But Kurt is always the classy one!

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He's not the only one, Gail. Thanks for the 2 cents.

I will never, never, ever understand the scorn and hateful resent of JB out in comic book land.  I really, really don't understand it.  Anybody with a functioning brain cell can see that all of the Bad Byrne stories are completely without merit and are LIES.

Right after JB had posted some pencils of pages at the start of his JLA run, I was on the phone with a minor-comic Pro and he mentioned to me that a friend of his had seen the JB JLA pages and that they were awful.  JB was "phoning it in"...no backgrounds, stock poses, stupid panel layout and that he was just doing it for the money.  I retorted that I had seen about a dozen or so pages that JB had posted to the board and NONE of those charges were true.  He then came back with, well, he only showed you guys the GOOD pages.  I got tired of dealing with him, cancelled the commission I had just ordered, and hung up the phone. (and that bastard still owes me $200 worth of commissioned art--guess I'll write it off since I ordered it in 2001!!!!)

I've spoken with Denny O'Neil, Mike Carlin, Roger Stern and others about working with JB and all of them had nothing but NICE THINGS to say about JB.  These are people who I look up to, and who's opinions I respect.

And...of course, all my experiences on the several JB Message Boards have been NOTHING BUT positive experiences and I truly look forward to interacting with JB everyday.

Eventually, hopefully!, these rumors, stories and lies will be put to bed and JB will be honored for the truly wonderful work which he has produced.  I sincerely hope that JB lives a long full enough life to see this.

But what do I know...I'm a mindless drone.

MPH

From time to time, as a kind of balance to this, I have tossed out what have been dubbed (not by me) "Byrne Challenges". This is when I ask anyone who has a "Bad Byrne" story to come forth an repeat it on whatever message board I happen to be frequenting. I make only two stipulations: the story must be first hand, and the story must be true. The last time I did this a "fellow professional" leapt into the fray with no less than two stories -- neither of which were first hand, both of which were false. When I called in someone who happened to have witnessed the reality of the reported events, to inform the poster that his story was in error, that poster said he didn't care, and that he intended to keep telling the stories anyway.

This is why I know, in my heart of hearts, that there really is no way out of this snake pit. Truth (see above post) is simply not an issue.

Truth (see above post) is simply not an issue.

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At which point you do what?  Just keep on keeping on?  Weather out the storm and hope for the best?

The world is so full of idiots.

MPH

JB,

How horrible! 

Let me say that at the LCS that I frequent, JB comics are held in high regards and are something to look forward to when they're released.  We've been talking about the ATOM stuff for weeks! 

I hadn't heard any references to bad JB stories until I started frequenting the AOL boards a few years ago.  I always felt that they had zero merit, and paid no attention to them past the initial reading.  It's simply ridiculous that they're having any sort of impact on JB's career. 

Joe

Gail Simone wrote: Anyway, that's my two cents, which today, is worth about no cents at all.

Thanks for putting in your two cents here -- I can't tell you how it saddens me, though, to hear you talk about the rampant unprofessionalism you encountered among your fellow "professionals" when you were originally teamed with JB on Action.  While I find it disheartening, I do not find it suprising at all, though, because I have run up against this sort of thing myself -- in fact, I was banned from the Comic Bloc forums with no warning whatsoever for simply asking Ethan Van Sciver a question about an overtly disparaging remark he made about JB in a discussion thread on the Comic Bloc forums (Ethan's comments were obviously interpreted as disparaging towards JB by other posters, too, given that the various responses to Ethan's post included comments such as "FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIERRRRRRRRRRRCEEEEEEEEEEE!", "hell that was so harsh I got burned....or should I say Byrned," and "Okay, that's Burn of the week right there, ladies and gents.").  After three pages' worth of jabs at JB by Ethan, other posters, and several of the Comic Bloc moderators, I asked Ethan a very pointed question about his comment and indicated that I was surprised that he was acting so unprofessionally because he generally seemed congenial and amiable whenever he had posted here on the Byrne Robotics forum.

After that, I was promptly banned -- not sure if Ethan banned me himself (he's a moderator over there), or if it was one of the other mods (most likely Capt. Dallas, I would guess).

Ethan was for some reason banned here at the Byrne Robotics forum after this thread occurred, so I suspect that my ban from the Comic Bloc forums was intended as a bit of quid pro quo -- I specifically worded my post to ensure that I would not offend Ethan, in fact, and revised it several times before posting to ensure that it would be delivered with the proper "tone," so I don't think it was my post itself that led to the ban (you can see what I posted for yourself if you'd like -- http://www.comicbloc.com/forums/showpost.php?p=582908&po stcount=37). 

Anyway, be advised -- your overt support of John Byrne here in this thread may lead to some undesirable backlash over on the Comic Bloc forums.

Have you ever considered doing a podcast at wordballoon.com?
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He's a recent new member here, tho' I don't recall any posts yet.

There isn't a way out at this point, because the kind of people perpetuating it aren't interested in things like the truth.  The mistake is assuming the people "offended" and spinning these tales are genuine.  They aren't actually upset or offended, they only feel those emotions when their bait isn't taken or their "clever" set-ups don't work.  Correct information is not a solution, because it's doesn't lead them to what they need.

The way I see it, getting past the Bad Byrne stories is a test, showing you whether or not a poster is worth conversing with.  Like the man and his work or not as you will, but if the reason for the latter is some nonsense about convention scoldings or context-less charges of racism, well that really says all that needs to be said about that person, doesn't it?