Джон Линдели Берн: Комикстер және суретшінің өмірбаяны

American comic book writer and artist

John Lindley Byrne (/b//ɜr//n/; born July 6, 1950) is a British born American writer and artist of superhero comics. Since the mid 1970s, Byrne has worked on many major superheroes; with noted work on Marvel Comics's X Men and Fantastic Four. Byrne also facilitated the 1986 relaunch of DC Comics's Superman franchise with the limited series The Man of Steel, the first issue of which featured the comics' first variant cover. Coming into the comics profession as a penciller, inker, letterer, and writer on his earliest work, Byrne began co plotting the X Men comics during his tenure on them, for story arcs including "Dark Phoenix Saga" and "Days of Future Past", and co creating characters such as Kitty Pryde (Shadowcat), Emma Frost, Sabretooth, Shadow King, and Rachel Summers. Byrne launched his writing career in earnest with Fantastic Four, also serving as penciler and inker, and included She Hulk onto the team while writing a solo series for The Thing. While working on X Men, he created the Canadian superhero team Alpha Flight, and later wrote and drew their own series. Moving to DC, Byrne established the modern origin for Superman in The Man of Steel before writing and drawing two monthly titles and various miniseries for the character. Byrne then returned to Marvel, introducing the Great Lakes Avengers, and wrote and drew the humorous fourth wall breaking series The Sensational She Hulk. He also co created the Marvel characters Scott Lang and James Rhodes. During the 1990s he produced a number of creator owned works, including Next Men and Danger Unlimited, and was one of the founders of the Legend imprint at Dark Horse Comics. Revisiting X Men as a writer, Byrne co created Bishop and Omega Red. Byrne was the writer and artist of the Wonder Woman series for three years, during which he created the second Wonder Girl, Cassie Sandsmark. In addition, he co created the DC character Amanda Waller. He scripted the first issues of Mike Mignola's Hellboy series and produced several Star Trek comics for IDW Publishing. In 2010, Byrne revived Next Men to conclude the series. Hailed as one of the most prolific and influential comic book artists ever, Byrne and his X Men collaborator Chris Claremont were entered into the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame in 2015.

Byrne was born on July 6, 1950 in Walsall, Staffordshire, and raised in West Bromwich, also in Staffordshire, where he lived with his parents, Frank and Nelsie, and his maternal grandmother. He was an only child. His father was a town planner and his mother was a homemaker. While living in England, prior to his family emigrating to Canada when Byrne was 8, he was first exposed to comics, saying in 2005,
[M]y 'journey into comics' began with [star] George Reeves' [Adventures of] Superman series being shown on the BBC in England when I was about 6 years old. Not long after I started watching that series I saw one of the hardcover, black and white 'Annuals' that were being published over there at the time, and soon after found a copy of an Australian reprint called Super Comics that featured a story each of Superboy, Johnny Quick and Batman. The Batman story hooked me for life. A couple of years later my family emigrated to Canada (for the second time, no less!) and I discovered the vast array of American comics available at the time. His first encounter with Marvel Comics was in 1962 with Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's Fantastic Four #5. He later commented that "the book had an 'edge' like nothing DC was putting out at the time". Jack Kirby's work, in particular, had a strong influence on Byrne and he has worked with many of the characters Kirby created or co created. Besides Kirby, Byrne was influenced by the naturalistic style of Neal Adams. Byrne has named comic books, The Lord of the Rings, and Star Trek: The Original Series as his greatest influences. Despite drawing comics as a youth, Byrne intended to have a career as a commercial artist. In 1970, Byrne enrolled at the Alberta College of Art and Design in Calgary. He created the superhero parody Gay Guy for the college newspaper, which poked fun at the campus stereotype of homosexuality among art students. Gay Guy is notable for featuring the first gay superhero. While there, he published his first comic book, ACA Comix #1, featuring "The Death's Head Knight". Byrne left the college in 1973 without graduating. Before finding success with comic books, Byrne spent three years designing billboards for an advertisement company. He broke into comics with a "Fan Art Gallery" piece in Marvel's promotional publication FOOM in early 1974 and by illustrating a two page story by writer Al Hewetson in Skywald Publications' black and white horror magazine Nightmare #20 (Aug. 1974). He then began freelancing for Charlton Comics, making his color comics debut with the E Man backup feature "Rog 2000", starring a robot character he'd created in the mid 1970s that colleagues Roger Stern and Bob Layton named and began using for spot illustrations in their fanzine CPL (Contemporary Pictorial Literature). A Rog 2000 story written by Stern, with art by Byrne and Layton, had gotten the attention of Charlton Comics editor Nicola Cuti, who extended Byrne an invitation. Written by Cuti, "Rog 2000" became one of several alternating backup features in the Charlton Comics superhero series E Man, starting with the eight page "That Was No Lady" in issue #6 (Jan. 1975). While that was Byrne's first published color comics work, "My first professional comic book sale was to Marvel, a short story called Dark Asylum' which languished in a flat file somewhere until it was used as filler in Giant Size Dracula #5 [(June 1975)], long after the first Rog story." The story was plotted by Tony Isabella and written by David Anthony Kraft. After the Rog 2000 story, Byrne went on to work on the Charlton books Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch, Space: 1999, and Emergency!, and co created with writer Joe Gill the post apocalyptic science fiction series Doomsday + 1. Byrne additionally drew a cover for the supernatural anthology The Many Ghosts of Doctor Graves #54 (Dec. 1975). Byrne soon went on to draw series including The Champions (#12–15, 17 1977–78) and Marvel Team Up (#53–55, 59–70, 75, 79, 100). Byrne first drew the X Men in Marvel Team Up #53. For many issues, he was paired with Claremont, with whom he teamed for issue #11 of the black and white Marvel magazine Marvel Preview featuring Star Lord. The Star Lord story was inked by Terry Austin and lettered by Tom Orzechowski, both of whom soon afterward teamed with Claremont and Byrne on Uncanny X Men.

