Cliffhangers

[mos_def]

I think we would all agree that Alpha vol 2 ended to soon. The question is, what do you think Seagle had in mind when he started the series. I wouldnt mind someone contacting Marvel to track down Mr Seagle and ask him about his unfinished stories

[DelBubs]

Hiya mos_def, welcome to the forum, glad to see your vocal, but I will take issue with you over vol 2 . IMHO it was utter pants and only began to ressemble AF towards the end. Also in honesty, I picked up 'Crusade' cos it was written by Seagle, but soon dropped it. Mr Seagle may have done some good stuff in his time, but I haven't come across it.

[mos_def]

I think Seagles run is running bettr then the current one. Seagle followed AF history and tried to extend it. To me that took guts.He recognized the connection of Weapon X and even tried to tie in Alpha/Department H intot he main stream with connections to zero fluid, microverse and others

[Ben]

I'm with you on this one mos_def. I know that Steve had a lot of things in mind, and he and Duncan both have told me things they had planned to do with the book. The whole "X-Files"/Department H conspiracy undertone was not to be the theme of the the book, but was to be resolved by the end of year 2. The introduction of Gentry had to be changed to reflect the cancellation of the series, as plots had to be tied up. The Mac that Walt found int he arctic was supposed to be an other clone, one that failed, and rebelled against Department H. Mr. Gentry was infact supposed to be the real Mac in Disguise infultrating Department H. to take them down from the inside. That had to be all dropped with Steve and Duncan were told that the book was to end @ #20.

Ben

[mos_def]

WOW. Mac is Gentry.WOW. Thats the biggest untold SPOILER of them all.WOW.Im shaking in disbelief.
You also talked to Duncan and Steve.WOW.You are the man.Alot of vol2 work I hope to try to make my spin on in my run on altmarvel.Wow, Gentry is Mac.WOw

[Ben]

Heh, you sound excited over that eh? For this info, and much much more, check out Duncan's Q&A he did with us a little while back: http://forum.alphaflight.net/viewtopic.php?t=385 Once of these days soon I'll track Steve down and see if he would be interested in doing one too.

Ben

[mos_def]

More WOWs Ben. This site is great for that QnA.DO the people at misfit island know this.If not I would like to have post it over there.You are now the WOW king. I love Duncans work on AF, XFactor and MRex, though I call him the kiss of death cuz everytime he draws for a book they get cancelled

WOw Murmurs pop was Purpleman.WOw.I got to put this in my series.In my series, issue 3 the Department sends the Epsilon guards after Alpha cuz Basil Kilgrew contacted Gentry (not knowing Gentry was Mac back then) I have intentions of making the Epsilon Blacks a clone of a Sabertooth or Kane, who joins in my arc.

[Ben]

More WOWs Ben. This site is great for that QnA.DO the people at misfit island know this.If not I would like to have post it over there.You are now the WOW king. I love Duncans work on AF, XFactor and MRex, though I call him the kiss of death cuz everytime he draws for a book they get cancelled

WOw Murmurs pop was Purpleman.WOw.I got to put this in my series.In my series, issue 3 the Department sends the Epsilon guards after Alpha cuz Basil Kilgrew contacted Gentry (not knowing Gentry was Mac back then) I have intentions of making the Epsilon Blacks a clone of a Sabertooth or Kane, who joins in my arc.

Don't think it was ever posted over there, feel free to do so if you like I was one of the other few fans of Duncan.

Feel free to post your URL to your Fanfics in the Fanfics forum. I'm sure lots here would enjoy them.

Ben

[Le Messor]

Sorry, but I'm with Del. I don't think v2 ended soon enough - in fact, it's the only series that's made me drop Alpha - only because I knew it was going to end did I finish. He never followed the original, he only preceded Weapon X.

But, I've said that too much already, over on the mailing list. Aren't we all sick of it by now? You'd think I'd learn to shut up

- Le Messor
"Because over the past few years, more money has been spent on breast implants and Viagra than is spent on Alzheimer's Disease research, it is believed that by the year 2030 there will be a large number of people wandering around with huge breasts and erections...who can't remember what to do with them."
- Andy Rooney

[DelBubs]

Okay, while I'll agree that the concept of Mac being Gentry was very clever, my problem is that you have to capture an audience first. People need to be hooked straight off and all that X-Files stuff just made vol AF very unpalatable to readers. By the time the threads started to come together the bulk of the readership had sodded off to pasture new.

We all know that Dept H is slightly suspect, Bedlam, the Skullchips etc.., but Seagle laboured the point a little too much. Now as for Duncan Rouleau, from what he said on this forum, he appears a very nice fella, but his style IMHO was a little too radical for AF.

