John Byrne (comics)

The Uncanny X-Men #135 (July 1980). Cover art by Byrne & Terry Austin.

Byrne joined Claremont beginning with The X-Men #108 (Dec. 1977).[17] Their work together, along with inker Terry Austin, on such classic story arcs as "Proteus", "Dark Phoenix Saga", and "Days of Future Past" would make them both fan favorites.[18] Byrne insisted that the title keep its Canadian character, Wolverine, and contributed a series of story elements to justify Wolverine's presence which eventually made the character among the most popular in Marvel's publishing history. With issue #114, Byrne began co-plotting the series as well as penciling. Claremont recounted that "at that point in time John and I were, in a very real sense, true collaborators on the book. It was with very few exceptions, difficult, for me, anyway, to tell in the actual gestation of the book where one of us left off and the other began – because it involved one of us coming up with an idea and bouncing it off the other ..."[19] The "Dark Phoenix Saga" in 1980 is one of the most notable stories in the title's history.[20][21] Comics writers and historians Roy Thomas and Peter Sanderson observed that "'The Dark Phoenix Saga' is to Claremont and Byrne what the 'Galactus Trilogy' is to Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. It is a landmark in Marvel history, showcasing its creators' work at the height of their abilities."[22] 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."[23] Byrne created the characters Alpha Flight,[24] Proteus,[25] and Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat[26][27] during his run on The X-Men. A new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, led by Mystique, was introduced in the "Days of Future Past" storyline (#141–142, Jan.-Feb. 1981) in which a time-travelling Kitty Pryde tried to avert a dystopian future caused by the Brotherhood assassinating Presidential candidate Senator Robert Kelly.[28] Byrne plotted the story wanting to depict the Sentinels as a genuine threat to the existence of the mutant race.[29] Byrne left The X-Men with #143 (March 1981). During his tenure on the series, The X-Men was promoted from a bimonthly to a monthly publication schedule as sales steadily increased—a trend that continued long after Byrne left.[30]

In the late 1970s, while serving as the regular penciller of X-Men, Byrne began penciling another superhero team title, The Avengers. Working for the most part with writer David Michelinie, he drew issues #164–166 and 181–191. Byrne and Michelinie co-created Scott Lang in Avengers #181 (March 1979).[31] Byrne's nine-issue run of Captain America, issues #247–255 (July 1980 – March 1981), with writer Roger Stern, included issue #250, in which the character mulled running for the office of President of the United States.[32]

Fantastic Four #232 (July 1981), Byrne's debut as writer-artist. Cover art by Byrne and inker Terry Austin

Byrne's post-X-Men body of work at Marvel includes his five-year run on Fantastic Four (#232–295, July 1981 – October 1986), which is generally considered a "second golden age" for the title.[33] 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".[34][35] He made a number of changes during his tenure: The Thing was temporarily replaced as a member of the quartet by the She-Hulk, while the Thing had adventures in his own comic (#1 – 22 also written by Byrne), and the Thing's 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;[36] and headquarters the Baxter Building was destroyed and replaced with Four Freedoms Plaza. Byrne has cited multiple reasons for leaving the series, including "internal office politics"[7] and that "it simply started to get old".[37]

In 1983, while still at the helm of Fantastic Four, Byrne began to write and draw Alpha Flight, starring a Canadian superhero team that had been introduced "merely to survive a fight with the X-Men."[7] Though the series proved initially very popular, with its first issue selling 500,000 copies,[38] Byrne has said the title "was never much fun" and that he considered the characters two-dimensional.[7] One of Alpha Flight's characters, Northstar, eventually became Marvel's first openly gay superhero. Though Byrne from the beginning intended the character to be gay,[39] Northstar's homosexuality was only hinted at during Byrne's tenure on the series.

In 1983 Byrne also co-wrote and penciled issues 1 and 2 of The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones, a two part story arc titled "The Ikons of Ikammanen".

In 1985, after issue #28 of Alpha Flight, Byrne swapped series 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 title, Shooter objected to them.[7] Byrne wrote and drew issues #314–319. The final issue of Byrne's run featured the wedding of Bruce Banner and Betty Ross.[40]

In early 1980, Byrne did his first work for DC Comics, penciling the first issue of The Untold Legend of the Batman miniseries.[41] Byrne had always wanted to draw Batman, and had a three-month window of time during which he was not under contract to Marvel. Hearing about the Untold Legend series, Byrne contacted editor Paul Levitz to express interest. DC took him up on his offer, but it was not 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. Byrne penciled the first issue, which was inked by Jim Aparo after being intended for Terry Austin. This experience soured Byrne on DC for quite some time.[42]

Near the end of his time at Marvel, Byrne was hired by DC Comics to revamp its flagship character Superman.[43] 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.

