Favourite Depiction.

Pulling a hardy perennial from the archives, I thought I'd ask the following. Which AF depiction is your favourite?

Edited to say, guess who I went for.

The same as me? :)

Byrne's was amazing, the best, the pinnacle IMO (not really a surprise, I guess), I also liked some of what Nicieza did and some of Furman's run was good.

I even liked (dare I say it) a few aspects of Mantlo's Alpha Flight (Heather in the suit, having her seek out Logan for training...Creating Lionel Jeffries, Bringing back Marrina, Gilded Lily and Deadly Ernest), but for the most part...I felt he really destroyed them.

John Byrne may have killed Guardian (who I felt was very bland) which led to some amazing stories for Alpha and he may have even killed off Sasquatch, but he wrote the characters of Alpha Flight in a way that seemed to bring them to life as people, as a family and as a team.

Mantlo made them seem fictional again with the constant screwing with who they were and their origins (Puck's not really a dwarf??! The Twins are Elves???!! Roger is an unstable, former mental patient??!! Mac was an immoral scientist who did whatever it took to make super-agents like Wolverine and Bedlam??!! Super-powered ditch-digger, Madison Jeffries got smarter and more creative at warp speed??!!)...I love Bill's work on the Micronauts and many other comics, but he was the tornado that ripped Alpha apart (in more ways than one).

Dana

I agree that Bill Mantlo had a few good ideas, (the permanent headquarters on Tamarind Island, Snowbird's baby); but I also think that he went on to destroy the team. Changing their personalities and/origins, and killing off established characters, was definitely not the way to go. I don't think the team has completely recovered to this day.

I would say that John Byrne's run was the best. And, although I didn't see Chris Claremont's name on the list, I'd like to add it. Chris Claremont did great things with Alpha in their earliest appearances: Uncanny X-Men #120, 121, 139, and 140; and the X-Men/Alpha Flight limited series, (AKA "The Gift"). In fact, I think Chris Claremont deserves some credit for Alpha Flight's successful introduction into the Marvel Universe.

Thanks for the mention of 'Claremont' Birdygirl. I'm gonna leave him as 'another' on the Poll, because unfortunately Claremont is not a name many people, myself included, associate with Alpha Flight when it was proper.

I liked what Nicieza did too. He developed the characters in a realistic, organic way while maintaining their personalities. He also had AF interact more with the rest of the MU, something I thought was desperately needed. If there was any writer that I would have wanted to take over after Byrne left, it would have been Nicieza. Though Byrne gets my vote, Nicieza is a very close second.

Hulk Annual# 8 showed and told a true clash of titans in a memorable story.[/i]

Byrne's was the best, without a doubt. I read AF for several issues into Mantlo's run and was very disappointed with the way the characters were handled. I haven't read another AF book since then.

I don't think Byrne's name should be on that poll; I'd rather get a top answer that's not incredibly obvious.

(I know he's not everybody's favourite, but there's next to no chance of him not winning.)

As for the Mantlo pluses, don't forget Dreamqueen!
As for minuses... I don't have all day.

- Le Messor
"Expenditures rise to meet income."

John Bryne is course is my fav to. But I have liked all the comics of Alpha Flight no matter who has worked on them. I just like seeing a team from Canada in the comics. Instead of just Wolverine who operates in America mostly.

Another Claremont fan here! I liked the work of the Claremont/Byrne duo much better than anything Byrne did on his own with the team.