John Byrne Hated Working on Alpha Flight?

[Yankee]

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=151

At the above link I found a 2000 interview with John Byrne where he said working on the book was the worst time he had as a writer and that his one regret with the book was ever doing it in the first place! that ran completey counter with the letter he attached to the final alpha issue he worked on. IM assuming many here already know of this interview, I'm just curious what everyone's opinion is on the disconnect between the fanbase (who generally praise Byrne as being the best writer/artist in the Flights history) and the man himself, who apparently hated the fact he even worked on the book! He's coming to where I live for a convention in September and I was thinking I'd try and get him to sign an issue he wrote for me, but now I'm second guessing as I don't want to confront him with something he's openly disliked.

[Phil]

Is the convention a Star Trek one?
I'm pretty sure he's said that for his only appearance of the decade he's said he won't sign anything but Star Trek comics.

[Yankee]

No it's the London Comic Convention I believe. The guy who told me Kelly is showing up also told me Gerry Duggan was attending, and to my knowledge Duggan never worked on Star Trek books

[Phil]

Hmm...
He's said he's not doing anything other than a Star Trek one in Las Vegas or maybe in NY, so unsure if he is doing Ontario. Especially as they haven't announced anything.

http://www.byrnerobotics.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=50047&PN=2&TPN=2
http://www.byrnerobotics.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=49016&PN=1&totPosts=0&FID=3&PR=3

If by some fluke of luck he was there, I'd chance it personally. I'd definitely judge by the queue in front and listen to how they get on.
Worst comes to the worst he gives you a filthy look and says no & you never see him again.

[Yankee]

Never mind turns out I misremembered the conversation. I talked with the guy about John Byrnes work, but the guy he said was going to be at the convention was Joe Kelly. woops. I remember because I bought a back issue of Deadpool 19 he worked on so I could get him to sign it. So never mind my dilemma is nonexistentlol but my initial question remains, how does the general Alpha Fanbase feel that the team he created, the team we all love, was an experience he hated?

[Le Messor]

how does the general Alpha Fanbase feel that the team he created, the team we all love, was an experience he hated?

I have mixed feelings about it. I'm not happy that he hates it so much (obvs), but I have to wonder if it'd be as good if he loved it?

Sometimes I wonder, though, if he really did hate it as much as he says? Maybe it's only sour grapes because the team got so badly done by after he left? (That's the hope I hold on to.)

~ Le Messor
"Failures are divided into 2 classes: those who thought and never did, and those who did and never thought."
~ John Charles Salak

[cmdrkoenig67]

I think it was probably a mix of things that led to John Byrne's disdain for that time, working on Alpha Flight. Office politics surely played a role in forming his feelings about Alpha. He also has said that he didn't feel Alpha Flight had what it took to stand beside characters like The Avengers, The X-Men, Spider-Man, etc...in his mind, Alpha was a group created to be adversaries for the X-Men, nothing more.

I really don't think he ever gave himself enough credit in their creation. A group of characters that he gave considerable depth and life to, once he took on the book. Which he had said he only took on, because he didn't want Chris Claremont writing them.

Dana

[Yankee]

One thing that confused me in Byrnes goodbye letter in Issue 26 (or was it 28) says the phrase "my fellow Canadians". Um from what I can find, John Byrne was born in the UK and raised in America. To my knowledge he has never lived in Canada. If that is indeed true, then why did he put that in his goodbye letter? Especially because he has since revealed he detested working on the book, it makes his goodye letter even more insincere than it already was

[Phil]

He was raised in Canada.
http://www.byrnerobotics.com/FAQ/listing.asp?ID=1&T1=Who+Is+John+Byrne%3F#2
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Byrne_(comics)#Early_life_and_career

[Yankee]

Serves me right for not reading past the British Born American comics writer and artist part on his Wikipedia page. Literally if I had just scrolled down I would have seen he got his degree in Calgary, where my parents and brother live . Woops I think I'll just stop posting things about John Byrne until I'm 100 percent sure I'm accurate lol

[Phil]

Heh, no no, don't stop; we're here to help!

[Yankee]

Thanks man.

[zephyr74]

I don't believe that John Byrne hated or hates Alpha Flight. I agree with LM and Koenig that there were multiple factors at play: Jim Shooter, Chris Claremont or someone else handling his creations, the subsequent creators that "ruined" his team, etc.

If he didn't care about AF, why did he bite the bullet and both write and draw the first 28 issues rather than let others take a stab at it?

Also, do Byrne's personal feelings and experiences affect the fact that he created a lasting work of graphic literature? No, in my opinion, it doesn't. There are writers, artists, actors, performers of all types in all media that make great work under personal or professional strife, but, it doesn't detract from the quality of the "art" itself.

Just think about how many of us that are still fans of AF despite failed creative teams and failed reboots...all because of the incredible foundation that John Byrne created.

