A Reason For Alpha Flight

[cmdrkoenig67]

I Definitely agree with Dana. Quesada should extend an olive branch to Byrne. I haven't heard anything indicating a major rift between Byrne and the current Marvel staff. I mean other than the fact that his X - title was cancelled. Just read an interview with Byrne where he said part of his desire to make the characters more interesting was his decision to make Northstar gay after the fact. Aurora's multiple personalities make her interesting, alot could be done with that, plus Narya's (wasn't she named after one of Gandalf's three rings?)link to mythic Canadian lore..There's alot here to work with, but of course we think so or we wouldn't be here...

I don't know if that's where Mr Byrne got Snowbird's name from, but one of the rings is called Narya (the ring of fire).

Dana

[Le Messor]

Narya's (wasn't she named after one of Gandalf's three rings?)

I don't know if that's where Mr Byrne got Snowbird's name from, but one of the rings is called Narya (the ring of fire).

Because I like to quibble (actually, I just like to say quibble. "Quibble, quibble, quibble."), it was one of the elvish rings; Gandalf wore one (Narya, I think), but not the other two.

- LM
"He who is determined not to be satisfied with anything short of perfection will never do anything to please himself or others."
~ William Hazlitt

[cmdrkoenig67]

I'm including Mr Brevoort (along with JoeQ) in my "current regime" comment...He has bad-mouthed John Byrne in at least one article...I think it's safe to say there is more than one person at Marvel that John may have issues with.

Dana

[kozzi24]

In this case I don't blame Byrne. They cancelled "Hidden Years" because the "past-continuity" would "confuse" readers, then a few years later did those "First Class" projects. IMHO, Hidden Years was the best X-book on the market at the time.

Northsdtar gay "after the fact" is after one appearance where Byrne used him, the first appearance of the team. The team's second appearance by Byrne did not have Sasquatch or the twins, and the hints were pretty clear in AF#1, at least in hindsight.

[cmdrkoenig67]

I enjoyed Hidden Years too...Fun, all ages reading enjoyment that gave us a look into those years that the X-Men were guest-starring in other books, but had no series of their own.

The reason stated to the public may have been reader confusion, but John Byrne has said several times JoeQ had told him the reason for cancellation was that there were too many X-titles...Waiting for collective laughter from fellow forum members. Neither reason really makes any sense, considering Marvel now has probably double the X-titles they had then and as for reader confusion...Marvel puts out several alternate universe series, like the Ultimate line of comics, Marvel Adventures or even the What If and Universe X series of the past, etc...

Dana

[Le Messor]

the reason for cancellation was that there were too many X-titles...Waiting for collective laughter from fellow forum members.

Ha!
sorry, mine's pretty bitter.

- LM
"He who lives without folly is less wise than he believes."

[MistressMerr]

I enjoyed Hidden Years too...Fun, all ages reading enjoyment that gave us a look into those years that the X-Men were guest-starring in other books, but had no series of their own.

The reason stated to the public may have been reader confusion, but John Byrne has said several times JoeQ had told him the reason for cancellation was that there were too many X-titles...Waiting for collective laughter from fellow forum members. Neither reason really makes any sense, considering Marvel now has probably double the X-titles they had then and as for reader confusion...Marvel puts out several alternate universe series, like the Ultimate line of comics, Marvel Adventures or even the What If and Universe X series of the past, etc...

Dana

Yeah, it's ridiculous how many people/books/stories Quesada threw under the bus with all his BIG CHANGES when he took over, only to go back on pretty much all of them only a couple years later.

[Mokole]

Well, he always pushes his pet characters (She-Hulk, Spider-Girl for example) regardless of how much money they lose on those characters. Nobody cares about She-Hulk yet he pushed that character year after year of underselling by thousands of issues. No different than Bendis always using that one spider-woman and jewel. I bet both will argue that they weren't pushing personal favorites but 'trying to get more female readers'. As if She-Hulk brought in anything.

