10 Amazing Comic Storylines Derailed By Editorial Politics
8. The End Of The Stern/Byrne Run On Captain America
Roger Stern and John Byrne's work on Captain America in the early 1980s was as short lived as it was acclaimed. The duo breathed new life into the character, including a very well-received standalone issue where Captain America debates running for president. But both quit the book after only nine issues after a series of clashes with Marvel's editorial department.
There are multiple accounts of what led to the break-up. One story stems from Marvel's editor-in-chief's short lived no three-part stories edict. Stern had scripted a three-parter involving the Red Skull that Marvel refused to publish as part of its new mandate, so he quit the book and Byrne left in solidarity. The story would later be clarified in an interview Stern gave to Marvel Masterworks.
According to the article, the conflict was more over editorial bonuses than the no three-part stories edict. Marvel's editors were concerned that Stern and Byrne would miss a deadline and were insistent on hiring a fill-in creative team for one issue. The fill-in team would have disrupted the bonus money Stern and Byrne were set to receive for working on six consecutive issues.
The lost royalties, combined with concerns that the substitute team would cost the book a chunk of its readership led to Stern and Byrne resigning from the series.