The Man of Steel #1 (Oct. 1986). Cover art by Byrne.

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."[44]

Byrne significantly reduced Superman's powers (though he was still one of the most powerful beings on Earth), eliminated the Fortress of Solitude and super-dog Krypto, and kept Jonathan and Martha Kent alive into Clark's adulthood to enjoy their adopted son's triumphs, as well as to provide him with support, grounding, and advice whenever he needed it. Byrne also used Marv Wolfman's idea of making Lex Luthor a wealthy business owner in addition to a scientific genius with a deadly vendetta against the superhero.[45] Byrne did away with the childhood/teenage career as Superboy; in his revamped history, Clark Kent does not put on a costume and become a super-hero until adulthood. This approach to Kent's path to becoming Superman was later used in the TV series Lois & Clark and Smallville, 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 came 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".[44]

The origin and early career of Byrne's version of Superman debuted in the six-issue miniseries The Man of Steel (July–Sept. 1986), the first issue of which was marketed with two different covers illustrated by Byrne, the first use of variant covers by the American comics industry.[46]

Byrne penciled the six-issue DC Universe crossover miniseries Legends (Nov. 1986 – May 1987) during this time.[47] He wrote and drew two monthly Superman titles with the hero's present-day adventures: a new Superman title beginning with issue #1 (January 1987)[48] and Action Comics, in which, beginning with issue #584, Superman teamed up with other DC characters. The original Superman book was renamed The 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 did 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 and three separate four-issue miniseries: 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[49] and an interior spread featuring Superman, where his pencils were inked by Ordway.

After his initial run on the Superman titles from 1986 to 1988, Byrne would make a return as a guest inker on Adventures of Superman Annual #2 (cover) and Superman #50 in 1990. He would return doing a Superman Elseworlds story as writer & artist in Action Comics Annual #6 in 1994. In 2004 Superman: True Brit, an Elseworlds story, was a collaboration with former Monty Python member John Cleese and Kim Johnson, with art by Byrne and inker Mark Farmer. Byrne returned to draw Superman in Action Comics #827–835, working with writer Gail Simone, from 2005 to 2006.

Byrne spent about two years on the Superman titles before leaving. His dissatisfaction stemmed from his perception that there was a lack of "conscious support" for him at DC. Furthering the rift between the company and the artist was the fact that the version of Superman which DC licensed for merchandising was contrary to Byrne's representation in the comic books.[7]

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 #11 and continued until the series' cancellation eight issues later upon Marvel's discontinuation of the New Universe line.

In 1989, after leaving Superman, Byrne returned to work on a number of titles for Marvel Comics. His work on West Coast Avengers[50] (issues #42–57, soon renamed Avengers West Coast) was contingent on his being allowed to do what he called "my Vision story".[7] 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 Immortus - who precedently revealed to the Avengers the synthezoid's origin - 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.[51]

During She-Hulk's tenure with the Fantastic Four, she appeared in Marvel Graphic Novel #18 (Nov. 1985) in a story titled The Sensational She-Hulk, which Byrne wrote and illustrated.[52]

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 previous series, The Savage She-Hulk.[53] 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 limited series, 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.[53] He later returned to write and draw issues #31–50 under new editor Renée Witterstaetter.

Byrne started a new series, Namor, the Sub-Mariner in April 1990.[54] 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. After writing and drawing the book for 25 issues, Byrne told editor Terry Kavanagh that he was starting to feel constrained on the book and thought having a different artist might inspire him to a fresh approach.[55] Kavanagh suggested newcomer Jae Lee, and Byrne continued as strictly writer of the book up through issue #32. Byrne later said he has great fondness for the title character and was unhappy that circumstances forced him to leave the series.[55]

Byrne took over writing Iron Man for issues #258–277 (July 1990-Feb. 1992), 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. During the course of his run, Byrne became the first writer to retcon Iron Man's origin, removing explicit ties to the Vietnam War (while maintaining a Southeast Asia setting), and linking Wong-Chu, the man who captured Tony Stark, to the Mandarin.[56][57]

• John Byrne's 2112 (1991)
• Danger Unlimited #1–4 (1994)
• John Byrne's Next Men #0, #1–30 (1992–1994)
• Babe #1–4 (1994)
• Hellboy: Seed of Destruction #1–4 (1994)
• Babe 2 #1–2 (1995)

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

• Funky Winkerbean (2003) (fill-in penciler for ten weeks)

• History of the DC Universe (1986, includes one plate by Byrne).[86]
• Superman #400 (1984, includes one plate by Byrne)[87]

• You Go, Ghoul! (2004)[88]
• X-Men Elsewhen (2019— )