Ben's Bit - Alpha Flight #6 Review

[Ben]

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[img=right:3f97184c68]http://www.alphaflight.net/reviews/af3_6_review_1.jpg[/img:3f97184c68]



Writer: Scott Lobdell
Artist: Clayton Henry
Story: You Gotta Be Kiddin' Me! Part 6 of 6

OVERVIEW:
[img=left:3f97184c68]http://www.alphaflight.net/reviews/af3_6_review_2.jpg[/img:3f97184c68]

The story picks up with Nemesis in the catacombs of the Plodex ship. Having lost her sword in the last issue, she is all but crippled, and dying without her sword. It is then that a small Plodex child hands her sword to her. The child runs away, and Nemesis flies after him/her.

Catching up with the rest of the team, we pick up where the previous issue left us. The team is on a small island amid a sea of Plodex eggs. The eggs are hooked into the same machinery that holds the original Alpha Flight team. Sasquatch figures that the genetic imprinting process is taking place, and moves to destroy the eggs before it's too late. Major Mapleleaf grabs Sasquatch, saying that he won't allow him to "murder" the developing Plodex. Yukon Jack sides with Sasquatch in the argument. They stand firm on the fact that allowing the Plodex to live will spell the end of the human race. Yukon Jack ignore's the Major's arguments, and rushes to attack the eggs, only to have his knife taken from him by Zuzha. Both she and Centennial take sides with Mapleleaf in the debate.

[img=right:3f97184c68]http://www.alphaflight.net/reviews/af3_6_review_3.jpg[/img:3f97184c68]We find Nemesis who has caught up with the young Plodex child. She seems on the verge of killing it, when it pushes a button revealing a hanger full of small flying crafts.

The argument over destroying the Plodex eggs has now deteriorated to an all out brawl. Just at the new team's most disgraceful moment, they are found by the original Alphans, who have managed to escape from the Plodex machinery. The battle that had taken place with the Plodex doplegangers had damaged the machinery enough for the heroes to escape. We learn that while hooked into the machine, they shared in the "genetic memory" of the Plodex race. They learned the entire history of the race, and formed a bond with them. They also learned that the Plodex home world had repaired it's self over the past thousand years. They had now decided to take the unhatched Plodex eggs back to their home planet to give the race a second chance. Nemesis appears with the Plodex child at her heal. She gives Guardian the keys she found to one of the small Plodex space crafts, giving them the means to take the eggs home. "Uncanny Alpha Flight" takes off, leaving the young Plodex child behind, as he/she had been born on earth. They are not sure of the sex of the child yet. Rutherford show us he has heat vision, as he uses it to modify one of the Plodex crafts. Major Mapleleaf and the new Puck offer to leave the team, as they questioned his leadership in destroying the eggs. Walter refuses their offer, and asks the whole team to stay together. The team leaves in their new craft, Plodex child and all.

REVIEW:

[img=left:3f97184c68]http://www.alphaflight.net/reviews/af3_6_review_4.jpg[/img:3f97184c68]I had a bit of a mixed reaction to this issue. I was really hoping for some great action, and a really big bang mind blowing issue to end this first story arc. In that respect, the issue was rather anticlimactic. The only real action was in the team members fighting each other, and even that was pretty tame. Don't get me wrong, I'm not the kind of guy who likes pure action books, however I did expect a little more. I also anticipated coming out of this arc knowing what all the members' powers were...but that hardly got developed at all.

That being said there were some really great things that happened in this issue. We got to meet the mysterious little Plodex kid. I love this little guy/girl. Very cute, sweet and genuine. There has to be some connection to Marrina with this little one. At the same time we got to see a bit of a tender side to Nemesis. Having the kid latch on to her was very sweet.

I didn't mind what Lobdell did with the original team. It could make for some great adventures, and opened the way for some really great stories down the road. However it does put them out of use to appear on other books. It was kind of sad seeing Walter looking after them, as they took off. It would be like seeing you family leave.

