RKMBs Forums .::Robegories::. Comic Books John Byrne: The good years, the bad years, and what the heck went wrong?

Yeah, I think you're right. I've seen mid-1970's Byrne pages of Captain America from early in his career. But this one looks to be on more modern blue-line paper, as you can see at the top of the page.

But there are many early Byrne pages of Captain America, he was clearly hot to do the character in print, long before he ever did.

A new Byrne Rog 2000 cover, on MARS ATTACKS ZOMBIES VS. ROBOTS one-shot, from 2012.



A variant cover.
There's a funny Dave Sim CEREBUS version cover as well.



Here's the same cover in full size.

Current bid: $95,000

https://comics.ha.com/itm/original-comic...sAuction-120115

Un-flippin' beleivable. Ours has definitely become a much more expensive hobby than it used to be. In the 1980's you probably could have picked up that 2-page spread, or any other pages from X-MEN 137, for in the neighborhood of $100 a page or less.

I remember when guys were offering me early 70's DC Kirby pages for 15 to 25 per page, and that was in 1987. When I was at a show in 2012 looking at similar 70's Kirby Marvel and DC original pages, they were in the $2,000 range per page.

https://taint-the-meat.com/2013/08/04/x-men-portfolio/#more-1715

A cool project from 1980, Byrne worked on 2 of the 4 pages for the X-MEN PORTFOLIO, published by SQ Productions in 1980. What appears to be Byrne pencils or layouts, airbrushed and painted by Fastner or Larson.

Without Byrne, Fastner/Larson also did a HULK PORTFOLIO and a SPIDER-MAN PORTFOLIO, all in that 1979-1981 period.
And a later 2nd X-MEN PORTFOLIO, without Byrne, and I think less impressive without him.

From that period I described in my opening post, a time where Byrne pretty much strode over the industry like a god.

A nice late 1970's Marvel Calendar page by Byrne.

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Regarding Roger Stern and John Byrne's run in CAPTAIN AMERICA 247-255, I knew at the time that Stern and Byrne had both left the book abruptly, for reasons not disclosed at the time.
This link on Byrne's site answers that question :

https://www.byrnerobotics.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=39411

Stern says it was for deadline reasons, and being treated badly by book editor Jim Salicrup.

Byrne has a different recollection that it was Jim Shooter's sudden order that all stories had to be resolved in a single issue, that Stern wanted to comply after completing a 3-part Red Skull storyline he had just plotted. That Shooter insisted had to be condensed to one issue, that Stern resigned in protest, and Byrne resigned in solidarity with Stern.

Byrn'e version rings more true to me, of all the factors involved. Stern's version makes Jim Salicrup look like the bad guy. Byrne's version makes Jim Shooter the bad guy. It could be one reason or both reasons. But ultimately, they both resigned from the series abruptly in protest.

Marvel in the 1970's and 1980's, by many accounts, was not an easy place to work for many. I'd love to see a panel of writers and artists who did work for both Marvel and DC, and see their consensus of whether Marvel or DC was the better place to work. Both seem to have had their good and bad moments.

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A nice photo of Byrne, holding up what looks like his version of GIANT-SIZE X-MEN # 1.

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Byrne again, this time photographed like he was posing for a Macy's Labor Day weekend sale catalog. But with some really nice oversize commission pages.

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Byrne in recent years likes doing stories with photos (or "Fumetti" I guess is the term), and this illustration is done over a photo background.

Another hilarious Rog 2000 illustration/collage by Byrne. With what appears to be himself drawn into the image, as the agitated driver.

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And a favorite of mine by Byrne, the beautiful wraparound cover to Pacific Comics' 1982 collection of Byrne's
ROG 2000 material.



And the black and white original art version of the cover :
https://i.pinimg.com/736x/ee/e6/a7/eee6a78a43c87cb04d4b8946514bb713.jpg

And the full collected issue for your reading pleasure, the first story ran in CHARLETON BULLSEYE where Rog 2000 began as a mascot character, and then reprints in black-and-white the other four initial backup stories.
https://viewcomiconline.com/complete-rog-2000-full/
or
https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Complete-Rog-2000/Full?id=174663

And here are the full-color versions, as E-MEN backup stories, as they originally appeared in E-MAN issues 6, 7, 9 and 10, in 1975.
https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/E-Man-1973/Issue-6?id=171774
https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/E-Man-1973/Issue-7?id=171775
https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/E-Man-1973/Issue-9?id=171777
https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/E-Man-1973/Issue-10?id=171769

I still love the earliest stuff the best, such as this illustration for CPL fanzine's reader letters page :

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And this "Rog 2000 meets Howard the Duck" illustration.

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JOHN BYRNE'S MARVEL BULLPEN BULLETINS PAGE BIDS for OVER $30,000 AT AUCTION
https://bleedingcool.com/comics/john-byrns-marvel-bullpen-bulletins-page-over-30000-at-auction/

Wow !

It does stand out as a signature quintessential John Byrne page, but still... wow. That's quite an aucion price.


Oversize image of the page at :
https://mlpnk72yciwc.i.optimole.com.../01/d6c5a2e2649a3e763ff95cf16b798c51.jpg


Byrne's page appeared in Marvel issues cover-dated September 1983.

In this issue-scan that includes ads, here it is in THE THING issue 3, scripted by Byrne.
https://viewcomiconline.com/the-thing-issue-3/

In other Byrne issues the same month, it also appears in FANTASTIC FOUR 258, and ALPHA FLIGHT 2.