John Byrne was born in Walsall, England, in 1950. His family emigrated to Canada in 1958, where wanderlust compelled them to move around so much John eventually attended nine schools in eleven years. Finally he found himself at the Alberta College of Art, in Calgary, where he completed two and a half years of a four-year course in Fine Arts before he and his instructors came to the mutual conclusion there was little the college had to offer to someone who wanted to be a "cartoonist."

John continued pursuing this decidedly strange potential profession until 1975 when he gained full-time employment in the comics field, starting with Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch for Charlton Comics, and eventually moving on to Marvel and DC where he has, at one time or another, worked on virtually every character owned by either company, most notably the Fantastic Four and Superman.

Related items: A discussion with John Byrne.