Favorite John Byrne Runs

[CliffHanger2]

What does everyone think of that Action Comics 600 where George Perez inked Byrne's pencils? I know Perez's inks were a bit strong but I loved seeing my two favorite artists of all time getting together. I wished they could have done more pencil/ink work on various issues.

I just recently saw it and didn't like it, it looked they mixed their styles together. I liked the inker who regularly inked his work on that series I can't think of his name right now. But I do wish DC would drop a tpb of those action comics that Byrne did already.

[SJNeal]

Well, counting all his Superman books of that period, that omnibus would be...75 issues? 81 counting the 6 issue Legends mini he pencilled. 93 counting Wolfmans Adventures run.

I'll take 2 or 3 omni's if that's what's necessary...

[hondobrode]

It sure wasn't. Quesada wanted to clean house, and Byrne was the last remanent of "old Marvel". He than came up that it was too confusing for readers to have books passing themselves in two different eras. Of course, nobody is confused with having the O5 running aroubnd with their grown counterparts in Bendis' books. That is what we in the biz call... BULL!
Also loved the Lost Generation maxi-series with Stern. I wish they'd put it out in TPB, for I'm missing a couple of issues.

Peace

One of many things Quesada did that irked me.

[hondobrode]

I loved his Batman/Capt America crossover. I thought Byrne did great Golden Age stories & wanted a JSA/Invaders crossover by him.

The JSA story during his Wonder Woman run was good.

His Namor was superb.

Also liked his Generations series at DC.

God I love that JSA / Invaders idea. I adore that Cap / Batman one-shot.

image.jpg

[Ying Ko]

Fantastic Four
Uncanny X-Men
Iron Fist
Captain America
Avengers
Man of Steel/Superman/Action Comics


Doomsday.1 from IDW that came out last year is the best thing i've read from Byrne in ages... just saying. not that it makes the list with all the classics.

[basbash99]

To me, Byrne's best run was Fantastic Four. I thought his artwork & writing both peaked early in this run although the quality declined a bit towards the very end.

Once Byrne took over Superman, his artwork seemed to lose some of its razzle-dazzle, in my opinion. His writing was a bit hit or miss. Unfortunately, given license to pick and choose from Superman's history to create his own definitive version, Byrne seemed to become preoccupied in his subsequent work with reworking continuity to create his "definitive" versions of characters, such as with Human Torch/Vision & Scarlet Witch on West Coast Avengers or with his reworking of Spiderman's early days or the lost X-Men years.

Aside from his writing, I enjoyed his earlier art on books like Marvel Team-Up, Avengers, and Captain America (I'm not too familiar with his Powerman/Iron Fist run) and especially on X-Men. I also give him some writing credit on X-Men since apparently he helped co-plot many issues. But to me he really peaked with Fantastic Four.

I am not as familiar with his independent work other than a few issues of Next-Men so I can't really comment as to its quality. Next-Men seemed pretty good, still didn't seem as good as FF though.

[CliffHanger2]

To me, Byrne's best run was Fantastic Four. I thought his artwork & writing both peaked early in this run although the quality declined a bit towards the very end.

Once Byrne took over Superman, his artwork seemed to lose some of its razzle-dazzle, in my opinion. His writing was a bit hit or miss. Unfortunately, given license to pick and choose from Superman's history to create his own definitive version, Byrne seemed to become preoccupied in his subsequent work with reworking continuity to create his "definitive" versions of characters, such as with Human Torch/Vision & Scarlet Witch on West Coast Avengers or with his reworking of Spiderman's early days or the lost X-Men years.

Aside from his writing, I enjoyed his earlier art on books like Marvel Team-Up, Avengers, and Captain America (I'm not too familiar with his Powerman/Iron Fist run) and especially on X-Men. I also give him some writing credit on X-Men since apparently he helped co-plot many issues. But to me he really peaked with Fantastic Four.

I am not as familiar with his independent work other than a few issues of Next-Men so I can't really comment as to its quality. Next-Men seemed pretty good, still didn't seem as good as FF though.

