| John Byrne |
Byrne photographed at the 1992 San Diego Comic-Con. |
| Born |
(1950-07-06) July 6, 1950 (age 61)
West Bromwich, West Midlands, United Kingdom |
| Nationality |
American |
| Area(s) |
Writer, Penciller, Inker, 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.[1]
Byrne's better-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 Hellboy series and produced a number of Star Trek comics for IDW Publishing.
Byrne was born in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England where along with his parents (Frank and Nelsie) he lived with his maternal grandmother.[2] 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.[3] 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.[4] He later commented that "the book had an 'edge' like nothing DC was putting out at the time".[5] 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".[6]
Byrne left the college in 1973 without graduating. He broke into comics with a "Fan Art Gallery" piece in Marvel's promotional publication FOOM in early 1974[7] and by illustrating a two-page story by writer Al Hewetson for Skywald Publications’ black-and-white horror magazine Nightmare No. 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 No. 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 No. 54 (Dec. 1975).
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 No. 5 (June 1975).[8] 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 Marvel Preview featuring Star-Lord. The Star-Lord story was inked by Terry Austin, who soon after teamed up with Claremont and Byrne on X-Men.
[edit] The Uncanny X-Men
Byrne joined Claremont beginning with The X-Men No. 108 (Dec. 1977). Their work together (along with inker Terry Austin) on such classic story arcs as the "Dark Phoenix Saga", "Days of Future Past", and "Proteus" would make them both fan favorites, and X-Men became one of the industry’s best-selling titles. In addition, Byrne insisted that the title keep its Canadian character, Wolverine, and contributed a series of story elements to justify his presence that eventually made the character among the most popular in Marvel's publishing history. 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."[9] After more than three years on Uncanny X-Men, during which time he created the character Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat,[10] Byrne left the title with issue No. 143 (Mar. 1981).
[edit] The Avengers
In the late 1970s – including while serving as the regular penciller of X-Men – Byrne displayed his versatility by also taking on penciling duties for the Avengers. Working for the most part with writer David Michelinie, Byrne drew issues #164-166 and #181–191 of the Marvel team title.
[edit] 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 character mulled a run for the U.S. presidency,[11] an idea originally developed by Roger McKenzie and Don Perlin. Stern, in his capacity as editor of the title, had originally rejected the idea but later changed his mind about the concept.[12][13] McKenzie and Perlin received credit for the idea on the letters page at Stern's insistence.[14]
[edit] Fantastic Four
Byrne’s most important post-X-Men body of work at Marvel was his five-year run on Fantastic Four (#232–293, 1981–1986), considered by many to be a "second Golden Age"[15] 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".[16] 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”[5] and that "it simply started to get old".[17]
[edit] 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.”[5] For more than two years, from 1983 to 1985, Byrne penciled and wrote every issue of both titles. Alpha Flight was initially very popular (its first issue sold 500,000 copies), but Byrne has said the book "was never much fun," and that he considered the characters two-dimensional.[5] One of Alpha Flight's characters, Northstar, eventually became Marvel's first openly gay superhero. Though intended by Byrne to be gay from the beginning,[18] Northstar's homosexuality was only hinted at during Byrne's tenure on the book.
[edit] The Incredible Hulk
In 1985, after issue No. 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.[5] Byrne only wrote and drew six issues (#314–319) of The Incredible Hulk.
[edit] The Untold Legend of the Batman
In early 1980, Byrne did his first work for DC Comics, penciling the first issue of The Untold Legend of the Batman mini-series.[19] Byrne had always wanted to draw Batman, and had a three-month window of time during which he was not under contract to Marvel.[20] Hearing about the Untold Legend series, Byrne contacted editor Paul Levitz to express interest. DC took him up on his offer, but it wasn't until the second month of his three-month window that Byrne received the plot for the first issue. Byrne told Levitz that he would not be able to finish the project due to time constraints despite DC then allegedly offering Byrne double his Marvel pay rate, after initially saying they could not match his Marvel rate.[20] Nonetheless, Byrne penciled the first issue, which was inked by Jim Aparo after being intended for Terry Austin.[20] This experience soured Byrne on DC for quite some time.[20]
Near the end of his time at Marvel, Byrne was hired by DC Comics to revamp its flagship character Superman.[21] This was part of a company-wide restructuring of the history of the DC Universe and all of its characters following the limited series 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.”[22] 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 did away with the 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. This approach to Kent's path to becoming Superman was later used in the action-adventure series “Smallville” on the WB Television Network and in the 2005 novel It's Superman by Tom De Haven.
