John Byrne

From Free net encyclopedia

For other uses, see John Byrne (disambiguation).

Image:John Byrne.jpg

John Lindley Byrne (born July 6 1950, Walsall) 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 currently continues to do work for DC Comics, on titles such as Action Comics and Blood of the Demon.

Contents

[edit]

Biography

[edit]

Early life and career

Image:XMen135.jpg Byrne was born in England, but his family moved to Canada when he was eight. His first exposure to the American superheroes that would dominate his professional life was reruns of American programs such as The Adventures of Superman on British television. In Britain, he was able to read domestic comics such as The Eagle as well as reprints of DC Comics. <ref>Byrne Robotics Forum: "Journey Into Comics". URL accessed on December 2, 2005</ref>

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." <ref name="CBR2000">Michael Thomas, "John Byrne: The Hidden Answers", Comic Book Resources, August 22, 2000. URL accessed on December 2, 2005.</ref> 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". <ref>The John Byrne Gallery - "Images from John's College Days". URL accessed on December 2, 2005.</ref>

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). Template:Fact He then began freelancing for Charlton Comics, making his color-comics debut 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!.

[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." <ref name="slush">John Byrne, "Too-Much-Reality Check", Slushfactory.com, January 29, 2003. URL accessed on December 2, 2005.</ref> 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. <ref name="CBR2000" /> In 2004, however, the two teamed up once more for a brief run on DC's JLA. Image:Ff236.jpg In the early 1980s Byrne worked on a number of other Marvel books. His nine-issue run (#247-255) run 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". <ref name="CBR2000" /> The book was popular (its first issue sold 500,000 copies <ref name="FAQProjects">Byrne Robotics FAQ: Questions About Comic Book Projects. URL accessed on December 2, 2005.</ref> and critically well regarded, but Byrne has said the book "was never much fun" and that he considered the characters two-dimensional.<ref name="CBR2000" /> 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.<ref name="CBR2000" /> Byrne only wrote and drew six issues (314-319) of the Hulk.

Byrne's most important post-X-Men body of work was his six years on The Fantastic Four (#232-293), considered by many to be a "second golden age" <ref>Frank Plowright, ed. The Slings & Arrows Comic Guide. Aurum Press, 1997.</ref> 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."<ref>Current Biography, 2000. H.W.Wilson, Co.</ref> 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 changed 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"<ref name="CBR2000" /> and that "it simply started to get old".<ref name="tart">Marcia Allass, "The Superheroes' Mr. Fix-It: John Byrne", Sequential Tart, vol. 2, issue 6, June 1999. URL accessed on December 2, 2005.</ref>

[edit]

Superman

Image:Mansteel1.png 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".<ref name="AH">Peter Sanderson, Amazing Heroes #96, June 1986. Excerpted here.</ref> 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).Template:Fact 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 of a young man who grew up in the American heartland and embraced its ethics;Template:Fact 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 indicating 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."<ref name="AH" /> 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. Template:Fact

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 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 and was initally written by Marv Wolfman and drawn Jerry Ordway, but the writing chores were taken over by Byrne after a year.

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 than 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".<ref name="CBR2000" />

[edit]

Return to Marvel

Image:Ssh31.png 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".<ref name="CBR2000" /> 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. <ref name="FAQProjects" /> 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.<ref name="FAQAborted">Byrne Robotics FAQ: Questions About Aborted Storylines. URL accessed March 18, 2006.</ref> 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 War, restored The Mandarin as a major Iron Man nemesis and brought the 1950s monster Fin Fang Foom into the Marvel Universe.

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., 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]

Later works

In later years, Byrne has done titles for Marvel, DC, and other publishers. In the early 1990s, he conceived, wrote and drew several creator-owned titles published by Dark Horse Comics under the Legend imprint. Danger Unlimited followed two teams of superheroes, one of which was reportedly how Byrne would have liked the Fantastic Four to be handled.Template:Fact Next Men and Babe were likewise considered Byrne's variations on the X-Men and She-Hulk.

