Byrne is like the one guy at the promising high-tech start-up who demands to be paid $7.50 an hour when his colleagues are accepting company stock as compensation.

Then he gets to watch his colleagues become billionaires.

That's a great analogy.

But they all started on a level playing field. (And Byrne had more name recognition than Mignola at the time didn't he?)

His books just didn't do something, that Sin City and Hellboy did do.

Ha, well... he did have an epic argument with Erik Larsen, in which Byrne basically said that it was ridiculous to think the Image guys wouldn't have been welcomed back to the big two with open arms if Image tanked.

Again, I'm chuckling at Byrne, not disagreeing with you. I tempted to think that if Savage Dragon (for instance) had been a failure, Larsen would have been told something to the effect of, "Sure, there's always a job for you here, Erik! Now... let's talk about your new assignment on Darkhawk. And, while we're on the subject, your new salary..."

Much more. Byrne drew and/or wrote most of Marvel and DC's top-selling superhero comics for two decades. He was about as famous as you can get as a corporate comics artist and about as rich, too.

Mignola had enjoyed a few successes on Batman-related stuff and other projects. But he had nowhere near the fame that Byrne did.

Of course, as Larsen likes to point out, by the end of Byrne's time with Marvel, he was getting C-list assignments like NAMOR and WEST COAST AVENGERS, and at DC, it was DOOM PATROL and BLOOD OF THE DEMON. Stick around too long, or come and go too many times, and your profile often sinks.

Maybe if Byrne had not split his focus among three books, NexttMen, Danger Unlimited, Babe, and concentrated on the one property like Miller and Mignola.

Maybe if Byrne had bothered to finish Next Men at the time, it would have had the same staying power in TPBs as Hellboy and Sin City.

What did happened to Next Men and the other books? Did they just stop publishing them or did sales get too low or what, does anyone remember? (sorry if this was already discussed I just don't recall) I remember getting the books, all of them, Next Men, Babe and Danger Unlimited. I don't remeber dropping them ever. So I guess they just stopped coming out at some point, where they really late? Was it a scheduling thing, were they on time 'til they stopped?

Maybe Liefeld would give him a shot at doing a "Man of Steel" style Supreme book and he could retcon all the Alan Moore stuff.

This I wholeheartedly agree with. In retrospect JB made a mistake. After all, I believe his original plan was to end Next Men somewhere around issue 50 (perhaps it still is). With a few skip months (if any) it would have been a completed project with 3 years (at the most).

At the time he freaked out about what he perceived as sabotage (my words) from retailers. Personally, I don't think it was as bad as JB thought it was.

A lot of people were very disappointed that JB stopped Next Men & perhaps it started a snowball effect (in reverse) with his popularity (that plus an ever-increasing online presence that didn't exactly work out in a positive way over the years...UNDERSTATEMENT!).

Anyway, not that he'll ever regain the fame that he once had, but bringing Next Men back is something even his most fervent detractors have clamored for.

I, for one, look forward to it.

You're obviously a detractor.