I've been saying the same thing about all the X-men movies that Byrne put out there in this interview: they need to think long term and build up stories. Dark Pheonix should happen over at least three movies and have a tiny bit more to do with the source material besides a red head named Jean becomes all powerful and dangerous. Beyond that, there is almost nothing recognizable about what they are doing. MCU has shown they can think about long term stories, and look how well that has worked for them. X-men is just throwing characters and stories against the wall to see what sticks.
100% agree. Plus before Dark Phoenix there was Phoenix, the green and yellow one. You can't just gloss over that. Also, I'm tired of TV and films not calling the Hellfire Club, the mfing Hellfire Club! That's their name and it sounds bad ass.
Too true if Kevin Feige knows what's good for him he'll get John Byrne on board in one way or another if they develop Xmen and Fantastic 4 into the MCU.
Yeah, for me, most of the X-films have been unwatchable. It's the old story of Hollywood arrogance; you know, "well, they write comic books, but WE write MOTION PICTURES. WE know how to tell a story better than THEY do." And thus, they create a pile of dogcrap.
I agree partially with you. But i think what happened with Fox is that back when the first X- Men movie was being produced the company nor the industry knew what was going to happen in terms of the CBM craze. No one up until that point knew how to make a serious grounded CBM. I mean you had Blade but that was a graphic novel type of comic. Nobody was even thinking of the possibility of an interconnected cinematic universe. Nobody expected X-Men to be as big of a hit as it turned out to be. So the studio never thought about connecting the films until X-3. But by that time it was like "lets keep popping out these movies and make as much as we possibly can
@@andrewforte3852 I've met George Perez, back in the day at comic book convention. He's really a cool guy! I had him checking out my drawings; nervous as hell cause George is pne of the best artist, I've grown to love(no homo).
Look at this glorious art. Not just the characters, but the backgrounds and architecture as well. You don't see it anymore, you don't see anything this detailed and awesome. Same goes for the stories too.
@@jalderink I remember his run on X-men the lost years or something, it was excellent. Plus, he hasn't done anything for Marvel in ages, they would be quite an event. It's not like they can't afford to edit one more series?
Joel Gerald Kydd I hope you have Action comics 600 that's in my world is a super classic issue because you get both George and John working together as artist.
Years ago when Byrne was doing Next Men he was doing a signing at Forbidden Planet. I got issue #2 signed by him which had come out that week. I think I told him that his Superman's version was my favorite. He was the first of many comic book creators that I have met towards the years. He wasnt a disappointment like some others. He was kind to me.
@Tigre Blanco At this day and age, I would be surprised if a public figure didn´t had a group of haters. If you´re a conservative, the SJWs are going to attack you. If you are left winged, a bunch of anti-feminist are going to hate you. If you like old school stuff some people are going to say you´re a nostalgic manchild, and if you like modern stuff some people are going to say you´re dumb, because "things today are way worst than when I was a kid..." The internet has literally turned the world into a giant highschool, full of innsecure teenagers :S:S
Byrne, Austin, and Claremount were the masters! I remember me and a friend buying everything they did. I'm sad I don't have any of those comics today. Bryne's art style was the best to me; and his X-Men were awesome. The Dark Phoenix saga is epic and very tragic. He's right, the movies could never capture what he did.
Great interview. A friend and I were actually invited to his house and studio years ago. We'll never forget it. He's a stand-up guy, really knows his craft, and so funny!
The Dark Phoenix saga was way to epic to put on screen in one movie. It needed the same build up that Infinity War had. I mean come on, no Lilandra, no Imperial Guard.... Just too epic!
I think about his phenomenal She Hulk run, Superman and Fantastic Four. Every casual reader or moviegoer I know that enjoys Deadpool I always try and get them to check out his She Hulk, but they never do. Their loss really
John Byrne drew one of my top favorite versions of Wolverine. EDIT: Shame on me for forgetting this. Years before I got sucked up into the world of Claremont & Byrne's X-Men, at age 11 I was unknowingly bitten by the Byrne bug with Superman/Batman: Generations. Seeing a world where the characters actually got older through the decades and passed their down mantles blew. My. Mind. And still friggin' does today. I think it's high time I go back and finally finish reading that story. Criminally underrated and deserves getting as much mention as Dark Knight Returns in terms of epic scale! I also wonder what voices & personalities John preferred for the X-Men. Hard to imagine Logan not saying things like 'bub', 'flamin'', 'blasted', etc. But I'd like to believe he still would, there's just some other elements to how he'd perceive his speech and so on.
ALPHA FLIGHT at 0:56 ALPHA FLIGHT was the book that got me back into comics in my late 20's. Next thing you know, I've got a $70-$120 a week habit at the local comic store.
I had the honor of sharing a creator's room at a convention with John Byrne. I found him to be personable a great person to talk with. I loved just talking with him., my kind of conversationalist and intellect. Thank you for the char in East Hartford CT back in the '90s. it was a seed change in my creative life Mr. Byrne.
