John Byrne's LEGENDARY Fantastic Four RUN Begins HERE!

[@victorsixtythree]

Yeah, bringing back memories...this Byrne run came out right in my prime comic book teen age reading years. He really recaptured the spirit of the Lee/Kirby run. As much as Byrne is known as an artist, I think it was his seemingly endless flow of story ideas that made this run what it was.

[@victorsixtythree]

6:20 - page 3, panel 1: The hair salon "Casa Tindolini" and the hair dresser "Milo"...a nod to the movie "Sleuth" where Michael Caine played a hair dresser named Milo Tindle. (If I'm not mistaken, in the movie Milo even says that his father changed their family name from "Tindolini" to "Tindle" to sound less Italian.)

[@victorsixtythree]

You mentioned Byrne, Miller and Perez being the hot artists at the time. The other artist I would add would be Simonson (although I think his run on Thor started a year or two after Byrne started his run on Fantastic Four.) Some of my other favorites from back then were Jim Starlin, Gene Day, Mike Golden...

[@hgwiechie]

I searched for that comment and I really thought of Starlin and Simonson, too! Golden is definetively also in that race. I have to admit I had to google Gene Day as I am not the biggest Star Wars fan but the art looks great. I can Some of my favorites of that time were also John Buscema, José Luis García López, Mike Zeck ,Bob Layton, John Romita Jr., and Bob McLeod.

[@atomikdog2024]

Good call on Simonson as a writer/artist in the same tier in that era. I'd put Starlin in there, too, for sure.

[@victorsixtythree]

@@hgwiechie Gene Day’s work on Master of Kung Fu was AMAZING. I think Jim and Ed have done a video or two on him.

[@SupremeGreatGrandmaster]

Bill Sienkiewicz on Moon Knight. John Buscema on the Conan titles. Gene Colan on Dr. Strange (with Michael Golden covers). Marshall Rogers and Terry Austen on Dr. Strange.

[@yragcom1]

Perez was a little before that time. Perez was more like mid to late '70s. One of my favorite fantastic Four issues was number 176 that he drew.

[@pjbrown4736]

I have both omnibuses of this run at home. Read a smidgen of it awhile back. Definitely great storytelling. Byrne clearly has love for Lee/Kirby era FF, and a genuine passion for the cast.

[@literallyunderrated]

I collected this run in the 80s and if I remember he also pencilled a few issues of FF before he took over full duties with 232. I think a lot of todays collectors would say there are no “key” issues in this run but they are great to read. He also did about year drawing The Avengers but I can’t remember if that was concurrent with X-Men or right after. I love everything Byrne drew in that era

[@capsjukebox]

I loved how Byrne did Reed’s tech and aliens, alien ships and tech The only person even close was Larry Stroman’s work on Alien Legion

[@royorbit]

If I could draw like a legendary comic artist for a day it’d be Byrne.

[@kerry-j4m]

Mine would be George Perez.

[@DenzilRedden]

I think I'd choose Sam Keith.....

[@bobmularky7456]

257, 258, and 267 are my favorite issues from this run.

[@royradich2048]

258 was one of my favorite comics from this time period. I still think that a comic about the more mundane aspects of life in Latveria could work, a street level view of life in an Alpine dictatorship where everyone's material needs are addressed in exchange for complete subservience. Annual #17 is another favorite. He could have leaned into the horror elements more imo but still a great one and done.

[@chubbysummers69]

I always loved issue 234, it’s a bit of a weird story but it’s done really well and keeps you interested throughout

[@Raffienco]

Great video! Would love it if you guys did every Byrne FF book in his run and then made a playlist. Keep up the great work! Love your channel!

[@dwaynemuth8775]

Byrne literally said Back to the Basics and he meant it! In early 1979 Byrne wrote and penciled Marvel Two in One 50 with the Thing teams up with his younger self in the immediate past! Inks by Joe Sinnott and was a nice one and done story! Later in the spring of ‘79, Byrne with veteran inker Sinnott jumped on to FF 209 with standard Marv Wolfman stories! Finally with 220/221,Byrne wrote FF basic 2 parter that was originally supposed to be a promotional book for Coca-Cola, but they deemed it was too violent, which is bullshit! Anyway in April 1981,232 his ongoing run began and as everything with Byrne it gets tedious in particular with his ink style, got sloppy with sharpies yahoo! And almost to 300 ,Shooter lowered the boom on Byrne and fired him, because he was going to do Superman at DC! All that said ,X-men loss was an FF gain with a much needed shot in the arm for them! Great era of stories!