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 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".[22]
Byrne's version of Superman debuted in the six-issue miniseries The Man of Steel, which described his origin and early career. Byrne penciled the 6-issue DC Universe crossover mini-series Legends (November 1986 – May 1987) during this time.[23] Byrne wrote and drew two monthly Superman titles with the hero’s present-day adventures: a new Superman title beginning with issue No. 1 (January 1987)[24] 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 No. 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 writing three separate four-issue mini-series: The World of Krypton, The World of Metropolis, and The World of Smallville. He supplied the cover art for the March 14, 1988 issue of Time magazine[25] and an interior spread which featured Superman, where his pencils were inked by Jerry Ordway.
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.[5]
[edit] Star Brand
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 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 No. 11 and continued until the series' cancellation eight issues later upon Marvel's discontinuation of the New Universe line.
[edit] 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.”[5] 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.
[edit] The Sensational She-Hulk
During She-Hulk’s tenure with the Fantastic Four, she appeared in Marvel Graphic Novel No. 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.[26] Byrne’s take was comedic and the She-Hulk, who was aware she was in a comic book, regularly broke the fourth wall, developing a love-hate relationship with her artist/writer by criticizing his storylines, drawing style, character development, etc. 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.[26] He later returned to write and draw issues #31–50 under new editor Renée Witterstaetter.
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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 mood and plot of the book. Byrne wrote the book until #32.
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.”[5] Byrne’s other Dark Horse titles were Babe, and Danger Unlimited, an all-age 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.”[5]
IDW, an idependent publisher, revived John Byrne's Next Men in 2010 following a series of trade paperbacks that collected the first series. The original storyline that had a cliffhanger ending in 1995 was continued.
In later years, Byrne has worked on 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. In 1990, Byrne wrote and drew a Batman 3-D graphic novel with 3-D effects by Ray Zone.[27] He returned to the X-Men franchise at Marvel from 1991 to 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.
He wrote and drew another of DC’s signature series, the long-running Wonder Woman, from 1995–1998. During that time, he relegated the superheroine to the status of observer in many issues by killing the character[28] who then ascended to Mount Olympus as the Goddess of Truth. Byrne then spotlighted supporting characters such as Queen Hippolyta in their own adventures but restored the series' status quo in his last issue.[29] 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 No. 1 as Jack Kirby’s Fourth World. That ran 20 issues from 1997 to 1998. During his tenure on the New Gods, Byrne was 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 wrote a Wonder Woman prose novel, Wonder Woman: Gods and Goddesses (1997, Prima Lifestyles, ISBN 0-7615-0483-4).
In the series Spider-Man: Chapter One, Byrne sought to retell some of Spider-Man’s earliest adventures, changing some key aspects. In late 1998, Byrne became 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 The Amazing Spider-Man was No. 441 (November 1998), with Marvel re-initiating the series with a new issue No. 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 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; Byrne explained the title's cancellation to Comic Book Resources in November 2000: "I was officially informed yesterday that, despite the fact that they are still profitable, several 'redundant' X-Titles are being axed." This disagreement factored in his decision to no longer work for Marvel Comics.[30]
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.[31][32]
Most of his 2000s work has 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. Superman: True Brit was a collaboration with former Monty Python member John Cleese and Kim Johnson, with art by Byrne and inker Mark Farmer, it reimagines the origin of Superman, by considering how Clark Kent's upbringing would be different if his spaceship had crashed in England instead of the fictional town of Smallville.[33] Byrne returned to Action Comics for issues #827–835 working with writer Gail Simone. 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 superhero series FX #1–6, written by Wayne Osborne, starting with the March 2008 issue. His other projects for the publisher have been divided between the Star Trek universe and the Angel (TV series character) universe.
