During today’s Marvel Fanfare Panel at New York Comic-Con, Marvel Editor-in-Chief C.B. Cebulski clarified recent reports about legendary comic book creator John Byrne returning to Marvel.
Earlier this year, Byrne began work on a new comic project called X-Men: Elsewhen, which marked his unofficial return to the X-characters the he helped define. After several pages were released online, Byrne revealed that Cebulski had emailed him to discuss Elsewhen and Byrne’s potential return to Marvel.
“That was more of me being a fan and saying hello,” Cebulski said during the panel’s Q&A session. “We haven’t really discussed anything formally. I just wanted to let John know the opportunity for discussion is open.”
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Along with writer Chris Claremont, Byrne was responsible for iconic X-Men tales like “Days of Future Past” and the “Dark Phoenix Saga” during their famous run on the title. Their run on Uncanny X-Men was famously subjected to editorial notes from former Marvel Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter. With Elsewhen, Byrne is offering his take on where his X-Men run would’ve gone without Shooter’s influence.
After Byrne left Uncanny X-Men in 1981, he returned to the world of the X-Men on a few different occasions. In 2000, he wrote and drew X-Men: The Hidden Years, a series that filled in gaps in the team’s early history. After 22 issues, that title was canceled in 2001. Byrne had a public falling out with Marvel over the cancellation, and he has not worked for the publisher since.
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Outside of the X-Men, Byrne also had landmark runs on other Marvel titles like Fantastic Four and She-Hulk. In the late 1980s, he also rebooted Superman for DC Comics. More recently, Byrne has worked on various Star Trek titles and creator-owned properties for IDW Publishing.