John Byrne is a comic book artist and writer, notable for his extensive work on numerous major comic franchises since the 1970s. His first work on Star Trek comics came in 1987, with illustrations in DC Comics' Who's Who in Star Trek, Issue 1 and Issue 2. It was not until 2008 that he created his first full Star Trek comic, for IDW Publishing, he has since gone on to produce numerous series of Star Trek comics for IDW.

Biography[]

Byrne's first contribution to Star Trek comics was in 1987 when he provided illustrations for the articles on Harry Mudd, Sarek, David Bailey, Hortas, Iotians and Khan Noonien Singh in DC Comics’ Star Trek reference work, Who's Who in Star Trek.

Byrne had long been a fan of Star Trek, however during his career Byrne had a number of bad experiences with likeness approval on various TV and move tie-in comic franchises and became wary on working such comics. However in 2007 IDW Publishing editor Chris Ryall managed to convince Byrne to work on his first full Star trek comic, "Alien Spotlight: Romulans", which with its focus on Aliens rather than any of the primary cast of the Star Trek series freed Byrne from the concerns of likeness approval. That first foray "removed the cork from the bottle, and allowed the genii to escape" and Byrne has gone on to produce numerous Star Trek comics for IDW.^[1]

Byrne has so far produced six series for IDW: Assignment: Earth, focusing on Gary Seven; Romulans: The Hollow Crown and Romulans: Schism, sequels to his Romulan Alien Spotlight story (which collectively have been published in the omnibus Romulans: Pawns of War; Crew, a TOS prequel focusing on Number One; and Leonard McCoy, Frontier Doctor, a series featuring Doctor McCoy set prior to Star Trek: The Motion Picture. He also produced the series New Visions in the style of a photo-novel, adapting images sourced from Star Trek episodes. Byrne used his likeness for one of the characters appearing in that series.

Byrne currently has three further Star Trek series green-lit by IDW. One of these will conclude at about the time Robert April takes command of the USS Enterprise, and the final of the three will be a second Assignment: Earth series.^[2][3]

Another idea Byrne had but has yet to develop, having pushed it back behind his other Star Trek series, is a miniseries exploring the adventures of Balok and David Bailey.^[4] One idea Byrne will not be able to realize was a crossover between Assignment: Earth and the series Doctor Who; unfortunately the BBC, who own the Doctor Who franchise, were not willing to go ahead with this.^[5]

Elsewhere in IDW's output, the artist J.K. Woodward created an homage to John Byrne's cover for the Uncanny X-Men comic "Days of Future Past" for his own cover for "Do Not Close Your Eyes", the first issue of the The Last Generation miniseries.

Star Trek credits[]

DC Comics

• Who's Who in Star Trek (select illustrations)

IDW Publishing

Artist, writer and cover credits for all issues:

• Alien Spotlight: "Romulans"
• Assignment: Earth:
  • "Brighter Than a Thousand Suns"
  • "Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow"
  • "My Name Is Legion"
  • "We Have Met the Enemy..."
    • "Isis"
  • "Too Many Presidents"
    • "Ah-Ha!"
• Romulans: The Hollow Crown
  • "The Hollow Crown, Issue 1"
  • "The Hollow Crown, Issue 2"
• Crew:
  • "Shakedown"
  • "The Bottle"
  • "Ghosts"
  • "Shadows of the Past"
  • "The Ends of Eternity"
• Romulans: Schism:
  • "Schism, Issue 1"
  • "Schism, Issue 2"
  • "Schism, Issue 3"
• Leonard McCoy, Frontier Doctor:
  • "Weeds"
  • "Error"
  • "Medics"
  • "Leonard McCoy, Frontier Doctor, Issue 4":
    • "Hosts"
    • "Scalpel"

Writer, photo montage and cover credits for all issues:

