Ben's Bit - Alpha Flight #10 Review
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[img=right:5d12d868db]http://www.alphaflight.net/reviews/af3_10_review_1.jpg[/img:5d12d868db]
Writer: Scott Lobdell
Artist: Clayton Henry
Story: "DAYS OF FUTURE PRESENT, PAST PARTICIPLE" PART 2 OF 4)
OVERVIEW:
[img=left:5d12d868db]http://www.alphaflight.net/reviews/af3_10_review_2.jpg[/img:5d12d868db]The Canada is being invaded by Box Robots! After Major Mapleleaf traveled into the past in the last issue, serious consequences have been realized. Before getting to the action, Scott Lobdell takes a moment to formerly introduce the readers to the Plodex child that remained with the team after issue #6. The child has been named Mar, and has no sex, as it has not as of yet been genetically imprinted with one.
Into the battle we find the All New, All Different Alpha Flight in an all out battle with an army of Box robots. We see very tangible use of powers by Puck, as she slingshots herself from Box to Box with destructive force. She is hit by the blast of one of the bots, and falls. Yukon Jack runs to her aid referring to her as "wife", though she makes it clear she is not. Reacting to his "beloved" being in mortal danger, he activates his full powers for the first time any of the team had seen. The chest and shoulder pieces of bone detach, and a chain of sharp bone fragments whips through the air tearing into any Box robot in range.
The ream returns to the interior of the Plodex ship to discuss what they just experienced. Walter does some research on TV to find out what repercussions of their time traveling had caused. In this new time-line James Hudson, at the urging of Major Mapleleaf, decided not to go to New York to accept the job offer from Roxxon, and in turn did not die at the hands of Jerome Jaxon. Instead he decided to dedicate himself to teaching, cutting off all ties to Department H. Since Jaxon failed to bring Hudson to him, he altered his plans. Stealing the Box technology from Roger Bochs, he formed a small army of the powerful robots. Jaxon used those robots to defeat an "invasion" on the U.S. by Omega Flight, killing Flashback in the process. As it turned out, Jaxon was controlling the lot of Box robots himself, and the strain drove him insane, and eventually destroyed his mind. The robots however did not shut down, and continued to work toward Jaxon's agenda of revenge. The army of Boxs eventually destroyed both Canada and the U.S. In light of the these changes Centennial agreed to travel back in time to convince Hudson to go to the U.S. after all, and stop Jaxon.
[img=right:5d12d868db]http://www.alphaflight.net/reviews/af3_10_review_3.jpg[/img:5d12d868db]After being stabbed by Nemesiss' mystical blade, Rutherford enters the place between life and death. He finds himself in his own past, at his own house. Inside he finds a woman named Amelia, who he apparently had a love affair with. She reveals herself to me none other than Nemesis. He realizes the only reason she is revealing the truth of their shared past is because when all is said and done, he will not remember, as much as he may want to.
Arriving in the past, Rutherford catches up with Major Mapleleaf just after he finished speaking with Hudson. The two return to the Parliament buildings to discuss the impact of their alterations. Hudson understands that for the good of mankind, he must go to New York, and confront, and stop Jaxon, while staying alive.
Back in "real time" the battle with the Box robots has been renewed. The alterations in the timestream catch up with them, and the army of robots vanishes, being replaced by corrosive acid rain.
REVIEW:
[img=left:5d12d868db]http://www.alphaflight.net/reviews/af3_10_review_4.jpg[/img:5d12d868db]I'm really quite enjoying this issue this story arc. It has been wonderful to illustrate how much Scott Lobdell cares about Alpha Flight's past, even though this is a whole new team. So many questions were answered in this issue, it seems that he really wanted to tie up as many loose ends as possible with only 2 issues left in the series. The way we were explained who/what Mar is seemed a little forced, just having the narrator explain it rather than having the characters discover it was kind of blunt. I can understand however that there are only so many pages left in the series to tell the arc, not to mention reveal enough about the characters to answer all the questions floating around. I really like the idea of what Mar is, and has great story potential, though I don't know if we well see the child after #12.
The fight scenes were great, I loved seeing both Zuzha and Yukon Jack in action. We see now that there is no question of their powers, though the fine detains still have to be filled in. Speaking of these two, I get a real kick out of Yukon's constant references to Puck being his wife. The nice part of all this is that it shows he has a heart under his attitude. Nice interplay between the two mixed in with the action.
[img=right:5d12d868db]http://www.alphaflight.net/reviews/af3_10_review_5.jpg[/img:5d12d868db]I thought the chain of events spawned from their alterations in the time stream was very clever. I had though of all kinds of ways things could have been changed, but this was a great tie into Alpha Flight's past. I think that though Lobdell is dipping more into AF history, he's not doing it in such a way that would scare off new fans, but rather make them curious to pic up some back issues. I know it makes me want to read them yet again
The shared history between Nemesis and Centennial really has me curious. I'm assuming he was married, and she was his mistress, whom he truly was in love with. I don't know if there will be time enough to answer all the questions this has raised before the series is over. When he arrived in the past, and met Hudson, I got a big kick out of Mac's "all in one breath" speach. I can't wait to see how this new change has effected Alpha Flight's present time.
The story was great, the art was great as always, though the distance were lacking in detail, I get the impression this is a stylistic choice by Henry.
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Originally Posted by Ben