Star Trek: the final issue of the miniseries Star Trek: Alien Spotlight (Feb. 2008); the self-described "professional fan fiction," Star Trek: Assignment Earth #1–5; Star Trek: Romulans #1–2, Star Trek: Crew (a Christopher Pike-era comic book focusing on the character of "Number One") started in March 2009; the final chapter of his Romulans story, a four-issue mini-series, Star Trek: Leonard McCoy, Frontier Doctor, set before Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and the upcoming second Assignment: Earth series.[34]
Angel: Angel: Blood and Trenches (set during World War I), an Angel vs Frankenstein one-shot, and a Andy Hallett tribute, Angel: Music of the Spheres and Angel vs Frankenstein II in 2008, 2009 and 2010 respectively.
In 2011, he worked on Jurassic Park: The Devils in the Desert, and Cold War (The Michael Swann Dossier), both published by IDW. He also revived his Next Men series in late 2010–2011, with a sequel series called Aftermath which started in early 2012, picking up where Next Men ended. Other work for IDW will include a new series titled Trio.[35]
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.”[36] Gail Simone, who worked with Byrne on The All New Atom (2006), described Byrne, “John is very opinionated; a lot of artists are opinionated, and I'm okay with that. Actually, I think John Byrne is brilliant and his forceful personality is part of that."[37] Byrne’s opinions can lead to disputes, and commentators have noted disputes with Peter David,[38] Jim Shooter, Joe Quesada, Mark Evanier, Marv Wolfman,[39] and Erik Larsen.[39] 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 No. 75 (Sept. 1982), Thomas threatened a libel suit if Byrne did not apologize. In a letter printed in The Comics Journal No. 82 (July 1983), Byrne retracted his statements, claiming he was only repeating information from Wolfman and Wein, writing, “I acted only in the office of a parrot.”[40]
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.[41] 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.[42] However, Byrne is also regarded as an enthusiastic speaker, and someone with a warm love of his chosen medium.[36] 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.”[43]
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.”[44]
File:Blodemon 1.jpg
Promotional art for Blood of the Demon #1, series written and drawn by Byrne for DC Comics.
Byrne’s original work has been noted as being rough, with his drawings emphasizing curves over straight lines. Byrne has himself called the straight line "his least favorite artistic element".[45]
Ron Goulart has called Byrne’s artwork "an eminently acceptable mix of bravura, complexity and storytelling clarity".[46]
In Scott McCloud’s book Understanding Comics, Byrne is charted along with other comics artists in the "Big Triangle".[47] 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.
As of 2009, Byrne is 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 and has difficulty distinguishing between certain shades of green and brown; for instance, during the first year that Byrne illustrated Iron Fist, he believed that the protagonist's costume was brown.[48] While he experimented with his own hand-developed lettering fonts in the early 1980s, he now uses a computer font based on the handwriting of the letterer Jack Morelli.[49]
Byrne’s artistic style, his layouts and his storytelling have been sources of instruction and inspiration to many comics artists, including[50] Jim Lee,[51] Todd McFarlane,[52] Bryan Hitch,[53] and Marcos Martín.[54] Others have been critical, however, John Kricfalusi called Byrne a "fifth-generation Neal Adams imitator".[55]
Byrne was married to photographer and actress Andrea Braun Byrne for 15 years. Braun's son from a previous marriage is Kieron Dwyer,[56] 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).[57]
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. In 2008, Byrne was inducted into the Canadian Comic Book Creator Hall of Fame.
