John Byrne Hated Working on Alpha Flight?

[zephyr74]

Now that doesn't change the fact he did amazing work on AF and was the best writer/artist the series ever had. But in my opinion, (prepares to be hit by flying objects) the likes of Bill Mantalo James Hudnall (as much as I wasnt a fan of his writing), Fabian Niceza, and Van Lente cared more about alpha flight than Byrne ever did

I don't know about that. In the latter half of his run, Mantlo was just writing AF for the paycheck and relying on his editor to feed him ideas.

Additionally, all of the subsequent writers contributed both good and bad (sometimes terrible) things to AF, but, I don't believe that anyone has ever gotten it "right" except Byrne.

My favorite thing about AF was that they had their own thing and their own vibe. I liked that it was more character-oriented and more quirky with the more focused smaller storylines until the larger building subplot escalated into a full team adventure.

[Yankee]

There is one thing that Byrne's departure from the series allowed to happen, that likely would not have happened if Byrne had stayed past issue 28, and that's Heather becoming Vindicator. The way I view the good and bad of each writer of volume 1 tends to be mainly how the characters of Mac and Heather are portrayed. Not because they are my favorite character ( they actually aren't), but how central they are to the story, and as such their portrayl ends up impacting the book as a whole.
Byrne saw Mac as the spirit of Alpha Flight, Heather as the glue that bound the spirit to the team. But after Mac died, he clearly felt that as much glue as Heather, there was no way she could actually take his place as team leader. Sure without her the group would fall apart, but still needed a field general. I view this run as how I view firefly, an absolutely amazing work but I have serious doubts the quality of work would have continued to hold up if they kept making more episodes. If Byrne had written another ten issues, I have doubts I would have liked them anywhere near as much as his initial 28.

[Le Messor]

But after Mac died, he clearly felt that as much glue as Heather, there was no way she could actually take his place as team leader.

I dunno, I thought he had her as leader - just a non-powered leader.

~ Le Messor
"Few things help an individual more than to place responsibility upon him, and to let him know that you trust him."
~ Booker T. Washington

[Yankee]

In my opinion the person for the best depiction of Mac and Heather was Niceza. While Byrne had the best husband wife dynamic with the duo, I felt Niceza gave great character development with what the other writers had installed before and not only made it his own, but made it feel...real. During Mantalos run I disagreed with a lot of the decisions he had Heather make (putting the safety of Jeffries over the safety of the team being my biggest gripe). But Niceza just superb. Byrne the better writer on the series, but it think Niceza gave him a run for his money.

[Tawmis]

In my opinion the person for the best depiction of Mac and Heather was Niceza. While Byrne had the best husband wife dynamic with the duo, I felt Niceza gave great character development with what the other writers had installed before and not only made it his own, but made it feel...real. During Mantalos run I disagreed with a lot of the decisions he had Heather make (putting the safety of Jeffries over the safety of the team being my biggest gripe). But Niceza just superb. Byrne the better writer on the series, but it think Niceza gave him a run for his money.

That's because that's what Fabian excels at. Developing characters. Looking at his run on New Warriors. X-Men. Thunderbolts.

Fabian makes the characters feel real. Not just slug fest after slug fest for issues. And he doesn't need to write it like a novel, so everyone has so much talking balloons that it overrides the art.

[Phil]

I thought Nicieza's resurrection of Mac was the worst storyline of all AF, personally.

[Yankee]

I thought Nicieza's resurrection of Mac was the worst storyline of all AF, personally.

And I thought it was one of the best. Different strokes for different folks. However I think furmans resurrection of Mac was complete crap

[Phil]

I really liked that one, as it actually made sense, didn't contradict Byrne & was actually something The Master would do!

[Yankee]

I really liked that one, as it actually made sense, didn't contradict Byrne & was actually something The Master would do!

But then again outside his appearances under Byrne, I hated whatever the master did (barring his unity storyline in volume 4) Particularly under Furman I got the sense he was sideshow bob, grandiosely announcing his plans but getting foiled each time by Bart Simpson......I mean Beta Flight. Just saying that it was actually something the master would do iis not going to presuade me it was a good idea. To me it was a contrived idea at a happy ending. But like I said nothing wrong with disagreements. It's what makes debates worthwhile