Re Vol 3, it could do with being tweaked, but for me it is a better read than vol 2.

[Mystic]

I actually liked Vol.2 of Alpha Flight. I thought that Siegle's writing was superb and made AF interesting for me again. I had lost interest in the first series around #100, and although I have every single AF issue, I still haven't read them. I found the characters to be great, and loved the dark conspiracy storyline of the second volume (Heck, I even ran a Marvel RPG way back when that is still considered my best run).

As far as Duncan's work, I can say that I wasn't too big on it when it first hit, but it did start to grow on me. And, for a point of reference, I feel that it was leaps and bounds better than Scott Clark's work. There was no real consistency with him, and it bugged the crap out of me.

But anyhoo, I would have loved to see AF vol.2 run for a while longer. Though I do think that, with all the issues starting with questions, that ending it at #20 was rather fitting.

-Mystic

[DelBubs]

Funnily enough, AF #100-130 are probably some of the best issues after Byrnes initial run (IMHO) Wildchild became a lot more interesting and AF seemed to be up there with Avengers, The X and others as a major team in the Super Hero league.

In regards to Clark, I'm of the other way of thinking. I preferred his work to Rouleau's, but I can see how it may have put some people off. I'm sure I read somwhere that it was initially his pitch for Vol 2, but Seagle was bought in, somthing along those lines anyways.

[Mokole]

I'm a character guy and that's what turned me off of AF v1 and v2 often. I found the Byrne character pretty weak and predictable and all he did to make them different was to give them flaws (authority defiant, MPD for 2 examples). Puck an Atom knockoff, Hudsons are FF pairing without powers but using Iron Man/Guardsman tech (I always thought the Hudson e-m suit idea was stolen from Guardsman in Iron Man), Sasquatch was in part a Canadian ideal but made to be another Doc Samson too, Marrina was another alien, Bochs another robot user, and that's it. The twins were a bit weak but I didn't like their mental problems anyway. That left Shaman as a character I could possibly enjoy but they way he was written, so angsty some times others stoic, left me bored.

Once Madison Jeffries, Feedback, Witchfire, and Windshear and such original characters came in to the team I became an AF fan. I often found the villains (Flashback, Smart Alec, Dreamqueen, Wild Child, Nemesis) a lot more interesting.

In veresion two I actually liked the general storyline but wanted them out and away from Dept H HQ more. But I didn't like the characters much so I didn't buy much. Hudsons again, Puck (to be honest I liked Puck the character btter than most others), and teenagers with more knockoffs (Murmur most notably) and mental difficulties again.

What makes a character interesting to me? Good powers, consistent personality, and confidence in her/his role. I hate, HATE angst in comics. Characters who study their navels (Jean Grey, Cyclops, most X-Men and Avengers) or other people's belly button lint are the worst to me, even worse than MPD heroes.

So MML is naive but may have serious powers, he doesn't sit around talking to himself. Nemesis and Sasquatch. YJ. Centennial is interesting and may be a Superman knockoff but total originality is not my point. With Zuzha's powers slowly being illuminated I find her fast becoming my favorite, especially when Henry draws (he nails facial expressions!). The current cast isn't a bunch of whiners or piners, I love that. When I finally get my #8 I'll ebjoy those characters for who they are and, more importantly, what they do. And I admit I love how Henry draws them and how he is so consisitent, hooray for that in the sloppy drawing era we live in now (take that X-Men and X-Force readers!).

I have about 15 v1 issues, 2 from 1-100, most from 118-130. From v2 I have 8 books of the 20. I have all 7 (soon of this version, for once I like the characters and like reading.

Cliffhangers? Is Puck right about MML? What all can Puck really do? What is so important to Nemesis? What else can YJ do, anything? Who was scouting them out at the end of issue #6?

[Le Messor]

I can't tell the difference between the v2 artists. I don't know how the rest of you guys do it - 'cept #6. Paul Neary, I like, tho' the colours obscure his inking.

How can somebody with 8 out of 130 issues judge fairly?

- Le Messor
"Begin well, end badly; begin badly, end worse."

[Ottawa Renegade]

The Mac that Walt found int he arctic was supposed to be another clone, one that failed, and rebelled against Department H. Mr. Gentry was infact supposed to be the real Mac in Disguise infultrating Department H. to take them down from the inside.
Ben

So there would have been THREE Mac's??

I totally missed this thread up until today. Great stuff here.

I would have liked to see all this come to pass. It certainly explains why Gentry was so benevolent towards the team.

I'm going to read those later issues of vol 2 again now. And I'm also among those that enjoyed them overall. They weren't perfect, but if I had to choose between them and the current run, I'd go with #2.