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[img=right:a33be87045]http://www.alphaflight.net/reviews/af3_3_review_1.jpg[/img:a33be87045]
Writer: Scott Lobell
Artist: Clayton Henry
Story: You Gotta Be Kiddin' Me! Part 3 of 6



OVERVIEW:
[img=left:a33be87045]http://www.alphaflight.net/reviews/af3_3_review_2.jpg[/img:a33be87045]We start off with a battle between two of alien members of the Plodex race, on their homeworld. It would appear that they are the two plodi left standing from a giant free-for-all battle. One of the combatants showed himself to be the clear victor, he spared the life of the other. Speaking to the masses who observed the battle, he suggest that their race should use their great skills of battle to dominate over others, rather than continuously waging war on their own kind. The crowd cheered his idea as he is struck down by the one who's life he had spared. That one, then victorious, took up the proverbial torch of leadership, and urged the crowd to the same end.

It is then that we learn that this is a history lesson that Walter Langkowski is giving to the new members of Alpha Flight. He is educating them on the ways of the Plodex so that they know what it is that they are up against. Both Zuzha Yu and Major Mapleleaf are shocked, and don't seem to think they are up to the challenge. Yukon Jack acts disinterested, while Nemesis seems far too keen on the stories of carnage. General complaints begin to break out until Centennial (who until this point appeared to be asleep) blows up at the young members telling them to let Walter speak, and if they don't like it, to leave. They all seem to take his chiding to heart, and quiet down to allow Walter to continue with his lesson.

[img=right:a33be87045]http://www.alphaflight.net/reviews/af3_3_review_3.jpg[/img:a33be87045]The Plodex continued to develop and hone their art of war, until they became capable of space flight. They spread from planet to planed killing and dominating the inhabitants. They had become impatient with how slowly their domination was taking them, so they endeavored to discover a better form of expansion. Eventually their scientists developed the technology to imprint their DNA into eggs. When the eggs came in contact with a planet's sentient species, they would form a Plodex hybrid, that could quickly adapt to the conditions of the planet and dominate it. The method was successful, too successful as the hybrid eventually made their way back to the Plodex homeworld, and lead to it's destruction in war. Piece by piece the Plodex's own nature crumbled their empire. One ship remained, stocked with Plodex eggs. It crash landed in Earth's north polar ice cap; 98% of the eggs were destroyed in the crash landing. Several hungered years later, the last of the eggs to have survived was discovered by an ice fisherman. As Walter explains how lucky Earth was in this, we are shown a picture of Marrina, a former member of Alpha Flight, presumed dead.

The story being told, Centennial asks Walter when the training will begin. Walter explains that he had no plans on training these new recruits, that he figured he had chosen people who did not need it. On the last page we are the members of the new Alpha Flight rather bloodied up.

REVIEW:


Wow, Scott Lobell did a fabulous job of outlining the history of the Plodex. Everything about this race was very vague before, even though they had a significant tie to Alpha Flight. I really came out of this issue feeling like I knew more about the race in a whole, or at least their history. Even though this was an other issue with very little action, there was enough in the early Plodex scenes to give me my fix. I know this is culminating to a battle royal in the next several issues.

[img=left:a33be87045]http://www.alphaflight.net/reviews/af3_3_review_4.jpg[/img:a33be87045]I enjoyed seeing Rutherford step up to the plate to put those complaining young whipper-snappers in their place. I would like to see his age and experience used in such a way as time goes on. I was hoping however that we would learn a little more about the powers these new characters posses. We still really don't know what powers, if any, Zuzha and Yukon Jack have. I'm sure in time this will be shown. The stage seems well set, and I'm ready to get into the mission it's self. We know the characters, we know the enemies, and we know the goal.

I LOVED seeing that one shot of Marrina. What really did bother me was when Lobell said that she was found by an ice fisherman...which was not how it was written originally. Perhaps we could just pass this off as Walter being misinformed, but I was a little bit disappointed by that.

Clayton's art was superb in this issue. He does indeed just keep getting better and better with each panel. I don't doubt that he'll become a major name in Marvel at the rate he is growing. He sure did make Marrina look like a purty little thing

A great issue, awsome history of the plodex. It's nice to see some good hard facts put down to avoid confusion later on, as is often the case.


RATING: