If by "conceit" you mean "does not suffer fools gladly", I plead guilty. If you mean anything else, your "case" still has a few lightyears to go before it even comes within sight of the courthouse.



* And since you have already made your true colors abundantly apparent, don't bother to come scuttling back with the old "Byrne and his legion of losers won't take any criticism!" BS.

"This is my proof, John. 
 You were also prejudging future creative teams, making them seem inferior to you already ("worst team ever...").  Who knows, maybe they will be far better than you and Gail.  Give them the benefit of the doubt (instead of the conceit)."

Alvin, (is that your real name?) he said that it could be either way, he didn't know, and he's telling readers to find out for themselves.. he also says that a hype might be coming up, which might very well be the case considering all the hoopla surrounding Superman right now.
(the movie, all star Superman, crisis, etc)

- What the hell are you smoking?

Come back when you learn to read, Alvin.

JB: * And since you have already made your true colors abundantly apparent, don't bother to come scuttling back with the old "Byrne and his legion of losers won't take any criticism!" BS.

Oh, JB, don't you figure that this stuff has been posted to Newsaromicon, the DC boards, and Lying in the Gutters for fanboy consumption? "John Byrne was mean to me! Waugh! Waugh!"

I've read that "Byrne Apologist" crap for a while now, and what I've realized is that you have some truly obsessive stalkers out there in cyberspace. I simply cannot understand why they consume everything you say with abandon and read every book you write or draw (whether or not they buy them) with fervor, yet they say they can't stand you or your work. I've not been a Chris Claremont fan for some time now, but I don't rip him apart on message boards or campaign against the books he writes. In fact, since I felt that I'd moved away from his work, I simply stopped buying it. It's no one's fault; it's just evolution.

Have you checked your front lawn lately? I think there may be some DC posters sleeping out there and going through your trash.

"I simply cannot understand why they consume everything you say with abandon and read every book you write or draw"

If these nutcases are actually buying the comics, JB is laughing all the way to the bank, aint he?

I'm a fairly decent artist myself, and I can honestly say that even though I'm completely utterly inferior to JB, I'm qualified to have an opinion on it from a purely educational/technical point of view, and he has most decidedly improved - and greatly so.
I think that if you ask any artist working today, they would all concur with this observation, because there are just so many specifics and details that has changed for the better over the years.
Backgrounds, cityscapes, furniture, cars, clothes, anatomy, etc, etc, that has become increasingly versatile and identifyiable from the real world, that simply wasn't there in the beginning.
There's a visual richness there that was not there in the early years.

What has changed however, is the quality of the inkers, which has dropped generally, across the board, and not just for JB, but for everyone.

John,

How on earth do you put up with all this shit?  You are much nicer than most people.  I would have told this Alvin guy to "Go eat a dick!!"

As far as conceited goes, I actually see you going more in the other direction.   You put your ego on the backburner by working on books starring third rate characters ...in the current marketplace no less!.  Instead of just playing the safe bets, you don't seem to worry about the blow to your ego when a risky book fails.  You would rather just tell the stories about the characters you love. 

And then you put your heartfelt beliefs out on the internet under your own name (where they will be dragged through the mud by trolls) for the whole world to see.  You say things that will be difficult for others to hear and will be sure to make them mad at you.  You are not afraid to deal with the bullshit these trolls attach to your name as long as you think it could help the comic book industry that you love. 

Damn it, man!  You need to be more protective of your ego for crying out loud.  You need to think more highly of yourself and be more conceited.  Don't even take on a project unless it is Batman, Superman, or the X-Men!

John, I thank you for your work ethic and appreciate you taking time out of your busy life to associate with your fans.

According to that recent Bob Dylan documentary, there were lots of folkies that would travel around to Dylan's concerts, pay for admission, then spend the entire concert heckling. This is the 21st century equivalent.