[img=right:3f97184c68]http://www.alphaflight.net/reviews/af3_6_review_5.jpg[/img:3f97184c68]The debate over destroying the Plodex eggs accomplished a bit of characterization. We see that Major Mapleleaf is very strong willed, and stands by his convictions. We saw bits of Rutherford and Zuzha's personalities that we hadn't seen before.

The humour in this issue was mixed. The floating head joke was an eye roller for me. No laughing here, however there were some really good bits too. Yukon Jack's line "Doth not be an idiot, man!" was great. Walter's embarrassment over the behavior of his new team in front of the veterans was very good, and his line calling Earthmover "Kid whose name I keep forgetting" made me hoot laughing. The baby talk coming out of the Plodex kid had me laughing out loud.

As always Clayton's art was astounding. If this guy doesn't burn himself out, I can see him being a leader in the industry down the road.

All in all, a good issue, though I was hoping for something with more of a bang.

[Phil]

I just wanna call being right on the MMJ being involved in the Sophie's Choice bit, and on the Plodex child not definitely being male :P

[Major Mapleleaf Jr]

Poor Earthmover... boy never gets any respect.

[jay042]

Well, now that we have Plodex Kid in the mix, I wonder if maybe Namor might be making an appearance to find out if this child might be his.

[ladymako71]

I just wanna call being right on the MMJ being involved in the Sophie's Choice bit, and on the Plodex child not definitely being male :P

Yes dear, you were right, we were wrong so =p

Hmmmmm...interesting? I was gonna go today but it's Africa hot out and I'm not in the mood to get fried driving a town over. I will however stop off on the way to me mate's place and pick up me two copies then. =)

[Canucklehead]

So the old team takes off? Even Snowbird? Can her new body now leave the "northern boundary" that is Canada? Perhaps she cannot and it will effect her. She'll return to Earth where she will get her little makeover revamp? Who knows!

I can see why Scott let the team go to space. Can't be enough trouble in all of Canada for so many heros. I suspect something will happen durring "Uncanny"'s journey and maybe lose a member. Nice Plug for an "Uncanny AF" series.

Oh well, can't wait to read these issues for myself... if they ever get here! lol

[Sir John A.]

Is it just me or was there a bit of an anti-abortion message in this issue?

[jay042]

Eh, I guess it could be taken that way. Since we've seen all of the potential for the Plodex there's no real certainty that they would all turn into evil conquerors.

That would suggest that most of Walt's knowlege about the Plodex in issue three was rather biased, even though the only one he really knew about was Marrina.

[Canucklehead]

Did it ever say if Walter was connected to the machines at some point or explain why he didn't remember how he escaped? Maybe he got most of the history while attached to the machine, but not all since he escaped.

[varo]

i can't even begin to say how disapointed i am in this issue.

total letdown. first the plodex were st up for 4 issues as being this evil entity all consuming force of the universe, then ........nothing?

then the original team decides to bail on the country and heads to a planet lord knows were? o....but we have to pick up our child along the way?

why does every new writer feel the desire to change a team to fit their mold?

why was sam raimi so succesful with the spiderman films? because he "got" the character.

same with brian singer....he "got" the characters. as well as every other succesful book on the market, the writer understands the characters.

this........*sigh*

i have waited so long for a new alpha series to come along. last series was the whole conspiracy thing, this series is a totally new team. why does no one understand that the origianal series lasted 130 issues? not to bad considering most books these days are getting axed at 12 or 20. if a book like weapon x with its strong numbers is getting chopped, then i can't imagine alpha with it's golden chance to attract new readers in it's 1st arc lasting past #12 that it was extended to.


really sorry to vent here guys, but understand i have been reading since volume 1 #1 and i am sick of seeing new writers coming along trying to mold the team in their image instead of understanding and respecting the teams history and writing it that way. how many places on the net have you seen "i loved the 1st series, but am let down by not seeing the originals"

sorry again.

