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Thread: Ben's Bit - Alpha Flight #3 Review

  1. #31

    Default supporting books

    I also supported Volume 2, for the same reason.
    I have been supporting WEAPON X due to its Alpha connections for the same reason.
    My biggest problem with Volume 3 is that it is Sasquatch and new characters, not a recognizable "Alpha Flight."
    Knowing Scott Lobdell is reading through posts here is one reason why I have been trying to explain and defend any criticisms I have made. I'd like to see it as a book I look forward to, not one I am at least temporarily buying just to show support for the characters traditionally associated with Alpha.

  2. #32

    Default Re: supporting books

    Quote Originally Posted by kozzi24
    My biggest problem with Volume 3 is that it is Sasquatch and new characters, not a recognizable "Alpha Flight."
    This was my quibble with vol 2, but with vol 3 at least we haven't had to wait until #15 to see any of the originals. You only have to look at previous Marvel failures to realise that a writer has only a few issues to create a niche for what he is writing. For AF with all it's previous negative connections, somthing very different had to put out. I'm willing to bet that by the end of the first arc, a lot of fan concerns will have been adressed. I see the first six issues as a prologue, a laying of foundations before the actual structure goes up.
    Del

    Driftwood: Well, I got about a foot and a half. Now, it says, uh, "The party of the second part shall be known in this contract as the party of the second part."
    Fiorello: Well, I don't know about that...
    Driftwood: Now what's the matter?
    Fiorello: I no like-a the second party, either.
    Driftwood: Well, you should've come to the first party. We didn't get home 'til around four in the morning... I was blind for three days!

  3. #33

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    I totally agree with Del, none of us know what Scott really has in mind, but I don't have any doubts that he's got it all planned out. I can imagine someone having the first 6 isuues, looking back to something that bothered them in issue 1, or 2, or 3 and saying "ohhhh I see now!" Scott really seems to have some great long term plans. Now as for the formation of the team, I don't mind having a pile of new characters, as long as the book still feels like Alpha Flight. To me, this book feels like Alpha Flight, so I'm happy as a pig in....the mud

    Ben

  4. #34

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    Quote Originally Posted by Ben
    I don't mind having a pile of new characters, as long as the book still feels like Alpha Flight. To me, this book feels like Alpha Flight, so I'm happy as a pig in....the mud
    My thoughts exactly Ben. Especially with AF, the way the the teams members have shifted and changed so much over the years.... it's not just the characters that MAKE Alpha Flight what it is... It very much feels like AF to me too. (afterall, we're only on issue 3 and no one is getting along...:P)
    And I think there was a lot more thought and planning that has gone into these new characters than the ones in Vol. 2 (and some of the ones in Vol. 1)

  5. #35

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    Yeah, the whole dysfunctional spirit of AF that Byrne wrote so well is definitely in this volume.
    Scott's got that aspect working well.

    Volume 2 however was very dark, and while it was written well, and was probably apt for that period of time (off the back of x-files etc) it wasn't Alpha Flight.
    Had it just been called 'Department H' and featured a completely new cast of Murmur, Radius, Flex etc, it may have been better received.

  6. #36

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    Quote Originally Posted by Phil
    Yeah, the whole dysfunctional spirit of AF that Byrne wrote so well is definitely in this volume.
    Scott's got that aspect working well.
    I'm in total agreement, I actually like all the characters because they all have unique identities. It was this aspect IMO that made Byrnes run so good, depth of characterisation.

    Quote Originally Posted by Phil
    Volume 2 however was very dark, and while it was written well, and was probably apt for that period of time (off the back of x-files etc) it wasn't Alpha Flight.
    Had it just been called 'Department H' and featured a completely new cast of Murmur, Radius, Flex etc, it may have been better received.
    Not by me, because apart from a little bit of characterisation in regards to Flex, Radius and Murmur (which was basically two dimensional, generic characterisation at best) nobody else shone out. When you equate the ideas that Radius was a Northstar knock off and Murmur an Aurora Wannabee, you are only left with Flex which most Vol 2 fans would probably say was their fave character from the 2 Flight.

    So I'm all for AF Vol 3, it ain't what I expected, but it ain't ****
    Del

    Driftwood: Well, I got about a foot and a half. Now, it says, uh, "The party of the second part shall be known in this contract as the party of the second part."
    Fiorello: Well, I don't know about that...
    Driftwood: Now what's the matter?
    Fiorello: I no like-a the second party, either.
    Driftwood: Well, you should've come to the first party. We didn't get home 'til around four in the morning... I was blind for three days!

  7. #37

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    Del, you said that you had to wait until nearly the end of Vol. 2 to see any of the original characters... but what about Heather? Puck? Madison?

  8. #38

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    Quote Originally Posted by DelBubs
    Not by me, because apart from a little bit of characterisation in regards to Flex, Radius and Murmur (which was basically two dimensional, generic characterisation at best) nobody else shone out. When you equate the ideas that Radius was a Northstar knock off and Murmur an Aurora Wannabee, you are only left with Flex which most Vol 2 fans would probably say was their fave character from the 2 Flight.
    Yeah, but if they had been in a title unconnected to AF, with no Alphan's involved I reckon it'd have worked better.
    Even take it away from the Dept. H aspect I mentioned earlier and just made it an American government agency experimenting on kids.

