Nostalgia isn't what it used to be...
Well I just got through reading "ya gotta be kidding me" 1-6. I have been buying them since they came out and had decided not to read them issue by issue but rather wait until I had all 6 and then sit down one fine Sunday afternoon and read them in their full continuity.
Having been an AF collector since the first series back in 83 I was very excited about the renewal of the only comic book I have collected with total loyalty and passion. So here's a few thoughts about my take on the current state of affairs.
First impressions... Ambivalent!
Artwork - I'm allot happier with the art work in this series than I was with series 2. I'd give this vitally important aspect of the new AF a 95% approval rating
Storyline - I'm actually enjoying the storyline and seeing quite a bit of potential but I am simultaneously enjoying and not enjoying the Archie and Jughead factor that the characters are currently displaying. Which brings me to the...
Characters - A few issues first.
Yukon Jack has great potential but comes off as a poor mans Shaman/Toogood. If he is from some mysterious hidden native culture of the north, then why on earth is he apt to talk in Shakespearean drivel? Mayhap and doth just make absolutely no sense at all with his background in mind. Is yukon Jack from 16th Century London? Nargghhhhh! Thats the wrong answer buzzer going off.
Puck/Girl She's not nearly as annoying as the new characters in AF series 2 but must we be victim to the tyranny of hip hop mass cultural clothing? Her outfit makes me wonder what on earth an ANADAF would be wanting with what would in the prescence of the ORIGINAL Alpha Flight team, be a lesser Flight member at best! Why Langowski wants her let alone dresses her that way is beyond me. And lastly her overuse of the "eh" on the end of every sentence is a fairly cheap if not incredibly overused/abused literary device intelligent readers can do without. Yes, the original Puck used to say that... but not all the time.
Centennial - The guy cracks me up, the hip gags notwithstanding I laughed out loud at some of his moments, Alpha Flight with a geriatric doesn't seem to bode well though does it? Is he AF's Yoda? but again this is leading me to my long term conclusion... more on that later.
Mapleleaf - I really couldn't stand this character when the series began and the flying horse is so wonderbread it's barely funny...y'know, flying horses put me in bedrooms with 7 years old girls where everything is pink and unicorns adorn the walls... Mapleleaf is the male version of this for me. But guess what! The little background info in one of the middle issues regarding his suggested abusive childhood gave the guy some edge and mystery and that actually made me like him! Who knew?
Nemesis - Is the best thing happening in this book right now...she needs to do some killing to balance out the shmaltz.
Sasquatch - I'm pretty happy with Walt but still hoping he finds the original Alpha Flight team...well he did in issue 6# - and then ditches the B graders he's teamed with right now, Oh! Ofcourse he'd have to bring Nemesis along with him.
Bottom line...
I really enjoyed reading the new book and I am totally into buying every issue that comes out. I want to support this book and I sincerely hope it continues in whatever fashion it needs to in order to survive. It is my hope that with a building following that the old EDGE that AF used to have might once again return to the book and we can once again see some real drama and heavier plot lines that dig into the lives of the individual characters like the old days.
I came into this new series very defensive about any kidding around with MY Alpha. The idea that this new book would be a gag fest made me shudder but I am now not so bothered as I realize that this is only Alpha Flight in name... there's really nothing else about the ANADAF that has much to do with the vibe of the original team members...this is a shame but I would rather have this than the old team being treated the way the new team is, somewhat light weight and twee.
It's a fun book with Original AF references that make it great for an old fan like me, but will it ever be as good as the original book; who knows. What I do know is that you can never go back because nostalgia isn't what it used to be. What we can do, however, is go forward. With the advent of the Original Alpha team taking the Plodex eggs back to Plodex, I really hope that there might be some slim possibility of the OLD Alpha Flight getting some serious respect in some kind of spin off book of it's own for those of us who would like something a bit more substantial to chew down on. UNFUNNY ALPHA FLIGHT? Anybody?
Rant over... thanks for reading.
Syd.
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