Comicbookdb’s chronological listing of what John Byrne has been doing, month-by-month.
Alba, yes.
It wasn’t. But Miller got a few runs which became “cult” stuff, and Byrne got a tiny wee bit envious, and for some reason decided that working with Claremont (the pair Claremont/Byrne is credited with hooking ginormous amounts of comic book fans; Byrne alone… I don’t know a single person) was suddenly beneath him, and if Miller could do it he could too waaaaaaaaaaaah!
Well, I for one would expect a good author to be a good writer too.
ftfy
That’s a question many have asked. Like when Kirby went to DC and started writing as well as drawing.
Nava:
Where do you get this idea from? I know that John Byrne has not endeared himself to all segments of the comic-reading public, but the idea that his writing career is the result of crybabyish Frank Miller envy is just absurd.
John Byrne’s first writing work for Marvel was a two-part story in Fantastic Four # 220-221, which pre-dated Miller’s taking on the writing of Daredevil. He pitched a story idea, Jim Shooter liked it and published it, it was well-received by readers, when they went looking for a new regular writer for FF after a short, undistinguished run by Doug Moench, Byrne, having proven himself in the try-out, was given a chance. He ended up knocking it out of the park, when he left the book, his FF was considered second only to the original Lee-Kirby run in quality. (and some still consider that to be the case). His work on FF led to his being hired by DC to re-vamp Superman, which was also a critical success.
Whatever he’s done since then to alienate people doesn’t change the fact that he has been an excellent writer of comic books, not merely a talented artist who crybabies his way into writing gigs.
Well said.
Haters are gonna hate.
And the FF # 220-221 story would have been a lot better if it hadn’t been a reject from the Coca Cola giveaway
http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2006/04/27/comic-book-urban-legend-revealed-48/
Well, Byrne broke into the industry in the mid-70s. How many of his contemporaries are still getting regular gigs and haven’t had their work deteriorate in some fashion?
That said, Byrne has has also burned a lot of bridges in the comics industry over the years. A few years back, when I had more time to waste on the internet and a fascination for message board train wrecks, I used to peruse Byrne’s message board, which was a marvel of sycophancy and dog-piling on those who disagreed with the Dear Leader in any way. Byrne used to take potshots at other creators and then ban them when they showed up to defend themselves.
The list of comic pros he has feuded with, made nasty attacks on, or pissed off is pretty long. Just off the top of my head: Len Wein, Chris Claremont, Dave & Paty Cockrum, Chris Claremont, Frank Miller, Jim Shooter, Neal Adams, Gene Colan, Marv Wolfman, Roy Thomas, Joe Quesada, Bill Jemas, Erik Larsen, Mark Waid, George Perez, Peter David, Kurt Busiek, Scott McCloud, Bob Layton, Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, Neil Gaiman, Mark Evanier, Dan Didio, and Brian Michael Bendis. That doesn’t count anything he’ s started up in the past few years.