Byrne joined Claremont beginning with X Men #108 (Dec. 1977), which was later renamed The Uncanny X Men with issue #114. Their work together, along with inker Terry Austin, on such classic story arcs as "Proteus", "Dark Phoenix Saga", and "Days of Future Past" would make them both fan favorites. Byrne insisted that the title keep its Canadian character, Wolverine, and contributed a series of story elements to justify Wolverine's presence which eventually made the character among the most popular in Marvel's publishing history. With issue #114, Byrne began co plotting the series as well as penciling. Claremont recounted that "at that point in time John and I were, in a very real sense, true collaborators on the book. It was with very few exceptions, difficult, for me, anyway, to tell in the actual gestation of the book where one of us left off and the other began – because it involved one of us coming up with an idea and bouncing it off the other " The "Dark Phoenix Saga" in 1980 is one of the most notable stories in the title's history. Comics writers and historians Roy Thomas and Peter Sanderson observed that "'The Dark Phoenix Saga' is to Claremont and Byrne what the 'Galactus Trilogy' is to Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. It is a landmark in Marvel history, showcasing its creators' work at the height of their abilities." Byrne has repeatedly compared his working relationship with Claremont to Gilbert and Sullivan, and has said that they were "almost constantly at war over who the characters were." Byrne created the characters Alpha Flight, Proteus, and Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat during his run on The X Men. A new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, led by Mystique, was introduced in the "Days of Future Past" storyline (#141–142, Jan. Feb. 1981) in which a time travelling Kitty Pryde tried to avert a dystopian future caused by the Brotherhood assassinating Presidential candidate Senator Robert Kelly. Byrne plotted the story wanting to depict the Sentinels as a genuine threat to the existence of the mutant race. Byrne left The X Men with #143 (March 1981). During his tenure on the series, The X Men was promoted from a bimonthly to a monthly publication schedule as sales steadily increased—a trend that continued long after Byrne left. In the late 1970s, while serving as the regular penciller of X Men, Byrne began penciling another superhero team title, The Avengers. Working for the most part with writer David Michelinie, he drew issues #164–166 and 181–191. Byrne and Michelinie co created Scott Lang in Avengers #181 (March 1979). Byrne's nine issue run of Captain America, issues #247–255 (July 1980 – March 1981), with writer Roger Stern, included issue #250, in which the character mulled running for the office of President of the United States.

