I usually play the cards I'm dealt. Which is, as you note, one of the reasons I don't do cons any more. Too many sad boys who want to collect their own "Bad Byrne" story, and come in with guns a-blazin' trying to provoke me. 99 times out of 100, they fail -- in which case they just make up a story -- but sometimes they succeed. In the end, it's simply not worth the energy.

That sounds like you're saying I should change my work to suit your changing tastes.

For arguments sake, let's say JB offended you at a con or online. He made you so angry that you didn't want to read his work anymore. Great time to move on to another creator who treated you like a king when you talked to him. Good for new creator, bad for JB.

Yet, it seems that everyone who feels slighted by JB can't stop talking about him, reading about him or follow his every action online. Like a lover who has been scorned they can't stop dreaming about the great times of their relationship. (Oh when I loved him and he was on the Fantastic Four those were the best times) But like a lover who can't get over the fact their favorite moved on they stalk and criticize their current relationship. (Doom Patrol is not as pretty as Wonder Woman, doesn't he know that I loved him more when he was doing Namor? Come back to what I loved you on so I can love again!) He is the love that didn't live up to your impossible to meet expectations and now you want to drag his name in the mud. If this were the real world and not online, I would think JB would have to take out a restraining order for a lot of people. So all you former slighted fans please keep 15 links away from this website at all times.

Heh - they're retconning themselves into never having liked your work. "Post-Crisis" fans.

Plus, as it has become popular to dis my work with increasing vehemence, even those who once spoke favorably of my Superman days have started chirping a whole new tune. The "club" grows retroactively.

******

Could be, but you obviously have a pretty sizable and loyal fan following, too. Plenty of fans (many of whom have never even heard of this board) still enjoy your work, past and present.

As for the whole "Bad Byrne" deal, it's hard to understand how a creator who has posted 22,000+ times on a fan site can be considered (by some) to be unfriendly to fans. Seems to me that if you didn't like the fans, you would stay as far away from these types of discussions as possible.

If anything, JB, you may be guilty of being too open. In the real-time world of message boards, it's easy to understand calling someone "an idiot" or other name in the context of a heated debate, particularly if you have had previous dealings with that poster.

But it's also understandable how someone who doesn't know the context could say, "Boy, John Byrne sure was rude to that guy." Even though message board comments are the equivalent of a bar room discussion, they become a permanent transcript in a way that casual conversations never do. Sometimes, it's better to step away from the computer, walk around the room, maybe turn on the TV before clicking the "Post Reply" button. I know how tough that can be, though - I certainly don't always take my own advice.

I'm torn on this...JBs forthright style is one of my reasons for coming here at all; I think his posts are entertaining and informative in about equal measure.  Too, it would stick in my craw somewhat to think that the campaigning against him by the small number of individuals elsewhere had borne fruit in getting him to modify his behaviour.  However, if it would help him to restore his rightful position in the industry, as a huge fan of his, it might be worth losing a little of what I like.

As ever, it's his call, and his cause to hurt if he wishes (if indeed 'it' does hurt it).  But it is surely undeniable that his net presence here is fantastc, and greatly appeciated even by a lapsed comic buyer like me