Brian Beacom JOHN Byrne has Zoomed into the room, and the first impression is the artist/writer certainly hasn’t surrendered to the sartorial ordinariness of a man born at the beginning of the Blitz. His traditional two-tone jacket, the louche silk scarf on neck still suggests a retired rock star, or a mid-20th century dandy. Byrne, thank goodness, still loves to dress to the tens. What’s missing, however, is the almost omnipresent roll-up which dangled from his lips like a limp, recently hanged man. And the Frank Zappa combed-back dark hair is now a soft silver shading, as is his goatee. Yet, still Byrne looks commanding. Defiant. Like a subject in search of an artist, a task he has often taken upon himself.