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Pg. 45; John Byrne pencils, Bob Layton inks; 11" x 17"

John Byrne managed the neat trick of combining the wide-eyed wonder and optimism of classic Golden Age comic art with the realistic grimness of Bronze Age illustration. His unique and appealing look, and unabashed love of the comic art form, made him an immediate fan favorite. Byrne's runs on X-Men, Fantastic Four, and Superman remain high-water-marks for the titles. This majestic page, from the peak of his Marvel tenure, demonstrates the scale and scope of Marvel's storytelling, as the House of Ideas opted for explosive spectacle balanced with human-scaled drama. The half-page panel at bottom shows how well Byrne could handle overwhelming action and mayhem just as well as character work. He dwarfs his figures with the deceptively simple (but perfectly composed) blast, emphasizing the fear and horror of the moment, as it seems certain the Green Goliath has perished. Note, also, how Byrne portrays the palpable exhaustion of Ice Man in the penultimate panel, expressing fatigue and agony with the simplest of lines. A master at work in any milieu, it's no accident that Byrne's name became, and remains, synonymous with comic art excellence.

Artists Information

John Byrne is one of the most storied creators in the history of comics. Beginning his career at Charlton he quickly moved over to Marvel Comics where he established himself early on as a workhorse and fan favorite, he would draw early appearances of Iron Fist before landing the gig working with Chris Claremont on X-Men. Claremont and Byrne would create several of the most memorable storylines in the history of the X-Men, their Dark Phoenix Saga and Days of Future Past stories have been adapted into three feature films. Byrne would convince Claremont to not kill Wolverine, proving to be one of the most lucrative decisions in Marvel's history, he would also introduce Kitty Pryde and Alpha Flight during this time. After his work on X-Men, Byrne would have a short run on The Avengers before launching his second classic comic run, this time on Marvel's first family The Fantastic Four, writing and drawing the title for five years. Byrne would leave Marvel for DC in the mid 1980s where he was tasked with revamping their flagship Superman titles, he would draw two Superman titles a month while writing a third. After two years at DC, Byrne returned to Marvel where he would create memorable stints on She-Hulk, Namor The Sub-Mariner, and Iron Man. In the 90's Byrne would work on several creator owner titles at Dark Horse, including his Next Men (which would introduce Mike Mignola's Hellboy), Babe and Danger Unlimited. In the years that followed Byrne would create many more books, often working on titles that inspired him as a boy including a revamp of Jack Kirby's Fourth World and DC's Doom Patrol and The Demon.

Bob Layton is an American Comic book artist/ writer who co-founded Valiant Comics. His most famous works were at Marvel where he worked on a number of titles including Iron Man #128, the infamous demon in a bottle story line.