I thought he did an excellent job redefining Superman and Vision. Reworking continuity to redefine the characters was brilliant it's something today's writers could really learn from.

[earl]

There definitely could be a good compilation of John Byrne's other early Marvel work. The Marvel Team Up and Marvel Two In One had some great issues. I know the Project Pegasus story in Marvel Two In One was one of the comic stories that got me hooked on comics. I also really love the Spider-man/Power Man comic with the burning building. The Spider-man/Tigra & Kraven Marvel Team UP was a classic issue too.

[Orb]

Loved his vision quest in west coast avengers, alpha flight and She hulk. I've never read any of his dc work but would really like to check out his man of steel work.

[Bad Wolf]

I'm a huge Byrne fan and I can't think of anything he's done that I didn't enjoy. But my favorites with him as both writer and artist would be Fantastic Four and Alpha Flight. For art only, Captain America and [Uncanny] X-Men (which are favorites of mine for the writing as well.)

[Maven]

Fantastic Four, especially #232-256, as well as his earlier #220-221, and the pencilled issues before those. It's 'don't get me wrong' about #257-294...there's still some outstanding stories in that heap of issues (particularly IMO, FF #'s 262, 267, 271-273, 276-277, and 285), but that half of the legendary FF run was unfortunately rather inconsistent and rushed in places due to Byrne also working on Alpha Flight and The Thing at the time. The older I've gotten, the more I feel and think that you simply cannot beat FF #232-256 for the sheer consistency of its writing and art...something that has always been rare, and especially a lot more-so now.

BTW, I say it A LOT, but if I was pushed to name my utmost favorite FF issue ever, it would have to be FF #236. I heart "Terror In A Tiny Town" to the point of grabbing some actual FF #236 color guides by Glynis Wein when I saw them available last year. To this day and forever, it is an absolute honor to own pieces of the process of one of the finest, purest FF tales ever conceived AND grandest creative runs ever.

[CliffHanger2]

Fantastic Four, especially #232-256, as well as his earlier #220-221, and the pencilled issues before those. It's 'don't get me wrong' about #257-294...there's still some outstanding stories in that heap of issues (particularly IMO, FF #'s 262, 267, 271-273, 276-277, and 285), but that half of the legendary FF run was unfortunately rather inconsistent and rushed in places due to Byrne also working on Alpha Flight and The Thing at the time. The older I've gotten, the more I feel and think that you simply cannot beat FF #232-256 for the sheer consistency of its writing and art...something that has always been rare, and especially a lot more-so now.

BTW, I say it A LOT, but if I was pushed to name my utmost favorite FF issue ever, it would have to be FF #236. I heart "Terror In A Tiny Town" to the point of grabbing some actual FF #236 color guides by Glynis Wein when I saw them available last year. To this day and forever, it is an absolute honor to own pieces of the process of one of the finest, purest FF tales ever conceived AND grandest creative runs ever.

Whooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!! Awesome pics! I'd agree consistency is very hard to come by these days. Especially when it comes to writing and art.

[Thor2014]

1. Fantastic Four
2. Uncanny X-Men
3. Superman - His artwork started to get sloppier by the end of his Superman run
4. Sensational She-Hulk - This was a fun comic book

His Wonder Woman was bad, his art looked pretty rushed and he seemed more interested in writing the various Kirby-created guest star characters at time than Wondy herself. He replaced the Julia and Vanessa Kapellitas with Helena (?) and Cassie Sandsmark. What was the point of that? They were too similar to be different characters. The idea of giving Wonder Woman her own city was an interesting concept, but not developed enough. Too many loose ends in Boston IIRC that were not wrapped up properly or with care. But that happens all the time with Wonder Woman.

[CliffHanger2]

I found out about this but haven't read it yet. Byrne did a Star Trek photonovel.

[John Aston]

Hmmmm.

Next Men
Alpha Flight
Fantastic Four
Uncanny X-Men (preferably in black and white)
She-Hulk
Namor
Superman
EDIT: West Coast Avengers.

I didn't dig his Wonder Woman or Spider-Man or his recent Next Men. However, visually, the man still has it. His commissions are brilliant.