John Byrne was born near West Bromwich, England, but immigrated with his family to Canada in 1958. He attended the Alberta College of Art in Calgary for a few years until Byrne and the school realized that his interests lay elsewhere. He made his first professional sale in 1971 to "The Monster Times". In 1974 he got his first assignment from Marvel Comics, in the form of a short story ("Dark Asylum") which eventually appeared in "Giant-Sized Dracula" #5, a year or so later. Meanwhile, editor Nic Cuti asked Byrne to do the fan character ROG-2000 for Charlton Comics , and this led to his first full title assignment Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch. "Wheelie" was followed in short order by "Doomsday+1", "Space: 1999" and a single issue of "Emergency". He eventually moved on to Marvel Comics and DC Comics where he has handled virtually every character at one time or another, including an award-winning run on the Fantastic Four and the 1986 revival of Superman. He has also produced his own creator-owned projects for Dark Horse Comics, including John Byrne's Next Men, Danger Unlimited, and Babe.
In addition to his comicbook work, Byrne has published three novels, "Fearbook", "Whipping Boy" and "Wonder Woman: Gods and Goddesses". He also has short stories in the "Hotter Blood" and "Shock Rock" anthologies. "Fearbook" was nominated for a Stoker Award by the Horror Writers of America as "Best First Novel".