[@MarinComics]

Great review and analysis ❤ I guess another great superhero artist beside Byrne and Miller was Walt Simonson.

[@j0eflanagan]

Perfect timing for me! I just started this run 3 days ago. I love the Kirby/Lee run and the Simonson run also. Finally getting to these.

[@TheFuersty]

This is so awesome you gents doing this. Love it.. like @jimruggart I bought this and 80% of the whole run out of a quarter box at Motor City Comic con 1994 ish. I got the whole run out of quarter boxes eventually and have since bound it in 3 volumes. Great to re-read.

[@geoffyuendesign]

Two years before this issue John Byrne is on pencils and sometimes writing for a around a year. Very fun outer space adventures with appearances from Nova, Galactus and the Skrulls. Following that an underrated run with Bill Sienkiewicz and Joe Sinnot with his heavy finishes. Anyways, I believe the first half of this run is Byrne at his best. I've read that Bryne didn't like how he was drawing heads (larger foreheads) and how he was inking. I personally really liked it. I was always slightly disappointed with Jerry Ordway's and Al Gordon's inks late into his run.

[@reapersaurus]

There's no guessing involved - at this time (1981) The New Teen Titans was one of the biggest comic books on the planet (a sales juggernaut), so George Perez was clearly in the Top 3 of names then.

[@hobbitninja]

Stan Lee had a go to answer for pretty much any question he would get during his con appearances and his answer for "lamest character he created" was Diablo

[@mikelesan3964]

I think in the next one or two issues they have to fight Ego, some great visuals in that one. Anyway, great run. Loved the solo Doom story.

[@jumu446]

I'll always have a soft spot for John Byrne's FF. FF#286 was the first Marvel comic book i bought, back from a news agent in Kentish Town. I bought both John Byrne FF Omnibus'. Great art. Great stories.

[@yesthatjake5601]

Sue Storm is a babe in those early issues. Ed is trippin

[@danielbourque3710]

What’s the story with Ed’s book Mudfish? It’s like, completely unfindable online. It’s become my Bigfoot

[@RyanBrown314]

144 pages! Seems like a ton of work to let go into obscurity. Must be a reason 🤷‍♂️ I’ll buy it if I ever see it.

[@bbbabrock]

23:34 Jim Starlin? Or was he in a lull at this point.

[@cameoxvilb3174]

Byrne FF was one of my favorite runs that I can always reread.

[@doncarlosderush1500]

Haha! The dude in NYC with the microwave-head is on my feed too, Ed!!

[@brute_nm]

Interesting idea on the fine lines getting lost in printing and maybe that's why Byrne went thicker in the 90s... I never would've connected that, but it today makes sense!

[@oliverortiz5226]

While Byne leaving X-Men was disappointing, discovering he had gone to Fantastic Four was a dream come true. He loved these characters and we loved these characters. It was the right man at the right time. The only time I felt the pain of his leaving the X-Men was when he left the F.F. abruptly. Yes, John Byrne's run is the second best after Kirby/ Lee. The next best was Jonathan Hickman and even though it was a short run, Walter Simonson's time.

[@silberspy]

If you have never heard it, listen to the Norm MacDonald Fantastic Four bit.

[@dhall02]

Absolutely correct when he lists the superstar artists at the time: Byrne, Miller, Perez. -In that order!

[@bbbabrock]

9:04 What does "two up" mean?

[@kyleweaver9830]

I like Byrne's FF run, but I feel that if Simonson had stayed on the book longer he could have surpassed Byrne for that #2 spot behind Lee and Kirby.

[@CodyNewhouse]

Subject request: Elementals. More Mage The Hero Discovered. More American Flagg!

[@dangillotte3902]

I just reread most of his run and I think this issue is a solid start to a run that REALLY gets going a few issues in and scarcely lets up in levels of greatness after that. I generally disagree with y'alls critique of later Byrne. I think he's always beenm pretty stellar. I do agree that he wasn't trying to upend the artform like Miller and Sienkewicz (whom I also love) but Byrne definitely evolved the artform for the better. His take on most characters quickly becomes the standard for me.

[@Geoffreydarcy-pv4mq]

🔥💀🔥 "Mr.Fantastic." Norm Macdonald.

[@stampscapes]

They probably did bump up the run by quite a bit. A pretty big spec book when it came out. I bought several copies when it came out as Byrne was my favorite artist and anything he did was hot. Miller kind of took over as the hottest artist soon after this. Probably wouldn't have happened if Byrne stayed with the X-Men.

[@Neckfat46290]

He’s an egghead

[@CoreyMason-r8g]

💯💯💯💯🔥🔥🔥👍