- Action Comics (writer/artist) #584–600, Annual #6; (artist) #827–835; (writer) Annual No. 1
- Adventures of Superman (writer) #436–442, 444; (inker) Annual No. 2
- All New Atom (artist) #1–3
- Batman (artist, 1 page) #400, (writer & cover artist) #433–435
- Batman 3D graphic novel (writer-artist)
- Batman/Captain America (one shot intercompany crossover, published by DC, writer/artist)
- Darkseid/Galactus (one shot intercompany crossover, published by DC, writer/artist)
- Blood of the Demon (writer-artist) #1–17
- Doom Patrol (vol. 4) #1–18 (writer-artist)
- Genesis (miniseries, August 1997) (writer) #1-4
- Green Lantern: Ganthet's Tale (one-shot; scripter-artist, from a story by Larry Niven)
- Jack Kirby's Fourth World #1–20 (writer-artist)
- JLA (writer/artist) #94–99, with Chris Claremont
- JLA: Classified #50–54 (artist)
- Lab Rats #1–8 (writer/artist)
- Legends #1–6 (miniseries) (artist)
- The Man of Steel (writer/artist) #1–6 (miniseries)
- New Gods (vol. 4) #12–15 (writer/artist)
- OMAC #1–4 (miniseries)
- Superman (artist, 1 page) #400
- Superman (vol. 2) (writer/artist) #1–22 (writer only #18); (artist only) No. 50
- Superman & Batman: Generations #1–4 (miniseries) (writer-artist)
- Superman & Batman: Generations 2 #1–4 (miniseries) (writer/artist)
- Superman & Batman: Generations 3 #1–12 (miniseries) (writer/artist)
- Superman: True Brit graphic novel (artist)
- World of Krypton #1–4 (miniseries) (writer & cover artist)
- World of Metropolis #1–4 (miniseries) (writer & cover artist)
- World of Smallville #1–4 (miniseries) (writer & cover artist)
- Wonder Woman (vol. 2) (writer/artist) #101–136, Annual #5-6
- Angel: After the Fall (artist) #6
- Angel: Blood & Trenches (writer-artist) #1-4
- Cold War (writer-artist) #1-4
- FX (artist) #1-6
- John Byrne's Next Men vol. 2 (writer-artist) #1-9, 40-
- Jurassic Park: The Devils in the Desert (writer-artist) #1-4
- Star Trek Romulans: Hollow Crown (writer-artist) #1-2
- Star Trek Romulans: Schism (writer-artist) #1-3
- Star Trek: Alien Spotlight: Romulans (writer-artist) #1-3
- Star Trek: Assignment: Earth (writer-artist) #1-2
- Star Trek: Crew (writer-artist) #1-5
- Star Trek: Leonard McCoy, Frontier Doctor (writer-artist) #1-4
- Trio (writer-artist) #1
- Alpha Flight (writer-penciler) #1–28
- The Amazing Spider-Man (penciler) #189, 190, 206; (writer) 440–441
- The Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) (penciler) #1–18; (writer) 13-14
- Avengers (penciler) #164–166, 181–191, 233 Annual #14, 18; (writer) #305–317
- Avengers West Coast (writer-penciler) #42–57, Annual #4
- Captain America (penciller) #247–255
- The Champions (penciler) #11–15, (inker) #17
- Daredevil (penciler) #138
- Epic Illustrated (writer/artist) #26–34
- Fantastic Four (artist) #209–218, (writer/artist) #220-221, 232–293, Annual #17, 19
- Hulk (writer) #1–7; Annual #1
- Iron Fist (penciler) #1-15
- Iron Man (penciler) #118; (writer) #258–277; Annual #10 (artist)
- Incredible Hulk (writer-artist) #314–319; (penciler) Annual #7; (writer) Annual #8, 14
- Marvel Comics Presents (writer/artist) #18
- Marvel Fanfare (writer/artist) #29
- Marvel Graphic Novel (writer) #8, (writer/artist) #18
- Marvel Preview (artist) #11
- Marvel Team-Up (artist) #53–55, 59–70, 75, 79, 100
- Marvel: The Lost Generation (artist) #1–12
- Marvel Two-in-One (artist) #43, 53-55 (writer-artist) #50 (writer) #100
- Namor the Sub-Mariner (writer-artist) #1–25; (writer) #26–32
- Sensational She-Hulk (writer-artist) #1–8, 31–46, 48–50
- Spider-Man: Chapter One (writer-artist) #1–12
- Uncanny X-Men (co-plotter and penciler), #108, 109, 111–143; (scripter) #273, 281–285, 288
- What If (writer-artist) #36
- X-Men (vol. 2) (writer) #4–5
- X-Men: The Hidden Years #1–22 (writer-artist)
- You Go, Ghoul! (2004)[58]
- ^ Grand Comics Database John Byrne Comics Works
- ^ The Man of Steel No. 1 (Oct. 1986)
- ^ Byrne Robotics Forum: "Journey into Comics". Retrieved December 2, 2005.