His post-2000 works have often gone off the beaten tracks of the DC and Marvel universes and filled in characters and events in time periods mostly skipped 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.

[edit]

Byrne's online column and message board

Byrne has developed a noticeable online presence, with his own website and forum, on which he is a participant and moderator, and a column, titled "In My Humble Opinion" (sic), which has run at both Slush Factory and UGO.online. His comments and statements have gained Byrne a reputation as a controversial figure. Byrne has also gained a reputation as being argumentative, Rich Johnston noting disputes with Peter David, Jim Shooter, Joe Quesada, Mark Evanier, Marv Wolfman<ref>Rich Johnston, "Lying in the Gutters", Comic Book Resources, July 19, 2004. URL accessed on December 2, 2005.</ref> and Erik Larsen.<ref>Rich Johnston, "Lying in the Gutters", Comic Book Resources, July 27, 2003. URL accessed on December 2, 2005.</ref>

Byrne's reputation for such statements can be traced back at least as far as 1982, when 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". <ref>qtd. in Rodrigo Baeza, "Acting in the office of a parrot". URL accessed January 31, 2006.</ref>

In the 1980s, when Byrne was seen as playing the role of Marvel corporate booster, Steve Gerber and Jack Kirby lampooned him in Destroyer Duck, drawing him as a character called Cogburn, possessing a removeable spine and existing only to serve as a cog in the mammoth corporation that owned him. <ref>Destroyer Duck, Eclipse Comics, 1981-83, issues 1-5; the letters page to issue 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.</ref>

[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. Image:Avengers vol1 cover 186.jpg Image:Byrne Alpha Flight.jpg Image:Byrne Next Men.gif Image:Blodemon 1.jpg

[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.

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."<ref>John Byrne, Learn To Draw Comics, p. 46, Collins, 2001. ISBN 0004134117.</ref>

Ron Goulart has called Byrne's artwork "an eminently acceptable mix of bravura, complexity and storytelling clarity".<ref>Ron Goulart, The Great Comic Book Artists, pg. 18. St Martin's Press, 1986. ISBN 0312345577.</ref>

In Scott McCloud's book Understanding Comics, Byrne is charted along with other comics artists in the "Big Triangle".<ref>Scott McCloud, "The Big Triangle". URL accessed on December 2, 2005.</ref> McCloud's placement of Byrne within it identifies his style as contemporaneous to Gilbert Hernandez and Jim Lee, making the point that Byrne's line style is naturalistic without being overly detailed.

Byrne is, in 2005, 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, as Byrne has admitted to being 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. <ref name="FAQProcess">Byrne Robotics FAQ: Creative Process. URL accessed on December 2, 2005.</ref>

Byrne's artistic style, his layouts and his storytelling have been sources of instruction and inspiration to many comics artists; George Perez<ref>Comics Feature #19, 1982. Excerpted here. URL accessed December 2, 2005.</ref>, Jim Lee<ref>Gelatometti: 3 Doors Down. URL accessed December 2, 2005</ref>, Todd McFarlane<ref>"Todd McFarlane Complete Biography", Spawn.com. URL accessed December 2, 2005.</ref>, Bryan Hitch<ref>Alexander Ness, "A Conversation With Bryan Hitch", Slushfactory.com, September 12, 2003.</ref>, and Marcos Martín.<ref>Scott Beatty, "Behind the Scenes: Words and Pictures with Marcos Martín!". URL accessed December 2, 2005.</ref>

[edit]

Selected bibliography

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

[edit]

Marvel Comics

[edit]

DC Comics

[edit]

Dark Horse Comics

[edit]

Novels

[edit]

Webcomics

  • You Go, Ghoul! (2004)<ref>Byrne Robotics: Web Comics. URL accessed on December 2, 2005.</ref>
[edit]

References

<references/>

[edit]

External links

{{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= }}

fr:John Byrne pt:John Byrne

Retrieved from "http://www.netipedia.com/index.php/John_Byrne"