John Byrne recently announced that he won't be working for
Marvel anytime soon. He was working on a profitable X-Men: The
Hidden Years title, but Marvel cancelled it as part of sweeping changes to their
X-men line of comics. I last interviewed John in the Summer of 1998 and
decided now would be a good time to talk to him again about Marvel, DC,
future work, Marv Wolfman and more.
Coville:
Did Marvel try to give you another book to do to make up for X-men:
The Hidden Years?
Byrne:
No. There was an "offer" to continue XHY through issue 22 if I would
agree to do another project (The X-Book with Chris Claremont, which Bill
Jemas had already announced I was doing, without having my final
confirmation) but I was not in the market for that kind of "deal".
Coville:
One of the big questions X-men fans are wondering is what books are
getting cancelled and which ones are not? Can you tell us?
Byrne:
I'm not sure. I don't think Marvel is sure, either.
Coville:
We know that X-men: The Hidden Years ends with #19. Does that end
a story arc?
Note: Since this interview has taken place Marvel and John Byrne have
come to the agreement to finish X-Men: The Hidden Years with issue
#22.
Byrne:
No. Right in the middle of one.
Coville:
With almost all cancellations there are bound to be subplots and
character developments left hanging. Can you tell us what you did and
planned on doing after X-men: the Hidden Years #19?
Byrne:
No, sorry. I don't want another writer reading this and "finishing"
XHY for me. Alas, this has happened before.
Coville:
You originally said that Joe Quesada gave you an explanation that
didn't make sense. What was that explanation?
Byrne:
Canceling books that are selling in order to make room for books which
may or may not sell, in the name of increasing sales, makes no sense to me.
Coville:
Joe Quesada has taken a different route than most EIC's when it
comes to conflicts between creators and editors, using Fandom.com to
tell his side of the story. Did you expect him to do that and which
way do you think editors should respond to conflicts like yours?
Byrne:
The editors are free to do and say whatever they want, of course.
Based on the reactions I have seen from posters on AOL, it would seem
Quesada has done himself no favors in this case, since he has given a
description of XHY which, as fans are quick to point out, in no way
matches the actual book.
Coville:
Now that some time has passed, can you tell us what happened with
your leaving Hulk?
Byrne:
Coville:
In the latest Hulk Annual, Tom Brevoort apologized for your Hulk
stories and Peter David retconed them out in 3 panels within Captain
Marvel #2. How did you feel about that?
Byrne:
Coville:
Recently Bill Jemas made some statements about making comics
worth 20 dollars. Do you think Marvel should encourage speculating again?
Byrne:
The biggest problem with the Suits in charge at Marvel these days is
that they have no sense of history. They do not know how the
comicbook industry functioned before they came into the business.
They think the conditions they found were the conditions as they have
always been. Thus, they are convinced the way to "get it back" is to
return to the insanity of the speculator market. Rather like "fixing" the
Titanic by crashing it into another iceberg.
Coville:
I understand you testified at the Marv Wolfman vs. Marvel case in
where Marvel won the rights to the Blade and Deacon Frost character.
What did you tell the court?
Byrne:
Coville:
And why do you feel that way?
Byrne:
Coville:
I don't think it will surprise anyone if you get some new work from DC,
but what about smaller publishers like Dark Horse?
Byrne:
The marketplace is still too soft for me to function in that context.
Coville:
Would you work for CrossGen?
Byrne:
I have no familiarity with their company or their line.
Coville:
Do you think you'll ever write and/or draw something that is not
superheroes?
Byrne:
In my career to date I have done science-fiction, war, western and
humor titles and stories. I certainly expect to do more.
Coville:
Byrne:
Coville:
Would you work under the Vertigo imprint or any 'mature readers'
comics?
Byrne:
NEXT MEN was labeled "Mature Audiences" and dealt with mature
themes.
Coville:
There has been lots of news around DC lately regarding censorship,
comics being pulped, legal holdups and so forth. Have you ever had any
problems with this while working there?
Byrne:
No. I understand the rules and find no problem working within them.
Coville:
What details can you give about your working with Stan Lee to do
the Legion of Superheroes as he would have created them?
Byrne:
Other than the fact that it is planned, nothing. Stan has not yet
provided a plot, and we have not talked about what direction we might
take.
Coville:
You've said that the market is too soft for you to go back to
creator owned work. This is being debated, primarily among people who
say they are making "loads" of money through creator owned work.
Considering the amount of money that creators are making through TPB royalties, do
you still think Work For Hire is the only way to go?
Byrne:
When have I ever said it was?
Coville:
So is there a place between fully creator owned, controlled and
financed work and corporate work for hire that you're able to do?
Something like say League of Extraordinary Gentlemen or
Transmetropolitan?
Byrne:
Of course. There are countless avenues open to any who wish to seek
them out. It simply depends on what you want to do, where, and when.
Coville:
The comic industry seems to be moving towards a TPB/Bookstore
format, do you think this is a good thing?
Byrne:
As with everything else in this business, it will depend entirely upon how
it is handled. When Quesada told me this was one of the directions
Marvel was planning on taking, I asked what sort of support structure they were
setting up -- how they expected to get the necessary volumes of material
into the "real" bookstores. He had no answer. This is not the sort of
thing, after all, one can simply do and expect it to work, as if the very
existence of the product will create a demand for it.
Coville:
Any last things you want to tell comic readers?
Byrne: