John Byrne is overrated

[enyawd72]

Amen, Brother Dwayne!

What I love about that particular splash page is the fact it's not just a "pin-up" type action shot which is so common. It perfectly captures the moment but also tells an entire story in one single panel, and makes you want to know what happens next. Love the off-kilter angle too...just masterfully done.

[emeraldknight47]

I still say this is the greatest splash page of all time.

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Amen, Brother Dwayne!

[cjefferys]

I met him at a con back in 1983 and even then he seemed a bit pompous, but I absolutely adored his run writing and drawing the FF, that alone makes him ok in my book.

[Blue Meanie]

I don't think Byrne is overrated...but he needs someone other than himself to ink his art. That being said...Zeck and Beatty's run on Cap was miles ahead of Byrne's run in my opinion. I won't deny what he did for the Fantastic Four...but I draw the line there. Cap run was good...but nowhere near Zeck and Beatty.

[warlock664]

Byrne's 80's work is great stuff, imo. The guy saved Hulk so he always gets the benefit from me.

He saved the Hulk with a 6-issue run and an Annual?
I'll admit, I didn't care for the "Crossroads" story line that preceded his short stint on the book, nor did I like the Peter David run that followed, but I think more folks would be willing to give David credit for any resuscitation evident.

[Confessional]

Scapegoating a movie or an artist for the whims of our America cult of personality isn't reliable by any means. The only expense is ego.

[Figuremod73]

I think the long story arcs was more the editors. No one I can think of was more confusing with those than Chris Claremont. I can sort of see what you mean by other artist trying to copy his grim n' gritty although I think it was worse with Miller.

John Byrne's Next Men is probably my favorite from him. Long story arcs but many issues had very little action in it. Byrne could actually tell a pretty good story with little words.

[thunderbolt]

^^ You can't hang the grim and gritty 12 issue story arcs on him, he mostly did 1-2 part stories with subplots running. Not all that different from the silver age stuff.

[enyawd72]

I still say this is the greatest splash page of all time.

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[Mr.Marion]

You can put your pitchforks away. John Byrne I would compare to Star Wars. Star Wars is a very great film, just like Byrne is a very capable artist. But Star Wars also signaled the decline of the sci-fi films of the 60's- 70's like (the Illustrated Man, Logan's Run, etc) and mego toys also. After that everything became a rip off or at least was influenced by SW. After Byrne everything became very grim, realistic, and long story arch epics (someone mentioned Jim Lee). I like self contained stories and some silliness (Bob Haney,Kirby,etc)
Most people here will say they like Star Wars but at the expense of what the cinema and the toyline industries could have been without the phenomenon. I'm not as sure.

[The Bat]

the guy that gave us the second best Fantastic Four run in the 50 plus year history of the book is not over-rated.

Well said Joe!!

[The Bat]

HATED Dave Cockrum ! Byrne kicks has Arse all over the place! "Nuff said!"

[Mr.Marion]

^And the best short Captain America run EVER. That Baron Blood two-parter...my GOD what a great book.

Yeah he did have a run on Cap. 80's Cap was hit or miss ( mostly miss )

The Deathlok crossover storyline was good stuff.

[Mego Milk]

Huge inspiration for me.
John Byrne is not over-rated.

[samurainoir]