Worst Ever Alpha Appearence.

[DelBubs]

We have probably done this topic in the past, but I'm to lazy to go digging through to find previous threads.

So which do you think is the worst ever Alpha apppearence, it can be for any reason, bad writing, bad art, just basically what comic with AF in it makes you cringe?

[varo]

2 words.

battle armor.

[Mokole]

Got to go with varo. Although Del's list is pretty bad, too.

[Barnacle13]

At least Battle Armor was real Alphans and they were going up against Juggernaut! Hell even Iron Man and Spider-man got the Hulk Buster treatment. But Volume 3 was putrid. No substance for 12 issues. I mean when your biggest foe is a wax dummy of Captain America.....light a frickin match and be done!

[rplass]

Worst ever was Generation X #19. Here are my notes on that issue:

"Sasquatch greets Banshee in a horribly dilapidated version of Dept H HQ. Although the writer, Scott Lobdell, calls Alpha Flight [Canada's] "Premiere Team of Super-Powered Operatives", Banshee throws the insult, "For years, these bleatin' Third-Generation Avengers were barely short of useless..." An Alphabot continually asks, "Welcome to Alpha Flight. Would you like to be a member?" Sasquatch is portrayed as absent minded and clumsy as he helps Banshee find the Gen X team, who are hiding out in Canada with Emma Frost. They even misspell, "Langkowski". Terrible. "



This issue always makes me so angry. Grr....!

Love,
rplass

[Legerd]

There were so many badly written appearances but it was the X-men story where AF is sent to retrieve the children from the mansion only to get their butts handed to them that really irked me. Not only was it a piss-poor story that made no sense on several points, it was a horrible depiction of the team as thugs and bullies. It actually drove me to write in and tell the creative team to not use AF unless they can write them properly.

[Canucklehead]

Worst ever was Generation X #19. Here are my notes on that issue...

So naturally they thought he'd be great as the main writer of the book! ugh.

I'll never forget the quote Lobdell said prior to v3 launching:
"I'f I'd have stayed on the book [Alpha Flight v1] they'd be as popular as the Xmen!"

Idea for a new poll. What was Lobdell's worst writting of AF?
1) GenX #19
2) AFv3
3) AFv1 (circa 106)

Come to think of it, for a team that's been around for 20+ years, can anything think of 5 appearences outside their own book(and not counting eXiles) where they didn't look like stooges, bullies or pathetic jokes? I know there is, but you shouldn't have to research something like that.

[Barnacle13]

They were respectable in ROM and Crystar.

[rplass]

Here's a quick list of positive Alpha Flight appearances where Alpha Flight played a major role in the story line:

Avengers 272 321 322 323 324
Crystar 11
Deadpool 1
Incredible Hulk 272 313 Ann 8(1979)
Iron Man 195 196
Marvel Comics Presents 51 52 53 92 99
Marvel Team-Up Ann 7(1984)
Marvel Two-In-One Ann 7(1982) 83 84
Maverick 3
Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. 32
Power Pack 9 10
ROM: Spaceknight 57
Sabretooth III 1 2 3 4
Secret Wars II 4
Uncanny X-Men 139 140 414 415
Wolverine II 35 37 92 95 110 142 143 172 173 179 180
X-Factor oh, so many I can't even list them
X-Men/Alpha Flight I 1 2
X-Men/Alpha Flight II 1 2

There are probably more if you consider issues where Alphans didn't play such a major role. Just a quick list I made

Love,
rplass

[birdygirl]

I agree with you, rplass, as far as the list of AF's best appearances goes. Except for John Byrne's original run in vol.1, most (though not all) of Alpha's best appearances seem to happen outside their own book. I was appalled by vol.3, in spite of the beautiful artwork!

Though, as I've just said, not all AF's best appearances occurred outside of their own book. There were a few that were disappointing. I wasn't exactly pleased with the X-Men issue where they went to the school to remove all the children. It just didn't seem to make any sense whatsoever. And aren't they supposed to be friends of the X-Men now? Hardly Alpha in their best light!

But, to me, Alpha Flight's worst appearance was in that Civil War book, where they appear to have been "killed". I was so upset by the pictures that I saw of it, that I did something that I would never have considered before: I didn't buy a book with an AF appearance! (And this is coming from someone who used to track down the tiniest Alpha cameos anywhere!) Well, of course, we know that no Marvel character ever stays dead, but still, I felt the whole thing was unsettling, just the same.

[-K-M-]

I thought Maverick 3 was pretty bad, as Maverick took out Vindicator and Puck with little effort at all.

[Le Messor]

Vol 2...

Wait, you said it has to have Alpha Flight in it...

Scratch that.


- Le Messor (and here I was planning to lighten up on v2).
"All philosophy lies in two words: sustain and abstain."
- Epictetus

[birdygirl]

Couldn't agree more. You just nailed the main problem with Alpha Flight, volume 2. Except for Heather and Puck, I didn't see a single person I recognized from Alpha Flight in the book. And sometimes, I didn't even recognize Heather and Puck in the stories!

I know it was supposed to be an all-new version of the team, but I believe fans wanted to see Alpha with all the characters they had come to expect, instead of strangers. Volume 3 should have learned from this kind of mistake instead of repeating it.

[Legerd]

I hated both Vols. 2 & 3, not so much because of the lack of veteran characters, the lame newbies, the neverending evil gov't conspiracy crap or even the lousy comedic idiocy. What really bothered me was that the team, in whatever incarnation they appeared, was still written as a bunch of "third rate Avenger wannabes" as Banshee once put it. Why does Marvel expect AF (or any comic really) to build and maintain a fan base when they are made to look like losers?!
Nobody wants to cheer on a group of idiots who get their butts handed to them all the time. The team doesn't have to be perfect, but they shouldn't be presented as being so inept. Over the last decade every time they made guest appearances they usually ended up, at best, being sidekicks who barely held their own. At worst, they were standby bad guys who were beaten humiliatingly easily. Half the time they were also brainwashed.
This is probably why TITB at Marvel decided to populate the team with American heroes this time. Way to avoid the solution Joe.

[Transmetropolitan]

Nobody wants to cheer on a group of idiots who get their butts handed to them all the time.

Three words.

Great Lakes Avengers.
But your point is well-taken in this case.