This is John Byrne’s Greatest X-Men Comics Story Arc of All Time

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John Byrne’s time at Marvel was storied. From Fantastic Four to Amazing Spider-Man, the Canadian author was a titan at the publisher, covering basically any major franchise you could name and then some. Though controversial as a person, Byrne’s work is quite good for the most part, even with plenty of blemishes, such as Doom Patrol. When someone has written this many iconic titles in their time, it’s easy to forget where they started; In John Byrne’s case, he began comics as an artist. In fact, on many of Byrne’s most beloved books—Fantastic Four, She-Hulk, and Alpha Flight—he was both writer and penciller.

Drawing casual comics in college and working at Charlton for a bit, Byrne eventually was included in a 1974 fan art gallery for Marvel and found himself employed by the giant only three years later. Starting on books like The Champions, Marvel Preview, and Marvel Team-Up—in which he drew the X-Men for the first time—his work wasn’t nearly what it became. In 1977, he and inker Terry Austin would move over to a different title, in which everything would change for Byrne’s career as well as the X-Men franchise.

The partnership between John Byrne and Chris Claremont was one for the record books

When The X-Men started, it was yet another Kirby and Lee pairing focusing on sci-fi superheroes—which Marvel was, of course, in no short supply of. Infamously, despite the concept, the stories and characters the iconic duo came up with lacked much of anything worthwhile, and it only got worse when Roy Thomas came on to write. Starting at issue #20, Roy Thomas’s X-Men was famously despised even at the time, causing the series to be in constant fear of cancellation due to poor sales.

A random gofer at the time and new writer, Chris Claremont, had barely proven himself, even with his brief Daredevil stint. Though green, Claremont had expressed enthusiasm for the new team revealed in Giant-Size X-Men by Wein and Dave Cockrum, with Wein deciding to give Claremont the job of writing them in the main book—something met with no opposition by editors, considering it already was facing cancellation every issue. In the remaining years of the 1970s, The X-Men became one of Marvel’s highest-selling titles.

John Byrne was given the job pencilling with Terry Austin’s inking in 1977, starting on The X-Men #108, and is in large part the reason the book became what it is today. Together, Byrne and Claremont created “The Dark Phoenix Saga”, a story that needs little introduction. In The Uncanny X-Men #129, Byrne would co-create an absolute fan favorite X-Man who, to this day, is still on the covers of books, leading teams, and walking through walls: Kitty Pryde. She was one of Byrne’s greatest contributions to the title, but nobody would know this until Kitty finally got a major role in a story, in 1980’s The Uncanny X-Men #141.

The Future-Set Prelude Shocks And Scares

Days of Future Past established a terrifying future

The X-Men #141 is the official first part of the “Days of Future Past” story, opening with an extreme tone shift from the usual X-Men story. The first thing the reader sees is an absolutely decimated New York, following Kate—not Kitty—Pryde as she navigates it. Kate is older and more grizzled, which makes sense when it’s revealed this issue is set in the far-off, inconceivable year of 2013.

What follows this opening is an iconic introductory sequence for seven pages, pulling the reader into a bleak atmosphere, brilliantly communicated through Byrne’s grim drawings, and immersing them in this desolate future. While many “destroyed future” stories had existed at this point, “Days of Future Past’s” specific depiction was so jarring as a follow-up to the previous issue’s regular story for the team.

The reason the future is this way goes as such: Mystique—previously only a Ms. Marvel rogue—and her new Brotherhood of Mutants kill Senator Kelly, an anti-Mutant presidential candidate, to scare off anti-Mutant humans. Instead, in this alternate future, the humans push back. They launch nationally spread Sentinels to go after all superpowered beings who won’t restrain their abilities like Kate has—with all but five dying. It’s one thing to hear Kate say this, but to see the graves of heroes like Cyclops and the ever-loving blue-eyed Thing himself is incredibly jarring for readers even now. It only gets worse when the reader is exposed to one of these deaths, watching an adult Franklin Richards die to a Sentinel before their very eyes on the page, a scary image that sticks in one’s mind and a perfect example of how serious and high-stakes this story is compared to other random X-Men one-offs.