• New Visions:
  • "The Mirror, Cracked"
  • New Visions, Issue 2
    • "Time's Echo"
    • "Sweet Sorrow"
  • New Visions, Issue 3
    • "Cry Vengeance"
    • "Robot"
  • New Visions, Issue 4
    • "Made Out of Mudd"
    • "The Great Tribble Hunt"
  • New Visions, Issue 5
    • "A Scent of Ghosts"
    • "Memorium"
  • "Resistance"
  • "1971/4860.2"
  • "The Survival Equation"
  • "The Hollow Man"
  • "Mister Chekov"
  • New Visions, Issue 11
    • "Of Woman Born"
    • "I Sing of Arms and Heroes"
  • "Swarm"
  • "The Hidden Face"
  • "Sam"
  • New Visions, Issue 15
    • "The Traveler"
    • "Should Old Acquaintance Be Forgot..."
  • New Visions, Issue 16
    • "Time Out of Joint"
    • "Home"
    • "Those Who Play With Cats..."
  • "All the Ages Frozen"
  • New Visions, Issue 18
    • "What Pain It Is to Drown"
    • "R.H.I.P."
  • "The Hunger"
  • "Isolation"
  • "The Enemy of My Enemy"
  • "An Unexpected Yesterday"
• Unnumbered and additional stories:
  • "Strange New Worlds"
  • "Eye of the Beholder"
  • "More of the Serpent Than the Dove"
  • "The Cage"
  • "Dream a Little Dream"

Covers[]

"Alien Spotlight: Romulans"

"Brighter Than a Thousand Suns"

"Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow"

"My Name Is Legion"

"We Have Met the Enemy..."

"Too Many Presidents"

"Romulans: The Hollow Crown, Issue 1"

"Romulans: The Hollow Crown, Issue 1"

Assignment: Earth omnibus

"Shakedown"

"The Bottle"

"Ghosts"

"Shadows of the Past"

"The Ends of Eternity"

Schism, Issue 1

Schism, Issue 2

Schism, Issue 3

Weeds

Error

Medics

Leonard McCoy, Frontier Doctor, Issue 4

Weeds

Error

Medics

Leonard McCoy, Frontier Doctor, Issue 4

Sketch covers[]

"Alien Spotlight: Romulans"

"Shakedown"

"The Bottle"

"Ghosts"

"Shadows of the Past"

"The Ends of Eternity"

Weeds

Error

Medics

Leonard McCoy, Frontier Doctor, Issue 4

Appendices[]

IDW Publishing writers and editors
Writers	Dave Baker • John Barber • Mike W. Barr • Corinna Bechko • Kirsten Beyer • Brannon Braga • John Byrne • Zander Cannon • Chris Cantwell • Cecil Castellucci • Donny Cates • Mike Chen • Derek Chester • Peter David • Keith R.A. DeCandido • Ian Edginton • Travis Fickett • D.C. Fontana • Andrew Grant • Morgan Hampton • Gabriel Hardman • Andrew Steven Harris • Tim Jones • Mike Johnson • Sam Maggs • Dan Martin • Terry Matalas • Stephen Mooney • Stuart Moore • Ryan North • Ryan Parrott • James Patrick • Simon Roy • Chris Ryall • Andy Schmidt • Arne Schmidt • Cavan Scott • Mairghread Scott • Chris Sequeira • Matt Sheean • Matthew Dow Smith • Paul D. Storrie • Ty Templeton • David Tipton • Scott Tipton • David Tischman • Vivek J. Tiwary • Scott Bryan Wilson • Thom Zahler
Story credits	Harve Bennett • Alex Kurtzman • Roberto Orci • Rick Remender • Jack B. Sowards
Editors	Heather Antos • Scott Dunbier • Sarah Gaydos • Andrew Steven Harris • David Mariotte • Chase Marotz • Chris Ryall • Andy Schmidt • Alonzo Simon • Dan Taylor • Denton J. Tipton