[cmdrkoenig67]

Yeah, it's ridiculous how many people/books/stories Quesada threw under the bus with all his BIG CHANGES when he took over, only to go back on pretty much all of them only a couple years later.

Yep...Does anybody recall him saying "the dead will stay dead" thing a few years back, then we got back Colossus (I forget if anybody else came back around that time period) only a short time later. Now everybody is coming back...Whether it be as highly improbable skrull-replaced heroes, Techno-zombie mutants or the force-resurrection of heaven knows how many more characters during the Chaos Wars. Oy!

Dana

[DIGGER]

The dead will only stay dead if sales are good. If they aren't THEN you have the miraculous resurrections, the clones, the frozen in ice/space/cryogenic chamber. I can still recall the saying that Bucky is dead and will stay dead...guess we all know how that turned out. Everything old is new again. In comics. On television. At the movies.

DIGGER

[Uncle Rich]

I have a lot of catching up to do. I haven't followed Alpha Flight since around the mid 80's.

What I do know is that AF went downhill fast when Mac got killed off in #12. I'm wondering how many times this series has been rebooted or how many times Mac (and others) have been resurrected.

I'm not sure who Mokole is blaming for she-hulk getting too much exposure, but it was that same way back in the 80's. A mediocre character getting too much play. I actually have a copy of the original She-hulk #1 (1980) but I'm not sure it's worth more than use as a coaster.

[kozzi24]

I have a lot of catching up to do. I haven't followed Alpha Flight since around the mid 80's.

What I do know is that AF went downhill fast when Mac got killed off in #12. I'm wondering how many times this series has been rebooted or how many times Mac (and others) have been resurrected.

Mac was ressurected four times, one time a fake, once a temporary thing that lasted about 12 issues, then at the close of Volume 1, I guess just so he would be around.
Volume 1 ended at #130 but was followed by a Northstar Mini that was OK.
Volume 2 saw the fourth Mac resurrection. It was also OK, but focused on too few "recognizable" Alphas and was very consp[iracy-theory drive, so did not much feel like Alpha Flight. It ran for 20 issues, IIRC.
Volume 3 would be a waste of your time and money. This site did support it, and those of us who gave timely voice "this sucks" were thoroughly spanked but have since made prodigal returns.
"Volume 4" was OMEGA Flight, and is well worth your time and money and should still be fairly readily available in Trade.
Guardian was killed off panel in New Avengers #16, so if he returns in the upcoming one-shot, this will be resurrection #5.

[Ben]

I have a lot of catching up to do. I haven't followed Alpha Flight since around the mid 80's.

What I do know is that AF went downhill fast when Mac got killed off in #12. I'm wondering how many times this series has been rebooted or how many times Mac (and others) have been resurrected.

The Alphanex is a good way to start catching up on characters. Also, ask lots of questions here

As for different series:
Alpha Flight Volume 1 - 130 Issues - Had it's ups and downs, but IMO, it's worth picking them up on Ebay for a full read through.
Alpha Flight Volume 2 - 18 Issues - I liked this series, but it had it's flaws for long term sustainability. It was mysterious and x-files ish
Alpha Flight Volume 3 - 12 Issues - Treated like a joke by Lobdell, most fans now pretend it didn't happen. I tried to stay positive at the time for the sake of the title, but now I pretend it was an alternate reality.
Omega Flight - 5 issues - I really enjoyed this series, and was very disappointed that it was downgraded to a mini series before it launched

Now we are getting the one shot...notice how the increments are decreasing? now we nowhere to go but up! Check out the issue Summaries on the main site for a brief run-down on each issue. So far we are still missing Omega Flight and most of vol. 3, but the first two volumes are complete.

[Le Messor]

Now we are getting the one shot...notice how the increments are decreasing? now we have nowhere to go but up!

Next: A back-up feature (1/2 issue) in Marvel Comics Presents! Then a zero-issue! No pages, no panels.

After that, Marvel will start unprinting earlier issues, and you'll actually see your collection get smaller...

- Le Messor
"He who reads many fortunes gets confused."

[cmdrkoenig67]

Nooooooooooooooooooo!