While in this future-set introduction, we’re introduced to the concept of Kitty Pryde and Colossus as a pairing, something Byrne actually disapproved of. However, it would eventually make its way into the main title and become an iconic couple that many despise with a passion, though it was revered in its heyday. However, we do meet an actually beloved important fixture: Rachel. She is a telepath in a relationship with Franklin Richards, with little elaboration around her (for now). Rachel’s plan is a lot, to say the least: Send Kate’s mind back in time and possess the 13-year-old Kitty’s body with it, a plan that works as it takes the readers back to the present too.

It is genuinely impressive for any new reader looking back on this issue now just how much the powerhouse duo behind this condensed into only seven pages. In this brief introduction, the reader meets the future heroes and is given almost everything they need to know about this timeline, but isn’t just hit with exposition. There’s no long text bubbles droning on and on; it tells its story through its environment and characters acting like it’s any other day in this post-apocalypse, naturally easing the reader into this new world, even if they leave it early into the issue.

The Second Half Of Part One Went Back To The Present

Days of Future Past played with time travel in an interesting way

The immediate contrast of seeing this actual child version of Kitty in the present struggling to learn her powers right after meeting Kate is so very jarring. The whiplash behind it is clearly intentional, shocking the reader, which is rather effective.

The scene of Kitty training in the danger room immediately tips off readers to her being someone special, as she absolutely steamrolls the training despite not yet grasping the role of being an X-Man, bumping into the team while they trained only pages prior. It’s quite funny, seeing as her future counterpart is such a natural leader, to see a young Kitty completely struggling to even be in the same room as a team.

Kitty had little page time at this point in X-Men history, but was a pet character for Byrne, who had created the concept for Kitty himself. This was Byrne’s last story on The X-Men before leaving for about a decade, with his send-off being the first X-Men arc he wrote the full story for, as Claremont had no intrigue in using the Sentinels—funny, considering this has gone down as not only the best Sentinels story, but one of the best X-Men stories.

When Kate wakes up in Kitty’s body, pleading her case to the X-Men, an example of this tale’s subversion of tropes is immediately shown. While many stories tend to play on the idea of people not believing a time traveller’s tales, this one cuts straight to the point. There’s something impressive about this story’s pacing and ability to subvert sci-fi tropes to just get to it, telling a story modern comics would in five or six issues in just two. Wolverine sniffs the truth off of Kitty, immediately dissuading any ideas of her being a liar—a good parallel to their eventual kinship, both in the hypothetical future and the main one—and Storm believes her, following Logan’s word.

The team quickly embarks for Washington D.C., crashing Senator Kelly’s meeting with Moira and Charles to save him—a great insight into the political discussion around Mutants—but the Brotherhood is there as well, crashing the party right after the X-Men arrive. The Brotherhood have a very small role in this issue, but their B-plot regarding a sense of distrust between the members provides a fascinating contrast to the future X-Men’s very tight knit and desperate group; The Brotherhood is a simple band of thieves, but the future X-Men are a found family in trying times, a great illustration of the differences in the two teams. The issue comes to a close as the teams square up to battle, ending on a simple “To be continued.”

The Finale Is Horrifying And Cynical

Despite the X-Men winning in the story’s end, the victory was a Pyrrhic one

Something unique about this issue is that, unlike much of Claremont and Byrne’s run so far, the X-Men are actually given a Mutant team to fight against, allowing for intriguing banter. A major highlight of this run is undoubtedly the characters and their dynamics, so seeing them being able to bounce off one another during some truly amazing fight choreography is amazing.

