He scripted the first issues of Mike Mignola's "Hellboy" series and produced a number of "Star Trek comics" for IDW Publishing. In 2015, Byrne and his X-Men collaborator Chris Claremont were entered into the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame. He is the co-creator of such Marvel characters as Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat, Emma Frost, Sabretooth, Shadow King, Scott Lang, Bishop, Omega Red and Rachel Summers. Byrne was born in Walsall, Staffordshire, and raised in West Bromwich, also in Staffordshire,<ref></ref> where he lived with his parents, Frank and Nelsie, and his maternal grandmother.<ref>Byrne, John, "Superman: A Personal View", text article, "The Man of Steel" #1 (Oct. 1986), DC Comics.</ref> While living there, prior to his family emigrating to Canada when Byrne was 8, he was first exposed to comics, saying in 2005, His first encounter with Marvel Comics was in 1962 with Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's "Fantastic Four" #5.<ref>"Avengers Assemble: Question of the Month", "Avengers" #233 (July 1983) Marvel Comics</ref> He later commented that "the book had an 'edge' like nothing DC was putting out at the time".<ref name="CBR2000"></ref> Jack Kirby's work in particular had a strong influence on Byrne and he has worked with many of the characters Kirby created or co-created. Besides Kirby, Byrne was influenced by the naturalistic style of Neal Adams. In 1970, Byrne enrolled at the Alberta College of Art and Design in Calgary. He created the superhero parody "Gay Guy" for the college newspaper, which poked fun at the campus stereotype of homosexuality among art students. "Gay Guy" is notable for featuring a prototype of the Alpha Flight character Snowbird. While there, he published his first comic book, "ACA Comix" #1, featuring "The Death's Head Knight".<ref></ref>  Byrne left the college in 1973 without graduating. He broke into comics with a "Fan Art Gallery" piece in Marvel's promotional publication "FOOM" in early 1974<ref></ref> and by illustrating a two-page story by writer Al Hewetson in Skywald Publications' black-and-white horror magazine "Nightmare" #20 (Aug. 1974).<ref name=gcd></ref> He then began freelancing for Charlton Comics, making his color-comics debut with the "E-Man" backup feature "Rog-2000", starring a robot character he'd created in the mid-1970s that colleagues Roger Stern and Bob Layton named and began using for spot illustrations in their fanzine "CPL" ("Contemporary Pictorial Literature").