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Matt Hawes
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 16657
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| Posted: 20 April 2026 at 4:54pm | IP Logged | 1
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Here's the video review:
He is a fan of Byrne's work, though he clearly doesn't know the history of how JB came to work for Marvel.
Edited by Matt Hawes on 20 April 2026 at 5:00pm
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 136093
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| Posted: 20 April 2026 at 5:35pm | IP Logged | 2
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Enthusiastic, but this is another drinking game. Get sloshed counting the factual errors! (Did you know it was Weezi’s choice that I left the book? News to me!)
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Peter Martin
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 17 March 2008
Location: Canada
Posts: 16434
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| Posted: 20 April 2026 at 6:17pm | IP Logged | 3
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The "history" is awry, but he's right about how much fun X-Men Elsewhen is/was, and how exciting. Just a wonderful, unexpected gift. Course this kid's still green if he was a kid in the 90s... :)
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Steve Coates
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 17 November 2014
Location: Canada
Posts: 941
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| Posted: 20 April 2026 at 8:31pm | IP Logged | 4
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Ooh, I say this a couple of days ago. I didn't get very deep into it. The early errors were too much for me to continue.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 136093
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| Posted: 21 April 2026 at 2:01pm | IP Logged | 5
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As I have mentioned before, during my tenure UNCANNY was always a heartbeat ahead of cancellation. But many fans tend to remember X-MEN in those days as their favorite, and thus assume it was always the big seller it came to be. Recall the tale of the fan at MidOhioCon who, somewhat belligerently, insisted I had become a millionaire during my time on the book. His “reasoning” ignored the fact that royalties did not come along until years later, and even had they been in place, the cover price was only around 35¢. My 1.5% share of that—after the first 100,000 were sold—would not have amounted to much.
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Charles Valderrama
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 4948
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| Posted: 29 April 2026 at 6:11pm | IP Logged | 6
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JB's tenure on UNCANNY X-MEN will always be misrepresented unfortunately... but at least those of us here know the facts and can enjoy insight from the man himself.
Looking forward to holding "X-Men Elsewhen" in my hands. Such a 'full circle' moment.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 136093
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| Posted: 29 April 2026 at 9:25pm | IP Logged | 7
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Of all the things they get wrong about my time on X-MEN, the one that burns my biscuits is when they credit Chris as co- and sometimes SOLE creator of ALPHA FLIGHT.
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Joe Smith
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 29 August 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 6754
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| Posted: 30 April 2026 at 2:29pm | IP Logged | 8
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Alpha Flight was the best. Talk about literally running to the newsstand after
school on Wednesdays!! Always greeted with some kind of surprise. Aurora
was great for that….really got me ready for actual dating when I got older.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 136093
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| Posted: 30 April 2026 at 5:49pm | IP Logged | 9
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When AF was announced there was a general chorus of Not another group book!!. It somewhat influenced my treatment of the series, as if each character had his/her solo title, and occasionally we’d see them together, like the Avengers. The cry became Why are they never together???sigh
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James Woodcock
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 21 September 2007
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 8474
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| Posted: 30 April 2026 at 6:38pm | IP Logged | 10
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ALPHA FLIGHT was unique.
I remember seeing the ad and waiting for that first issue. It did not
disappoint. I do admit I missed subtleties as I was young (Northstar,
Snowbird’s dad), but that meant they were there to be discovered when I
reread the series at an older age - the mark of a truly well written, all age
story.
That the team was not together for a large part of that first year really made
it special when they did connect, adding an extra layer to that one year
anniversary, until you drove a stake through my heart of course.
I have yet to see anyone figure out how to handle that team since you left
them.
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Greg McPhee
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 25 August 2004
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 5200
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| Posted: 01 May 2026 at 10:16am | IP Logged | 11
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As I have mentioned before, during my tenure UNCANNY was always a heartbeat ahead of cancellation. But many fans tend to remember X-MEN in those days as their favorite, and thus assume it was always the big seller it came to be.
=======================================================
Chris Claremont has said in multiple interviews that although Dark Phoenix is a defining moment, the sales never reached the levels people thought they were at until Paul Smith was on the book. They were constantly rising but didn't hit the in excess of 400,000 per month until 1983 / 1984.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
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| Posted: 01 May 2026 at 11:39am | IP Logged | 12
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UNCANNY 137, based on what I was told at the time, did around 175,000. The highest number we’d seen since the relaunch. And that was without any marketing push. After all, there was really no way to promote something nobody knew was coming, not even the people who worked on it! The fans knew only that it would wrap up the Dark Phoenix storyline and be double sized. This is something few understand who were not there at the time. The Death of Phoenix was one of Marvel’s first EVENTS—maybe even THE first—and as time has passed more and more have come to think it was PLANNED that way. And have tried to duplicate that flash of lightning in a bottle.
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