While still a teenager,  I did basically the same thing, only I did just a couple of pages. LOL! I so wanted to see the story based on JB's description in his interview,  and figured since it was likely never going to happen,  I'd do my own version.  I whipped up a couple of pages that covered the part of showing what happened to Professor Xavier. In addition,  I drew my version of Cyclops and Marvel Girl, using JB's headgear for Cyclops.  The drawings in "The Art of John Byrne" didn't reveal Jean's outfit,  or the lower part of Cyclops' outfit, so I came up with something of my own.

The above are two of the pages I did as a teen for my version of JB's "What If..." X-Men story. Even back then, I was unhappy with how I drew Marvel Girl in terms of her figure (especially those legs).

The sequential page was a retelling of what really happened, and the following page, for which I only got as far as rough breakdowns, had the Watcher show the alternate version of what happened to Professor Xavier, as JB described it in "The Art of John Byrne."

Jean, Prof X and the Beast reformed whoever was still around, Havok, Polaris, Madrox (at the time I never understood why Madrox wasn't an active character). I think I replaced characters in the Proteus storyline and kind of had the Beast saying Wolverine's lines and Havok replacing Cyclops, etc. I wrote it in an old out of date diary - it would've been rubbish lol. So What-If? stories have always been a favourite of mine.  

The strange thing about this Elsewhen series is how it has placed me back in the moment when I read the original series. I remember reading the 'Jean Grey' funeral issue in my bedroom listening to The Jam's "Down in a Tube Station at Midnight". Whenever I hear that intro to that song I think of that actual comic,  the smell of my mum's cooking (boiled ham and boiled potatoes) - it was 5pm on a Saturday and how sad I was about Jean Grey and the lyrics of the song are about a guy being attacked and killed on a tube station and his wife not knowing where he was. Although quite morose and depressing it's actually strangely comforting. 

Frank Miller's Daredevil issue where Bullseye killed Elektra has equally strong sensory memories for me. 

I was only about 10 or 11 at that time. 

Elsewhen is the ONLY ongoing comic I read. I ditched all the others about 10 years ago. All these multiple Earths, re-launching and basically the poor writing and disrespect of characters and continuity had ruined comics for life. Elsewhen is brilliant. Genuinely. And it's free. I would happily pay a subscription to keep it going. 

If only John Byrne had become the CEO or Editor in Chief at Marvel or DC. Imagine how those universes would be now. Now that's a 'What If?' worth pondering upon.

JB: "...We only lived in that house for about a year and a half, but some of my richest comic reading memories are of lying on the living room rug eating fried chicken and paging thru the latest Marvels.*..."

I am now imagining all those chicken grease-stained comics!