Questions for Tom Brevoort

[Flightpath07]

"we just haven't found the right team and the right approach to tap into it yet."

Cop out answer. Unimpressed, but unsurprised. Just yesterday, i went from 7 monthly Marvel titles, down to 2. I am putting my money where my mouth is, and something at Marvel stinks so bad that i do not want it anywhere near my mouth!

[cmdrkoenig67]

Here's what Tom had to say...

> Awhile back (so long ago I forget when exactly) we were told there would be some news about Alpha Flight. When will this come to pass? >

As soon as we have some actual news to impart.

>2. Why is there such negativity towards Alpha Flight at Marvel?

Posted by Legerd on 2009-05-24 21:55:23>

I don't think there is any negativity towards Alpha Flight at Marvel really, Legerd. It's simply a property that we haven't been able to crack how to sell to a wide audience. And that's really been the case almost from the start. When Alpha first appeared in UNCANNY X-MEN, they were these really cool new characters, but somehow once they got their own series, their mystique quickly vanished, and they became just another team of costumed do-gooders running around slightly north of all the others. Even Alpha mastermind John Byrne has admitted that there wasn't much to them when he came up with them to fight the X-Men, and that he was sort of making it up as he went along during his tenure on the series. But all that aside, there is something cool and interesting to Alpha Flight, we just haven't found the right team and the right approach to tap into it yet.

Hmmmmm...He has some really good points, though. One thing I stand by in believing that would help sell Alpha (besides a good creative team that loves them)...Is to have the team really be Alpha Flight, Not a bunch of young pup stand-ins, not a comedy troupe and certainly not a team with several Americans on it...The original team...That's what the majority of us want to see again.

One of Marvel's biggest recent mistakes was to kill off almost the entire original team...It only adds more baggage to already over-burdened characters (especially Mac and Puck). The same holds true for what was done in recent years to Northstar.

Unfortunately, I think what caused Alpha to lose a lot of it's "mystique" as Tom points out is due to Bill Mantlo...I truly love Bill's work on other titles (The Micronauts, Rom), but what he did in Alpha was no less than the near total destruction of what Alpha was.

He ripped Alpha apart, killed members off, made horrible decisions where their origins were concerned (Puck, Jeffries, Bochs and the twins) and rebuilt Alpha with several of his own characters (Manikin, Persuasion, etc...). It left future writers with a huge mess to try and clear up...Not an easy task...And a lot of that mess lingers still. Bill did some good here and there, but he forever altered who and what Alpha is/was and what was left was not pretty.

John Byrne has mentioned that some writers like to break the toys when they play with them (not leaving them usable for the next writer), either because they really don't know how to handle the characters or they just want to do their own thing...This seemed like one of those cases.

It looks like there may be no Alpha on the horizon, but I feel Marvel decision-makers are in part to blame for the mess that became of Alpha (and why the book is so hard to revive)...Editors back in the day should have asked Bill to reign in some of his destructive story ideas and Marvel's decision to let the team be killed off recently was just another in a long line of big mistakes, throughout the long years they've been around. Like I said...More and more harmful baggage has been heaped upon this team and it's becoming more and more difficult for writers to try and dig the team out.

I think John Byrne did a fantastic job of making the cyphers that were Alpha Flight (from their early X-Men appearances), interesting and exciting characters to read about...IMHO many of the writers who came after kept forcing/shoe-horning what they wanted the team to be into the book and not who the characters were shown to be.

As for negativity toward Alpha at Marvel...I don't know...Maybe not from Tom, but I always get that vibe from Joe Q...I really don't think he likes the characters. The constant jokes he's made about them at conventions and panels, the Alpha Flight series he did approve a while back was Lobdell's (a depressingly bad joke fest) and the last series wasn't even Alpha (with only two actual Canadians and a bunch of American and alien fill-ins)...Even going so far as placing an American citizen in the very Canadian Guardian suit.

As I've said...I'm not Canadian, but if I found the whole thing appalling...I may not understand all the differences between us, but I doubt Canadians and Americans are that interchangeable. Putting an American (especially the very American who killed the two people who wore it before him) in the Guardian uniform is/was just really wrong on many levels. I hope Weapon Oh-Woe-Is-Me joining the Dark X-team is a permanent step toward getting out of Canada and out of the Guardian uniform...It deserves to be and should be worn by a Canadian (for me, preferably Mac or Heather).

I hope they will be able to find a creative team and the right "approach" soon.

Dana

[zephyr74]

I think Marvel's major problem was and is that they have something that works very well, i.e. X-MEN, they pimp out the characters/concept endlessly. What makes their M.O. especially ruinous is that they are utterly careless about continuity.

Also, I find the direction comic art has gone in since the Liefeld, Lee, and McFarlane days has gone south. I think comic book artists would benefit from better anatomy and stronger visual storytelling. Another problem I've had is that the appearance of characters isn't consistent in comics. Sasquatch is a good example. If he's supposed to have a certain look, he should have the same general appearance no matter who draws him.

