• Alpha Flight To End With #8 *SPOILERS FOR #4* *UPDATED*

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    DelBubs
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    Published on 10-21-2011 05:11 PM      Number of Views: 13438  
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    ALPHA FLIGHT #8
    GREG PAK & FRED VAN LENTE (W)
    DALE EAGLESHAM (C)
    COVER BY CARLO PAGULAYAN
    VARIANT COVER BY LEINIL FRANCIS YU
    • THE FINAL ISSUE!
    • The big showdown between Alpha Flight and the Master of the World!
    32 PGS./Rated T+ …$2.99



    Just released from Marvel, their solicitations for January 2012.
    Which would seem to confirm the other news on the net tonight, that Alpha Flight is to be cancelled as of Issue 8.
    Ifanboy have also reported on the cancellation.

    The issue is solicited with the previously thought to be #9 cover as main cover and the previously thought to be #8 cover as a variant, and listed as 32 pages, giving 10 more than standard.

    UPDATE:

    Greg Pak has posted the following tweets on his twitter account:





    (For more on the above sequences check out http://www.alphaflight.net/content.p...-Art-from-AF-6)
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    Comments 58 Comments
    1. Le Messor's Avatar
      Le Messor - 10-24-2011
      Quote Originally Posted by CMatt78 View Post
      At least it was fun while it lasted (though this is now officially the shortest Alpha ongoing series, no?)
      Each one is shorter than the last.
    1. batman_von_gein's Avatar
      batman_von_gein - 10-24-2011
      alpha flight is the only marvel comic i buy and i use to hate dc. so in all it was about the only one i bought period. looks like i'm a dc fan now. i picked up batman and green arrow for the new 52 and i love them. and without alpha flight looks like i'll only buy issues with them in it. this is the best alpha flight since the first and its sickening to watch it go down the drain.
    1. Phil's Avatar
      Phil - 10-24-2011
      Quote Originally Posted by CMatt78 View Post
      (though this is now officially the shortest Alpha ongoing series, no?)
      Technically this was never an ongoing.

      It was an ongoing in spoken word and online interviews, but never in print.
    1. DelBubs's Avatar
      DelBubs - 10-24-2011
      I'm pretty pragmatic about the whole thing. Being a Alpha fan kinda means that disappointment is always around the corner. I was excited by the thought of a Alpha ongoing, but in the back of my mind was the nagging feeling that maybe they jumped the gun a little, just to have what they perceived as good news at a Canadian Con.

      Being a Alpha fan to me means sucking it up, having a rant and waiting patiently. If something happens in a few years then excellent. In the interim we can now talk about how Alpha hasn't been the same since volume 4 instead of harking back to the good old days of the 1990's. We now have an Alpha Flight that has more respected characters and are at their healthiest since the end of volume 1. For that I am extremely grateful to Freg and Dale.

      Bitterly disappointed, but not surprised.
    1. Le Messor's Avatar
      Le Messor - 10-25-2011
      Quote Originally Posted by Phil View Post
      Technically this was never an ongoing.
      It was an ongoing in spoken word and online interviews, but never in print.
      Technically, that is true.

      - Le Messor
      "If I had had more time, I could have written you a shorter letter."
      ~ Blaise Pascal
    1. cmdrkoenig67's Avatar
      cmdrkoenig67 - 10-25-2011
      IMHO...It's crime that this series was shorter than Volume 3 (bleh).

      On the more positive side...I'd love it if Fregale pushed for another mini for next year or something.

      Dana
    1. batman_von_gein's Avatar
      batman_von_gein - 10-26-2011
      Quote Originally Posted by cmdrkoenig67 View Post
      I'd love it if Fregale pushed for another mini for next year or something.
      i'd love the whole team back. this is by far my favorite alpha flight issues. great everything
    1. Ahab's Avatar
      Ahab - 10-26-2011
      Quote Originally Posted by DelBubs View Post
      I'm pretty pragmatic about the whole thing. Being a Alpha fan kinda means that disappointment is always around the corner. I was excited by the thought of a Alpha ongoing, but in the back of my mind was the nagging feeling that maybe they jumped the gun a little, just to have what they perceived as good news at a Canadian Con.

      Being a Alpha fan to me means sucking it up, having a rant and waiting patiently. If something happens in a few years then excellent. In the interim we can now talk about how Alpha hasn't been the same since volume 4 instead of harking back to the good old days of the 1990's. We now have an Alpha Flight that has more respected characters and are at their healthiest since the end of volume 1. For that I am extremely grateful to Freg and Dale.

      Bitterly disappointed, but not surprised.
      I second everything that you just said.
    1. Le Messor's Avatar
      Le Messor - 10-27-2011
      Quote Originally Posted by cmdrkoenig67 View Post
      I'd love it if Fregale pushed for another mini for next year or something.
      Fregale rock?

      Attachment 1577
    1. DMK's Avatar
      DMK - 10-27-2011
      The first issue numbers were really, really good. Much better then expected. The drop after that though, was even worse then expected. Retailers abandoned this series in droves. The demand wasn't there.

