john byrnes forums

[varo]

didn't even realize he had his won forums.

anywho, i found a topic about af, so i decided to ask him about it.

http://www.byrnerobotics.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=4338&PN=1&TPN=1

[Ben]

Sounds like typical Byrne. That forum infuriates me actually. The whole lot of them are Byrne worshipers, and anything that has been done to alter any of his creation or work is automatic trash to many of them. I don't know why he felt the need to bash the Diamond Lil story in there, I actually thought it was very well done. Oh well, this is why I respect the man's writing, and art, and lost respect for him as an individual some years ago. :( too bad really.

Ben

[varo]

his reply:


I didn't have much fun doing ALPHA FLIGHT, and don't consider that series among my best work. (Which is why I am fretted not at all by this latest development.) I have no desire to go back, whatever stars might shine upon me.



odd that he views it as not his best work, i can't think of any series that he wrote that was better.

next men stunk, so does doom patrol, and that recent jla arc with claremont was horrible.

[Ben]

I actually really like Next Men, but the revelation that they whole first year or so of issues were a dream kinda ticked me off. Tried his Doom Patrol...it did nothing for me. Many fans of his work though, find AF to be among his best work, but he has said for years that he didn't like it. Go figgure.

Ben

[PWalk]

I agree. The guy hasn't done anything nearly as good as those first 12 issues of AF since he left the series. AF #1 is my all time favorite comic to read and for that I'm grateful to him for. But his smugness and idiocy shines through time and time again to the point where he can drop dead.

[Northcott]

After his comments about Latino women, Christopher Reeves (shortly after the man's death), and trash-talking various other creators (apparently including Jack "the King" Kirby), I find that I have trouble buying anything with his name on it. The way he treats people is abysmal. It helps that his work has been below par for years.

[varo]

some interesting tid bits:


ALPHA FLIGHT 1 sold about 500,000, at $1 per copy (at a time when comics were still 60¢). That was the highest selling comic of the 80s (and quite a bit before that) until MAN OF STEEL 1 almost doubled those numbers (not coincidentally, with 2 covers) about three years later.

The one to beat that record, in 1990, was SPIDER-MAN 1, with about 3 million (with six variant covers.)

If you're doing the math, you may notice each of those books sold about 500,000 per cover. Not hard to see the Speculator Boom building steam, is it?


So from the last 25 years the top selling comics are:

Alpha Flight #1
Man of Steel #1
Spider-Man #1
X-Men #1



The original run of not-yet-Uncanny X-MEN was canceled with "average" sales in excess of 200,000.

[Northcott]

Very interesting indeed. Don't get me started on my usual rant about what catering to the speculators and the direct market have done to the industry. :evil:

[varo]

i am still amazed by those numbers. wow!

i wonder what alphas numbers were towards the end of series 1's run. i bet they were still strong, possibly why this book is always considered for a relaunch.

[Northcott]

BTW, where did you snag those numbers from?

[varo]

byrnes forums.

[kozzi24]

Maybe Byrne was just too successful for his own good? I like most of what I've ever read by him, but to hear him post or interview places...he comes off as such an embittered former child actor!

[PWalk]

AF #1 sold 500,000 copies? That is awesome and something I had no clue about. I went and read the first 14 issues again last night. What a great bunch of books.

[Northcott]

...he comes off as such an embittered former child actor!

Man... that's comedy gold! :lol:

From what I've heard Byrne's behaviour was always atrocious in regards to the people he worked with, and only grew as he became more influential. Jim Shooter once related a tale about how Byrne had berated one of the female editorial staff so thoroughly that she burst into tears. Bobby Chase or Ann Nocenti, can't remember which... I think it was Chase; she had such a wide rep for being a nice person that I'm left thinking it was her, because the incident sticks out so clearly in my mind.

Then there were little things like his one-upmanship game with Claremont. After leaving the X-Men on bitter terms, Byrne ended up doing his run on FF. During that run, Claremont wrote Doctor Doom into the X-Men, and there was a scene where Arcade struck at match off of Doom's armour in a very irreverent moment.

This apparently ticked Byrne off, who perceived Doom as too lofty to every allow such a moment to pass without striking down Arcade. So he writes a retcon into an FF story, where Doom notices a small flaw on one of his inconsequential "Doom-bots", the place where Arcade struck the match, and then blows the thing up because it's not perfect anymore.

According to Shooter the tension between Claremont and Byrne was so great by this point that the incident sent Claremont off. It took years for the two to finally get along again.

[Somebody]

This apparently ticked Byrne off, who perceived Doom as too lofty to every allow such a moment to pass without striking down Arcade. So he writes a retcon into an FF story, where Doom notices a small flaw on one of his inconsequential "Doom-bots", the place where Arcade struck the match, and then blows the thing up because it's not perfect anymore.

