new maxi series................alpha flight!!!!

[suzene]

Yeah, with Marrina it's like they're not even trying to capture her original voice.

Still, it kinda works. Like I told somebody when asked what I thought of her new battle cry:
It totally sucks... but they pulled it off! How do they do that?!?

She's the only one of the first eight I've noticed such a problem with, though.

One of the ladies on Tumblr said something to the effect that these guys are trying to make Marrina into the Machine Man of Alpha Flight. It's a little early for that, but I can see where it's coming from - it feels less like a new direction for an established character and more like a new character with some passing similarities to Marrina. At the same time though, it's also hinted at that Marrina is trying to find an identity beyond attempting to assimilate with human or Atlantean culture, which could be interesting and would also explain a bit of the sudden 180; it doesn't feel like Marrina because it's Marrina deliberately working toward something that resembles her old self as little as possible, which can be both liberating and -- until your own voice emerges from the enthusiasm of embracing a new extreme -- as annoying as hell to everyone around you. Could be an interesting exploration of identity, or just a really irritating character direction. I guess we'll need a bit more than a single page to see where this goes.

[Le Messor]

it's also hinted at that Marrina is trying to find an identity beyond attempting to assimilate with human or Atlantean culture

I can see where writers would get this, but given that she was raised very much human, she should be part of human (specifically, Maritimes) culture.
And, before anyone brings it up, yes I do get annoyed every time Superman whinges about being the only member of his culture on Earth.
He's a frickin' Kansasan! He may not have been born there, but he doesn't even remember Krypton. He's as less not-American than me!

Could be an interesting exploration of identity, or just a really irritating character direction. I guess we'll need a bit more than a single page to see where this goes.

Can't it be both?
And, for once when I say that, I'm completely serious.

- Le Messor
"They are able because they think they are able."
~ Virgil

[Ahab]

If you were abused as much as Marrina has been, you may scream "Die Earth Scum" too. Consider having someone activate latent aggression in you, causing you to attack your friends and mate with someone that you didn't know. Consider having your friends turn on you, to the point that they almost killed you. Consider bearing children, never to see them again. Consider having your body used to reproduce life while you are kept unconscious. Consider being genetically experimented upon.And just in case that wasn't enough, consider being killed by your spouse, not once but twice!
Honestly, if they didn't show any impact of all of this on her psyche, that would be more disappointing to me.

[Legerd]

Exactly, Ahab. Marrina has suffered more than her fair share for a character we've barely seen in the last, what, twenty years? Not to mention this stays close to how she behaved in the one-shot tie in to Chaos War. Given it's probably been a few months since then in which she's had a chance to see what's been happening in the world (on pro-alien websites apparently), she may have adopted this edgy attitude to express a new sense of freedom.

[Le Messor]

If you were abused as much as Marrina has been, you may scream "Die Earth Scum" too.

(for reasoning, see original post.)

While everything you're saying is true and works, I still have a some problems with it:

First, I usually just say 'Die, insect, die!'...
Actually, forget I said that part...

Second, I don't see her blaming Earthicans for all that... well, a lot of that, anyway. It was her alienness and the Plodex that caused some of it directly and therefore all of it inderectly. So saying 'Earth' scum only enforces it.

Third, I just like the original portrayal of Marrina better. I like innocence as a quality, and she had it in hearts.

Fourth becoming meaner, more aggressive, harder, colder... that's what all comic characters are doing (Doug Ramsey is the worst example I know of) and frankly I find it dull.
I don't think the new Marrina totally fits that trend, she seems (from what I've seen here) to have her own personality within that, so kudos to the creative team for it...
but I'd like to see more characters as characters than we generally get these days. And not cyphers like, uh, Cypher, who are just a bunch of bad-ass soldiers doing nothing but fighting.
Marrina's standing delicately on the edge of that line right now. Any other writer, following the rules of flanderisation and lazy writing, will push her over. On the wrong side.

OTOH, at least she (and Shaman) have slipped a little green in past the ban on the colour in comics at the mo'.

In conclusion:
The new Marrina? Works, I totally agree; I just happen to like the old one better.

- Le Messor
Sometimes I Miss Her (a love poem)
I ran into my old girlfriend today.
Then I backed up and ran into her again.
Sometimes I miss her.
~ Jeff Ross (comedian)

[berserkerclaw]

Hi new to the site love af and picking up the new book cant wait to read

[Legerd]

Third, I just like the original portrayal of Marrina better. I like innocence as a quality, and she had it in hearts.

