In 1980, John Byrne was Marvel's brightest emerging star. He'd been drawing The Uncanny X-Men with Chris Claremont since issue #108, and the Claremont/Byrne run was, even then, recognized as a turning point — one of those rare cases where the medium's creative ceiling visibly lifted. The Dark Phoenix Saga had just concluded. Days of Future Past was a year away. Byrne was still six years from relaunching Superman for DC.
Sal Quartuccio's SQ Productions caught Byrne at exactly this moment with The Art of John Byrne, Volume One — slim, slick, oversized, and arguably the first true "Art of" book devoted to a working comics artist of the modern era. The retrospective format that would later become a publishing genre essentially starts here.
What's inside: a foreword by Roger Stern, longtime Byrne collaborator and editor; a testimonial from Terry Austin, Byrne's most celebrated inking partner; an extended interview by Robert Keenan, conducted before the man's career trajectory was settled; a 25-page original story "Critical Error"; a complete checklist of Byrne's fandom and professional work to that date; an extensive sketchbook section including multiple Superman pieces six years before DC came calling; and a full-color centerfold featuring Spider-Man, the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, and the X-Men.
No Volume Two was ever produced. The "Volume One" billing turned out to be aspirational.
Condition: Very Good. Cover shows light foxing and faint age toning consistent with the book's age and softcover binding. Spine sound. Interior pages clean, bright, and complete. Binding tight. Sketchbook section intact.
A foundational artifact for collectors of late-1970s and early-1980s Marvel, students of the Claremont/Byrne X-Men era, or anyone tracing the rise of the comics artist as cultural figure.
In 1980, John Byrne was Marvel's brightest emerging star. He'd been drawing The Uncanny X-Men with Chris Claremont since issue #108, and the Claremont/Byrne run was, even then, recognized as a turning point — one of those rare cases where the medium's creative ceiling visibly lifted. The Dark Phoenix Saga had just concluded. Days of Future Past was a year away. Byrne was still six years from relaunching Superman for DC.
Sal Quartuccio's SQ Productions caught Byrne at exactly this moment with The Art of John Byrne, Volume One — slim, slick, oversized, and arguably the first true "Art of" book devoted to a working comics artist of the modern era. The retrospective format that would later become a publishing genre essentially starts here.
What's inside: a foreword by Roger Stern, longtime Byrne collaborator and editor; a testimonial from Terry Austin, Byrne's most celebrated inking partner; an extended interview by Robert Keenan, conducted before the man's career trajectory was settled; a 25-page original story "Critical Error"; a complete checklist of Byrne's fandom and professional work to that date; an extensive sketchbook section including multiple Superman pieces six years before DC came calling; and a full-color centerfold featuring Spider-Man, the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, and the X-Men.
No Volume Two was ever produced. The "Volume One" billing turned out to be aspirational.
Condition: Very Good. Cover shows light foxing and faint age toning consistent with the book's age and softcover binding. Spine sound. Interior pages clean, bright, and complete. Binding tight. Sketchbook section intact.
A foundational artifact for collectors of late-1970s and early-1980s Marvel, students of the Claremont/Byrne X-Men era, or anyone tracing the rise of the comics artist as cultural figure.