[Yankee]

Here's the thing in with Byrne. In interviews he has stated that if he had his way alpha flight would have just been 2 dimesional characters that popped in the Xmen universe every so often. But when the editor said that they were getting a solo series whether he was on board or not, Byrne took the job because if they had to become three dimensional, he felt only he could do it justice. So if it were up to him, those 28 issues he wrote of AF wouldn't have happend nor would any of the issues that came after he left. So Yes, if it wasn't for Byrne there would be no Alpha Flight, but the alpha flight solo series I feel happened just as much in spite of John Byrne as it was actually helped by byrne

[Yankee]

Now that doesn't change the fact he did amazing work on AF and was the best writer/artist the series ever had. But in my opinion, (prepares to be hit by flying objects) the likes of Bill Mantalo James Hudnall (as much as I wasnt a fan of his writing), Fabian Niceza, and Van Lente cared more about alpha flight than Byrne ever did

[zephyr74]

Now that doesn't change the fact he did amazing work on AF and was the best writer/artist the series ever had. But in my opinion, (prepares to be hit by flying objects) the likes of Bill Mantalo James Hudnall (as much as I wasnt a fan of his writing), Fabian Niceza, and Van Lente cared more about alpha flight than Byrne ever did
I don't know about that. In the latter half of his run, Mantlo was just writing AF for the paycheck and relying on his editor to feed him ideas.

Additionally, all of the subsequent writers contributed both good and bad (sometimes terrible) things to AF, but, I don't believe that anyone has ever gotten it "right" except Byrne.

My favorite thing about AF was that they had their own thing and their own vibe. I liked that it was more character-oriented and more quirky with the more focused smaller storylines until the larger building subplot escalated into a full team adventure.

[Yankee]

There is one thing that Byrne's departure from the series allowed to happen, that likely would not have happened if Byrne had stayed past issue 28, and that's Heather becoming Vindicator. The way I view the good and bad of each writer of volume 1 tends to be mainly how the characters of Mac and Heather are portrayed. Not because they are my favorite character ( they actually aren't), but how central they are to the story, and as such their portrayl ends up impacting the book as a whole.
Byrne saw Mac as the spirit of Alpha Flight, Heather as the glue that bound the spirit to the team. But after Mac died, he clearly felt that as much glue as Heather, there was no way she could actually take his place as team leader. Sure without her the group would fall apart, but still needed a field general. I view this run as how I view firefly, an absolutely amazing work but I have serious doubts the quality of work would have continued to hold up if they kept making more episodes. If Byrne had written another ten issues, I have doubts I would have liked them anywhere near as much as his initial 28.

[Le Messor]

But after Mac died, he clearly felt that as much glue as Heather, there was no way she could actually take his place as team leader.

I dunno, I thought he had her as leader - just a non-powered leader.

~ Le Messor
"Few things help an individual more than to place responsibility upon him, and to let him know that you trust him."
~ Booker T. Washington

[Yankee]

In my opinion the person for the best depiction of Mac and Heather was Niceza. While Byrne had the best husband wife dynamic with the duo, I felt Niceza gave great character development with what the other writers had installed before and not only made it his own, but made it feel...real. During Mantalos run I disagreed with a lot of the decisions he had Heather make (putting the safety of Jeffries over the safety of the team being my biggest gripe). But Niceza just superb. Byrne the better writer on the series, but it think Niceza gave him a run for his money.

[Tawmis]

In my opinion the person for the best depiction of Mac and Heather was Niceza. While Byrne had the best husband wife dynamic with the duo, I felt Niceza gave great character development with what the other writers had installed before and not only made it his own, but made it feel...real. During Mantalos run I disagreed with a lot of the decisions he had Heather make (putting the safety of Jeffries over the safety of the team being my biggest gripe). But Niceza just superb. Byrne the better writer on the series, but it think Niceza gave him a run for his money.

That's because that's what Fabian excels at. Developing characters. Looking at his run on New Warriors. X-Men. Thunderbolts.

Fabian makes the characters feel real. Not just slug fest after slug fest for issues. And he doesn't need to write it like a novel, so everyone has so much talking balloons that it overrides the art.

[Phil]

I thought Nicieza's resurrection of Mac was the worst storyline of all AF, personally.

[Yankee]

I thought Nicieza's resurrection of Mac was the worst storyline of all AF, personally.
And I thought it was one of the best. Different strokes for different folks. However I think furmans resurrection of Mac was complete crap

[Phil]

:lol:

I really liked that one, as it actually made sense, didn't contradict Byrne & was actually something The Master would do!

[Yankee]

:lol:

I really liked that one, as it actually made sense, didn't contradict Byrne & was actually something The Master would do!

But then again outside his appearances under Byrne, I hated whatever the master did (barring his unity storyline in volume 4) Particularly under Furman I got the sense he was sideshow bob, grandiosely announcing his plans but getting foiled each time by Bart Simpson......I mean Beta Flight. Just saying that it was actually something the master would do iis not going to presuade me it was a good idea. To me it was a contrived idea at a happy ending. But like I said nothing wrong with disagreements. It's what makes debates worthwhile