- ^ "Avengers Assemble: Question of the Month," Avengers No. 233 (Marvel, July 1983).
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Michael Thomas, "John Byrne: The Hidden Answers", Comic Book Resources, August 22, 2000. URL accessed on May 17, 2008.
- ^ The John Byrne Gallery: "Images from John’s College Days". Retrieved December 2, 2005.
- ^ "FOOM Fan Art Gallery," FOOM, April 1974, p.24
- ^ Isabella, Tony. "Tony's Tips," Comics Buyer's Guide #1433 (May 4, 2001).. Retrieved Sept. 17, 2008.
- ^ John Byrne, "Too-Much-Reality Check", Slushfactory.com, January 29, 2003. Retrieved December 2, 2005.
- ^ Mueller, John. "1978, John Byrne's Letter To Chris Claremont, Conceptual Art/Idea For Uncanny X-Men Kitty Pryde (Shadowcat, Sprite, Ariel), 'New Mutants,' & 'Modernized X-Costume' (11" × 14")," Comic Art Fans: 1978 Byrne illustration showing Byrne's concept for Kitty and the New Mutants, among other details. Retrieved November 25, 2009.
- ^ Stern, Roger (w), Byrne, John (p), Rubinstein, Joe (i). "Cap For President!" Captain America 250 (October 1980), Marvel Comics
- ^ Cronin, Brian (May 10, 2010). "The Greatest Roger Stern Stories Ever Told!". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on February 20, 2012. http://www.webcitation.org/65bgBbbdw. Retrieved February 20, 2012.
- ^ Brady, Matt (November 28, 2002). "Looking Back:Stern & Byrne's Captain America". Newsarama. Archived from the original on February 20, 2012. http://web.archive.org/web/20090125131416/http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=1046. Retrieved February 20, 2012. "The story, according to Stern, actually began a year previous, when Roger McKenzie and Don Perlin were the creative team on Captain America, and Stern was an editor at Marvel. McKenzie and Perlin wanted Cap to run for office and win, setting up four years’ worth of stories in and around Washington, D.C. and the duties of the president. While it could’ve made for a great pop-culture civics lesson, Stern 86’d the idea."
- ^ Khoury, George. "The Roger Stern Interview: The Triumphs and Trials of the Writer". Marvel Masterworks Resource Page. Archived from the original on February 20, 2012. http://www.webcitation.org/65bgjtJzz. Retrieved February 20, 2012.
- ^ Frank Plowright, ed. The Slings & Arrows Comic Guide. Aurum Press, 1997.
- ^ Qtd. in Christopher Mari, "John Byrne", Current Biography Yearbook 2000, pages 81–4. H.W. Wilson, Co.
- ^ Marcia Allass, "The Superheroes’ Mr. Fix-It: John Byrne", Sequential Tart, vol. 2, issue 6, June 1999. Retrieved December 2, 2005.
- ^ Byrne, John. "Frequently Asked Questions: Questions about Comic Book Projects: Was NorthStar always intended to be a gay character?" Byrne Robotics. Accessed Apr. 11, 2009.
