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The Complete John Byrne Next Men Comic That May Never Be Published

Published Mon, 16 Feb 2015 10:00:54 -0600

John Byrne's Next Men is one of my favourite superfiction comic books. Buying it since it first appeared in Dark Horse Presents (alongside those first chapters of Frank MiIler's Sin City) it reminded me of my previous-favourite Byrne comic, Alpha Flight. A mixture of messed up folk who normally wouldn't be seen in the same room, given common purpose and drive, against those who don't exactly have their best interests at heart. Rather than the black and whites of morality, there was a hell of a lot of grey around, as people made good decisions for bad reasons and, more often, the other way around.

Byrne ended the book a few years later, unhappy with the sales levels – even though today they would probably be more welcome – and more profitable. When Byrne started working for IDW, the series was revived, but again it faltered and came to an end.

But Byrne wasn't finished. He has another Next Men story, Finders Of Lost Children. But, as he posted to the John Byrne Forum,

It has becoming increasingly obvious — to me, anyway! — that the FINDERS miniseries I was planning is simply not going to come together. More reasons than I can count, but mostly other things (STAR TREK!) occupying my time. Plus my recently confessed lack of interest in drawing comics anymore. Maybe that interest will return, maybe not. Only time will tell.

Thing is, tho, there is an entire issue of FINDERS complete and in the drawer. What to do with it? Well, this is my solution: "serialize" it here in the JBF.

Which he has proceeded to do. Unlettered, coloured in occasional spots with red when necessary, such as a crime scene or people under specific stresses.

While the piece is unlettered, each page runs with the dialogue underneath. You can read the whole comic book here. As long as you don't mind waiting a lot longer for an issue 2 that may never be…

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