CRIVENS! COMICS & STUFF!: JOHN BYRNE'S FANTASTIC FOUR COVER GALLERY

Thursday, 24 April 2014

JOHN BYRNE'S FANTASTIC FOUR COVER GALLERY - PART SEVEN...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

Well, okay - mainly JOHN BYRNE's FF cover gallery. There are a few by other artists here also, just to round up the numbers and see JB's dangling plot threads 'tied up' in the Anniversary issue. Though, having said that, his ideas for issue #296 seem to have been jettisoned by plotter JIM SHOOTER when Byrne-Boy jumped ship over to DC COMICS. It's a shame that he didn't get to finish the run, as going by an interview given in 1986, his proposed plans for the issue sounded quite spectacular. What we ended up with was something far less than that, despite Mr. MARVEL himself, STAN LEE, scripting the entire mag. I'd love to see a Byrne special issue, wherein he's allowed to produce #296 the way he'd originally planned.

Anyway, here endeth the series of John Byrne FF cover galleries. Be sure to check out the extra bonus section at the foot of the post.

Cover art by Jerry Ordway

Cover art by Barry Windsor Smith

Back cover art by John Buscema & Joe Sinnott

Cover art by Kerry Gammill & Joe Sinnott

EXTRA SPECIAL BONUS SECTION...

Back in 1984, the very first FF Annual was reprinted in a special edition, with a new five-page section written and drawn by Byrne, replacing (and expanding on) page 18 by LEE, KIRBY & AYERS. Sporting a new wraparound cover by JB, the mag also included five new retro-style pin-ups, which are included here for you to 'Marvel' at.

5 comments:

John Pitt said...: I am curious to know about JB's spectacular plans for #256. I knew nothing about this or the interview. Can you tell us any more?
I was just overjoyed to have Ben back in his rightful comic, as his solo mag didn't really do it for me. I was expecting it to be as good as 2-In -1, but I was somewhat disappointed.; 24 April 2014 at 22:49
Anonymous said...: The story for #296 might have been less than spectacular (I'll have to take your word for that) but the cover certainly was ! The Thing in hat, coat and sunglasses - wow, how thrilling for the 25th anniversary issue. Byrne's run was probably the last time that the FF were a big deal in the Marvel universe but I still don't like those horrible white collars costumes ! The current FF have black and red costumes which look quite good but no doubt they'll eventually return to the original black and blue design as changes never last for long.; 24 April 2014 at 22:53
Kid said...: JP & CJ, jump over to this link for JB's plans for FF #296:

http://marvel1980s.blogspot.com/2010/04/1986-fantastic-four.html; 25 April 2014 at 00:58
John Pitt said...: I'd also like to see that alternative #296,, although it needs a bit of tweaking with regard to Mole Man's diamonds.; 25 April 2014 at 16:36
Kid said...: It's likely that if he did get the chance to do the issue as a special edition, he'd tweak quite a few things, JP. After all, he's had nearly 30 years to think about it.; 25 April 2014 at 16:51

About the artist:

From 1985 to 2000 A.D. (little joke there), I contributed to a variety of high profile comics and magazines for various companies.

For IPC/FLEETWAY/EGMONT, I freelanced as a lettering and logo artist on various weekly comics and monthly magazines, and also as a resize comic artist and spot illustrator on pocket books, summer specials and annuals.

For MARVEL U.K., BLACK LIBRARY, REDAN and USBORNE BOOKS, I again freelanced as a lettering artist, also working as a restoration artist for MARVEL U.S., restoring and re-creating certain pages of JACK KIRBY art for their MARVEL MASTERWORKS editions.

I also lettered the MARVELMAN sample pages submitted to MARVEL U.S. when they were considering acquiring the character, which - as we all now know - they DID.

Supplied comic strips, cartoons and illustrated advertisements for local business campaigns and newspaper publication on a professional basis since the age of 16. Did my first paid art job for publication at 14 or 15 for Lanarkshire Education Board.

Have also made TV appearances as a collector of memorabilia.

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Just some of the titles I worked on are:

2000 A.D. * JUDGE DREDD MEGAZINE * DICEMAN * SONIC The COMIC * JUDGE DREDD, LAWMAN Of The FUTURE * CRISIS * REVOLVER * EAGLE * TIGER * BATTLE ACTION-FORCE * BUSTER * WHIZZER & CHIPS * WHOOPEE * NIPPER * SCHOOL FUN * ACE VENTURA, PET DETECTIVE * The REAL GHOSTBUSTERS * DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE * COUNT DUCKULA * RUGRATS * The TRANSFORMERS * DEATH'S HEAD * THUNDERCATS * GALAXY RANGERS * DRAGON'S CLAWS * SINDY * MARVEL MASTERWORKS * The TROLLS * LOADED * INFERNO * WARHAMMER * ROSE BLACK.

Copyright Notice:

Images remain the property of their respective copyright owners and are used here only for the purpose of review, promotion, and nostalgia.

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In the case of images culled from my own collection where copyright of an item isn't mine, I impose no copying restrictions on fellow bloggers.

(Although, if you don't allow copying on your own site, then you really shouldn't be copying from others, should you?)

And while you can credit this blog if you like, it's not mandatory. Who has time to make notes of every casually visited site during an idle browse of the internet?

In the case of anyone copying images of my own artwork and calligraphy, I affirm my right to be identified as the creator, and any such copying should not be for the purpose of monetary or material gain. (Unless it's mine.)

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