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Brian Miller
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 28 July 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 31698
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| Posted: 03 September 2025 at 2:58pm | IP Logged | 1
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I’m not gonna lie, I’d love to see Terry’s inks somewhere in there, but I say
that with full knowledge that each of you has grown as artists and it
wouldn’t look the same as it did in 1981. (Or even 85-86, my personal
favorite Byrne/Austin era).
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
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| Posted: 03 September 2025 at 3:20pm | IP Logged | 2
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As noted, Chris Ryall reached out to Terry, but he politely declined. The internet being the internet, however, I found this AI generated item: “Decision not to collaborate: According to online posts and fan discussions, Byrne explicitly did not want Austin to ink the Elsewhen project, stating that their individual styles have changed over the decades and no longer mesh as they once did.” Once again, at no point have I said I didn’t want Terry inking any ELSEWHEN pages. The decision was entirely his.
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Brian Miller
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 28 July 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 31698
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| Posted: 03 September 2025 at 3:40pm | IP Logged | 3
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Even AI has a problem with you!
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Dave Kopperman
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 27 December 2004
Location: United States
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| Posted: 03 September 2025 at 4:07pm | IP Logged | 4
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JB wrote:
| I do not think that word means what you think it means... any [...]Chiaroscuro[...] you see in X-MEN came from my pencil, not Terry’s pen. |
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I definitely meant it! I see Terry as having translated those pencils with a perfect balance of knowing when to black, when to hatch, when to tone, and when to leave negative space. A good point of contrast is Ric Villamonte on that Japan issue, who I'd assume was given similarly complete pencils with all black areas and shading properly indicated by you, but who doesn't seem to have known how to balance it all.
Certainly a part of Terry being a great Ringo to your work at that point is his cleanliness, yes, but I think it's more having an aligned sense of composition and value balance. Not sure if it's a thing you'd ever discussed in depth with him at the time or later on, but I have to imagine it's a key reason why people hold the teaming in such high regard, decades later.
I've noted in the Silver Surfer cover thread that a real tell for a JB drawing is knowing where the light sources are, and a good embellisher is the one who groks that and properly conveys.
Edited by Dave Kopperman on 03 September 2025 at 4:10pm
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
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| Posted: 03 September 2025 at 4:11pm | IP Logged | 5
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I definitely meant it! I see Terry as having translated those pencils with a perfect balance of knowing when to black, when to hatch, when to tone, and when to leave negative space.••• All of what you describe was in the pencils. Altho Terry brought his distinctive line, working almost exclusively in pen, he described himself as a “tracer”. What I gave him was what I got.
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Dave Kopperman
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| Posted: 03 September 2025 at 4:17pm | IP Logged | 6
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Fair enough. He's definitely a unique inker in that he can impose his very identifiable style but still manage to let all of the original penciller through. Which should not be a rare combination of skills but somehow is.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
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| Posted: 03 September 2025 at 4:31pm | IP Logged | 7
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It’s been my experience that many inkers seem to think their job is to just miss the lines the penciller has drawn. Fortunately Terry was not one of those.
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Brian Miller
Byrne Robotics Member
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| Posted: 03 September 2025 at 5:28pm | IP Logged | 8
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A good point of contrast is Ric Villamonte on that Japan issue…
*****
JB, any recollection of why Terry didn’t ink this one?
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Charles Valderrama
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Joined: 16 April 2004
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| Posted: 03 September 2025 at 5:48pm | IP Logged | 9
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I will always appreciate JB & Terry Austin's collaboration on UXM... but years have past and I've grown to enjoy other inkers on JB's work... I even found a few favorites who I preferred over Austin.
-C!
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
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| Posted: 03 September 2025 at 5:51pm | IP Logged | 10
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JB, any recollection of why Terry didn’t ink this one?••• None!! The nightmare that goes with that one: Villamonte was not familiar with the X-Men, but he had just done an Avengers job, so he “fixed” Wolverine into the Beast. Marie Severin had to ride to the rescue and fix it back!
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Vinny Valenti
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| Posted: 03 September 2025 at 7:09pm | IP Logged | 11
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I used to bring up how much Dan Green remained compatible with your pencils from the 70's into the 00's - you both had significantly changed your approach to pencils and inks in that timeframe, but in a way that remained in sync the whole time.
He would have been the perfect guest inker for ELSEWHEN, especially given his own multi-year stint inking the characters. Alas.....
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John Byrne
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| Posted: 03 September 2025 at 7:41pm | IP Logged | 12
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Dan was one of the first to produce inks that looked how the pages looked in my head.
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