Marvel Reaches Out to Classic Artist John Byrne After 18 Years

Marvel has done something that many didn't expect the company to do; reach out to classic comic book artist John Byrne. Byrne and Marvel haven't worked with each other in 18 years after a nasty breakup in 2000 when the company decided to end X-Men: The Hidden Years, even though it was selling well. While it's not yet known if they will be working with each other, it is one step forward to that happening.

During Fan Expo Boston 2018 (via AIPT), Byrne was discussing his self-published continuation of Uncanny X-Men called X-Men: Elsewhen, which would have continued past the Dark Phoenix Saga had it stuck with the ending Byrne and Claremont originally wanted, which was Jean Grey getting stripped of her powers.

The artist then brought up how he got an email from current Marvel Editor-in-Chief C.B. Cebulski, who liked what he saw in Elsewhen and wanted to talk about it. Seems like Marvel is interested in doing an X-Men Forever-like run with Byrne, which should be interesting, to say the least.

Skybound's Chris Ryall also shared this image of Cebulski and Byrne to Newsarama, so that should be worth talking about:

(Chris Ryall/Newsarama)

Back in the 80's and 90's, Byrne was one of the most definitive artists of that generation. After a stellar run of Uncanny X-Men with Chris Claremont, he wrote and drew a lengthy Fantastic Four run that many still praise to this day. He also reworked Superman's origin with a Man of Steel mini-series to positive results, though his attempt to do the same to Spider-Man was hated by many.

Do you guys want to see John Byrne back in Marvel?

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