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Bill Dowling
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Joined: 07 July 2004
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Posted: 26 July 2018 at 12:13pm | IP Logged | 1  

JB, you went back and modified some of the pages here. When working on an issue that’s a real job, with a real deadline and a real inker, would you often find yourself going back to completed pages to make changes?
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John Byrne
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Posted: 26 July 2018 at 12:14pm | IP Logged | 2  

When working on an issue that’s a real job, with a real deadline and a real inker, would you often find yourself going back to completed pages to make changes?

••

You bet. One of the reasons I like to work WAAAAAAAAY ahead of schedule is to grant myself exactly that luxury!

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Dale E Ingram
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Posted: 26 July 2018 at 1:43pm | IP Logged | 3  

How far in advance of actual publication did you work when you were on the X-Men? I just saw an artist yesterday posting preliminary character sketches, getting ready to start work on a book that is coming out in October. 
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Michael Gummelt
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Posted: 26 July 2018 at 1:54pm | IP Logged | 4  

John, I just wanted to join this forum and thank you for everything you’ve done and the special place your work has in my childhood.  I first discovered the X-Men with issue 175 (Paul Smith, whose run I also loved) at the “golden age” of 12.  I immediately became enraptured with the X-Men and got a subscription (my first issue to arrive was 183 - the classic John Romita Jr. issue where Logan takes a moping Peter to a bar to get into a fight with a “just minding his business” Juggernaut).

I also immediately went back and got as many back issues as I could find.  It was like a 20 or 30 block walk to the comic store and I could only afford the less popular issues or the issues with the covers missing sometimes, but I got as many as I could.  I discovered that, while Cockrum’s run was series-defining, it was your run that I loved the most.  Something about your style just really worked for me - the characters were so solid, so well-defined, so unique, and Austin’s inks were so clean, yet kept the exquisite details you put into your work.  The way you laid out a page, the action was so clear, so dynamic and kept me wanting to turn the page eagerly.  It definitely inspired me to try my own hand at drawing comics (I bought the “How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way”) and, while I never went into drawing professionally, you’re probably still the main influence on my drawing style.

I love that you’re doing this as a passion project and nothing more.  I know a lot of people here wish it to become an official project or series and, while that would be cool for US, I love that you’re doing this for YOU and choosing to share it with us. The fact that you’re doing it for your own enjoyment makes it so much more special.  You have total control over it and are doing what you’re personally inspired to do.  

As someone who has done creative projects both professionally and personally (I’ve drawn comics for myself - one was 135 pages and took me years to do, written a bunch of stories and made a bunch of short films and programmed a bunch of video games), I totally get what it feels like to do something just for the love of doing it.  Please don’t let people pressure you or put demands on you and make it feel like work.  I don’t get the sense that you’d let this happen, but I sincerely hope you don’t feel obligated to do this for anyone else but yourself.

Thank you again for the memories, inspiration and for sharing this with us.
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John Byrne
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Posted: 26 July 2018 at 1:56pm | IP Logged | 5  

How far in advance of actual publication did you work when you were on the X-Men? I just saw an artist yesterday posting preliminary character sketches, getting ready to start work on a book that is coming out in October.

•••

Four months was about standard for the lead time on the pencils. I prefer six.

(STORY: An artist came to the editor and said even tho he had started in March there was no way he could hit a July deadline. He needed an additional two months. "Okay," said the editor. "Let's say you started in January.")

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Michael Gummelt
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Posted: 26 July 2018 at 2:00pm | IP Logged | 6  

Oh, by the way, I wanted to ask you something about your process.

Whenever I’m writing or drawing, I sometimes get to a scene that I feel is necessary for advancement of the plot, but which I’m not really feeling inspired to write/draw.  Does this ever happen to you?  How do you get past it?

  • Do you write/plot around it so you don’t have to show the scene?
  • Do you just trudge through it to get it done so you can get back to the “fun” stuff (maybe revisit it later to fix it up).
  • Do you skip it and do it later?

I had this happen to me a few times in my 135 page comic personal project (the reason it took me years to do).  Though in that case (looking back on it now), I had started out just making it up as I went along, then at some point got really interested in the story and wrote out the rest of the script for the comic.  

That might have been where I went wrong - letting the script get so far ahead of the drawing - then the new scenes I was to draw didn’t seem “fresh” and inspiring, they felt like obligations.  Maybe I needed to not feel so constrained by the script I’d written...
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John Byrne
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Posted: 26 July 2018 at 2:16pm | IP Logged | 7  

John Byrne the writer doesn't come up with scenes John Byrne the artist doesn't want to draw. ;)
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Philippe Pinoli
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Posted: 26 July 2018 at 2:36pm | IP Logged | 8  

That last panel is...I can't find the
word. Reminds me of the tank hit in Days
of Future Past...iconic !
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Sean Watson
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Joined: 24 June 2012
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Posted: 26 July 2018 at 2:40pm | IP Logged | 9  

HOLY MOLEY!!!! That last panel with Colossus is INCREDIBLE!!!! 
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Gundars Berzins
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Posted: 26 July 2018 at 4:38pm | IP Logged | 10  

I agree Sean!
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Nathan Greno
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Posted: 26 July 2018 at 10:57pm | IP Logged | 11  

Another great page!!

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Kevin Ricci
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Joined: 30 April 2004
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Posted: 27 July 2018 at 4:31am | IP Logged | 12  

Mr. Byrne,

Absolutely beautiful artwork.  I mean, this is stunning.  I always felt that the art from the original run couldn't be touched, but these pages are even better.

If this ever becomes a series (fingers crossed), there would be so many benefits:
  • Marvel gets a true pro that will deliver gorgeous work while receiving a metric ton of press, all of which will be delivered on time each and every month (most likely, several months ahead of schedule)
  • The Fans get a wish come true - new stories picking up from what is arguably one of the top 3 runs in comic book history (right there with the Fantastic Four mid-1960's work and the early Spider-Man)
  • John Byrne gets to answer the question of what would have happened to the X-Men if he had taken control of the book way back when (and for the icing on the cake, receives what I hope will be an armored truck full of cash from Marvel and some very lucky art collectors)
Even if this dream ends after the 20 pages we've seen, please know that you've brought an extraordinary amount of happiness to many of us, so thank you very, very much for making it happen!

Kevin
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