Tuesday, June 05, 2007

In Praise of John Byrne

Back in the 80s when I was a complete comic book addict, John Byrne was my favorite writer and artist. Sure Frank Miller and Bill Sienkiewicz and Alan Moore were cooler and edgier, but no one did superheroes better than Byrne. His art work was clean and stylish, his panels flowed, his storytelling had great clarity, and his stories were always new twists on familiar (or at least familiar seeming) sci-fi and superhero motifs.

Although I missed out on his original X-Men run, I have almost all of his Fantastic Four comics as well as some of his Alpha Flight, She-Hulk, Hulk, Man of Steel, Action Comics, and Superman work. I have always thought that the FF were sort of dorky but his run really made the characters sing. Overall some of my favorite all time reading.

Apparently he's developed a reputation for being difficult. Whatever. I say more power to him. Anyway, I just discovered his web site and am happy to be reading some of his Byrnisms. As an added bonus he divulges the end of the criminally unfinished "Last Galactus Story" and the fact that Sabretooth was originally supposed to be Wolverine's father. Wow!