Crackity Jones' Discovery Of Alpha Flight

[Tawmis]

Hate to be 'that guy' but Tawmis was spot on, #94 was his first issue; straight after GSXM #1

Hah! Don't worry, I am typically wrong. But when it comes to early Uncanny X-Men (especially with the "new" X-Men as in Storm, Colossus, Nightcrawler, etc) - I am rarely wrong about the comics back then. These days? I couldn't tell you anything about what Storm is up to, Colossus has done, etc... Sad, sad, day! But ask me about the old stuff - I am all over it!

Phil, don't we have a James Hudnall interview somewhere on the site, where he talks about Llan? Or was that one of the editors who talked about Llan? I definitely recall reading that the storyline was meant to be much longer than it was.

If he somehow says something good about Llan, I will scream.

Just read the interview. You know what, I'd give him another swing at the team too.

You're d@mn right. I am bashing Mantlo's run so far. I love these characters, and his run, so far, has been the trainwreck I cannot stop watching (reading). Making Purple Girl mind rape/control/WHATEVER Northstar and then having Heather make a joke about it is completely unacceptable, imo.

While I dislike Purple Girl, what she did to Northstar DOES make sense to me. She's young and irresponsible, not even considering consequences, as many of us did when we were 13, 14, 15, 16 and sometimes 17 years old. (I know some people in their 30's and 40's who live this way...)

Heather making jokes, is out of character. She's supposed to be the compassionate one - the heart of the team. And perhaps this is why I hate Heather in costume, because every since she put it on - she's lost all of her heart and soul.

I like Eugene the adventurer and I like the idea of Razaar but am in agreement that Puck should have remained what he was and should never have been a regular human before the curse.
Had Mantlo introduced Razaar into a dwarf Puck it would have been the best non-Byrne idea, IMO.
The height issue makes no sense at all and serves no purpose.

I can't remember if I said that in this thread, or the CBR thread - but I said the very same thing!

I think a lot of this issue is hard to judge in hindsight now.
Let's remember that at the time these comics were published they wouldn't have been able to show Northstar's sexuality, or even use the word 'gay' or 'homosexual' Mantlo was possibly trying to be subtle, based on what Byrne had told him, and was hindered by the comics code and editorial at the time.

and

For example, Northstar being gay: I understand this was not allowed to be written about in comics back then, so that it was just strongly hinted on, but to me, it could have been hinted at differently instead of everyone making the occasional crack on Northstar. It was still done distastefully.

and

I don't know... If you read it back then, you might not know Northstar was gay. The jibes aren't as obvious without hindsight; so it's harder to say how you might react. That said, Byrne handled it much better. Of course.

and

I did not realize Northstar was gay until issue 100 when Marvel published a letter about the "AIDS" storyline and discussing his orientation. I always thought he was just shy around women. I was 11 years old when I first started reading Alpha Flight in 1984. There's alot of things I didn't catch around that age of reading comic books. Then after rereading all those issues years later, it was like, how did I not see that?

See, I also think it depends on when you read it. I was probably 16 or 17 when I read this issue (back in 1996 or 1997 when it came out?). And back in 1996, as crazy as it sounds - there really wasn't a "gay" community. So I just read it as Aurora, typically just bickering with her brother - as most brothers and sisters do (I know, because I grew up with two sisters). I didn't pick up on the fact that he was gay, until quite a bit later - and even then, I wasn't even 100% sure. I was suspecting he liked guys - but didn't really know for sure, until #106. Looking back, and having re-read it, now I see Aurora's comments, around issue #8, where she says something along the lines, "Why? You have never had a problem being around men!" It's all VERY much more clear, nowadays...

It's a strange one, as I preferred Heather as the supportive wife and person that kept it all together behind the scenes in Byrne's run, however over the course of the 130 issue run I definitely think Heather is a better leader than Mac. Although that's probably based upon the dubious retcons of Mac's decisions that you have yet to reach...

I don't think Heather will ever be a better leader than Mac, because of her piss pour decisions she made during her time as the leader.

Well, remember the guy was suffering a terrible burn-out at the time and was pretty much losing his art. He was actually a good writer, once.

I agree. I enjoyed his run on ROM and MICRONAUTS (though by the end, both got quite strange...)