John Byrne

John Byrne is managed by the Living Notables Project. Join: Living Notables Project Discuss: notables

Biography

John Byrne is a writer/artist best known for his work on "Superman", "The Fantastic Four", "The Uncanny X-Men" and "The Sensational She-Hulk".

John Byrne migrated from United Kingdom to USA.

Writer/Artist John Byrne was born in 1950 to Frank and Nelsie Byrne and was a British-born American.^[1][2] In his formative years, he also lived with his maternal grandmother. His father was a town planner and his mother was a homemaker.^[3][4]

At the age of eight he was exposed to comic books when he watched "The Adventures of Superman" on the BBC starring George Reeves. Shortly thereafter he found some copies of the Australian reprint series called "Super Comics" and was immediately hooked. ^[5] His first encounter with the Marvel Universe came in 1962 when he first read Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's "Fantastic Four #5". Ironically, he would later write and draw the same book himself a few decades later.^[6] He said that the book had an edge unlike the stories put out by DC Comics at the time as the characters seemed more human and realistic. Along with Jack Kirby he was inspired by "The Lord of the Rings" and "Star Trek: The Original Series".

John originally intended to become a commercial artist despite having created his own comic book characters. While at the Alberta College of Art and Design, he published his first comic book, ACA Comics #1.^[7] He left college without graduating in 1973 and spent three years designing billboards for an advertising company. ^[8]

By 1974, he broke into the comics' industry with a "fan art gallery" piece in Marvel's promotional publication "Foom".^[9] He then went on to illustrate other books and freelanced for Charleton Comics. Writer Chris Claremont saw his work and asked him to join him at Marvel. As a result, a legendary team was born.

Byrne drew various issues of "The Champions" before landing on Claremont's "The Uncanny X-Men" in 1977. With Claremont, he helped to create characters such as "Emma Frost" and "Kitty Pryde" and drew many important storylines such as "The Phoenix Saga", "The Dark Phoenix Saga" and "Days of Future Past". During this time, Byrne also worked on "Captain America" in an arc that saw Rogers run for president.^[10]

Byrne also went to DC Comics and worked on their flagship hero, "Superman" and redefined the character after the event "Crisis on Infinite Earths". Prior to that, he worked on "The Untold Legend of the Batman". Other DC books he worked on include "Wonder Woman" and "Action Comics".

After working on the X-Men, he moved on to the title that launched the Marvel Universe and the first Marvel comic he read. With "Fantastic Four" #232, he began a historic five year run on the book. While writing the "Fantastic Four", he changed the "Invisible Girl"'s name to "The Invisible Woman" and redefined the character.

By the mid 1980s, he worked on "Avengers West Coast" and successfully relaunched "She-Hulk" in her own book in 1989 after writing her in the pages of "The Fantastic Four". While writing "She-Hulk", Byrne allowed the character to break the 4th wall in a way that had never been seen before at the time. The results were often humorous as Byrne himself would be "seen" as arguing with the titular character. As the 1980s drew to a close, he worked on books such as "Namor: The Sub-Mariner" and worked on "Iron Man" with John Romita Jr..

In the 1990s, Byrne created creator-owned works for Dark Horse Comics and every once in a while would work for DC and Marvel on various other projects.

Awards

Byrne received the Favourite Comic Book Artist Eagle Awards in 1978 and 1979,^[11]and a 1980 Inkpot Award.^[12] In 2008, he was inducted into the Canadian Comic Book Creator Hall of Fame.^[13] In 2015, Byrne was inducted into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame, alongside judges' choices Marge (Marjorie Henderson Buell) and Bill Woggon and elected inductees Chris Claremont, Denis Kitchen, and Frank Miller.^[14]

Sources

1. ↑ Byrne, John (August 19, 2015). "Untitled". Byrne Robotics (official website). Archived from the original on September 18, 2016. Retrieved September 18, 2016. "I've been a citizen of three different countries. I was born in England, so I got that one the easy way. When I was 14, my parents became Canadian citizens, and I floated in with them. Then, in 1988, after having lived in this country the prerequisite number of years, I became an American citizen. In full. I do not hold dual citizenship. I do not hyphenate myself".
2. ↑ "New York, New York Passenger and Crew Lists, 1909, 1925-1958", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2HWL-MWB : Fri May 15 21:41:18 UTC 2026), Entry for Nelsie Byrne, 1954.
3. ↑ Byrne, John, "Superman: A Personal View", text article, The Man of Steel #1 (Oct. 1986), DC Comics.
4. ↑ [Miller, John Jackson (June 10, 2005). "Comics Industry Birthdays". Comics Buyer's Guide. Iola, Wisconsin. Archived from the original on February 18, 2011. Retrieved December 12, 2010. Miller, John Jackson] (June 10, 2005). "Comics Industry Birthdays". Comics Buyer's Guide. Iola, Wisconsin. Archived from the original on February 18, 2011. Retrieved December 12, 2010.
5. ↑ Byrne, John (May 14, 2005). "Journey into Comics". Byrne Robotics. Archived from the original on July 17, 2012. Retrieved September 14, 2012.
6. ↑ "Avengers Assemble: Question of the Month", Avengers #233 (July 1983) Marvel Comics
7. ↑ Cooke, Jon B. (2006). "Part 1: Drawing with a Ballpoint Pen". Modern Masters Volume Seven: John Byrne. Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing. p. 18.ISBN 189390556X.
8. ↑ Cooke, Jon B.; Nolen-Weathington, Eric (2006). Modern Masters Volume 7: John Byrne. Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing. ISBN 1-893905-56-X., p. 19.,
9. ↑ "FOOM Fan Art Gallery". FOOM. Marvel Comics: 24. April 1974.
10. ↑ DeFalco "1980s" in Gilbert (2008), p. 198: "The National Populist Party asked Captain America to run for President of the United States in this issue by writer Roger Stern and artist John Byrne."
11. ↑ "Eagle Awards 1979". Eagle Awards. Archived from the original on April 4, 2012.
12. ↑ "Inkpot Award Winners". Hahn Library Comic Book Awards Almanac. Archived from the original on July 9, 2012.
13. ↑ "Byrne, John (1950–)". The Joe Shuster Awards. December 31, 2008. Retrieved August 22, 2020.
14. ↑ "2010–Present". San Diego Comic-Con. December 2, 2012. Archived from the original on January 25, 2016. Retrieved January 25, 2016.

• John Byrne on Wikipedia

See also:

• Wikidata: Item Q475618, en:Wikipedia