John Byrne has a knack for getting people to talk about him.

I have been doing reviews of comics since I started this silly website (and I know that I am about a month behind...give me a week and I'll be all caught up, I promice) and one of the things that always strikes me odd is that when I mention that I don't care for Byrne's style since he finished his run on The Next Men I would get letters from people outraged that I would say such things.

Now, I don't do personal attacks on comic creators. I can say that they are hacking it out, turning in sloppy work, or that it's pretty apparent that they are just doing it for a paycheck.

However, John Byrne seems to have gone completely insane lately. It's bad enough that his message board is filled with people who make me scared to go into a comic shop, but when he writes about a character in Green Arrow being diagnosed with HIV, he says:


(Suppose Speedy takes three years, "real time", to die. Currently, in DOOM PATROL, I have Nudge, who is 15 years old. Would I be compelled to have her age to 18 while the Speedy story unfolds in another title, unconnected to DP?)

He also goes on the disparage fans who don't like his work, Christopher Reeve, other creators and the like...all at the egging on of his "fans". He started with a quite decent answer about his reaction to the story...and quickly degenerates into something that makes you feel like you need to take a long shower after you read it.