According to Shooter the tension between Claremont and Byrne was so great by this point that the incident sent Claremont off. It took years for the two to finally get along again.
Funny thing is, when Byrne went to do Man of Steel, Marvel fired him from F4, and had the Phoenix flashback from one of his final issues redone by another writer and artist (which ticked Byrne so much that he's credited only as "you-know-who", which seems even funnier post-Potter :))

Guess who Marvel went to to rewrite the flashback :)

[Mystic]

Well, from everything that I have read from Byrne's forums over the past year, I don't hold him in the near-god status I did when I first read his twenty-seven issue run on AF. To me, he's petty, terribly vindictive, and lives in his own fragile bubble of reality where if he's not write, he will berate and ban anyone that disagrees with him.

I haven't checked out the forum lately over there, as I've been way too disgusted by his statements.

Love the creations, dislike the creator.

-Mystic

[jay042]

I wonder if the death of Gary Cody in Alpha #52 was another Byrne slam. I was always of the opinion that Brne had modeled Cody after himself anyway.

[HappyCanuck]

I wonder if the death of Gary Cody in Alpha #52 was another Byrne slam. I was always of the opinion that Brne had modeled Cody after himself anyway.

I found an old pic of Byrne around the early 80's on the web (just Google 'John Byrne' in the images heading... I lost the pic when I shut down the browser.) He looked like Gary Cody...

[cmdrkoenig67]

I wonder if the death of Gary Cody in Alpha #52 was another Byrne slam. I was always of the opinion that Brne had modeled Cody after himself anyway.

I found an old pic of Byrne around the early 80's on the web (just Google 'John Byrne' in the images heading... I lost the pic when I shut down the browser.) He looked like Gary Cody...

He's mentioned a friend in back in Canada by the name of Gary Cody....the character isn't based on John, but his friend....Just as Kitty Pryde is based on a college friend, named...wait for it...Kitty Pryde. :D

Dana

[HappyCanuck]

I wonder if the death of Gary Cody in Alpha #52 was another Byrne slam. I was always of the opinion that Brne had modeled Cody after himself anyway.

I found an old pic of Byrne around the early 80's on the web (just Google 'John Byrne' in the images heading... I lost the pic when I shut down the browser.) He looked like Gary Cody...

He's mentioned a friend in back in Canada by the name of Gary Cody....the character isn't based on John, but his friend....Just as Kitty Pryde is based on a college friend, named...wait for it...Kitty Pryde. :D

Dana

Not saying that Gary WAS based on Byrne, just that the similarities were striking (except that Byrne had a couple extra pounds on Gary)

[JohnnyCanuck]

http://www.dianefarrisgallery.com/artist/cody/index.html


Go here for a glimpse of the REAL GARY CODY. He and Byrne went to college together in Calgary. Gary is a fine artist in his own right and was also responsible for the painted covers to John Byrnes Babe comics and some next men issues as well.

[Legerd]

Holy crap, did anyone look at the rules for posting on Byrne's forum? Can you say: "anal retentive, egotistical control freak"?


In order to post in The John Byrne Forum, you must first register an account. We require that you make your login name your real full name (first and last, plus a middle initial if you wish), and that you provide us with your verifiable ISP-based e-mail address (not a freebie webmail address like Hotmail or Yahoo). Before participating in discussions, we ask that you make note of these Rules Of Conduct:

Do not respond to a post addressed specifically to JB until he himself has replied. Wait your turn! (One exception: If JB's answer is already in the
FAQs, it is okay to post a link -- save JB having to look it up!)
Don't phrase your questions to JB as answers, as in "Did you paint your house red because you hate blue?" Make it, "Why did you paint your house red?"
Posts that presume to read JB's mind will be automatically deleted, regardless of content.
Don't start a new thread just to bash someone or something. Try to keep new threads either positive or neutral. Negative opinions will pop up in abundance, but we don't really need to start there!
Don't post "answers" to questions unless they are really answers — not guesses.
Do not cut and paste from other boards. If you feel the comments elsewhere are important enough to be referenced here, post a link.

Do not under any circumstances post links which are automatic downloads!
Do not start self-promotional threads. This forum exists for the discussion and promotion of the work of John Byrne, not yours. Putting a link to your
website in your signature is fine, but making a thread about your latest product or service is not.
Try not to post images which are larger than 600 pixels wide, in order to reduce the need for side-to-side scrolling.
Please don't repost images from the same thread unless your message is on a different page than the original image.
If your post is deleted, it is deleted for a reason. The reason is probably such that posting to ask why your post was deleted will only succeed in getting that post deleted. Check these Rules Of Conduct for some general ideas of why posts are deleted. In specific, you will simply have to accept that one of the JBF Moderators has decided your post is inappropriate, and that's the end of that discussion.
And finally — if it's discovered that you're only here to start trouble, your membership will be revoked without further explanation, at our discretion.
Membership in the JBF is strictly limited to fans of the work of John Byrne. But ... why would you want to be here otherwise?

