd McFarlane,[35] Bryan Hitch,[36] and Marcos Martín.[37]

As Byrne’s style has evolved over the years fan opinion has differed, a fact Byrne addressed in one of his “IMO” opinion columns.[38]

Personal life

Byrne was married to photographer and actress Andrea Braun Byrne for 15 years. Braun's son from a previous marriage is Kieron Dwyer,[39] and Byrne became Dwyer's stepfather when the boy was 13. (They only lived together for a short time, however, as the young Dwyer soon moved to Los Angeles to live with his father.) Byrne encouraged the young Dwyer's aspirations to be a superhero cartoonist, and his connections led to Dwyer's first professional job (doing a Batman fill-in in 1987).[40]

Awards

Byrne has been the recipient of multiple comic book awards, including Favourite Comicbook Artist Eagle Awards in 1978 and 1979; a 1980 Inkpot Award; and the 1993 Squiddy Award for Favorite Penciller.

Selected bibliography

Marvel Comics

DC Comics

Justice League Classified 50-54 (Artist)

Dark Horse Comics

Novels

Newspaper Strips

Webcomics

Notes

  1. ↑ The Man of Steel #1 (Oct. 1986)
  2. ↑ Byrne Robotics Forum: "Journey into Comics". URL accessed on December 2, 2005
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 Michael Thomas, "John Byrne: The Hidden Answers", Comic Book Resources, August 22, 2000. URL accessed on May 17, 2008.
  4. ↑ The John Byrne Gallery: "Images from John’s College Days". URL accessed on December 2, 2005.
  5. ↑ Isabella, Tony. "Tony's Tips," Comics Buyer's Guide #1433 (May 4, 2001). Accessed Sept. 17, 2008.
  6. ↑ John Byrne, "Too-Much-Reality Check", Slushfactory.com, January 29, 2003. URL accessed on December 2, 2005.
  7. ↑ Frank Plowright, ed. The Slings & Arrows Comic Guide. Aurum Press, 1997.
  8. ↑ Qtd. in Christopher Mari, "John Byrne", Current Biography Yearbook 2000, pages 81–4. H.W. Wilson, Co.
  9. ↑ Marcia Allass, "The Superheroes’ Mr. Fix-It: John Byrne", Sequential Tart, vol. 2, issue 6, June 1999. URL accessed on December 2, 2005.
  10. ↑ Byrne Robotics FAQ: Questions About Comic Book Projects. URL accessed on December 2, 2005.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Peter Sanderson, Amazing Heroes #96, June 1986. Excerpted here (dead link).
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Byrne Robotics FAQ: Questions About Aborted Storylines. URL accessed March 18, 2006.
  13. ↑ Comic Book Resources, November 15, 2000. Accessed August 8, 2007.
  14. ↑ The Unofficial Funky Winkerbean Fan Page, URL accessed on January 25, 2008.
  15. ↑ The Glyph, "The 2004 Festival of Cartoon Art — In a Series of Snapshots", URL accessed on January 25, 2008.
  16. ↑ John Byrne on FX, Angel, Next Men and More, Newsarama, January 1, 2008
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Cooke,, Jon B.; Nolen-Weathington, Eric (2006). Modern Masters Volume 7: John Byrne (1st ed. ed.). TwoMorrows Publishing. pp. 77. ISBN 189390556X. 
  18. ↑ MacQuarrie, Jim (July 27, 2006). "CCI XTRA: Spotlight on Gail Simone". CBR News—The Comics Wire. Comic Book Resources. Retrieved on 2007-02-09.
  19. ↑ PeterDavid.net: “The Comedy Stylings of John Byrne,” by Peter David, May 27, 2006
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Rich Johnston, “Lying in the Gutters,” Comic Book Resources, July 19, 2004. URL accessed on December 2, 2005.
  21. ↑ qtd. in Rodrigo Baeza, “Acting in the office of a parrot.” URL accessed January 31, 2006.
  22. ↑ Destroyer Duck, Eclipse Comics, 1981–83, issues #1–5; the letters page of #5 discusses the physical likeness and similarity of names, and acknowledges that the character is a response to comments Byrne made in the fan press.
  23. ↑ Eric Evans, “What Kirby Wanted,” foreword to Savage Dragon Companion #1 (Image Comics, July 2002), p. 5.
  24. ↑ Isabella, Tony (December 16, 2004). "Tony Isabella, Dec 16, 2004". Tony’s Online Tips. World Famous Comics. Retrieved on 2007-02-09.
  25. ↑ zan. "Don’t Do It to Me Again!". Viewpoints. Retrieved on 2007-03-25.
  26. ↑ 'Skeptical Inquirer'. Amherst, New York: Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. May/June 2008. p. p. 65.  In his letter to the editor, he discussed how he came to realize that "footsteps" his family were hearing in his house were actually caused by the foundation shifting due to old wood support beams in his cellar. When they were replaced, the "footsteps" stopped.
  27. ↑ Byrne Robotics: Byrnisms
  28. ↑ eSkeptic (magazine’s online newsletter), Jan. 5, 2005: “Science and the Search for Meaning,” by Michael Shermer
  29. ↑ John Byrne, Learn to Draw Comics, p. 46, Collins, 2001. ISBN 0-00-413411-7.
  30. ↑ Ron Goulart, The Great Comic Book Artists, pg. 18. St Martin’s Press, 1986. ISBN 0-312-34557-7.
  31. ↑ Scott McCloud, “The Big Triangle.” URL accessed on December 2, 2005.
  32. ↑ Byrne Robotics FAQ: Creative Process. URL accessed on December 2, 2005.
  33. ↑ Comics Feature #19, 1982. Excerpted here. URL accessed December 2, 2005.
  34. ↑ Gelatometti: 3 Doors Down. URL accessed December 2, 2005
  35. ↑ “Todd McFarlane Complete Biography,” Spawn.com. URL accessed December 2, 2005.
  36. ↑ Alexander Ness, “A Conversation with Bryan Hitch,” Slushfactory.com, September 12, 2003.
  37. ↑ Scott Beatty, “Behind the Scenes: Words and Pictures with Marcos Martín!” URL accessed December 2, 2005.
  38. ↑ SlushFactory.com: IMO (column), “Your Old Stuff Was Better,” by John Byrne. July 8, 2003
  39. ↑ Cronin, Brian. "Comic Book Legends Revealed #34," Comic Book Resources (Jan. 19, 2006). Accessed Nov. 16, 2008.
  40. ↑ Ellis, John. "Industrial: One Screwed-Up Creator," PopImage (Oct. 1999). Accessed Nov. 16, 2008.
  41. ↑ Byrne Robotics: Web Comics. URL accessed on December 2, 2005.

