John Byrne
This was inspired by Alpha Flight issue 6 by John Byrne. I have never read it but have seen one video of it. I put it at the end of this post. Didn’t have any good ideas for this week’s drawing. Had to use bad one. I didn’t want it to be only a joke. Tried to have impactful sound effect. Not sure if it works.
Next week’s drawing will have more effort put into it. Didn’t want to draw heads again. Have got better at it but not enough to publish another head drawing.
This volume contains last three issues from Chris Claremont - John Byrne - Terry Austin team. Those contain Days of Future Past which is one of the highlights of the team and which opened Pandora’s box of characters from alternative futures. But that happened later. Last issue from the team was Alien inspired filler issues. Days of Future Past was odd story during Post Dark Phoenix Saga issues. It comes out of the blue and is not followed anyway when rest of the stories were more like fillers when they had to change their plans after death of Jean Grey was decided last minute. Was the story planned for later time and used at this point because they had to drop original plans and Byrne was leaving the team?
Few issues after Byrne left feel like turning back the clock to time before Byrne. It is not just the art. Characters return closer to what they were before Byrne. Stories return to places we have seen and we get returning villains. There is “dark Storm” to remind Dark Phoenix. Last Byrne issue destroyed danger room. Fixing it takes few issues. During last issues stories start to get momentum and go to new directions.
Volume’s last issue is issue 150 which changes Magneto from villain to more gray area character we know him today. Something like it was hinted in future part of Days of Future Past but turn begun in issue 150. Was Magneto’s turn because Claremont had to drop original plan of having Magneto to offering to give Jean Grey her powers back. That would mean last moment decision to kill Jean Grey not only resulted one of most impactful superhero stories but also made Magneto to one of best comic book villains. Magneto turn was hinted in Days of Future Past but that was after Dark Phoenix too.
This volume has end of Byrne era, valley after it and before Claremont got momentum again and time when Claremont gains momentum again. This shows in Wolverine’s arc. Wolverine was Byrne’s favorite. He rose to new heights during Byrne’s era. After Byrne left Angel wants Wolverine out of the team. Maybe this reflected what happened in background. Then Angel leaves and Wolverine’s place isn’t questioned anymore. Same time comic book gains momentum.
I will write about these three volumes in one post because otherwise it would be repeating same things in each individual post and having something extra for volume 5 post. These volumes contain almost whole Chris Claremont - John Byrne - Terry Austin run in X-Men. Volume 2 had two issues of that run and volume 6 has three issues. Whole run was solid. There wasn’t similar evolution as first two volumes had. Run started strong and kept going. X-Men changed when the run started but there wasn’t too much evolution in storytelling during the run. There was no need.
Wolverine got biggest change during the run. We talk about Jean Grey later. This run made Wolverine one of best loved characters in Marvel universe. Before this he was always trying to start a fight. During this run he got more layers. Before Byrne he was just angry guy. During this run he became someone who could lead the team. Villains started to have more complicated plans. Magneto was different person in this run than he was before. He wasn’t as complex as he would become later but this run took him more towards that direction. Magneto of first two volumes wouldn’t have flown X-Men to his base and left them to his torture device. Villains have other motivations than being just evil.
Storytelling got tighter. It is like X-Men are on same adventure all the time. X-Men were spilt quite early and got together much later. Banshee wasn’t dropped from team even when he lost his powers. He hanged there with others until team was reunited. There were times when next story arc was built when first was still going. Proteus - Hell Fire Club - Dark Phoenix continuation is just pure genius. Speed slows down a little after it. Which is where we got to bonus material of Volume 5.
Other volumes’ bonus material is mainly original art and covers from issues inside volume. Volume 5 has original ending to Dark Phoenix saga. I didn’t know it was ready to be printed when ending was changed to what we got. Little bit spoilers to Dark Phoenix saga if someone doesn’t know how it ends. Jean Grey was fighting without her Phoenix powers. But when X-Men fall she becomes Phoenix again which leads X-Men to stop her and her killing herself. In original ending she doesn’t become Phoenix. X-Men lose the fight and she is stripped of her powers. Bonus material also contains round table conversation of Dark Phoenix saga where all involved discuss how they saw what happened. Chris Claremont and John Byrne tell how X-Men would have continued after original ending.
Plan was to have depowered Jean Grey trying to make sense what happened during Dark Phoenix saga and then having Magneto to offer her to give her powers back in issue 150. Having original ending in printing condition and next issue cover with depowered Jean Grey in it explains why issue after Dark Phoenix saga was flashback and why story slows down so much for few issues. Another interesting observation from round table was reason why Jean Grey was separated from X-Men quite early on of Claremont-Byrne-Austin run. Byrne thought she was too powerful for the team. When she joins the team story is going towards Dark Phoenix saga from that point onwards. Something like Dark Phoenix Saga was hinted even when Phoenix was introduced first time and hints of her losing control was always there but Dark Phoenix story really starts shortly before she rejoins X-Men.
Binge reading these volumes was quite a ride. They have you hooked by constantly giving something to wait about. There is always hints of things to come. Dark Phoenix was hinted when Phoenix was created. Proteus story arc started before Byrne joined and was hinted from time to time. I will continue binge reading next volume which shows where X-Men go after Byrne and Austin left. Uncanny X-Men Masterworks collections continue to volume 12 but I think I have break after reading next one. Maybe read what Byrne did with Fantastic Four after he left X-Men
When I bought Uncanny X-Men Masterworks volumes I wanted to read whole Chris Claremont’s run. I thought he was the one making X-Men so good. After reading the second volume I start to wonder how much credit John Byrne should get making X-Men my favorite superhero comic. This volume has last issues before Claremont started to work with John Byrne. First issue with Byrne was in middle of story. We can assume Byrne had nothing to do with the story of that issue. But in next issue things click together and X-Men start to look like X-Men I remember.
Before that issue all villains have wanted to rule the world or destroy X-Men. Even Magneto does that. First issue where Byrne could have had impact on story has Weapon Alpha as antagonist. I don’t say villain because he is not a villain unlike almost everyone gone against X-Men during first two volumes. Weapon Alpha is working for his country trying to bring Wolverine back. He is not doing this because he is evil. These kind of antagonists made X-Men so good. This is first such during Chris Claremont’s run. Talking about Wolverine. This is first time he is shown to enjoy being in nature and hunting or being like animal in wild. Before this he was angry guy trying to start fights with everyone.
It is not that arrival of Byrne made everything click. Some of the character development started to show before Byrne arrived. Then it disappeared like someone told Claremont he shouldn’t spend so much time developing characters. I probably didn’t give enough credit to Claremont’s ability to connect different plots together when I talked about first volume. What ever happens could have consequences later. It could be few frames somewhere setting something happening in future or fight setting something else loose which X-Men have to deal later. These were there before Byrne.
This volume has first two issues from dream team of Chris Claremont, John Byrne and Terry Austin. When I was younger I thought Byrne’s and Austin’s art was pinnacle of comic book art. Later I have learned to appreciate different kind of comic book art. Art before Byrne and Austin wasn’t problem. But their art made this book feel like X-Men. It wasn’t just art as I mentioned before. Before Byrne and Austin X-Men was more generic superhero comic.