I can kind of understand what Byrne and Claremont are doing creatively.

When I was younger, I was less interested in the stuff from the 40's and 50's and early 60's. I considered that stuff "before my time" and a bit stiff in its storytelling. But over time, once I'd exhausted my craving for the current fare, I began to look back and more fully appreciate the charming conventions of these earlier eras.

So Byrne and Claremont, with a similar appreciation, have done the equivalent of re-creating Frankie Avalon. Which I don't have a problem with, except that it's a poor re-creation by two creators way past their prime.

Byrne's FF (beginning with issue 232) was similarly a re-creation of that earliest Lee/Kirby era on FF. And Claremont similarly captured a Stan Lee brand of melodrama in his best X-men work, in Claremont's first 100 issues or so ("I've never seen Reed so...", "How can I face Sauron again, when the the last time we fought he... raped my soul !", and similar drama ).

From Claremont/Byrne/Austin's glory days, here's one of my favorite X-Men covers:




In the current Marvel titles, as I'm sure most of you have noticed, they're selling a statue figure re-creation of this cover.



Also, here's a few more installments of my Byrne checklist:





**************** Back at Marvel period, 1989-1993 *****

AVENGERS
305 (Byrne scripts, Ryan p/Palmer i)22p 7/1989
to
316 (Byrne scripts, Ryan p/Palmer i)22p 4/1990


AVENGERS WEST COAST
42 (Byrne script and art in all)22p 3/1989
to
57 (Byrne script and art)22p 4/1990


NAMOR, THE SUB-MARINER
1 (Byrne script and art)22p 4/1990
2 (Byrne script and art)22p 5/1990
3 (Byrne script and art)22p 6/1990
4 (Byrne script and art)22p 7/1990
5 (Byrne script and art)22p 8/1990
6 (Byrne script and art)22p 9/1990
7 (Byrne script and art)22p 10/1990
8 (Byrne script and art)22p 11/1990
9 (Byrne script and art)22p 12/1990
10 (Byrne script and art)22p 1/1991
11 (Byrne script and art)22p 2/1991
12 (Byrne script and art)22p 3/1991
13 (Byrne script and art)22p 4/1991
14(Byrne script and art)22p 5/1991
15 (Byrne script and art)22p 6/1991
16 (Byrne script and art)22p 7/1991
17 (Byrne script and art)22p 8/1991
18 (Byrne script and art)22p 9/1991
19 (Byrne script and art)22p 10/1991
20 (Byrne script and art)22p 11/1991
21 (Byrne script and art)22p 12/1991
22 (Byrne script and art)22p 1/1992
23 (Byrne script and art)22p 2/1992
24 (Byrne script and art)22p 3/1992
25 (Byrne script and art)22p 4/1992

26 (Byrne story, Jae Lee art) 22p 5/1992
27 (Byrne story, Jae Lee art) 22p 6/1992
28 (Byrne story, Jae Lee art) 22p 7/1992
29 (Byrne story, Jae Lee art) 22p 8/1992
30 (Byrne story, Jae Lee art) 22p 9/1992
31 (Byrne story, Jae Lee art) 22p 10/1992
32 (Byrne story, Jae Lee art) 22p 11/1992

OMAC, ONE MAN ARMY CORPS ( for DC)
1 9/1991
2 10/1991
3 11/1991
4 12/1991


SENSATIONAL SHE-HULK
1 (Byrne story/pencils, Wiacek inks)22p 5/1989
2 (Byrne story/pencils, Wiacek inks)22p 6/1989
3 (Byrne story/pencils, Wiacek inks)22p 7/1989
4 (Byrne story/pencils, Wiacek inks)22p 8/1989
5 (Byrne story/pencils, Wiacek inks)22p 9/1989
6 (Byrne story/pencils, Gordon inks)22p 10/1989
7 (Byrne story/pencils, Wiacek inks)22p 11/1989
8 (Byrne story/pencils, Wiacek inks)22p 12/1989

31 (Byrne story/pencils, KeithWilliams inks)22p 9/1991
32 (Byrne story/pencils, Keith Williams inks)22p 10/1991
33 (Byrne story/pencils, Keith Williams inks)22p 11/1991
34 (Byrne story/pencils, Keith Williams inks)22p 12/1991
35 (Byrne story/pencils, Keith Williams inks)22p 1/1992
36 (Byrne story/pencils, Keith Williams inks)22p 2/1992
37 (Byrne story/pencils, Keith Williams inks)22p 3/1992
38 (Byrne story/pencils, Keith Williams inks)22p 4/1992
39 (Byrne story/pencils, Keith Williams inks)22p 5/1992
40 (Byrne story/pencils, Keith Williams inks)22p 6/1992
41 (Byrne story/pencils, Keith Williams inks)22p 7/1992
42 (Byrne story/pencils, Keith Williams inks)22p 8/1992
43 (Byrne story/pencils, Keith Williams inks)22p 9/1992
44 (Byrne story/pencils, Keith Williams inks)22p 10/1992
45 (Byrne story/pencils, Keith Williams inks)22p 11/1992
46 (Byrne story/pencils, Keith Williams inks)22p 12/1992
47 (Byrne story/pencils, Keith Williams inks)22p 1/1993
48 (Byrne story/pencils, Keith Williams inks)22p 2/1993
49 (Byrne story/pencils, Keith Williams inks)22p 3/1993
50 (Byrne story/pencils, Keith Williams inks)22p 4/1993


STARBRAND
16 (Byrne s, p and i) 1/1989
17 (Byrne s, p and i) 1/1989
18 (Byrne s, p and i) 3/1989
19 (Byrne s, p and i) 5/1989


WOLVERINE
17 (Goodwin script, Byrne layouts, Janson art)22p 11/1989
18 (Goodwin script, Byrne layouts, Janson art)22p 12/1989
19 (Goodwin script, Byrne layouts, Janson art)22p 1/1990
20 (Goodwin script, Byrne layouts, Janson art)22p 2/1990
21 (Goodwin script, Byrne layouts, Janson art)22p 3/1990
22 (Goodwin script, Byrne layouts, Janson art)22p 4/1990
23 (Goodwin script, Byrne layouts, Janson art)22p 5/1990


****************Dark Horse period, 1992-1994 *************

NEXT MEN
1 1/1992
to
30 12/1994

DANGER UNLIMITED
1 (Byrne story and art) 2/1994
2 (Byrne story and art) 3/1994
3 (Byrne story and art) 4/1994
4 (Byrne story and art) 5/1994

JOHN BYRNE'S 2112
1 (Byrne script and art) 10/1994

BABE
1 (Byrne script and art) 7/1994
2 (Byrne script and art) 9/1994
3 (Byrne script and art) 11/1994
4 (Byrne script and art) 1/1995

BABE 2
1 (Byrne script and art) 3/1995
2 (Byrne script and art) 5/1995

HARLAN ELLISON'S DREAM CORRIDOR
1 "I Have No Mouth, I Must Scream" adaptation , part 1 (of 4) 3/1995
2 4/1995
3 5/1995
4 6/1995



________________________________



There were a number of good stories, and good art, that Byrne continued to do throughout this period. His art quality was slightly less than his 1976-1983 work, but it was still good in the late 80's /early 90's.

It was after this period where I felt Byrne's work really began to decline.


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"This Man, This Wonder Boy..."