I love John Byrne, he is my favorite Marvel comic book artist and I adore his stories, and this video taught me that he created a union jack I did not know this, I love Union Jack and the rest of your creations John Byrne.
I remember His superman revival, and how awesome he made Lex Luther. The art was just amazing especially for the era. This guy gave me great childhood memories.
Edit: Byrne makes a good point. The set-up for Dark Phoenix, especially the personal relationships, are gonna be shoved into a 2 hour film. I’m hopeful, but at the same time I still think Dark Phoenix should have been a trilogy finale that they build towards.
"I try not to erase." I knew it!!! That's why I try not to as well,.....when analyzing any book drawn by him, just as he says, "it's like an avalanche". A comic illustration Master. Thank you Mr Byrne.
I've got a couple of things in common with John Byrne, I love to do artwork,I love strong female characters and we were born in the same town as each other in the UK.One uncommon thing-I love Alpha Flight!But also FF,X-men and She-Hulk is some of his best pencilling, thanks John.
For Michael, a quote I grabbed years ago from Byrne on his board about Alpha Flight. “Y'know, I dump on ALPHA FLIGHT quite a lot, but that's mostly because of the art. If I can be forgiven a towering immodesty, when it comes to the writing I DO think I was firing on all cylinders. Probably because it was the first time, professionally, that the characters were truly and wholly MINE. Nobody could tell me I was getting them wrong!”
Maybe Byrne wasn't hooked on Alpha Flight, but I sure was. I grew up on my grandfather's stories about being a kid in Canada, and getting a team of super-powered Canadians - with elements of Logan's backstory - was too good to be true. Still one of my favorite comics/teams ever. And that whole "no, you moron - Hudson really is dead" was a slap in the side of the head I won't soon forget.
always liked byrne's immaculate art and his realist style of writing... and the way he gets on the wrong side of really uptight people just by voicing his personal opinions semi-privately. The vast majority of us really need to have literally nothing to lose to even consider being as honest as byrne these days...
I love John Byrne! He understands that super men should be super masculine and super women should be... not super masculine... super feminine. They are archetypes that capture our imagination. Women don't have to be men to be heroes.
I hate hearing that being fast is why most artist got the job. Makes me wonder if the material could have been better if it was not rushed. It is still amazing that they can get so much done monthly
I was sad when Byrne left but Cockrum coming back was a Earth Shattering Good and Paul Smith was amazing!!! And Smith NEVER got the Respect he deserved!!
He has a very inconsistent view on characters. He seemed so proud to show off his figurines that were based on his own characters, self or co-created, but then he says he had no interest in his own Alpha Flight creation because it didn't come from Stan and Jack, who cares about these new people? They were worthy characters. My biggest gripe about reading comics for the last 39 years is when he dropped Alpha Flight. That was as crushing as killing off Guardian in issue 12. The book might as well have ended when he left. Why couldn't he have shown a fraction of the interest in writing the characters as he did in showing off his figures?
Because someone else sculpted the figurines, maybe? I think artists are inherently fickle, man. If the interest wanes, the creation suffers. As an artist myself, I'd personally rather move on from a project I no longer care about than try to force it for the sake of the project's popularity/success. But his Alpha Flight run was iconic.
You have to remember that Alpha Flight was originally created as a team that could go up against the X-Men. Practically throw-away characters. This probably contributed greatly to JB’s less than enthusiastic approach to more Alpha Flight stories.
Took 3 years to do dark Phoenix. Byrne has to understand if they did a movie about it it would have to be 4 films to complete. Like what the mcu did with infinity war. If only they would have thought about this back in 2000 with first X-Men.
Byrne is my love and hate for comics personified into one being. That said mad respect for the guy. It's absolutely crazy to hear he didn't like the X-Men. Cause despite his perception, to me, he and Claremont really defined the characters. I can remember being a kid and trying to ape his Marvel style and not getting it at all.
Hurts to hear he doesn’t care about Alpha Flight. John is such a huge talent, but his undoing is always his ego. I think it was the tension in the bullpen of all those personalities and talents at Marvel in the 80’s that gave us the Bronze Age of comics. As much as John dismisses Jim Shooter he helped create that creative tension.
I do agree that one of the reasons the dark phoenix movie was bad was because they rushed it. If I ddI a dark phoenix movie, I would split it into two movies. The first film would be about Jean getting the phoenix force, being manipulated by the hellfire club and unleashing her powers becoming evil, and the second film would be about the X-men and Lilandra teaming up in space to bring jean back to the light. Also, I never minded the changes in days of future past because both the comic and film are really good but different so it wasn’t a problem that that was different but if the film is bad, they should be more faithful.
I think the one character that comes to mind is She-Hulk. Kind of developed a Pop Culture. And without a doubt marvels leading female solo characters on the pages. No other female character in Marvel has frequently sold solo comics like She-Hulk and a large part of that is down to John Byrne.
Also she was breaking the "fourth wall" with a sense of humour loooong before the barrel scraping adolescent antics of Deadpool. Byrne would have been interesting to hear more of on this.....
