Article: ALPHA FLIGHT (2023) #4 Preview - SPOILERS FOR #3

[Phil]

You can view the page at https://alphaflight.net/content.php?...SPOILERS-FOR-3

[rplass]

The sequence with the 'salve' - kind of a lost opportunity here. Shaman just reached below the frame into his bag and pulled out... something? I recall seeing many, many very cool panels of him pulling some amazing stuff out of his bag, resplendent with magical glowing lights and impossible physics (staffs that are 6 feet long etc), uttering magical words from his grandfather's spirit, really pulling from the Sarcee rituals. Here he just reaches down, nothing shown. That medicine bag is so iconic. It's Cap's Shield. It's Mjolnir. It's Superman's Cape. I think Shaman's bag should have been spotlighted with some buildup and fanfare that it deserves.

Then in the next panel, presumably he applies some 'salve'? This could have been so cool - some real Hallowe'en level spirit powers to boost her life force, but we get nothing visually, with his hands out of the frame. And where exactly on Nemesis' body is he slathering this 'salve'? With her facing away from him in a fetal position I would assume it's an odd arrangement.

The other lost opportunity panel was the kiss. I was really hoping it were Michael's lips gently kissing Nemesis there, not Mac.

-> Open Spoiler<-

He practically raised her as a daughter, you'd think a moment of tenderness there would be appropriate.

[Le Messor]

You make a good point, Rob.

[Phil]

The injury from the blast was on her back, so the application of the salve makes sense.
Kinda agree that something mythical would have made more sense and looked cooler, but maybe Michael was dumbing it down for the audience...

And I think given the context of the last 'few years' Mac being the more concerned party makes sense to me, especially with Michael's trademark coldness when it comes to his actual daughter.

I saw the scene as a balance of his spiritual and clinical sides.