References

External links

Interviews

Preceded by
Sal Buscema		 Marvel Team-Up artist
1977–1978		 Succeeded by
David Wenzel
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
Jim Mooney		 Avengers artist
1979–1980		 Succeeded by
Arvell Jones
Preceded by
Roger McKenzie		 Captain America writer
1980
(with Roger Stern)		 Succeeded by
Roger Stern
Preceded by
Doug Moench (writer)
Bill Sienkiewicz(artist)		 Fantastic Four writer and artist
1980–1986		 Succeeded by
Roger Stern (writer)
Jerry Ordway(artist)
Preceded by
N/A		 Alpha Flight writer and artist
1983–1985		 Succeeded by
Bill Mantlo (writer),
Mike Mignola (artist)
Preceded by
Bill Mantlo (writer),
Mike Mignola (artist)		 Incredible Hulk writer and artist
1985–1986		 Succeeded by
Al Milgrom
Preceded by
Alan Moore (writer),
Curt Swan (penciller)		 Action Comics writer and artist
1987–1988		 Succeeded by
multiple
Preceded by
N/A		 Superman writer and artist
1987–1988		 Succeeded by
Roger Stern (writer),
Mike Mignola (artist)
Preceded by
Jerry Ordway,
Marv Wolfman		 Adventures of Superman co-writer
(with Jerry Ordway)
1988		 Succeeded by
Jerry Ordway
Preceded by
Tom DeFalco and Ralph Macchio (writers)
Tom Morgan (artist)		 West Coast Avengers/
Avengers West Coast writer and artist
1989–1990		 Succeeded by
Fabian Nicieza (writer)
Tom Morgan (artist)
Preceded by
Ralph Macchio		 Avengers writer
1989–1990		 Succeeded by
Fabian Nicieza (main stories)
Mark Gruenwald (back-up stories)
Preceded by
N/A		 Namor the Sub-Mariner writer and artist
1990–1992 as writer;
1990–1991 as artist		 Succeeded by
Bob Harras (writer)
Jae Lee (penciller)
Preceded by
Dwayne McDuffie		 Iron Man writer
1990–1992		 Succeeded by
Len Kaminski
Preceded by
Chris Claremont		 Uncanny X-Men writer
1991–1992		 Succeeded by
Scott Lobdell
Preceded by
Louise Simonson (writer),
Tom Morgan (penciller)		 Sensational She-Hulk writer and artist
1991–1993		 Succeeded by
Scott Benson (writer),
Tom Morgan (penciller)
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
Preceded by
Joe Casey		 (Incredible) Hulk writer
1999		 Succeeded by
Ron Garney & Jerry Ordway
Preceded by
Rafael Kayanan		 Amazing Spider-Man artist
1999–2000		 Succeeded by
John Romita, Jr.
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