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Thursday, July 25, 2019

John Byrne's DC Universe



Back on June 6, we oohed and ahhed over some Marvelcentric sketches and original art by John Byrne. Today we'll visit this master as he does his thing across the DC Universe.

While most Bronze Agers would perhaps associate Byrne with the X-Men, what about his tenure at DC? It's pretty likely that from the mid-80s onward, he illustrated just about every DC character in one place or another. By taking turns on Action Comics when it was a team-up book to the Legends mini-series and beyond, Byrne had quite a sandbox in which to play. I know there are detractors to the Man of Steel reboot; personally, I loved it. I've said many times over the years that for all the love I have for Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes, I had next to no love at all for Superman in the Silver and Bronze Ages. I found the character way too powerful, and to borrow a term from https://www.superdickery.com/, he was... well... you know.

So feast your eyeballs on the commissioned sketches and original art below. I think you'll see why Byrne makes the Top 10 list of illustrators for most fans who grew up in the 1970s-80s. And my continued appreciation to the owners of the images below for making them available on the Web. Those folks of course retain all rights.









11 comments:

  1. Good stuff, I was disappointed when Byrne left Marvel for DC, as I was mostly a Marvel fan. But I followed Byrne and enjoyed most of the work he did for DC, bought the Man Of Steel mini and almost every issue of Superman and Action Comics. Although that story where Superman appeared in a porn film with Big Barda, that was odd.

    Having said that, his best work was done at Marvel 1975-85. His best DC work wasn't as good as his best Marvel art.

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    1. Whoa - I have no knowledge of that, JA. Porn film???

      Doug

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  2. Ah, yes, the Sleez two-parter; I guess DC was trying to be edgy. I like Byrne's art most times, although I haven't read a lot of his DC stuff. He tended to focus on characters I never cared about, like Doom Patrol and the Fourth World.

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    1. Obviously Mike's on the inside on this one. Now I must needs uptake a quest.

      Doug

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  3. What struck me most is that Nightwing is clearly grown-up Robin. Obviously, I've known it since 1984 but to really see it is delightful!

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    1. It's a lovely rendition, isn't it? It just "looks" like Robin.

      Doug

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  4. John Byrne's artwork had lost something by the time he got to DC, but its as a writer he really got it wrong. Not keen on his Superman (sorry Doug) but OMAC and his Fourth World stuff really burnt my biscuits.
    And thats not just because I'd automatically complain about Kirby titles being redone by anyone else - Simonson wrote and drew an excellent Orion series (for that matter, Byrne managed one of the only decent post-60s FF runs for a while).

    -sean

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    1. This is what I love about comics! Different takes on the same material. It's what these sorts of forums were made for!

      Doug

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  5. Ah, some fine images. Especially like the retro Batman cover and the Batman 'collage'. As for his DC runs, his Action stories (with the teamups) appealed to this reader. Thought he did a sharp version of the Metal Men...

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  6. Like you, I love the 50s homage.

    Doug

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  7. Doug, the "Supes and Barda Make a Porno" story is from Action 592 and 593, if you really want to go there :)

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