Most of the issue is the battle between the X-Men and the Brotherhood, illustrated brilliantly by Byrne and Austin with an energy unlike anything else. The battle against the Brotherhood ends with Nightcrawler seeing Mystique’s yellow eyes and blue skin, asking her why she looks so familiar, only for her to respond that his “mother” would know. The implication that these two are related, set up so long before the actual reveal, is amazing, showing just how much Claremont and Byrne cared about and thought out their characters.

When he tells Moira this information, she immediately begins to break down and asks a fascinating question: If history is mutable, how can we be sure of reality as a concept? How can we be sure that anything is happening as we believe? It’s brushed off quickly, yet left unanswered, leaving the reader wondering that as well. The philosophical element of Claremont’s writing is always powerful, but here, it’s more anxiety-inducing than anything.

The parallels between the future and past are, like in the previous issue, what makes this whole story come together. Shortly after the present day Storm stops Wolverine from killing someone, we see the future Storm narrate about the lives she’s taken, showing how desperate and bleak her future is. And, just after the present-day X-Men win their fight, we see the future X-Men lose. Wolverine and Storm are both brutally murdered by Sentinels on the page, providing a true reaction of shock and awe from the reader.

The most grievous part of this story is, like many tales of such bleakness, the ending. While the story has generally seemed optimistic, what with the entire plot hinging on the idea of changing fate to save people, it all is for naught. In the final page, it is revealed that, despite a team of Mutants saving Senator Kelly, the assassination attempt by the Brotherhood was enough to scare him into developing the Sentinel program that will eventually destroy superhumans and cause the desolate future of the Marvel universe. This cynical ending, in which no amount of attempts at peace can truly save the mutant race, is horrifically impactful on the reader, leaving them uneasy, and it’s not like this is resolved shortly after, as the next issue is just a cutesy Christmas-Hanukkah special.

Days of Future Past’s Legacy

The iconic comic immediately became a hit, remembered by creatives and fans for years

While the impact of “Days of Future Past” goes beyond just other X-Men properties and stories, often inspiring many time travel stories to come since, it’s easiest to describe its influence through the adaptations and direct analogues. For example, the earliest adaptation of it was in the original X-Men animated series from 1992, which adapted it fairly closely, but with two major changes: It’s no longer 2013; it is now 2055; there is no Kitty Pryde. The audience surrogate was Bishop, as Kitty didn’t exist in the 1992 series.

Like many of the FOX films, it places Wolverine in a central role, having his consciousness sent back in time to his older self. This movie served as a bridge between the two X-Men film timelines, creating a logical pathway to explain how the timelines diverged and created such distinct events—of course, logic means little in the FOX films.

Sentinels still destroyed most Mutants, but instead of being sent back to a time where he could gather the X-Men as a part of them, Wolverine is sent to the 1960s, where the X-Men are in rough shape. Xavier is depressed, Hank is out of the game, and Magneto is in prison for killing JFK. Wolverine actually rallies the X-Men back together, gains some new members, and stops the assassination of Senator Kelly at Magneto’s hands.

The most important impact on Earth-616 with “Days of Future Past” actually has nothing to do with adaptations or reiterations of the story. Instead, it’s about two characters: Kitty and Rachel. “Days of Future Past” was Kitty Pryde’s first starring role in a story, pushing Byrne and Claremont’s favorite character into the forefront.

The storyline set up her romance with Colossus, one that would eventually follow her for her whole life. Rachel—the mysterious telepath who transplanted Kate’s mind into Kitty’s body—despite not being explained much here, would eventually go on to be a fan favorite.

Following this story, it would eventually be revealed who she was, with Rachel’s surname being Summers, making her the daughter of Phoenix and Cyclops. The dark future’s Rachel Summers would later become incredibly important in Marvel canon, being sent back to the present day and joining the X-Men—even joining the UK-based Excalibur with her alt-timeline mentor, Kitty.

“}]] John Byrne lent his immeasurable talent to several popular comics over the years, though X-Men fans know him most for this legendary comic story arc.  Read More