Posted By Dan Greenfield on Jul 6, 2024 | 7 comments

A BIRTHDAY SALUTE: One of comics’ greatest creators was born 74 years ago, on July 6, 1950…

By CHRIS RYALL

If you made a list of which comics creators have drawn themselves into their comics, whether on the cover, the interiors, or both, you’d have to start with… well, OK, you’d start with Sergio Aragones. But certainly up at the top would also be John Byrne, who’s celebrating his 74th birthday.

Byrne has been drawing himself into his covers and stories for going on a half-century now — since his earliest days doing fanzines, working for Charlton, and then onward into his time at Marvel and beyond.

So in honor of Byrne’s 50-plus years in comics and his June 6 birthday, I wanted to offer up 13 of his best self-portraits from across that span.

What I mean is, I wanted to limit myself to the requisite 13 images but of course, that’s not my way. So what follows here are 13 primary images, supplemented and complemented by a few additional pieces as well. What can I say? He’s certainly earned the extra effort.

Now, before I get into the list itself, I thought I’d share perhaps the earliest piece of John Byrne art. The earliest existing piece, anyway – and one that still hangs in Byrne’s house: this chalk train, done by little Johnny Byrne, age 5.

That done, away we go!

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John Byrne self-portrait, early ’70s. This 1970s piece is notable for the early appearance of Vindicator and also for Byrne’s Ollie Queen-like facial hair.

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How to Draw Comics. Every artist needs their own Rockwell-like piece, and John created his early on.

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The Art of John Byrne cover

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Comics Interview covers. Technically two separate covers, four years apart (1985 and 1989) but I’m treating them like one image here.

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John Byrne self-portrait. This one is equal parts amusing and disturbing. Mostly Colossus.

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Fantastic Four #238 cover. With this one, John carries on a tradition of FF creators appearing on series covers, dating back to Stan and Jack’s cameo on the cover of FF #10.

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Fantastic Four #262 splash page. I remember cringing about the fact that the generally silly Assistant Editor’s Month landed on the final chapter of the big “Trial of Reed Richards” storyline, and the fact that the creator appeared in the story was another scary sign that the story was going to collapse under goofy self-awareness, but somehow it all worked well in the end.

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Alberta Report 1985. I’m never a big fan of the parody costume like Byrne’s Superman-like outfit here but I’m also never going to pass on a chance to show John Byrne’s Alpha Flight, either.

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Avengers West Coast #56, Page 30. We’ve gotten pretty far away from mainstream superhero comics featuring playful little extras like these, and it’s a shame because they were always a welcome sight.

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John Byrne self-portrait. When this ad first showed up in 1980s Marvel titles, it pretty much outclassed the other contents of any issue it was in.

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Marvel Age #14. This one just felt inevitable. It’s also an image I liked enough that I used it for the cover of a big, oversize John Byrne retrospective collection I produced a while back.

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She-Hulk #31. Byrne knew how badly fans wanted him back on Sensational She-Hulk, so this cover was great to see for multiple reasons.

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The Thing #7, Page 19. This is much more what I expected from Assistant Editor’s Month. Byrne has to be the only creator to make multiple appearances in that same event.

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A bonus! And for one last bit o’ Byrne to close this one out, well, it’s not a self-portrait so technically wouldn’t belong as one of the 13 images anyway, but it feels like the perfect way to end, with a page — from Star Trek New Visions Vol. 4 — where even William Shatner wouldn’t complain about his likeness. Sweet dreams and happy birthday, JB!

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MORE

— 13 Outstanding — and Obscure — JOHN BYRNE Works: A Birthday Salute. Click here.

— Why JOHN BYRNE’S SUPERMAN Was the Greatest Man of Steel Ever. Click here.

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Chris Ryall is the co-owner/publisher of Image Comics imprint Syzygy Publishing. His latest series is Tales of Syzpense, out now. Subscribe to his Substack of the same name!