Feet of clay.

Erik Larsen’s column One Fan’s Opinion this week is nothing short of incredible.

I didn’t go over. I didn’t introduce myself. And I’m a little sorry and a little not. In the end, I decided it would be better to think of him as that guy that wrote that humble letter in the X-Men all those years ago. I didn’t want to spoil it. I didn’t want to find out that he was any different than that. A friend came up to me and said that he just met Byrne and that he was a dick to him. I don’t know if John was a dick to him or not. He may have heard what he wanted to hear. I know plenty of people have come away from having had contact with me for a fraction of a minute and formed opinions based on a half dozen words spoken in between signatures that weren’t entirely flattering and I was willing to give John the benefit of the doubt.

You know, throughout the column he says how wonderful John Byrne’s artwork is and how much he would like to see Byrne at the top of his game once again.

I find myself in the category of those people who have really loved Byrne’s work through the years.

Still, it’s hard to disconnect the guy from the persona he projects online. While I haven’t had any run-ins with the guy, I personally know two professionals (one who really loved Byrne’s work) who were put off after having a bit of an incident with him.

For me, there’s this guy who draws these wonderful pictures, who is worlds apart from this ranting, vindicative and ill-mannered man who shows no impulse control. It’s too bad really because the whole thrust of the column makes you think Byrne has a lot more people rooting for him to succeed in life, if only he wouldn’t make it so very difficult a thing to do.