Alpha Flight Feats of Strength

[cmdrkoenig67]

Some good examples of Byrne writing them without the super-reflexes(which he had always said they didn't have)...issue #3, page 10: Northstar getting clocked by the wall projection...if he had the heightened reflexes he would have easilly avoided being whacked...And Northstar being unable to stop Nemesis(who isn't a speedster) in issue #8 from chopping Deadly Ernest into bits. I'm sure there's more....but I think they're more interesting without the super-reflexes...call me crazy.

Wouldn't dream of it. Characters who actually have to be careful with their powers for more than the cliched innocent bystander/property damage factor tend to be more interesting. I'd rather write about someone like Pyro than the Human Torch because Pyro, while he's a pyrokenetic, isn't immune to fire. You have to wonder what his mindset must be as he straps enough flammable liquid to his back to take out a neighborhood block, knowing that if someone takes a swing at him, he could be blown sky-high. At the same time, being near all of that dangerous stuff is the only way he can get in on something like the Brotherhood. I find that kind of thing fascinating.

Suzene

Yes indeed. Heroes and villains who aren't all powerful/infallible....that's the stuff that made comics great.
Although, the biggest reasons I don't like the Ultimates is they have too many faults....these people aren't heroes....they're awful people that I never want to meet and really don't want to read about.

Dana

[suzene]

Yes indeed. Heroes and villains who aren't all powerful/infallible....that's the stuff that made comics great.
Although, the biggest reasons I don't like the Ultimates is they have too many faults....these people aren't heroes....they're awful people that I never want to meet and really don't want to read about.

Sounds about normal for a Mark Millar book where there's not an editor to step on his neck. If I hadn't read Ellis' and Morrison's (Robbie, not Grant) run on Authority first, I never would have bothered with the book. As it is, there's a huge gap in my TPB collection where Millar's run would have fit. 'Wanted' was purile and the main character was a damned wimp who blamed his entire loser life on his mommy. His use of Northstar was a complete cop-out -- if you're going to bother with that kind of convoluted set-up to get super-speedster assassain, at least have the balls to make the concept as terrifying as it should be -- and Wolverine's hypocricy was disgusting.

It's not fair to say that he can't write anything of interest, because he *does* come up with interesting ideas, but my problem with Millar's writing is that just can't do a satisfactory deliver when it comes to writing people as actual heroes, and heroes are what I'm looking for when I pick up a superhero comic.

Suzene

[kozzi24]

The only weay for the twin's powers to work (and this is consistent with Byrne) is that their reflexes are in direct proportion to their speed. Northstar could stop Nemesis' assassination of Earnest because NS was standing still when she lunged.
But if they have NO enhanced reflexes, both twins would have run into something long before they joined Alpha.
Another Byrne example is in the last Alpha/Omega fight. Delphine as Mac took out Northstar with an INVISIBLE wall. He was already in flight, so may have been able to avoid anything on the visible spectrum.

I think nowadays both twins can move at superspeed...Aurora is considerably slower than Northstar now, but she has much greater range in the use of the light powers. This works for me to vary the abilities on the team (if they're ever on a team together again!)