[Mokole]

My view:

Overall I liked it. "You Gotta Be Kiddin' Me?" was the name of the arc and the theme:

1) Me join AF?
2) Fight them with no training?
3) Find them by going all over the North?
4) Transdimensional defence?
5) They're not old AF?
6) You don't want to destroy the eggs and end this threat forever?
7) You want to go to the planet?

I liked the character development (MML has a backbone, Puck's decisiveness, Centenniel's point about the Bomb) and the overall plot. The idea that old AF has to reseed the Plodex homeworld is original. That they agree with MML, Puck and Centenniel about wiping out the Plodex race is poignant, wiping out an entire species is simply wrong.

My big problems are that we never get to find out Puck or Yukon Jack's powers (unless of course YJ is a fighter, can withstand natural forces, may be immortal, and can generate light, no more). 6 issues and nothing. How would X-Men have been received if after 6 issues you didn't know Nightcrawler could teleport, Storm could control weather, and Colossus could turn into metal? Hopefully by issue #8 we'll know who Zuzha is, which includes her superpowers.

Now who is watching AF go home and laughing? Is this a lead in to #7, #9, or beyond? Hmmmm....

More action would have been better and less silliness. Getting old AF off on their own mission was done very well. Plodex thing hanging around will largely be a humour point, nothing more.

It will be good to see Lobdell live up to his word more and put more action in this book. Plot and art are great, script and superpowers need to catch up.

A good issue but not as good as 4 or 5.

BTW I only got 1 copy, Regina was sold out. However, X-Force, JLA, Flash, etc were still on the shelves.

[Mokole]

Snowbird is not tied to anything anymore. She is a clone of sorts and has been to the United States (or was basically created there).

Anyone notive how much Centenniel is Superman? Strength, flight, now heat vision? If X-Ray vision and bulletproofness show up....

[Snowbird]

I was terribly disappointed with issue 6. I stuck with the first five (despite terrible online reviews, and blistering scorn from my friends) as the storyline seemed to be leading up to something huge. In the end? Nothing. What gives?

Some lame jokes, an aborted fight scene for action, and an out of nowhere conclusion. You gotta be kidding me, indeed.

And what's up with that breaking the fourth wall scene at the end of issue six?? Why? I can dig some playful Buff-esque humour here and there but that 'floating head' nonsense had me groaning out loud.

Guys, get it together. An Alpha Flight relaunch CAN work. Honest. But more of this stuff and there's no way we're going to see issue 12. I've been an Alpha fan since their first appearance but I have to admit I've been purchasing this latest volume out of loyalty to the characters not because the book was particularly good.

[varo]

the floating head thing made me almost rip up the issue.

[kozzi24]

This would be tough to buy a second copy to hook a new reader. Issues 2 and 4 were much much better.

Am I the only one who thinks it was negligent at best and disloyal at worse for Sasquatch to just let the originals go? They'd been hooked up to Plodex machines for so long, the possibility of mind control was too great. Rather irresponsible of him.

When I saw Clayton's Snowbird sketches when the series started, I figured she would be staying with the new team, so I was most disappointed there. I could see Puck, Heather and Mac leaving, but doesn't Shaman have responsibilities to his medical patients? His departure struck me as out of character.

I am also buying out of loyalty and agree with everything varo said. It's kind of a tease that there was knowledge from the first issue that the originals would appear by the end of the arc. Where's that hope now?

There is Sasquatch and it is great to have Nemesis developed. I like the Mapleleaf Junior character, even more after this issue. Scott is doing a great job of shaping him to be Canada's Captain America, morality wise. I like Centennial enough, but dislike both Puck 2 and strongly dislike Yukon Jack. Lost native tribe...that speaks old English.

I absolutely detest breaking the fourth wall. Scott's capable of outrageous stuff, but there hasn't been too much of that here. Too much forced humor for my liking. Way too much, often with prolonged set ups for a lame delivery.

Clayton's art does get better issue after issue. His figures stay on the inside border of cartoony, and he's really great at a lot of the tech stuff. As someone who has been called a nit-picker, I noticed his consistency this issue, particularly in the rips in Nemesis' mask.