John Lindley Byrne (/bɜːrn/; born July 6, 1950) is a British-born American writer and artist of superhero comics. Since the mid-1970s, Byrne has worked on many major superheroes; with noted work on Marvel Comics' X-Men, She-Hulk and Fantastic Four. Byrne also facilitated the 1986 relaunch of DC Comics' Superman franchise, the first issue of which featured comics' first variant cover. Coming into the comics profession as penciller, inker, letterer and writer on his earliest work, Byrne began co-plotting the X-Men comics during his tenure on them, and launched his writing career in earnest with Fantastic Four (where he also served as penciler and inker). During the 1990s he produced a number of creator-owned works, including Next Men and Danger Unlimited. He scripted the first issues of Mike