Yes, but not in spades. You're right, and that was something I liked about the character originally too, but consider, let's say for comparison, the life of a soldier. After even just one tour of duty a soldier can suffer post traumatic stress disorder, and will react to normal situations with over the top anger and violence when he/she gets home. Now look at everything Marrina has been through, don't you think that she'd lose some of her innocence? And it may be she hasn't gone totally hardcore, but is just acting out due to anger over what has been done to her. Or maybe it's just a front she puts up to hide her fear? Maybe we'll see her softer side when she isn't fighting for her life? At this point I'm willing to wait and see where they take her.

Fourth becoming meaner, more aggressive, harder, colder... that's what all comic characters are doing (Doug Ramsey is the worst example I know of) and frankly I find it dull.
I don't think the new Marrina totally fits that trend, she seems (from what I've seen here) to have her own personality within that, so kudos to the creative team for it...
but I'd like to see more characters as characters than we generally get these days. And not cyphers like, uh, Cypher, who are just a bunch of bad-ass soldiers doing nothing but fighting.
Marrina's standing delicately on the edge of that line right now. Any other writer, following the rules of flanderisation and lazy writing, will push her over. On the wrong side.

Yeah, it's the kewl thing now for all the kids to be all "I'm cold, and uncaring," but I accept it when I think there's a reason for it. Doug Ramsey did die, but aside from that he hasn't been through a whole lot of trauma as far as I know. So him being all hardcore is just the writer(s) not knowing what to do with him, IMO. If a character has been through a lot that could affect him/her then I see the hardened shell as being a logical development. Suddenly being a super, badass soldier shouldn't necessarily follow that, but Marrina has been shown to have a killer instinct even way back in the original series.

In conclusion:
The new Marrina? Works, I totally agree; I just happen to like the old one better.

Wha...?! I went and wasted all that good argument for nothin'?!

Hi new to the site love af and picking up the new book cant wait to read

Hey beserkerclaw, welcome to the boards.

[Le Messor]

Yes, but not in spades. You're right, and that was something I liked about the character originally too, but consider, let's say for comparison, the life of a soldier...

I was in no way saying it was unrealistic. Just not my favourite way of going.
(I decided hearts were trumps for this round.)

Realism is... not my #1 priority in comics.

Wha...?! I went and wasted all that good argument for nothin'?!

That's right, I was deliberately wasting your time.

Hey beserkerclaw, welcome to the boards.

Yep, welcome aboard!

- Le Messor
"It's odd, and a little unsettling, to reflect upon the fact that English is the only major language in which "I" is capitalized; in many other languages "You" is capitalized and "i" is lower case."
~ Sydney J. Harris

[berserkerclaw]

Thanks guys for the welcome. Looking forward to the great disscussions on vol 4

[Legerd]

That's right, I was deliberately wasting your time.

Son of a...!

[Ahab]

(for reasoning, see original post.)

While everything you're saying is true and works, I still have a some problems with it:

Second, I don't see her blaming Earthicans for all that... well, a lot of that, anyway. It was her alienness and the Plodex that caused some of it directly and therefore all of it inderectly. So saying 'Earth' scum only enforces it.

So you're saying that being born that way is the cause for what happened to her and those events should not be something that she should hate/blame her tormentors for? Oh boy.

[Le Messor]

So you're saying that being born that way is the cause for what happened to her and those events should not be something that she should hate/blame her tormentors for? Oh boy.

I'm saying her tormentors are her biological race, and not the ones she grew up with?


I'm in trouble now, aren't I?

- Le Messor
"I’d love to, but I have some real hard words to look up in the dictionary."

[Garry/Al-Fan]

Don't know if anybody has mentioned it already, but Attuma kidnapped Marrina and used her as bait for Namor in the 1st volume; I'd be surprised (and disappointed) if she weren't extremely hostile to this creep.

The Plodex/Plodi "natural" instincts aren't sweet and kind, and I personally like the edginess combined with her still being a notable member of AF.

[Flightpath07]

This whole discussion about Marrina i find to be very interesting. I just started going through my copy of Essential X-Men Volume 5 (purchased for the repriniting of X-Men/Alpha Flight #s 1-2), which starts out with Storm going through a lot of character changes, having just recently turned her back on her sweet goddess persona and become the hard-edged leader of the X-Men with the punk hair cut and the brutal attitude; Kitty in particular doesn't like this. but Storm offers a good explanation, saying she is trying out a new persona and even she isn't sure which one is really her.

So switching up a sweet character and making her hard-edged is not a new thing, and not necessarily out of character, either.

[Phil]

http://dailypop.wordpress.com/2011/0...n-fear-itself/

DP: Gary Cody? Mac’s Department H buddy who got his brain fried after freeing Bedlam (in Alpha Flight #52)? You got some ‘splainin’ to do, Lucy!
FVL: Oh yes, we’re well aware of that. Almost seems like…well, like there’s something fishy going on with this Cody guy, huh?