    (Although for that it wouldn't have had the support of the AF fans behind it from the start, so sales would probably have been less anyway and wouldn't have got as far as it had.)

    I think Vol.2 was well written and I did enjoy it, but other than Puck it wasn't AF for me.
    It wasn't so much dysfunctional as killing itself from the inside.

    Quote Originally Posted by Major Mapleleaf Jr
    Del, you said that you had to wait until nearly the end of Vol. 2 to see any of the original characters... but what about Heather? Puck? Madison?
    I know it wasn't directed to me as such, but I'll tack my answer on anyway;

    Puck was written well, but Heather wasn't Heather for me, and Madison... well, we only saw him for half of issue one.

  9. #39

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    Phil and MML, I hope this answers both mails. Heather, as Phil said never came across as Heather, she was a character who was a Generic brainwashed type, Heather by name, but not by nature, I personally didn't see anything that identified her as the Heather who dragged AF back from the brink after Macs initial demise. Maddison lasted just past the opening credits and has been a buffoon ever since. It's a bloody injustice if the man never regains his excellent mind and re-joins AF or some other team.

    In regards to Puck, very much the same as Heather, Puck has shared wine with Hemmingway, ran the bulls in Pamplona, been to places we can't even imagine. This man is deep in history and character, we saw non of that, IMHO, in vol 2.

    To be truthful, IMO, Seagle became so wrapped up in the conspiracy crap that non of the characters came over as likeable, in most cases I didn't even form an opinion of them. So even in an X-Files type book with no Alpha ties, I still can't see Radius, Flex or Murmur holding a readers attention for too long without deeper characterisation.

    JMTCW
    Del

    Driftwood: Well, I got about a foot and a half. Now, it says, uh, "The party of the second part shall be known in this contract as the party of the second part."
    Fiorello: Well, I don't know about that...
    Driftwood: Now what's the matter?
    Fiorello: I no like-a the second party, either.
    Driftwood: Well, you should've come to the first party. We didn't get home 'til around four in the morning... I was blind for three days!

  10. #40

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    you guys kill me, has everyone totally overlooked the fact that i am probally the greatest detective this side of columbo?



  11. #41

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    Although I did enjoy parts of Series 2, I thought the characterization was lacking as well. And yes, although the only new character that did stand out for me was Flex, I thought, given the proper time and character development, Radius could have been a cool character IMO.

  12. #42

    Default Thoughts on Issue #3

    Hiya guys!

    Just finished reading my copy of ANADAF #3 and i liked it, though not as much as i liked #2.

    One of the few things that didnt work for me was the fact that the Plodex weren't green (like kozzi, i expected them to be because all of the Collector's collection were green). I'd have to disagree with kozzi's assertion that the Plodex should be aquatic race, though, as its only an assumption based on the drawings in that annual and not a given or spoken fact. It therefore remains open to interpretation.

    I get the rationale Mjr Rob gave for the ice fisherman discrepancy, but i feel that even though the script could afford to be vague (since this reflects Walter's thoughs), The drawing/flashback accompanying it should have been true to canon (since to me this doesn't reflect Walters thoughts as much as it is a picture from the past). If the illustration had shown a guy underwater tangled in a net about to pick up the egg, it would have been more effective for me.

    All in all though, im happy with the way the charactersand the plot line is developing and am greaty looking forward to #4.

    BTW, who else thinks Walt could be under the control of the Plodex and is just out collecting more super heroes for them to dissect?

  13. #43

    Default Re: Thoughts on Issue #3

    Quote Originally Posted by bigbloo
    One of the few things that didnt work for me was the fact that the Plodex weren't green (like kozzi, i expected them to be because all of the Collector's collection were green).
    I always thought that the reason the Earth Plodex were green were because their eggs were contaminated by the local fish/plant life.

    I'd have to disagree with kozzi's assertion that the Plodex should be aquatic race, though, as its only an assumption based on the drawings in that annual and not a given or spoken fact. It therefore remains open to interpretation.
    not only that, but the only reason ppl expect the Plodex to be aquatic is because Marrina, her mate and her squidlets are. That's just because of the contamination the egg went through over 40 000 years (as explained by Byrne).

    BTW, who else thinks Walt could be under the control of the Plodex and is just out collecting more super heroes for them to dissect?
    Hmmm, interesting hypothesis. Never really thought of it, but it does make sence...
    Allan 'HappyCanuck' Crocker

    "Hey... Philosophers love wisdom, not mankind."
    - Stephen Pastis, Pearls Before Swine

  14. #44

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    BTW, who else thinks Walt could be under the control of the Plodex and is just out collecting more super heroes for them to dissect?
    I don't think he knowingly is collecting new victims, but that he is collecting new victims. In three issues he doesn't seem tyo have given hints that he's being mind controlled.

  15. #45

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    I have to agree. If you think about it, Walter very well could have called in the Avengers, or the X-Men, or the Fantastic Four, or any number of former Alpha Flight members/associates. But he didn't. He chose to go for people who, besides Major Mapleleaf and POSSIBLY Yukon Jack, were untrained and had never experienced the superhero lifestyle.

    This was foolish of Walter, because of how grave the threat of the Plodex is. The third issue just underscores that point. If the veteran Alphas all ended up captured, how can Walter possibly think that these untrained people will fare any better? My guess is that he's being controlled by the Plodex, somehow, to bring in more victims.

    Just my two cents.

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