Steve Irwin, a guy who taught people and championed animal rights and environmental causes dies in a freak accident – emphasis on FREAK ACCIDENT – and John Byrne decides to weigh in with his usual level of tact and human decency. It’s shit like this from one of the once biggest names in comics that kind of makes me glad that the industry isn’t bigger in the world. I’d hate for the mainstream media to pick up on this sort of crap and make it seem like Byrne speaks for the entire industry.
Okay, time for me to rain on this parade. I didn’t know he had kids. YOUNG kids. This alters the mix considerably. This makes him an ASSHOLE. Cops and firemen, to name but two, place their lives on the line every day to protect others. There was nothing Steve Irwin was doing that he could not have done — as did, say, David Attenborough — without putting his life at risk.
This takes this from tragedy to stupidity, and, worse, irresponsibility.
I was a fan of The Crocodile Hunter and was shocked and saddened to hear of his death on the news yesterday. I went ahead and put a memorial entry about him on my blog as well. Apparently there are a lot of fans in the blogosphere judging by all the entries about him that I’ve read today. The John Byrnes of the world are in a very small minority and judging by what Mr. Byrne wrote, he is completely ignorant of Steve Irwin, his life and his work. Irwin never went into any animal encounter with reckless abandon as Byrne alleges. Instead Steve Irwin always took proper precautions. Could it be dangerous? Sure. But crossing a busy intersection is more often than not, more dangerous than what Steve Irwin did. Plus it seems Mr. Byrne is still the same bitter, yet egotistical individual, he was when I first met him back in the 80’s during his heyday in comicsdom. His opinion is pretty meaningless especially since he’s ignorant on the matter. Read the opinions of those who actually knew Steve Irwin and you’ll know the truth.
One day, someone is going to kill John. Will anyone be surprised?
I hope John Byrne gets it by a Stingray through the chest.
Or ironically now, maybe he’ll fall in a swamp and be eaten by an Crocodile. Stranger things have happened.
What a complete dick move on Byrne’s part.
It surprises me that he had no idea Irwin had children, how sheltered is this cat from the real world?
Byrne once railed agianst The Onion for sloppy reporting, so his grasp on reality is tenuous at best.
The Onion lost all credibility for me a while back when they did a “story” on the Hudson River cleanup GE was forced to do. As some of you may recall, one of my neighbors is a GE veep, and he was directly in charge of this, so from him I found out all kinds of details the press did not bother to pass along to the public. Since the Onion apparently gets its info from other papers, the story was full of inaccuracies.
What are they, Michael Moore?
Anyway, I stopped reading the Onion from then on.
His grasp of reality seems tenuous at best.
EDIT: I\’m not sure why I wrote this yesterday. John Byrne stay out of my mind John Byrne!
Wow, John Byrne is a bastard. Just an all ’round bad person.
I don’t understand the Onion quote…is he saying that he thought it’s a real newspaper?
That’s it – moreso, he makes it look like he’d been reading The Onion for years as if it were a legit paper, making him either a terrible liar or a complete dolt.
That’s unbelievable. Did anyone call him on it?
Its unbelievable ASSHOLISH… I saw this Steve Irwin acting to a crocodile, making it wild. Thats not a defender of animal rights, thats an idiot who deserves what he got.
Should there be an “e” in Assholish? Or perhaps an “e” and a hyphen, like “Asshole-ish”?
So, does John Byrne have a test for who’s allowed to risk their lives?
Apparently I could be a firefighter with a child. Could I be a single widowed firefighter with a child?
Animals are apparently out as something worth risking your life over, but could I bet a dogcatcher with a child? A large animal vet with a child? Could I be a mounted police officer with a child?
And what if the animal was a mammal? Was it OK for Diane Fossey to risk her life for gorillas? Heck, they’re primates and smarter than most of his (remaining) fans.
How about puppies and kittens? Could I risk my life for puppies and kittens?
What John also seems to be forgetting is that Steve Irwin a) had a wife and b) was as rich as an Australian could be without inventing beer. His kids will be taken care of for the rest of their lives and they’ll die having known their father died doing what he loved and what he believed in. The alternate lesson that John would have them learn, that it’s better to forget your dreams, seems a far worse legacy to me.
Several years ago, I learned from one of Mr. Byrne’s previous associates that Byrne is sterile, unable to have children.
IMHO it has become somewhat of an obsession with this former comics great, as evidenced by his depiction of Krypton in the MAN OF STEEL mini, his torture of pregnant women in NEXT MEN, Sue Richards’ miscarriage in FANTASTIC FOUR, etc.
This, of course, doesn’t excuse his crass comments about the late Mr. Irwin in any way.
It is interesting to ponder had Byrne the ability to reproduce if he would still be the bitter, obsessive, comic book control freak he is…
I shudder at the thought of a virile prick named John Byrne.
its july and john byrne is still a loser asshole. a shame he’s basically runied his legacy as an artist by being a complete lunatic.