- ^ Manning, Matthew K.; Dolan, Hannah, ed. (2010). "1980s". DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle. Dorling Kindersley. p. 187. ISBN 978-0-7566-6742-9. "Written by Len Wein, with art by John Byrne and Jim Aparo, The Untold Legend of the Batman...delved into the origin of the fabled Dark Knight."
- ^ a b c d Byrne, John. "Untold Legend of the Batman," Byrne Robotics: The John Byrne Forum (April 26, 2007).
- ^ Manning "1980s" in Dolan, p. 221 "In the six-issue miniseries entitled [The] Man of Steel, the mammoth task of remaking Superman fell to popular writer/artist John Byrne...The result was an overwhelming success, popular with fans both old and new."
- ^ a b Peter Sanderson, Amazing Heroes #96, June 1986. Excerpted here.
- ^ Manning "1980s" in Dolan, p. 221 "DC's next big crossover showcased John Byrne's pencils on all six of the miniseries' issues. Entitled Legends, this new limited series was plotted by writer John Ostrander and scripted by Len Wein...By the series' end, the stage was set for several new ongoing titles, including...the Suicide Squad, as well as the Justice League."
- ^ Manning "1980s" in Dolan, p. 226 "For the second time in his history, Superman's self-titled comic saw a first issue...a new series was introduced...written and drawn by the prolific Byrne."
- ^ "Superman at 50". Time Archive 1923 to the Present. Time. http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19880314,00.html. Retrieved December 26, 2011.
- ^ a b Byrne Robotics FAQ: Questions About Aborted Storylines. Retrieved March 18, 2006.
- ^ Manning "1990s" in Dolan, p. 247 "The Caped Crusader leaped off the pages in all his red-and-blue glory in this over-sized eighty-page special crafted by 3-D expert Ray Zone...[for] an all-new tale written and illustrated by John Byrne."
- ^ Manning "1990s" in Dolan, p. 280 "It seemed Wonder Woman had breathed her last in Wonder Woman #124, thanks to writer and artist John Byrne."
- ^ Manning "1990s" in Dolan, p. 284 "Writer/artist John Byrne was leaving Wonder Woman...But before he could move on to other projects, there was one final thing Byrne still had to do: bring Wonder Woman back from the dead."
- ^ "John Byrne Leaves Marvel", Comic Book Resources, 15 November 2000. Retrieved August 8, 2007.
- ^ The Unofficial Funky Winkerbean Fan Page. Retrieved January 25, 2008.
- ^ The Glyph, "The 2004 Festival of Cartoon Art – In a Series of Snapshots". Retrieved January 25, 2008.
- ^ Cowsill, Alan "2000s" in Dolan, p. 315 "Comedy legend John Cleese joined forces with artist John Byrne, inker Mark Farmer and writer Kim Johnson for a unique take on the Superman story. Superman: True Brit saw Kal-El's rocketship land on a farm...in the UK."
- ^ John Byrne on FX, Angel, Next Men and More, Newsarama, January 1, 2008
- ^ "Byrne, Wrightson Return To IDW With New Series". ComicBookResources.com. Archived from the original on March 5, 2012. http://www.webcitation.org/65x1sk2uE. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
- ^ a b Cooke,, Jon B.; Nolen-Weathington, Eric (2006). Modern Masters Volume 7: John Byrne (1st ed. ed.). TwoMorrows Publishing. p. 77. ISBN 1-893905-56-X.
- ^ MacQuarrie, Jim (July 27, 2006). "CCI XTRA: Spotlight on Gail Simone". CBR News—The Comics Wire. Comic Book Resources. http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=7985. Retrieved February 9, 2007.
- ^ David, Peter (May 27, 2006). "PeterDavid.net: "The Comedy Stylings of John Byrne," by Peter David, May 27, 2006". Peterdavid.malibulist.com. http://peterdavid.malibulist.com/archives/004062.html. Retrieved May 2, 2010.
- ^ a b Rich Johnston, “Lying in the Gutters,” Comic Book Resources, July 19, 2004. Retrieved December 2, 2005.