Byrne's post X Men body of work at Marvel includes his six year run on Fantastic Four (#232–295, July 1981 – October 1986), which is generally considered a "second golden age" for the title. Byrne said his goal was to "turn the clock back get back and see fresh what it was that made the book great at its inception". He made a number of changes during his tenure: The Thing was temporarily replaced as a member of the quartet by the She Hulk, while the Thing had adventures in his own comic (#1–22 also written by Byrne), and the Thing's longtime girlfriend Alicia Masters left him for his teammate the Human Torch; the Invisible Girl was developed into the most powerful member with the heightened control of her refined powers and the self confident assertiveness to use it epitomized by her name change to the Invisible Woman; and headquarters the Baxter Building was destroyed and replaced with Four Freedoms Plaza. Byrne has cited multiple reasons for leaving the series, including "internal office politics"

In 1983, while still at the helm of Fantastic Four, Byrne began to write and draw Alpha Flight, starring a Canadian superhero team that had been introduced "merely to survive a fight with the X Men." and the following issues selling between 400,000 and 500,000 issues each month. However, Byrne has said the title "was never much fun" and that he considered the characters two dimensional.

In 1983 Byrne co wrote and penciled issues 1 and 2 of The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones, a two part story arc titled "The Ikons of Ikammanen". The story involves archaeologist Edith Dunne, a former student turned enemy of Jones. Byrne wrote the first issue and Dennis O'Neil wrote the second, while Byrne penciled both issues with Terry Austin as the inker.

In 1985, after issue #28 of Alpha Flight, Byrne swapped the series with Bill Mantlo, writer of The Incredible Hulk. According to Byrne, he discussed his ideas with editor in chief Jim Shooter ahead of time, but once Byrne was on the title, Shooter objected to them.

In early 1980, Byrne did his first work for DC Comics, penciling the first issue of The Untold Legend of the Batman miniseries. Byrne had always wanted to draw Batman, and had a three month window of time during which he was not under contract to Marvel. Hearing about the Untold Legend series, Byrne contacted editor Paul Levitz to express interest. DC took him up on his offer, but it was not until the second month of his three month window that Byrne received the plot for the first issue. Byrne told Levitz that he would not be able to finish the project due to time constraints despite DC then allegedly offering Byrne double his Marvel pay rate, after initially saying they could not match his Marvel rate. Byrne penciled the first issue, which was inked by Jim Aparo after being intended for Terry Austin. This experience soured Byrne on DC for quite some time.

Near the end of his time at Marvel, Byrne was hired by DC Comics to revamp its flagship character Superman. This was part of a company wide restructuring of the history of the DC Universe and all of its characters following the limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths. Byrne's reworking of Superman in particular gained widespread media coverage outside the comic book industry, including articles in Time and The New York Times. At the time, Byrne said, "I'm taking Superman back to the basics It's basically Siegel and Shuster's Superman meets the Fleischer Superman in 1986." Byrne significantly reduced Superman's powers (though he was still one of the most powerful beings on Earth), eliminated the Fortress of Solitude and super dog Krypto, and kept Jonathan and Martha Kent alive into Clark's adulthood to enjoy their adopted son's triumphs, as well as to provide him with support, grounding, and advice whenever he needed it. Byrne also used Marv Wolfman's idea of making Lex Luthor a wealthy business owner in addition to a scientific genius with a deadly vendetta against the superhero. Byrne did away with the childhood/teenage career as Superboy; in his revamped history, Clark Kent does not put on a costume and become a super hero until adulthood. This approach to Kent's path to becoming Superman was later used in the TV series
Lois & Clark and Smallville, and in the 2005 novel It's Superman by Tom De Haven. In the Superman mythos, Byrne wrote Clark Kent as having a more aggressive and extroverted personality than previously depicted, comparing him to Jimmy Breslin, and even making him a top high school football player. Byrne came up with explanations for how Superman's disguise works, such as the public simply does not realize that he has a secret identity since he is unmasked, that Superman would vibrate his face via his super speed in order to blur his image to photographers, and having Kent keep a weight training set around to explain how the human and presumably weaker Kent could have a frame as massive as Superman's. DC Executive Editor Dick Giordano had been looking for a writer to restart the Superman continuity from scratch, and began talking with Byrne in May 1985 to discuss what Byrne would do with Superman if offered the job. With DC agreeing with 99% of the revision, Byrne was given the go ahead for what became The Man of Steel. Brian Cronin of Comic Book Resources suggested that, although Byrne made several changes, Byrne's Superman was still more similar to previous depictions of the character than he was not. Byrne penciled the six issue DC Universe crossover miniseries Legends (Nov. 1986 – May 1987) during this time. He wrote and drew two monthly Superman titles with the hero's present day adventures: a new Superman title beginning with issue #1 (January 1987) and Action Comics, in which, beginning with issue #584, Superman teamed up with other DC characters. The original Superman book was renamed The Adventures of Superman starting with issue #424 and was initially written by Marv Wolfman and drawn by Jerry Ordway, but the writing chores were taken over by Byrne after a year from issues #436–442 and 444. As 1988 marked the 50th anniversary year of Superman's creation, Byrne did more Superman related projects while working on the core Superman monthly titles at the same time: he wrote the prestige format graphic novel, Superman: The Earth Stealers and three separate four issue miniseries: The World of Krypton, The World of Metropolis, and The World of Smallville. He supplied the cover art for the March 14, 1988, issue of Time magazine and an interior spread featuring Superman, where his pencils were inked by Ordway. After his initial run on the Superman titles from 1986 to 1988, Byrne would make a return as a guest inker on Adventures of Superman Annual #2 (cover) and Superman #50 in 1990. He would return doing a Superman Elseworlds story as a writer and artist in Action Comics Annual #6 in 1994. In 2004 Superman: True Brit, an Elseworlds story, was a collaboration with former Monty Python member John Cleese and Kim Johnson, with art by Byrne and inker Mark Farmer. Byrne returned to draw Superman in Action Comics #827–835, working with writer Gail Simone, from 2005 to 2006.

