The Post-Byrne positivity thread

[Flightpath07]

I didn't think much of his name as anything other than something vaguely mystical.

As stated in the Alphanex Wiki;

"When dawn arrives he is awakened by Wolverine, who instructs him to remove his hand to see his totem. It's the worm totem, which means he is an Earthmover."

"Earthmover's magical abilties were never fully stated but he is the natural equivalent to what Professor Xavier refers to as an omega mutant."

"Chuck's totem is the worm totem, which means he is a Earthmover as his name states. The full extent of what this totem does or what it means was never stated."

What we have seen of him, is that he can cause rock golems to come out of the ground and attack. Or something like that, anyways.

[Le Messor]

But can he use his feet to see?



~ Le Messor
"In which level of metalanguage are you now speaking?"

[EccentricSage]

I'll have to think about it more, but one would be the Bachelor/Bacheloret party. When I first got it, it was just ok, didn't have any plot development in it, but had a really cute ending. I didn't realize until recently just how big of an impact that silly issue had on me. Whenever I think of that particular Alpha Flight line up, THAT is how I remember them, and it really makes me wish Marvel's comics still had the heart that they used to. It really made me believe the characters as human beings, and empathize with them even more.

Then there's that issue (issues?) where Alpha Flight are in Dream Queen's dimension, modeled to look like New York, and they have no clue what is going on. At first when the 'dark' versions of heroes started attacking (if I remember correctly, it was Lann the Sorcerer's doing?), I thought it seemed a bit lame, though damn if I wasn't left with a strong impression regarding Lil! It showed that she would not hesitate to kill in self defense, which I like. She's not a bad person, but she's a bad ass who knows where her priorities lay. Next issue I think, was when she's isolated momentarily and Puck with angel wings descents upon her, and it was just such a surreal scene, as he explains to her what's really going on and then proceeds to 'create' Santa and Elvis to help Alpha Flight fight... Priceless. It got even better when Lil is running around the battle field super-punching and super-kicking enemies into non-existence and the rest of Alpha keep asking her how she did that, and she just tells them there's no time and continues clearing the battle field with glee as her team mates look bewildered by the whole trippy scene. OMG, shame the art was so bad. Still loved that part of the story!

I'll post more later. My collection is full of holes and it's been a long time since I've looked at some of them.

[Le Messor]

Then there's that issue (issues?) where Alpha Flight are in Dream Queen's dimension, modeled to look like New York, and they have no clue what is going on.

#75! Love that one! ... 'cept the art.
(I believe it was DreamQueen's doing on her own, not Llan, but I could be wrong.)

I'll post more later. My collection is full of holes and it's been a long time since I've looked at some of them.

That's because holes are really boring to look at.

~ Le Messor
"Ingrate: A man who bites the hand that feeds him, and then complains of indigestion."

[Legerd]

I liked when Windshear took over training Beta Flight. Long before Avengers Academy was even a twinkle in Marvel's eye, the idea of training young super humans to be the next wave of heroes was being done in AF. Not only did Colin get more face time and character development, but we got stories revolving entirely around the teen heroes without the adults there all the time holding their hands, which often made for some hilarious situations.

I want Windshear back.

[Flightpath07]

Nice one, Legerd!

Hm...betcha Marvel never even considered making Colin Ashworth Hume a teacher at the Jean Grey Academy, did they?

[cmdrkoenig67]

Heather donning the suit after Mac's death, I really wasn't fond of the way Bill Mantlo did it, but I'm glad she put it on.
I liked Purple Girl/Persuasion and I really liked Windshear, I also liked the new Box design (Madison's first version) and I liked Diamond Lil joining the team. I liked Pestilence, he was a deliciously evil villain...I liked the angle of Crozier using Snowbird's baby as a host body, that was very disturbing (but in that great dramatic way). Loved seeing Talisman back in Omega Flight (wish she could have made an appearance in Vol 4), also enjoyed seeing the Great Beasts back at the beginning of the Chaos War (in the Alpha one-shot). I was happy to see Snowbird's godly family included in the Chaos War. I really liked Volume 4 and would have liked to have seen it continue (but I guess a lot of us feel that way). I liked the art in Volume 3.

I'm sure there are other things I liked beyond Byrne, but I'm drawing a blank at the moment, on what those might be.

Dana

[Wildcard]

I liked Heather becoming the leader. Ive stated this before but it was a nice touch to a great group with such diverse backgrounds to have a strong, female leader which I dont believe was happening at the time in Marvel.
I liked Purple Girl, Manikin and Goblyn
I liked Talisman's costume makeover in Omega Flight and how she was portrayed. She really stepped it up in that series and I was hoping she would get some face time in the most recent series.
I liked Marina's new personality in the most rcent series.
Dreamqueen

Ill list some more as I remember them

[Phil]

1) Alpha Flight #0.1
For me, this was probably the best non-Byrne issue ever. Everything about it worked for me.

