Alpha Flight in Official Index to the Marvel Universe

[rplass]

Alpha Flight will make an appearance this week in the Official Index to the Marvel Universe #3. Though solicited as starting with Uncanny X-Men #126, the writers only got up to #108 last issue, meaning issue #3 starts with UXM #109. They have been putting the 1st issue of the group of issues indexed on the cover, but I wasn't sure if #109 would get onto the cover or if they would retain the image previously solicited, which was #126 (still currently showing on marvel.com as #126), an issue sure to be indexed in this book.

Here is an actual image of the cover to issue #3. ME HAPPY! There's just nothing like the feeling an Alpha Flight fan gets from this comic cover:

pops in new window

Of course if #109 is on the cover, we are sure to see #'s #120, #121 and #140, which will feature Vindicator, Shaman, Sasquatch and Snowbird.

Love,
rplass

EDITED 3.25.09 to change the thread title so subsequent issues can be discussed

[Loki]

Alpha Flight will make an appearance this week in the Official Index to the Marvel Universe #3. Though solicited as starting with Uncanny X-Men #126, the writers only got up to #108 last issue, meaning issue #3 starts with UXM #109. They have been putting the 1st issue of the group of issues indexed on the cover, but I wasn't sure if #109 would get onto the cover or if they would retain the image previously solicited, which was #126 (still currently showing on marvel.com as #126), an issue sure to be indexed in this book.

Here is an actual image of the cover to issue #3. ME HAPPY! There's just nothing like the feeling an Alpha Flight fan gets from this comic cover:

pops in new window

Of course if #109 is on the cover, we are sure to see #'s #120, #121 and #140, which will feature Vindicator, Shaman, Sasquatch and Snowbird.

Love,
rplass

As one of the head writers, I can confirm that the Index covers are modified to match the actual contents, not the projected contents that we send to Previews several months in advance - we'll always be a little out of synch, since we go on an estimated entry length for the preview cover, but when the actual entries are written, some issues simply demand the extra space. So yes, Index 3 will cover Alpha Flight's introduction. Down the line, so long as sales permit us to keep going, we intend to cover other series once the currently covered ones end - so hopefully we'll get a chance to Index Alpha Flight as well.

[rplass]

Down the line, so long as sales permit us to keep going, we intend to cover other series once the currently covered ones end - so hopefully we'll get a chance to Index Alpha Flight as well.

Well of course this is awesome news! But, really? Forgive my skepticism, but we have a long way to go before we see an Alpha Flight Index. We're in line behind uh, let's see... Captain America, Hulk, Avengers, Fantastic Four, Thor, Daredevil, Silver Surfer, Defenders, Marvel Team-Up, Strange Tales, and about a few dozen other titles just from the Silver Age... Don't get me wrong, it would be incredible but my expectations about the priority of an Alpha Flight index in context of the extensive history of the MU are low. It doesn't lend much hope to the possibility of ever seeing this in print.

Not even counting Olshevsky's fan-zine indexes, X-Men have already been indexed twice, Avengers twice, Fantastic Four, Spider-Man and Marvel Team-Up once each, and now in 2009 Spidey's getting another go, plus Iron Man due to the movie marketing ploy, and X-Men again. I have no problem with the selections of who to index, as it makes sense to index the biggest and most popular titles to sell the most books, but seriously, this indexing project will have to run many years before Alpha Flight gets its turn. Unless a conscious decision is made to index titles like Alpha Flight that haven't been indexed before... or someone goes all "alphabetical" on us and puts Alpha Flight first under "A" right before the Avengers??

So I remain hopeful but also have to be realistic. The moral is, "Buy this comic to increase the chance of Alpha Flight getting its index", right?

Love,
rplass

[Loki]

Down the line, so long as sales permit us to keep going, we intend to cover other series once the currently covered ones end - so hopefully we'll get a chance to Index Alpha Flight as well.

