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Topic: John Byrne’s X-Men or Fantastic Four? (Topic Closed Topic Closed) Post ReplyPost New Topic
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Doug Centers
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Posted: 12 December 2016 at 6:48am | IP Logged | 1  

The X-Men run was the JB run for me for about 35 years.
Since I had quit comics before he started the FF I missed the initial run. I got the Omnibuses about a year or so ago (what fun that was new JB for me), so between the two I have to pick the FF because of the sheer number of great stories.
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Andrew Bitner
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Posted: 12 December 2016 at 7:28am | IP Logged | 2  

What I appreciate about these two runs is how both launched stories that resonate decades later. But what's really interesting is what the comparison-and-contrast show.

From UNCANNY to FF and beyond, we can see how JB grew as a storyteller by leaps and bounds--and yes, I think HIDDEN YEARS exceeds his run on UNCANNY for several reasons--and we all were the beneficiaries of this.

If we limit ourselves to only these two series, though, I choose FF, because this was JB really stretching his wings and showing us what he could do.
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John Byrne
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Posted: 12 December 2016 at 8:12am | IP Logged | 3  

As many of you know, I pitched the basic idea for HIDDEN YEARS back when Tom DeFalco was EiC, and he rejected it saying two books called X-MEN would be too confusing. (You all recall the turmoil in fandom when SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN was introduced, of course!)

If I had been able to do the series back then, whatever it's title might have been, I suspect it would have been more successful. The DSM had not yet taken complete control of the market, and books tended to sell on the basis of whether readers wanted them, not which store owner/manager chose to order them -- or not.

There was also the problem of the shrinking marketplace bringing the fringes closer to the center. Those readers who had memorized ever comma, and, especially with a book like X-MEN, rejected anything that lay outside what they already knew. SO many times I heard "Why wasn't this mentioned before??"

Timing, the marketplace, readers -- and office politics. The death of HIDDEN YEARS in four strokes.

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Joseph Greathouse
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Posted: 12 December 2016 at 8:18am | IP Logged | 4  

This is such a hard decision! Looks like I will have to get out my books during my upcoming holiday vacation! Yea research!
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Jeff Scott
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Posted: 12 December 2016 at 9:11am | IP Logged | 5  

I hope when Marvel decides to bring the FF back they ask John Byrne to write & draw it.  It's time for "back to basics" part 2. 
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John Byrne
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Posted: 12 December 2016 at 9:39am | IP Logged | 6  

Thanks, but no thanks.
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Jeff Scott
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Posted: 12 December 2016 at 9:46am | IP Logged | 7  

I understand.  You have already given us so much FF, I shouldn't be greedy! :)

Edited by Jeff Scott on 12 December 2016 at 9:49am
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John Cole
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Posted: 12 December 2016 at 12:07pm | IP Logged | 8  

I Prefer the X-Me run primarily because I was introduced to JB's art and creativity here prior to any FF work.
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John Byrne
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Posted: 12 December 2016 at 1:09pm | IP Logged | 9  

The hard reality here is that my work on X-MEN was more consistent than what I did on FF. During my FANTASTIC FOUR run I was battling my demons full time, and while much of what I produced there was technically superior, from a viewpoint of consistency I was all over the map.
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Ronald Joseph
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Posted: 12 December 2016 at 1:26pm | IP Logged | 10  

 I was all over the map.

So, can we just call what you did with the Fantastic Four "varying degrees of brilliant" and call it a day?  :)

*edited for typos


Edited by Ronald Joseph on 12 December 2016 at 1:28pm
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Fred J Chamberlain
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Posted: 12 December 2016 at 1:49pm | IP Logged | 11  

I love the art of X-Men over FF, but the FF stories hit a
mark far above the X-Men work.
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Michael Penn
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Posted: 12 December 2016 at 2:02pm | IP Logged | 12  

The last comicbook I bought as a regular reader was FF #250. I can't speak to anything after that, but I remember JB's run up to that point being excellent.

I suppose what I appreciated most in what I did read of his FF run is what I assume (judging on the basis of what Chris Claremont did before and after) was a major aspect of JB's contribution to the X-MEN, namely, attempting to keep the characters on traditional model or trying restoring them in such wise while telling new stories.

Although I didn't read any of HIDDEN YEARS until about a decade ago, that too seems to me exactly what he tried (and accomplished) in re the X-Men therein.
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