      With the numbers trending they way they are, I cannot blame Marvel for cancelling it. I mean, they gave us everything the fans have been asking for YEARS... and it still tanked, sales-wise.

      I am grateful for this very nice mini. If the team had the opportunity to revisit this property, I would happily join in. Even more of a shame to lose this after losing Herc. At least they didn't pull an All-Winners Squad on us. I am very thankful for that.
    1. swh_comicguy's Avatar
      swh_comicguy - 10-28-2011
      Quote Originally Posted by DMK View Post
      The first issue numbers were really, really good. Much better then expected. The drop after that though, was even worse then expected. Retailers abandoned this series in droves. The demand wasn't there.

      With the numbers trending they way they are, I cannot blame Marvel for cancelling it. I mean, they gave us everything the fans have been asking for YEARS... and it still tanked, sales-wise.

      I am grateful for this very nice mini. If the team had the opportunity to revisit this property, I would happily join in. Even more of a shame to lose this after losing Herc. At least they didn't pull an All-Winners Squad on us. I am very thankful for that.
      Issue #1 was double shipped by Marvel, to stores that ordered a certain number of the books, ie. 25 copies ordered = 50 copies received. That makes it impossible to determine the drop off from issue #1 to #2. However -7.4% (#2 to #3) and -6.5% (#3 to #4) are not percentages that show a retailers and collectors abandoning the series. This is rather a normal decline from issue to issue. The numbers from #4 to #5 are what could be telling.

      Based on a conversation I had with my LCS this week, it looks like the Ultimate Universe could be suffering from extreme overprinting and lack of community support. He said that he's been able to order #1s of each title every week since the relaunch, something typically unheard of when dealing with Marvel. Also, whenever he's reordered additional copies of #1s, #2s and #3s he's received 5 free copies of Ultimate Fallout #4 (Introduction of the new Spider-Man). He has so many copies that the store is giving them out for Halloween. That would tend to show that maybe the numbers for these other titles aren't quite as they seem either.
    1. Garry/Al-Fan's Avatar
      Garry/Al-Fan - 10-28-2011
      After cursing MARVEL for canceling an 8-issue maxi-series that is concluding after 8 issues,
      give them some suggestions that can help them compete, because it's obvious that DC's revamp has caught MARVEL flat-footed.

      DaVeo suggested something in another thread that MARVEL go the same route as DC. I think MARVEL should go to a 7-times-a-year publishing schedule for most of its line; I really would like to see an ALPHA FLIGHT series that has the time to develop and tell great stories.

      Chaos War: Alpha Flight turned lemons into lemonade, and Dale, Greg, and Fred brought the original characters to a new generation of comic readers. That is worth remembering.
    1. Phil's Avatar
      Phil - 10-28-2011
      Quote Originally Posted by Garry/Al-Fan View Post
      After cursing MARVEL for canceling an 8-issue maxi-series that is concluding after 8 issues
      Which let's face it, if you put it that way, technically we can't be mad about...

      because it's obvious that DC's revamp has caught MARVEL flat-footed.
      I completely disagree. In a way it's helped Marvel.
      Marvel are very closely looking at DC is a very clever way, and their digital plan is a better way than DC have marketed theirs.

      DaVeo suggested something in another thread that MARVEL go the same route as DC.
      I'd hate that personally.
      If Marvel were to suddenly completely disregard 70/50 (depending on whether you look at Timely/Marvel) years of history I'd no longer bother reading.

      I think MARVEL should go to a 7-times-a-year publishing schedule for most of its line; I really would like to see an ALPHA FLIGHT series that has the time to develop and tell great stories.
      There I agree. frequent maxi-series' seem to be the way to go.

      Chaos War: Alpha Flightturned lemons into lemonade, and Dale, Greg, and Fred brought the original characters to a new generation of comic readers. That is worth remembering.
      Very well put.
    1. Le Messor's Avatar
      Le Messor - 10-28-2011
      Quote Originally Posted by Phil View Post
      Quote Originally Posted by Garry/Al-Fan View Post
      After cursing MARVEL for canceling an 8-issue maxi-series that is concluding after 8 issues,
      Which let's face it, if you put it that way, technically we can't be mad about...
      I'm not sure anybody's mad about that part...

      It's the part where they promised the 8-issue maxi- would be an ongoing, then suddenly went back on that promise unannounced.

      That said, I'm not mad at them either.
      For reasons of my own.

      - Le Messor
      "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
      ~ Ronald Reagan
    1. CMatt78's Avatar
      CMatt78 - 10-28-2011
      *sigh*

      I think I'm gonna go and start re-reading volume 1, one issue a month...that way I'll have Alpha stories to read for about 11 years.
    1. Phil's Avatar
      Phil - 11-07-2011
      Well, if you hold on a few months time as I've been toying with the idea of starting a monthly re-read from the very beginning when the mini-series is over, and seeing how many people here I can get involved in it.
    1. batman_von_gein's Avatar
      batman_von_gein - 11-07-2011
      that sounds like a pretty cool idea.
    1. Sypes's Avatar
      Sypes - 11-07-2011
      A group re-read could be cool, especially if everyone here put in their thoughts, feelings on each issue and we can see who liked what and when
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