2) Mantlo's ideas and plots.
Stick with me here. Although there were times when he kinda went off the reservation, for whatever reason; editorial interference, general boredom, spread over too many books, phoning it in; and times when he just destroyed past continuity, a lot of his basic concepts and plot ideas were(/should have been) really good, if not well written in execution.

3) Windshear.
He's probably my favourite non-Byrne Alphan. I think the revolving writers, combined with the crossovers and the premature end of Volume 1 kinda shortchanged the character. He went from a fresh, original character to quickly becoming a PR man, to quickly becoming a tutor and mentor. Between Niciezia/Lobdell/Furman there wasn't much character development because of the large cast they juggled and the reasons outlined above, but what they managed to do I really took to. I also liked his cameo in Niciezia's Thunderbolts run, which I thought was a nice, respectful touch.

4) Wolverine #172
I know Tieri got a lot of stick for his use of Alphans in Weapon X (which I liked, but thats by the by), I thought this issue (plus the end of #171) was a nice little issue where AF show up to stop Wolverine from getting his clock cleaned. I liked Chen's artwork a lot too.

5) Alternate AF's.
Kinda a cop-out and cheating a bit by lumping a few together, but What If #59 & 62 just because of their general respect for the team and an interesting look at how things could have worked out with Logan. Plus more using Stitch & The First Flight team in the latter issue.

Honourable Mentions:-

Dale Eaglesham's Alphans - I umm'ed and urr'ed about including this, but couldn't justify a whole choice on art alone. However, everything Dale touched was gold. I could have this man draw the team forever.
Cap's respect of Puck - I can't remember which exact issue it was, but I think it was in one of Web of Spider-Man #104-106 during the Infinity Crusade, and it always stuck with me as a great idea for a future plot point.

[Le Messor]

2) Mantlo's ideas and plots.
Stick with me here. Although there were times when he kinda went off the reservation, for whatever reason; editorial interference, general boredom, spread over too many books, phoning it in...
a lot of his basic concepts and plot ideas were(/should have been) really good, if not well written in execution.

(Not to mention his burnout / nervous breakdown.)
I see what you did there, and yeah, I can agree with that.

Weapon X (which I liked, but thats by the by),

Me, too! It came across as exactly the kind of thing that fails to appeal - in fact, drives me away - but when I read it (years after the fact) I actually found it pretty good. A lot lighter than I expected.

~ Le Messor
Manny: Is space hot?
Bernard: Of course it is, where do you think we get pineapples from?

[EccentricSage]

Since we're on the subject of Mantlo, and despite the fact I'm still missing a lot of his run...

In the issues I have of Mantlo's run, I liked his characterization of Madison Jeffries and Roger Bochs a lot, until he did what he did to Bochs. Same with his handling of Puck. I liked the dialogue untill he completely screwed the characters up. It's all so promising untill it descends into madness. Real shame. (Does Mantlo have some sort of secret hatred of disabled and differently abled people?!) Sorry I strayed into negitivity there, but you can't praise one part of what Mantlo did without grimacing about the end results, I don't think. The Wanda thing was a mess, but an interesting mess, and I liked Wanda's dialogue. I also really liked Northstar in the issues I have, with Aurora turning into an evil ***** and Walter's death, I fealt like Northstar became much more lovable and relateable as he had to open up to people more. The part where he said he wept over Walter's death, too, was a nice touch, and I like the way he made it sound as though Northstar had some atraction to Walter... it seemed to me he wrote Northstar gay following Byrne's example pretty well. Northstar was a real person to me in those issues, amidst all the bat**** crazy and bad characterization that started to build up.

Also, was it during Mantlo's run that Madison Jeffries jumped out of a plain to hijack a Sentinal mid-air? My god, that was awesome. And that feat was more realistically within Madison's established abilities and know-how. It's the sort of thing I'd like to have seen more of.

I liked HOW Vindicator was introduced, it was a damn good start, and Puck's resistance out of concern for her. But other than that, I disliked the dialogue. The action and intent was exactly what I wanted to see, even if the dialogue made Heather seem like a ***** to me at least. I'm glad that didn't stick! lol

And off the topic of Mantlo, I second the Dream Queen love. I'm not enamored with all the stories she was in, but her concept and design is awesome, and I want to see more of her. She has a lot of potential, given a consistent writer and a decent artist. She would be great for a trippy horror type story done right.

Which reminds me of the Lann the Sorcerer story... I disliked a lot about it, but I loved how it served as a device to bring back some of the Omega Flight characters and involve the Beta Flight characters more, and I liked how it worked to really mix up the team roster a bit. I may not have been satisfied with Wildchild's characterization (or lack there-of), but I loved Lil's characterization, as well as Lil joining Alpha Flight and resolving past tensions. I couldn't help but laugh when Nemesis showed up all high and mighty and Lil decided it was time to choke a *****. May not have been the best decission, but it was the fun decission. lol

[Le Messor]

Also, was it during Mantlo's run that Madison Jeffries jumped out of a plain to hijack a Sentinal mid-air?

#43, wasn't it? That was in Mantlo's run.