Well of course this is awesome news! But, really? Forgive my skepticism, but we have a long way to go before we see an Alpha Flight Index. We're in line behind uh, let's see... Captain America, Hulk, Avengers, Fantastic Four, Thor, Daredevil, Silver Surfer, Defenders, Marvel Team-Up, Strange Tales, and about a few dozen other titles just from the Silver Age... Don't get me wrong, it would be incredible but my expectations about the priority of an Alpha Flight index in context of the extensive history of the MU are low. It doesn't lend much hope to the possibility of ever seeing this in print.

You are making a mistaken assumption that we will cover all the "big" series before we consider covering the "small" ones, or that because we started with Silver Age series that we will cover all the Silver Age ones first.

Not even counting Olshevsky's fan-zine indexes, X-Men have already been indexed twice, Avengers twice, Fantastic Four, Spider-Man and Marvel Team-Up once each, and now in 2009 Spidey's getting another go, plus Iron Man due to the movie marketing ploy, and X-Men again. I have no problem with the selections of who to index, as it makes sense to index the biggest and most popular titles to sell the most books,

Yes, it makes sense to start with the biggest and most popular titles. However, if you always slot in three "headliners" then after a while you'd end up using all of them up while still having dozens of series left to cover.

So I remain hopeful but also have to be realistic. The moral is, "Buy this comic to increase the chance of Alpha Flight getting its index", right?

Yes, very much so. All debate over what gets covered when and when/if non-"headliner" series such as Alpha Flight get indexed becomes moot if sales aren't good enough to continue.

[rplass]

Ok according to the solicits, I believe we will see Shaman in issue #6. The Iron Man series is being indexed and they should include Iron Man #195 in that issue, which has Shaman on the cover. Expect a little thumbnail of the cover art.

Nice! And expect Shaman to be mentioned as well as his appearance in Iron Man #196.

Love,
rplass

[rplass]

Wild Child makes a few appearances in this month's issue, #8. See him very tiny in the cover art thumbnail for the Age of Apocalypse title Astonishing X-Men #1 (from 1995) and also as a regular member of X-Factor on the wrap-around cover to the X-Men Annual '96.

Love,
rplass

[rplass]

Alpha Flight appears in this month's issue, #9, on the cover of Uncanny X-Men #355. That issue is the mirror image issue of the events of Alpha Flight v2 #9. You can see Puck, Manbot, Murmur, Heather, Flex, Radius, Synth Mac, and Sasquatch (real one, not Walt). I always thought it was so neat how they wrote these two issues and I can't help but get one out when I read the other.

Love,
rplass

[rplass]

Northstar can be seen in issue #10, out this week. Find him on the cover of UXM #392 and a full index of the issue. That's the first issue of the "Eve of Destruction" story line. One of the very neato Northstar covers:

LGT comicbookdb.com entry for the UXM issue

Love,
rplass

[rplass]

Yup, Northstar again in issue #11, for the various covers of Uncanny during Austen's run. I counted five appearances in total.

Love,
rplass

[rplass]

Issue #13, Jeffries and Northstar appear in recent issues of Uncanny X-Men and Utopia.

Also, some news: two previously undocumented appearances by Mister Jeffries! Read all about it for details.

Love,
rplass

[SNOWCHILD]

Excuse me but... what is an "index"?

[Ben]

Excuse me but... what is an "index"?

A sequential arrangement of material in alphabetical or numerical order.

[SNOWCHILD]

A sequential arrangement of material in alphabetical or numerical order.

But what does this special Index volume contain?

[rplass]

Issue #14 came out this week and indexes an issue with a "Possible Appearance" of Puck: War Machine #19. Unfortunately, the detailed listing of characters appearing in War Machine #19 does not include Puck as neither a "Guest Star", "Supporting Character" nor "Other Character". Zilcho-zippo-rama.

In that issue, there is an image of a short bald guy with a Maple-Leafy symbol thing on his lapel that could be taken as a completely random Puck appearance, and for many years it has been suspected to be Puck, but the fact that he didn't appear in the Index makes it fairly safe to say that it isn't him.

Love,
rplass