Do you really think the current series is good enough that-

[Northcott]

I think the fact that Heather was not the creator of the suit or an engineer made her more of the "common man" in this day and age, and even in the 1980s. How many of us can program our own computers or fix our own TVs. There's still a lot of people out there who can't change the headlights on their own cars. You are right in a sense that Heather as a solo hero would not work for that weakness, but within context, that weakness really emphasizes that she is part of a team, and even as team leader, relies on the abilities of her teammates to compensate for her weaknesses.

And that's the exact reason why Heather always felt "wrong" to me as a super-hero. I still think she worked, mind you -- she drew a fan base, and that's what any commercial literature is about. I'm just stating my opinion on it, based on my "rule of thumb" philosophy in regards to these characters: while they should reflect the "common man", there also needs to be a fantastical element as a key part of their nature to make them a super-hero.

I had the same problem with War Machine: a guy weilding power beyond his understanding. It lessens the element of the fantastical and drags the genre down to the mundane; as you point out, lots of people don't know how to use the technology around them to it's fullest extent. The idea with super-heroes is that they are more capable than we are. When that capability comes from an artificial source, the character is lessened. Even Green Lantern, the very icon of item-dependant heroes, had unique requirements in bearing his power: fearlessness and an indominatable will.

Part of it, too, is that I'm sick to death of seeing this trend of empmowering women by making them more violent. There's this reoccuring theme that the only method of empowerment and validation is through smashing someone else's head in. I think that is perhaps the most misguided, half-witted, slack-jawed approach to rationalization that I've ever had the misfortune of encountering.

A woman is not empowered by acting like the stereotypical (and insulting) testosterone-driven, knuckle-dragging male. By acting that way she's merely dragged down to that level. It would have been more difficult to write, but (utterly imo, of course) Heather would have been a landmark character had she served as the emotional core and stalwart leader of Alpha -- without going into battle.

This is not to say that female characters should be depicted as physically helpless. If anything, I think Snowbird could use a little beefing up -- she's been underplayed given her demi-goddess nature. Merely that blowing things up need not be, and should not be, the only expression of courage or capacity to lead. Nor should it be the only path left open to female characters for establishing a place of respect in the Marvel U.

My apologies for the long-winded response. It's long been a pet peeve of mine.

[cmdrkoenig67]

But that, in itself, is a problem. Who fixed the suit? Who redesigned it for her? When it broke down who fixed it then? How did she learn so fast how to operate it? how did she learn to fix it with no prior knowledge or experience?

It's like me getting a helicopter and flying it expertly, with no training, by Monday, and also being able to fix it to suit me AND fix it when it breaks down (ie. knowing where the problem is).

Just can't suspend my disbelief.

Um...weren't you paying attention?....In Volume one...both Madison Jeffries and Roger Bochs could have been her repair/maintenence crew for a very long time(she was dating Madison for many, many issues)....and who's to say, she wasn't given some pointers by them on minor repairs and such? She IS a smart lady and people do tend to pick things up from time to time...and with experience comes knowledge.

In Volume two....the techs at Dept H were responsible for the creation, repair and maintenance of the Geothermal suit...However.....in issue# 12 of vol 2, I have to ask how the heck she knew how to cut the suit's power supply before it blew up...if she knew little about the suit and it's origin's....THAT was the part that's a bit hard to believe.

Dana

[Ben]

In Volume two....the techs at Dept H were responsible for the creation, repair and maintenance of the Geothermal suit...However.....in issue# 12 of vol 2, I have to ask how the heck she knew how to cut the suit's power supply before it blew up...if she knew little about the suit and it's origin's....THAT was the part that's a bit hard to believe.
Dana

After the trauma of seeing Mac's suit "kill him" I don't think it's such a stretch to thing Heather would want to know how to avoid such a thing, and if she learned anything of the suit, that would be it. Besides, the fundamentals of the suit were most likely build on Mac's design, and the power system would probably be very much the same.

Ben

[Le Messor]

Same with v3, I scanned them all and read internet reviews but I only bought 1, 11, 12, and 16.

Wow! How did you get v3 # 16 already? 'specially since 12 is only just out, if yet, and the last issue?

Okay, it's possible you meant v2.

I never had a prob with Mantlo putting Heather in the suit. I always thought that was a great, logical, flowy idea.

Jeffries, at first, repaired her suit for her - he created her version after all. He was with her for almost all of v1, when she wore it. Then, in v2, she wore a suit designed, created, and maintained by Department H. In v3, Mac was around.

Any more questions?

- Le Messor
"Coed dorms promote campus unrest."

[kozzi24]

No need to apologize for your thoughts, Ed, ESPECIALLY when you defend them with rationale and obvious knowledge rather than a judgment made off off incomplete information.
I agree with you entirely about War Machine, on the solo hero principle. They raised that issue in his first series, and had actually given him a new suit of alien origins. Unfortunately, the title got axes around the time of Heroes Reborn, so we never saw what might have come of it.

[HappyCanuck]

Actually, they partially explained that. In the original series (AF 32), Madison redesigned and rebuilt Heather's suit, and since he was around for the rest of the series, we can assume he did the repairs on the suit (it was never meantioned on panel). In vol 2, the suit was redesigned by Department H, and presumably maintained by them as well. Later, with Mac back, it's assumed he did the repairs and such.

EDIT: Hmm, if I'd take time and finish reading the thread, there's less chance of me repeated almost word for word what was said... oh well...

[beetleblack]

I know I've probably said this a hundred times before elsewhere but I prefered Heather as the leader WITHOUT the suit. I liked her as a character, it wasn't the same when she put the suit on, she seemed to lose her personality, it was like the suit took over or something.

[kozzi24]

I think the change was that the Heather Vindicator was the first step in Mantlo's disdain of the original characters to making it a team of "his Alpha." In doing so, Vindicator always came out as perfectly right in everything. I think it was more bad writing than anything else.

[Garry/Al-Fan]

Three things that I liked about volume 3: (1) it didn't forget to be entertaining, (2) it remembered that one of ALPHA FLIGHT's greatest strengths (and/or weaknesses) is its interdependencies, and (3) the creative team was not afraid to take chances with the content of the stories. The jokes didn't always work for me, either, but it wasn't just a joke-book. I wasn't laughing when NEMESIS sliced the woman who happened to be herself in two. I wasn't laughing when Amelia was in a grave and someone's house was on fire. Enough was presented to know that her relationship with Rutherford ended badly; do we really need to delve into the details? Nobody is going to listen to me, but I think it would be better to let them rest in peace. Create a new NEMESIS (or go back to St. Ives' daughter*), because I don't think too many people will touch the subject of miscegenation with as much understatement and sophistication as SL & CH.

* Hope not. I don't want DEADLY ERNEST to come back after being hacked to bits. What good is retribution if it's so temporary?

What I never understood about volume 2 was this: if the Epsilons could capture, brainwash, and control the members of Alpha Flight, exactly what good was AF to Dept. H? Just fodder for genetic/cloning experimentation? YUCK!

[Le Messor]

Understatement and sophistication are, frankly, not qualities I associate with volume 3.

But I agree with you about 'it never forgot to be entertaining'. I enjoyed reading it; unlike a certain other volume.

- Le Messor
"I should've known not to talk to her unarmed."
- Star Trek