- ^ qtd. in Rodrigo Baeza, “Acting in the office of a parrot." at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Destroyer Duck, Eclipse Comics, 1981–83, issues #1–5; the letters page of No. 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.
- ^ Eric Evans, “What Kirby Wanted,” foreword to Savage Dragon Companion No. 1 (Image Comics, July 2002), p. 5.
- ^ Isabella, Tony (December 16, 2004). "Tony Isabella, Dec 16, 2004". Tony’s Online Tips. World Famous Comics. http://www.worldfamouscomics.com/tony/back20041216.shtml. Retrieved February 9, 2007.
- ^ zan. "Don’t Do It to Me Again!". Viewpoints. http://www.heroplay.com/features/articles/display.php?id=27. Retrieved March 25, 2007.
- ^ John Byrne, Learn to Draw Comics, p. 46, Collins, 2001. ISBN 0-00-413411-7.
- ^ Ron Goulart, The Great Comic Book Artists, pg. 18. St Martin’s Press, 1986. ISBN 0-312-34557-7.
- ^ Scott McCloud, “The Big Triangle.” URL accessed on December 2, 2005.
- ^ John Byrne, The John Byrne Forum: Topic: Spider-man costume -red and black?, "My color-blindness affects only a narrow range of green and brown tones, which I tend to reverse. As Roger Stern delights in pointing out, I drew my first half dozen issues of IRON FIST thinking his costume was brown". Retrieved September 29, 2009.
- ^ Byrne Robotics FAQ: Creative Process. Retrieved December 2, 2005.
- ^ 'Comics Feature #19, 1982. Excerpted here [1]. Retrieved December 2, 2005.
- ^ Gelatometti: 3 Doors Down. Retrieved December 2, 2005.
- ^ “Todd McFarlane Complete Biography,” Spawn.com. Retrieved December 2, 2005.
- ^ Alexander Ness, "A Conversation with Bryan Hitch," Slushfactory.com, September 12, 2003.
- ^ Scott Beatty, "Behind the Scenes: Words and Pictures with Marcos Martín!." Retrieved December 2, 2005.
- ^ Twomey, Chris (April 2000). "John Kricfalusi on Kirby". The Jack Kirby Collector (TwoMorrows Publishing) 7 (28): 39.
- ^ Cronin, Brian. "Comic Book Legends Revealed #34," Comic Book Resources (Jan. 19, 2006). Accessed Nov. 16, 2008.
- ^ Ellis, John. "Industrial: One Screwed-Up Creator," PopImage (Oct. 1999). Accessed Nov. 16, 2008.
- ^ Byrne Robotics: Web Comics. Retrieved December 2, 2005.
- Byrne, Craig. Krypton Club newsletter #11, (June 1, 1995)
- Alias, Marcia. "The Superheroes' Mr. Fix-It", Sequential Tart (June 1999)
- Thomas, Michael. "John Byrne: The Hidden Answers", Comic Book Resources (Aug. 22, 2000)
- Cooke, Jon B. "Byrne's Robotics: The prolific Marvel/DC stalwart on his big break at Charlton", Comic Book Artist No. 12 (Mar. 2001)
- Lofgren, Derek. Simply Strata (c. 2002)
- Lifestyle for Gamers, UGO (c. 2004)
- P., Ken. "The Dirty Dozen Starring John Byrne", IGN (Apr. 1, 2005)
- Around Comics, part I (Sept. 11, 2006)
- Around Comics, part II (Sept. 14, 2006)
- Ong Pang Kean, Benjamin. "Talking Star Trek with John Byrne", Newsarama (Jan. 3, 2008)
- Ong Pang Kean, Benjamin. "John Byrne on FX, Angel, Next Men, and More", Newsarama (Jan. 8, 2008)
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| Persondata |
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Byrne, John Lindley |
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Comic book artist and writer |
| Date of birth |
July 6, 1950 |
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Walsall, England |
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 "Pin It")
