Active Topics | Member List | Search | Help | Register | Login
The John Byrne Forum
Byrne Robotics > The John Byrne Forum << Prev Page of 21 Next >>
Topic: Alpha Flight Omnibus (Topic Closed Topic Closed) Post ReplyPost New Topic
Author
Message
John Byrne
Avatar
Grumpy Old Guy

Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 132137
Posted: 14 June 2016 at 2:31pm | IP Logged | 1  

Was also hoping for that X-Men/Alpha Flight team up.

••

The one I didn't do because Marvel lied to me?

Back to Top profile | search
 
Joe Smith
Byrne Robotics Member
Avatar

Joined: 29 August 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 6592
Posted: 14 June 2016 at 2:35pm | IP Logged | 2  

#pumped
Back to Top profile | search | www e-mail
 
Wallace Sellars
Byrne Robotics Member
Avatar

Joined: 01 May 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 17659
Posted: 14 June 2016 at 2:42pm | IP Logged | 3  

Finally!
Back to Top profile | search | www
 
Dave B Stewart
Byrne Robotics Member
Avatar

Joined: 27 May 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 429
Posted: 14 June 2016 at 2:44pm | IP Logged | 4  

The one I didn't do because Marvel lied to me?
-----
Haven't heard this.  Please share if you are able.
Back to Top profile | search
 
John Byrne
Avatar
Grumpy Old Guy

Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 132137
Posted: 14 June 2016 at 2:50pm | IP Logged | 5  

The one I didn't do because Marvel lied to me?

-----

Haven't heard this. Please share if you are able.

••

Sure. I've discussed this before.

Marvel was pushing for an ALPHA/X-MEN book by Chris and me, but I didn't want to work with Chris again that soon. They kept pushing. Finally, I came up with an way to possibly do it: somebody else would plot the book, I would pencil, Chris would script. I also asked that Kitty not be in it, since she was still a sore point for me.

All this, I emphasize, up front. "I will agree to do this if...."

Marvel promptly agreed to both conditions, and I sat back and waited for the plot to arrive. It did. Obviously written by Chris, with Kitty all over it. I called to express my dissatisfaction, and the editor said I was being unprofessional and hung up on me.

I sent the plot back, and they gave it to Smitty.

Back to Top profile | search
 
Brian Miller
Byrne Robotics Member
Avatar

Joined: 28 July 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 30833
Posted: 14 June 2016 at 2:57pm | IP Logged | 6  

That especially blows since I don't even remember Kitty being in it.

(Although, Smith did a wonderful job on the art.)

Back to Top profile | search
 
Dave B Stewart
Byrne Robotics Member
Avatar

Joined: 27 May 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 429
Posted: 14 June 2016 at 3:07pm | IP Logged | 7  

Thank you.  Hadn't come across this in the past.  Oh to think of what this could have been...(no slight against Smith).
Back to Top profile | search
 
Matthew Wilkie
Byrne Robotics Member
Avatar

Joined: 09 March 2011
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 1139
Posted: 14 June 2016 at 3:53pm | IP Logged | 8  

That especially blows since I don't even remember Kitty being in it.

***

She is. With terrible hair.

Remember enjoying this when it first came out but when I revisited recently it was a huge disappointment.
Back to Top profile | search
 
Charles Valderrama
Byrne Robotics Member
Avatar

Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 4716
Posted: 14 June 2016 at 4:19pm | IP Logged | 9  

The X-Men/Alpha Flight team up came out when I was still very high on Paul Smith's art…. don't remember JB's explanation but it sure is unfortunate Marvel didn't honor his wishes. Guess they felt it was more important to satisfy Claremont and keep Kitty in the book since he was still working on the X-MEN while JB had moved on.

Still, disappointed we never got to see what JB would've done with that team-up. ( I would've preferred JB write AND draw it himself!)

-C!
Back to Top profile | search | www
 
John Byrne
Avatar
Grumpy Old Guy

Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 132137
Posted: 14 June 2016 at 5:24pm | IP Logged | 10  

The X-Men/Alpha Flight team up came out when I was still very high on Paul Smith's art…. don't remember JB's explanation but it sure is unfortunate Marvel didn't honor his wishes. Guess they felt it was more important to satisfy Claremont and keep Kitty in the book since he was still working on the X-MEN while JB had moved on.

•••

That's too much like a plan. What was really going on was an unofficial official policy that freelancers are all children, and should be promised whatever they ask for, even if that promise is a lie. I genuinely believe no one thought I would walk away from such a lucrative project, all in the name of integrity

Back to Top profile | search
 
Steve Gumm
Byrne Robotics Member
Avatar

Joined: 10 May 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 1452
Posted: 15 June 2016 at 6:19am | IP Logged | 11  

Oh man, I would have loved to seen this! Thanks for sharing the info John.
Back to Top profile | search e-mail
 
John Byrne
Avatar
Grumpy Old Guy

Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 132137
Posted: 15 June 2016 at 8:25am | IP Logged | 12  

That especially blows since I don't even remember Kitty being in it.

***

She is. With terrible hair.

••

Smitty draws what Smitty draws!

This is something I began to noticed as the Eighties and Nineties rolled along. Increasingly, artists were not required to stay "on model" any more. I'd find myself looking at the latest issue of something, and remembering all the time my art had been redrawn to make the characters "look right." (An ironic example was when I drew some THOR characters, and made them look as Walt Simonson was drawing them. The office redrew them in more generic form.)

I've mentioned before being in an LCS in Chicago when the X-MEN issue came out that introduced Maddie Pryor. I looked at the last page and had no idea what was going on. I asked the owner, behind the counter, and he said "I think she's supposed to look like Jean." But what she looked like was a Paul Smith Redhead. Nothing about her looked like any prior (ahem) version of Jean. (Which brings to mind looking at Smitty's earliest pages with Dave Cockrum. When we came to Smitty's version of Storm, with pronounced Black rather than feline features, Dave shrugged. "I guess we were drawing her wrong!")

This is not to dump on Smitty, mind you. If I had been EiC, or even X-Editor, I would have told him to get on-model and drift into his own style over several issues. But nobody did that, so Smitty did what Smitty did.

Back to Top profile | search
 

<< Prev Page of 21 Next >>
  Post ReplyPost New Topic
Printable version Printable version

Forum Jump
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot create polls in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum

 Active Topics | Member List | Search | Help | Register | Login