[HappyCanuck]

I've seen similar rules and regs on other 'I am God' forums. Let's face it: Ben spoils us :D

[Ben]

I've seen similar rules and regs on other 'I am God' forums. Let's face it: Ben spoils us :D

Well there go MY plans for this forum! :x

[Ben deletes new list of forum rules declairing him ALPHA-GOD]

Ben

[Legerd]

I've seen similar rules and regs on other 'I am God' forums. Let's face it: Ben spoils us :D

Well there go MY plans for this forum! :x

[Ben deletes new list of forum rules declairing him ALPHA-GOD]

Ben

Oh Ben, who art in PEI, hallowed be thy name...

{sas}

O:) O:)


[-o< [-o< [-o< [-o< [-o<

[Scarlettspiderg]

Ben, we bow down before your mighty admin powers. :wink:

Wow, Byrne really likes his forums to support him.

[cmdrkoenig67]

I wonder if the death of Gary Cody in Alpha #52 was another Byrne slam. I was always of the opinion that Brne had modeled Cody after himself anyway.

I found an old pic of Byrne around the early 80's on the web (just Google 'John Byrne' in the images heading... I lost the pic when I shut down the browser.) He looked like Gary Cody...

He's mentioned a friend in back in Canada by the name of Gary Cody....the character isn't based on John, but his friend....Just as Kitty Pryde is based on a college friend, named...wait for it...Kitty Pryde. :D

Dana

Not saying that Gary WAS based on Byrne, just that the similarities were striking (except that Byrne had a couple extra pounds on Gary)


I was mostly responding to what Jay said above, Allen.

Dana

[patrick_j_clarke]

I am SO bummed about John Byrne...or the person that he shows on the web. Here's a guy that I feel showed me that comics were more than just funny-books. AF 1-13 made a great impression on me, and to hear that he just doesn't care is disappointing.

I'm just wondering if he says that about AF because he doesn't think he could ever top it? I don't know...*goes off to re-read 1-13 again*

- pjc

[Ben]

I am SO bummed about John Byrne...or the person that he shows on the web. Here's a guy that I feel showed me that comics were more than just funny-books. AF 1-13 made a great impression on me, and to hear that he just doesn't care is disappointing.

I'm just wondering if he says that about AF because he doesn't think he could ever top it? I don't know...*goes off to re-read 1-13 again*


With Byrne, I decided long ago to appreciate his work (his good stuff at least) and forget about his personality. If he wants to slam his own creations, that's his business, fact is that I enjoyed them (and still do) and his opinion doesn't take away from that. I have had enough dealings with other comic creators who are genuine nice people, and a pleasure to talk with to take him with a grain of salt.

Ben

[patrick_j_clarke]

That's true. For every John Byrne, there's a guy like Steve Niles, or Robert Kirkman or many others.

Michael May and I are old timers from Steve's board and comics need more people like him. He loves comics, loves what he does and gives much respect to his fans, and his creations.

- pjc

[Michael May]

That's true. For every John Byrne, there's a guy like Steve Niles, or Robert Kirkman or many others.

Michael May and I are old timers from Steve's board and comics need more people like him. He loves comics, loves what he does and gives much respect to his fans, and his creations.

Amen.

[varo]

this quote from byrne sums it up:


Based on the number of people who consider ALPHA FLIGHT to be some of my best work, I would have to say it must be hard to tell when I am "firing on all cylinders"!

[kozzi24]

I am SO bummed about John Byrne...or the person that he shows on the web. Here's a guy that I feel showed me that comics were more than just funny-books. AF 1-13 made a great impression on me, and to hear that he just doesn't care is disappointing.

I'm just wondering if he says that about AF because he doesn't think he could ever top it? I don't know...*goes off to re-read 1-13 again*


With Byrne, I decided long ago to appreciate his work (his good stuff at least) and forget about his personality. If he wants to slam his own creations, that's his business, fact is that I enjoyed them (and still do) and his opinion doesn't take away from that. I have had enough dealings with other comic creators who are genuine nice people, and a pleasure to talk with to take him with a grain of salt.

Ben

Does anyone else wonder if Byrne just slams his owrk as a reverse-psychology thing of garnering compliments, like a lean woman who is always called herself fat so other people will say "no you're not"?

[jay042]

Could be, I know that's a common enough problem with several webcomic artists. And Byrne's ego seems to alienated him with a lot of editors at both Marvel and DC. The web is the only place left anyone will bother to appreciate him.