IDW Publishing artists
Interior artists	Bob Almond • Javier Aranda • Yulian Ardhi • Claudia Balboni • Josep Maria Beroy • John Byrne • Debora Carita • Gaetano Carlucci • Elena Casagrande • Marina Castelvetro • Mack Chater • Chee Yang Ong • Oleg Chudakov • Steve Conley • Joe Corroney • Andrew Currie • Rob Doan • Erica Durante • Joe Eisma • Erfan Fajar • Mike Feehan • Matt Fillbach • Shawn Fillbach • Arianna Florean • Tana Ford • Drew Geraci • Nicole Goux • Ornella Greco • Gianluigi Gregorini • Gabriel Hardman • Mike Hawthorne • Christopher Herndon • Josh Hood • Corin Howell • Roberta Ingranata • Daniel Irizarri • Chris Johnson • Agri Karuniawan • Luca Lamberti • Jack Lawrence • Aaron Leach • Megan Levens • Yasmin Liang • Sonny Liew • Casey Maloney • Federica Manfredi • Fabio Mantovani • Jose Marzan Jr. • David Messina • Stephen Molnar • Stephen Mooney • Philip Moy • Victor Moya • Philip Murphy • Sean Murphy • Tom Nguyen • Carlos Nieto • Leonard O'Grady • Augustin Padilla • Terry Pallot • Hugo Petrus • Joe Phillips • Stacie Ponder • Sara Pichelli • Hendry Prasetya • Gordon Purcell • Wagner Reis • Carlos Rodriguez • Pow Rodrix • Ramon Rosanas • Simon Roy • Marc Rueda • Rob & Joe Sharp • Tony Shasteen • Bob Smith • Gavin Smith • Matthew Dow Smith • Cat Staggs • Rachael Stott • Erik Tamayo • Stephen Thompson • Marcus To • German Torres-Ruiz • Ángel Unzueta • Caspar Wijngaard • J.K. Woodward
Cover artists	Mike Allred • Robert Atkins • Mark Alvarado • Zachary Baldus • Jake Bartok • Elizabeth Beals • Alexandra Bequez • Josep Maria Beroy • Adrián Bonilla • Sweeney Boo • James Brown • John Byrne • Dennis Calero • George Caltsoudas • Elena Casagrande • Mack Chater • Chee Yang Ong • Mike Cho • Oleg Chudakov • Steve Conley • Robby Cook • Joe Corroney • Andrew Currie • David Deitrick • Ejiwa "Edge" Ebenebe • Mike Feehan • Chris Fenoglio • Francesco Francavilla • Paulina Ganucheau • Jeremy Geddes • James Gray • Ornella Greco • Aaron Harvey • Angel Hernández • Greg Hildebrandt • Steffi Hochriegl • Josh Hood • Zach Howard • Megan Huang • Jamal Igle • Roberta Ingranata • Jewel • Daniel Warren Johnson • Joelle Jones • Liana Kangas • Ken Kelly • Marc Laming • J.J. Lendl • Megan Levens • Amanda Madriaga • Kevin Maguire • David Malan • Butch Mapa • Justin Mason • Judd Mercer • David Messina • Stephen Molnar • Philip Murphy • Sean Murphy • Leonard O'Grady • Augustin Padilla • Michael Pangrazio • Bob Peak • Sara Pitre-Durocher • Andy Price • Rahzzah • Pablo Raimondi • Tom Ralston • Brian Reber • Rod Reis • Carlos Rodriguez • Ramon Rosanas • Simon Roy • Nick Runge • Jim Salvati • Declan Shalvey • Kelsey Shannon • Rob & Joe Sharp • Hayden Sherman • Paul Shipper • Stefano Simeone • Ángel Solórzano • Luke Sparrow • Erik Tamayo • Matt Aytch Taylor • Andrew Thomas • Stephen Thompson • Marcus To • Priscilla Tramontano • Ángel Unzueta • Suspiria Vilchez • Nickolej Villiger • Sean Von Gorman • Kevin Wada • Malachi Ward • Mali Ware • David Williams • J.K. Woodward
Colorists	2B Studio • DC Alonso • Davide Amici • Jennifer Baumann • Moose Baumann • Mario Boon • Josh Burcham • Chiara Cinabro • Andrew Elder • Romulo Fajardo, Jr. • Triona Farrell • Nick Filardi • Fran Gamboa • Mike Hawthorne • John Hunt • Jason Jenson • Lovern Kindzierski • Charlie Kirchoff • Thompson Knox • Joana Lafuente • Jason Lewis • Lee Loughridge • Marissa Louise • Paolo Maddaleni • JD Mettler • Miquel Muerto • Giovanna Niro • Leonard O'Grady • Ronda Pattison • Brittany Peer • Mirco Pierfederici • Valentina Pinto • John Rauch • Priscila Ribeiro • Mark Roberts • Claudia ScarletGothica • Chris Sotomayor • Tom Smith • Priscilla Tramontano • Ilaria Traversi • Caspar Wijngaard • J.K. Woodward
Letterers	AndWorld Design • Clayton Cowles • Jeff Eckleberry • Christa Miesner • Johanna Nattalie • Robbie Robbins • Chris Mowry • Richard Starkings • Neil Uyetake

External links[]

• John Byrne article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.
• John Byrne article at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
• Byrne Robotics, John Byrne's website