-Zef

[cmdrkoenig67]

I agree about the character/concept pimping...Marvel tends to try and make every book fit into a niche, like trying to make Alpha fit into the Avengers niche with the most recent Omega Flight series.

They seem to believe every book needs to belong to a "family" of books, like the Avengers family, X-Men Family, Spider-Man, etc...Alpha used to belong to the X-Family (since they were intro'ed in X-Men and had connections to Wolverine), but I'm not sure if that's still true.

Dana

[Flightpath07]

I agree about the character/concept pimping...Marvel tends to try and make every book fit into a niche, like trying to make Alpha fit into the Avengers niche with the most recent Omega Flight series.

They seem to believe every book needs to belong to a "family" of books, like the Avengers family, X-Men Family, Spider-Man, etc...Alpha used to belong to the X-Family (since they were intro'ed in X-Men and had connections to Wolverine), but I'm not sure if that's still true.

Dana

If Marvel wants to know how Alpha Flight works best (and although SOME people there might want to know, i think most do not), i beleive they work best as a Fantastic Four type family setting. It started out as Mac and Heather and their friends. When Mac died, it was about her friends helping Heather pick up and move on, and her finding the strength to lead. Unfortunately, Mantlo turned everything on it's ear. What should have happened is that Eugene and Heather started dating and eventually got married...

[maniac mike]

For those who were curious about the second volume of John Byrnes AF and when it's coming out, or the lack of NOT coming out Tom B. had this to say...

> Are there any plans to complete the collection of John Byrne's Alpha Flight run? A second volume was solicited last year but never arrived. (I'd love to see the Claremont/Byrne Marvel Team-Ups collected too, but I guess the latest MTU Essentials volume might rule that out.) >
I think there's a desire to do more John Byrne ALPHA FLIGHT collections, yes, but the first one didn't perform all that well (which is no great surprise, seeing as how we don't have a successful ALPHA FLIGHT project of any sort at the moment, so interest in the property is at a bit of a low point out in the world). We may get around to more volumes eventually, but it doesn't seem to be high on the to-do list right this moment. And there are no plans that I'm aware of to collect the Claremont/Byrne MARVEL TEAM-UP stories, though a few of them have turned up in other places such as the zero volume of John Byrne FF Visionaries.

...

[Flightpath07]

seeing as how we don't have a successful ALPHA FLIGHT project of any sort at the moment

So get on it already!
Sheesh.

[zephyr74]

Puck and Heather, really? I always thought Heather and Madison Jeffries was a good pairing.

[Flightpath07]

Puck and Heather, really? I always thought Heather and Madison Jeffries was a good pairing.

If you read back over JB's Alpha run, it is obvious that Eugene had feelings for Heather. Even Mantlo picked up on this, and tried to create a three-some tension for a short while (pun intended). Had JB stayed on Alpha Flight, I think Eugene and Heather would have been a real possibility. Madison and Heather worked, because Mantlo FORCED it to work. But, could Madison help Heather lead Alpha Flight? Really, Madison Jeffries was always portrayed as more of a loner. Eugene bled and breathed Alpha Flight. Eugene was a true hero, from day one. Madison? Not so much. In order to make it a real family feel, you need her to be with somebody she can trust, and the rest of the team can trust as well. That person, is Puck.

[varo]

its odd that tom b echoes john byrnes sentiments on the alpha flight run, john byrne said they where not interesting, yet just because he did not like them creatively, the series was one of the best sellers for its time. so although john didnt feel he was doing his best work, the fans (whom drove the success of the book) felt it was his best work.


just strikes me as odd.

[Le Messor]

just strikes me as odd.

I find it not so much odd as a convenient excuse.

BTW, Tom B., if you ever read this: Marvel did find a successful team and approach: Byrne's.
AF was a high seller (by all accounts), until he left. Unfortunately, nothing that resembles that series has been released since.

- Le Messor
Calvin: Can I take the gas can for the lawn mower out in the back yard?
Dad: What on earth for? It's 8:00 at night!
Calvin: I want to pour gasoline in big letters on the lawn and set fire to it so airplanes can read it as they fly over!
Dad: No, you can't do that! Don't be ridiculous!... I don't even want to know what he intended to write.

[-K-M-]

Not sure what started this....

Unknown: Do you know Madison Jeffries?
Tom: Does anyone know Madison Jeffries?

Unknown: You're right. Madison Jeffries would just sit in the wheelchair a lot and then we'd have to bring back the comics code because that'd be lewd.
Tom: I know, right?

mattdic: i take umbrage at your comments about my taking of umbrage. So does Madison Jeffries.
Tom: Yeah, but who cares about that guy.
http://www.formspring.me/TomBrevoort

[Flightpath07]

Wow, people REALLY don't like Tom, do they? And, based purely on a lot of those who posted on that link, KM, I'd say a bunch of people are pi&%ed off at Marvel.

[Le Messor]

Hmmm... 'no negative feelings,' hunh?