In 1989, after leaving Superman, Byrne returned to work on a number of titles for Marvel Comics. His work on West Coast Avengers (issues #42–57, soon renamed Avengers West Coast) was contingent on his being allowed to do what he called "my Vision story".

During She Hulk's tenure with the Fantastic Four, she appeared in Marvel Graphic Novel #18 (Nov. 1985) in a story titled The Sensational She Hulk, which Byrne wrote and illustrated. On the request of editor Mark Gruenwald, Byrne wrote and drew a new series in 1989, The Sensational She Hulk (maintaining the 1985 graphic novel's title). Gruenwald directed that it be significantly different from the character's previous series, The Savage She Hulk. Byrne's take was comedic and the She Hulk, who was aware she was in a comic book, regularly broke the fourth wall, developing a love hate relationship with her artist/writer by criticizing his storylines, drawing style, character development, etc. Byrne left the book after writing and drawing the first eight issues. Byrne was asked for input on writer Dwayne McDuffie's She Hulk: Ceremony limited series, and according to Byrne, most of his objections to the story and notations of errors were ignored, and his editor, Bobbie Chase, "was rewriting my stuff to bring it into line with" the story in Ceremony. Upon complaining to DeFalco, Byrne says he was fired from his series. Byrne's take on the undersea antihero Namor cast him as the head of a surface company, Oracle, Inc., in order to help keep the ocean unpolluted, and had Namor involved in corporate intrigue. After writing and drawing the book for 25 issues, Byrne told editor Terry Kavanagh that he was starting to feel constrained on the book and thought having a different artist might inspire him to a fresh approach. Kavanagh suggested newcomer Jae Lee, and Byrne continued strictly as the writer of the book up through issue #32. Byrne later said he has great fondness for the title character and was unhappy that circumstances forced him to leave the series.

In the early 1990s, Byrne began creating a series of original, creator owned works for publisher Dark Horse Comics. This was during a general trend in the industry for established creators working for Marvel and DC to bring their original works to other publishers or create their own companies to publish the works themselves (one prominent example is Image Comics). A number of these creators, including Byrne, Frank Miller, Mike Mignola, and Art Adams, banded together to form the Legend imprint at Dark Horse. Byrne's first title for Dark Horse was Next Men, a work he considered darker and more realistic than his previous work. The Next Men were five young people who were the product of a secret government experiment. Byrne said, "I thought I would see what I could do with superheroes in the 'real world' " and "[e]xplore the impact their existence would have."