Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.25: John Byrne

No.25: John Byrne

The first half of the 1970s were a hothouse period for Marvel, with the company moving away from the less ironic, more inflexible boundaries of the 60s. During this period many new series in different genres appeared, while many superhero titles matured with weightier themes or subtexts. However, the property that became the hallmark of the era, The Uncanny X-Men, relied on classic and more mainstream tropes, its artist and co-plotter, John Byrne, the lynchpin of what developed into one of Marvel’s biggest franchises. Byrne and writer Chris Claremont’s work on the book garnered many awards across the board throughout their tenure. Words: Andrew Colman…

© Luigi Novi.

After leaving college in the early 70s, Byrne began to find work at minor publishers such as Charlton and Skywald. It was future collaborator Chris Claremont who really kick-started his career by recommending him to Marvel, as he was keen to work with him. After cutting his teeth on the publisher’s secondary titles such as The Champions and Marvel Team-Up, mostly in tandem with Claremont, it was manifestly clear that Byrne, only in his mid-20s at this point, had become fully formed as an artist – his style merging the dynamism of Jack Kirby and realism of Neal Adams. In 1977 they were commissioned to take over the X-Men along with Terry Austin, one of the best inkers of the era. The X-Men had had a chequered history at Marvel, starting strongly in the early 60s before losing readers, with the arrival of Neal Adams later in the decade failing to prevent the title’s termination. Nevertheless, the book continued as a reprint, with the original team appearing as guests or cameos in other titles before it was finally revived with a new group of mutants in Giant-Size X-Men 1 and X-Men 94 in 1975.

Byrne and Claremont turned the strip into an event series, with Byrne’s emotive and cinematic pencils and Claremont’s attention to characterization and themes of alienation, isolation and outsiderdom proving to be a huge hit with fans and critics. Thanks to Byrne the five-foot feral comic relief with retractable claws that was Wolverine became humanized and rapidly the star of the show. Not to mention that many celebrated story arcs (Dark Phoenix, Days of Future Past, The Hellfire Club, Proteus) and new characters and groups (such as Alpha Flight and the new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants) were brought to the canon.

Byrne also had a couple of brief yet excellent runs on The Avengers and Captain America before turning his hand to the Fantastic Four in 1981. Basically taking over the helm of the book for over five years, Byrne assumed writing duties along with his pencilling. His time on the book, which recalled the more classic, simpler era of the title, saw him make changes to the characters and their relationships, while his artwork featured a slightly retro look. Considered by fandom to be one of the high points in the F.F.s lengthy run, it proved to Byrne that he could run the show on his own.

Towards the end of his time on the Fantastic Four Byrne was hired by DC to work on flagship character Superman, in several series. His take on Superman was seismic, with the writer / artist altering the Man of Steel’s backstory, character, and universe. Once again Byrne was at the height of his powers with his work at DC, and it was his version of Superman that was adapted later for television shows such as Lois and Clark and Smallville.

The prolific Byrne went back to Marvel to continue on various series such as Avengers West Coast and his humorous, knowing, post-modern revamp of the She-Hulk. In the 1990s, Byrne moved to Dark Horse comics to produce creator owned books such as the noirish Next Men and Danger Unlimited. After his time there Byrne returned to work at both Marvel and DC on myriad ongoing titles and miniseries, notably Wonder Woman and Spider-Man, along with a return to the X-Men. Although he was not the force he was in his later years, the opinionated and single-minded Byrne retained his profile in the industry by his constant work and his controversial outpourings, either at conventions or on his blog. A man who exudes the medium, its politics and its need for progression, John Byrne has been one of the industry’s firebrands and prime movers, his key works all outstanding examples of how great comics and comic art can be.

Here’s links through to the other entries in our 101 Greatest so far as well

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.26: Mike Mignola

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.27: Basil Wolverton

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.28: Howard Chaykin

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.29: Moebius

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.30: Dave Gibbons

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.31: Creig Flessel

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.32: Milt Caniff

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.34: Burne Hogarth

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.35: LB Cole

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.37: Bill Everett

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.38: Robert Crumb

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.39: Mac Raboy

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.41: Jim Starlin

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.42: Mike Zeck

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.43: Adam Hughes

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.44: Daniel Clowes

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.45: Gene Colan

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.46: George Perez

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.47: Michael William Kaluta

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.48: Cary Nord

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.49: Frank Quitely

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.50: Mike Ploog

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.51: Johnny Craig

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.52: Darwyn Cooke

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.53: Steve Dillon

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.54: Gil Kane

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.55: Michael Zulli

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.56: John Romita

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.57: Joe Maneely

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.58: Marshall Rogers

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.59: John Severin

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.60: Alex Toth

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.61: Brian Bolland

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.62: David Mazzuchelli

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.63 Reed Crandall

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.64 Harry Anderson

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.65 Nick Cardy

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.66 Matt Wagner

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.67 Bryan Hitch

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.68 Shawn Martinbrough

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.69 Al Feldstein

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.70 Nestor Redondo

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.71 Tarpe Mills

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.72 Eduardo Risso

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.73 JH Williams III

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.74 Irv Novick

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.75 Dan Zolnerowich

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.76 Gilbert Shelton

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.77 Tommy Lee Edwards

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.78: Sean Phillips

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.79: Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.80: Dan DeCarlo

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.81: Marie Severin

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.82: John Paul Leon

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.83: Jim Lee

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.84: Denys Cowan

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.85: Ross Andru

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.86: Paul Gustavson

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.87: George Evans

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.88: Michael Golden

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.89: Matt Baker

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.90: Todd McFarlane

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.91: Fiona Staples

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.92: Carl Barks

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.93: Carmine Infantino

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.94: Alan Davis

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.95: CC Beck

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.96: Syd Shores

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.97: Bob Fujitani

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.98: Tim Sale

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.99: Jim Aparo

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