John Byrne Returns to X-Men, Sort Of
GRAPHIC-NOVEL COLUMN: John Byrne returns to X-Men, sort of By Dan Brown John Byrne’s X-Men: Elsewhen will appeal most strongly to Gen X fans of the “Strangest Super-Heroes of All.” The first of three volumes, it’s not quite fan fiction (Byrne actually worked on The Uncanny X-Men back in the day, so he’s hardly a regular fan), and it’s not quite an official Marvel release (since it’s being published by Abrams ComicArts). I’m a huge Byrne enthusiast, so it lived up to my expectations. If you’re not a fiftysomething X-Men fan like me, consider it a pleasing summer distraction. But be warned, those who didn’t live through the 1970s might find it confusing. Byrne wrote these comics as a pet project, not intending for them ever to be published, except on his website in breakdown form (ie. unfinished art). The collection answers the question, “What would have happened to the X-Men if Jean Grey/Dark Phoenix didn’t die in 1980?” That’s the starting point for this continuity. Many fans were hungering for a reunion of Byrne and his former inking partner, Terry Austin. The two of them perfected the look and vibe of the X-Men from 1977 to 1981, making the gifted students one of the most-loved superhero teams of all time. That reunion didn’t happen. The art here looks more like late-career Byrne, as seen in books like X-Men: The Hidden Years. The artist/writer does a solid job of balancing single-issue stories with longer arcs. One of those plots is the return of the Sentinels, the giant mutant-hunting robots, only this time they aren’t programmed to avoid hurting humans. Pulling the strings of this evil mechanical army is Hellfire Club boss Sebastian Shaw. Byrne being Byrne, there are lots of guest stars in this volume. If you’ve yearned to see the Fantastic Four or the Avengers rendered by the sometime Canadian one last time (he’s billing Elsewhen as his artistic swan song in interviews), you’ll want to check it out. Also back are hallmarks of the Bronze Age like thought bubbles and the narrative voice. For some reason, the X-Men also go back to the Savage Land at one point. I just do not share Byrne’s love for the secret hidden jungle, but it’s clearly one of his favourite settings to use. And if you’re wondering about Grey, she was lobotomized to get rid of her evil half. She has the mental capacity of a five-year-old in this tale, and it looks as though the Phoenix isn’t as dead as the Shi’ar empire intended when they wiped Grey’s brain. One of the things I love about Byrne is he has never tried to hide his admiration for Jack Kirby. He is a Kirby partisan from way back, even praising the King when it wasn’t cool to like his pioneering style. For me, this book is worth the price just to see Byrne again emulating Kirby’s way of drawing advanced technology in the background of a handful of panels. Come for the Byrne, stay for the Kirby homage! If you’ve read Elsewhen already, please share your thoughts in the comments. Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 33 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly Graphic-Novel Group book club.
Comic Writers Are the New Auteurs
By Dan Brown My brother Mike is four years older than me, but as kids we were both fans of Marvel Comics. One time, it might have been while I was reading an issue of Fantastic Four and he was perusing the latest Marvel Team-Up, he asked me a question. “Do you think the writer of a comic or the artist is more important?” For me, the answer was obvious: The person who draws the pictures. Not surprisingly, Mike disagreed, arguing the guy responsible for the words has primacy. That exchange has stuck with me to this day. Perhaps I was so adamant as a young boy because I had done more drawing than writing. My perception was that artists got no respect then, and I still believe that today. This is just a long-winded way of saying, in the modern comic industry, writers are the new auteurs. Illustrators, meanwhile, aren’t appreciated for everything they bring to the table. “Auteur” is a term borrowed from French New Wave cinema. I believe it originated in the French film magazine Cahiers du cinema in the 1950s Basically, auteur theory – as it applies to film – dictates that the director of the film is the one who supplies the overall vision. He or she is the “author” of the movie and the other folks involved – producers, screenplay writers, performers – are there to carry out his or her goals. It was a revolutionary idea decades ago. Today’s auteurs would include the likes of Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorcese, and James Cameron. They’re the ones who move the art forward. Somewhere along the line over the last five decades, writers have emerged as the equivalent figure in the comics industry. When I was reading Fantastic Four in the 1970s, I don’t remember comic fans talking a lot about the styles of different writers, but I do recall many debates about the best illustrators. In 2025, however, the conventional wisdom is that the writer is the one whose ideas and input count the most. On the cover of a typical mainstream comic, it’s the writer’s name that gets top billing. Often it’s just his or her last name – that’s how much recognition they get, how well-known they are. When comic publishers promote a new series, it’s frequently marketed to the public on the strength of the writer’s reputation and ability. I don’t know the exact moment when writers ascended to the level of being auteurs. I’m guessing it had a lot to do with three comics that came out in the 1980s: Alan Moore’s Watchmen, Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns, and Art Spiegelman’s Maus. Many fans, as well as industry insiders, view that period as a renaissance when new life was breathed into the form. The guys involved became giants. (If you want to laugh at a savage satire of Moore in particular, check out Chip Zdarsky’s Public Domain series, which has a British comics writer character named Carter Dusk, who hangs a garden hose in front of the window in his study so he can brood as it’s raining all day long. In his own pretentious words, Dusk is a “dabbler in wordplay and mass-printed magic.”) You might think the passing of the years has softened my stance. Not so. I still think artists don’t get the props they deserve. I don’t know about your buying habits, but I usually pick up a comic or graphic novel based on who did the art. Since I first began to appreciate sequential storytelling, the art in the average comic book has gotten so much better. Yet I don’t see anyone arguing in 2025 that the same has happened to the writing. Or consider this: There are many artists who have branched out into writing, sometime Canadian John Byrne being one example. Artists like Byrne have been able to learn to do plotting, dialogue, pacing, and everything else writers have traditionally done. But can you think of a single instance of a writer learning how to draw? It just doesn’t happen. I would love to read your answer to the question my brother posed all those years ago. Feel free to drop it in the comment box below! Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 32 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.
