John Byrne quotes

As I have said many times, I don’t care if they wipe away every trace of every book I have ever worked on. I just wish they’d stop doing so by pressing the “rewind” button. That’s just creative bankruptcy. (2005)

I repeat, bullshit. Pull your head out of your ass for a moment and look at this not as a long time comic book reader, but as a civilian. This looks like a comic book, feels like a comic book, smells like a comic book, tastes like a comic book. No “uninitiated” person is going to look at this and think “Ah! This lurid cover illustration indicates this book must be intended for mature readers!” They are going to think “Look what they are selling to my children!!”* And those children are going to think “Co-o-o-o-o-o-ol!!!”

Imagine, 24 pages of superhero adventures produced by the same writer and artist every month!! How did they do it? (What? By being professional about it? But that's too much like work!) (2008)

Byrne has also been accused of being misogynistic.

Byrne has developed a noticeable online presence, with his own website and forum, on which he is a participant and moderator, and a column, titled “In My Humble Opinion” [sic], which has run at both Slush Factory and UGO.online. His comments and statements, both online, and through the years in print, have gained Byrne a reputation as a controversial figure. Whilst noted as “one of if not the most longstanding and prolific writer/artist in comics today”. Byrne has also gained a reputation for engaging in feuding with other comic book creators, being accused of getting into such conflicts with Peter David, Jim Shooter, Joe Quesada, Mark Evanier, and Marv Wolfman, whilst in 2003, Byrne and Erik Larsen got into an argument, which saw Byrne claiming, “You can tell when Erik is saying something stupid—his lips move” and Larsen calling Byrne “a habitual liar.” Rich Johnston has noted the feud as ending with Byrne issuing a “non-apology apology”.

This is the best job in the world. I just wish talentless hacks and suits would stop f***ing around with it!!! (2001)

If ^^***** had the stones they’d say “Screw continuity! As of January 2007, we’re hitting ‘rewind’ and resetting all the books to where they were in 1972—just set in modern time.” No “cosmic events,” no 100 issue crossovers. Just an editorial fiat, like Man of Steel. Only way to get things done. (2006)

Literature professor Marc Singer has taken objection to Byrne’s justification for the character Galactus’ continuous planetary genocides. (2004) Matthew Rossi, a writer at the same website, likewise objected to a comparison between file sharing and rape.

Being an immigrant myself, I have something of an insight, I think, into the way Clark’s mind works. I was born in England, and I am proud of my English heritage (I was also quite a lot older than Kal-El when I left “home,” so my connections would be stronger) but I grew up in Canada and I have lived for the last 25 years in the US, and I don’t ever—ever—feel like a “displaced Englishman.”

Clark would be proud, too, of his Kryptonian heritage, but later portrayals of him have tried to shoehorn in too much of the pychobabble of adopted children longing for and seeking out their biological parents. Excuse my French, but to me, they fall under the heading of “ungrateful little sh*ts.”

Clark grew up as human, thinks as a human, reacts as a human. He lives and loves as a human. And that is what really defines him. (2005)

One of the things that kept most comics from being monthly was that very few artists could produce 24 pages per month. Jack Kirby was very much the exception to the rule, but his towering presence at Marvel started to dictate the whole shape of the industry—and that's where problems set in! (2008)

At the Dallas Fantasy Fair, during a panel discussion Byrne made unflattering comments about a number of industry figures, including Gene Colan, Lynn Graeme, Marv Wolfman, Len Wein, and Roy Thomas. After a transcript of the panel was published in The Comics Journal #75 (September 1982), Thomas threatened a libel suit if Byrne did not apologize. In a letter printed in TCJ #82 (July 1983), Byrne retracted his statements. He claimed he was only repeating information from Wolfman and Wein and wrote “I acted only in the office of a parrot.”

Usually, I am quick to point out how the internet would have had a profoundly negative effect—as it does today—if it had been in place twenty, thirty, forty years ago. How things like the DC rebirth in the 1950s would have most certainly died aborning had internet chat rooms and forums been around, where a small group of vocal fans could make themselves seem like an army screaming against this utter abandonment of cherished “continuity.” (2007)

To harken back to the pre-Crisis days is to play to exactly what I find most wrong with DC these days—their idea of “innovation” is to press “rewind”. And that is most definitely catering to the “old” crowd. (2007)

I kinda wish the internet had been around. Or at least some major force that could have screamed “Why are you turning Magneto into a half-assed clone of Doctor Doom?” and cataloged each and every way in which this transformation violated the long standing continuity. (2007)

Mark Waid reportedly responded to an anecdote Byrne had used in illustrating comic book terminology, Byrne recounting “...when Mark Waid stuck up his hand at a convention Q&A to ask me if ‘we can have the real Superman back’...,” by accusing Byrne of fabricating the story: “This, by the way, never happened, even though it’s become one of Byrne’s new favorite anecdotes.”

Waid then went on to question Byrne’s impartiality as a moderator on his message board, noting “I’d gladly refute it more directly at the message board on which it was posted, but—at least in my experience—those who attempt to correct John’s delusional statements and borderline libels are quickly booted,” further clarifying “I have already been banned.” Waid went on to explain that a previous attempt at extracting a clarification or retraction from Byrne in reference to another matter had ended with Byrne removing Waid’s message: “...I registered, posted a response, and within ten minutes it was deleted and my membership was cancelled.” (2004)

...were I in charge of either of the Big Two, my “solution” to the ills of the industry would be to “reset” all the books to where they were at some arbitrarily chosen point in time. Usually I say 1976, for many reasons good and bad. Mostly because that’s the last year when, while actually still working in the Biz, I really still felt like a fan. (2007)

Get this into your tiny brain: trade paperbacks are not the “future” of this industry. They are another industry entirely, as movies are to TV. And, like movies, they are going to become increasingly dependent upon new material as the prima donnas who work in comics these days increasingly demonstrate themselves incapable of producing their product on schedule—even schedules which, as in this instance, they have set themselves! Go on—continue congratulating these unprofessional elitists for their failures. Pretty soon there will be nothing but trades—and then, without reprint material to fill them up, those will start coming out later and later and later.

How about if we just think of it this way: People who miss deadlines are lazy, arrogant, unprofessional c*cks*ckers who are in no small way responsible for the death of the industry. And the “fans” who support them are braindead elitist morons. (2004)

This is exactly what Ayn Rand often goes on about, the “looters”—her word—who expect to be rewarded for not doing the job they have been hired to do. Tell me if you hired someone to build you a house you would be happy if he left off the back wall, as long as he did a good job on the rest of it. (2005)

I’d go back to 1975. I commented elsewhere, recently, that pressing the “rewind” button would be a good idea, as long as it was done across the board, and not piecemeal or in stealth mode, a la “Birthright.” Take all the characters back to their status quo circa 1975, but set the stories now. Since the most anal-retentive fanboys need “explanations” for everything, have the Shaper of Worlds do it at M*****. Not sure who’d be up for the job at DC. (2004)

In 2005, Byrne complained about his Wikipedia article, claiming it was full of “opinion, rumor and borderline libel” but did not specify what he objected to within the article. He attempted to “delete lies and troll-fodder” by removing most of the article, but it was soon restored. The article was revised following a complaint from Byrne to Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales.