Do you really think the current series is good enough that- [Archive] - AlphaFlight.net

Ben

02-03-2005, 08:08 AM

Personally I've quite enjoyed this series. There have been many editorial blunders that have set my teeth on edge, but I have liked the writing. It has been written in a very light tone with a great deal of humour. That humour was a little blunt at first as Lobdell was getting to know the characters, but it has smoothed out considerably. The plot of the latest storyline has been great. I think the biggest problem was the first story line being spread out over too many issues. Regardless of weather the current writing is "good enough" to most, I don't think Marvel should have canceled it. They should have given Alpha Flight the same due that they have given to many other books, and retooled it to makes it appeal to more of the fanbase. A new direction, return of the more "classic" Alpha Flight could have brought it right around.

That being said, in choosing an author, I would not choose Byrne, as he has gone on record saying that he never really liked writing Alpha Flight...My choice would be Peter David.

Ben

DelBubs

02-03-2005, 10:12 AM

I cannot say with my hand on heart that I love the series. It's been good to see AF on a comic cover again, but it could have been way better. As for creative team, maybe JMS with Gary Frank (?) doing the art chores.

Byrne IMHO had his best days back at the beginning of the 80's, nothing he's done since he left FF, UXM and AF has measured up to what he did in those books.

Barnacle13

02-03-2005, 10:20 AM

Sorry, Ben, but I've gotta disagree. This version of Alpha Flight was destined for calncellation after the first story arc. I'll admit the characters have started to grow on me somewhat, but then mold will grow on bread if you leave it in the pantry long enough. The first arc was entirely too long and packed little action. The second arc, while big on action would have been better suited to a match and a rousing course of "Happy Birthday". Power Pack could've taken out the wax statues! The final story arc I've enjoyed. It ties into the history of the book. Unfortunately it's rushed because of the cancellation. Had they started the book with this as a 6 story arc I bet there'd be a lot more readers today and we wouldn't be lamenting over the demise of the book again.

As for who I'd want to write the title. I'd pick someone with a unique knowledge of Alpha Flight history and Canadian culture. Our very own Ed Northcott and his pal J.Torres might be a good team. If only Marvel would let us find out!

Barnacle13

02-03-2005, 10:25 AM

Just for the record, there are plenty of Alpha issues on the shelves in my area. I'm sure things are different in Canada, but once the title fizzled early the issues just kinda hung on the shelf here. Folks obviously gave it a few issues though, since you can't find the earlier issues anymore.

maniac mike

02-03-2005, 11:48 AM

DelBubs

02-03-2005, 11:53 AM

Written in the style it was, I don't think even Wolvie could have saved it. Granted there would have been a lot more hue and cry if fan fave Wolvie had been treated the way AF characters have been over the latest series and for the last few years.

syvalois

02-03-2005, 01:02 PM

I've got to admit I never bought the new serie. It never interested me with those characters and I don't buy comics anymore or never really did. It was Yves, My brother, that bought the books. Be the way, he did not bought the last serie saying it was a travesti of AF and was not the real thing, so he was not interested. Plus, we are not the best Lobdell fans (just a matter of taste).

I also don't like to go every month to pick up the damn book in a comic book store, where it,s not near where I usually go. I like a lot better to go to a bookstore like chapters. But I'm a book person and not a magazine person, that's maybe why I don't like the comic book format. And I don't know for you, but I find the way comics are done, do not make them very easy to keep and I never find them in a library, that is where I got the taste to bought europeen comic book (called BD for bandes dessinées) and in airports they are nowhere to be seen as for DB, I could find them easily at any "relay" in many airports (in the francophone world of course) but comics should be available in airports, that ideal to read in a flight depending of the lenght of it. I could find children comic books but no marvel or DC comic books. And with all the talk about the the people that want AF but could not because it was sold out, just make me see how the industrie is not maximising the visibility and the problem is maybe not the product, but the distribution, no? Anyway...

As for the best writer, I don't know. Not byrne, he as done what he had to to on the book and I don't like what he do anymore. I would like Peter David, but I'm not sure he would get the "canadian" in a way he is soooo american (in the good sense of it) I would team him up with a canadian penciller, so he could have hte feed back on that aspect, and with me for the quebecois aspect 8)

wrote too much, my fingers hurts

kozzi24

02-03-2005, 01:07 PM

I wonder if instead of Sasquatch creating the ANADAF, it had been Wolverine (has a fall-out with the X-Men, well Scott that is) came up to Canada to find out AF has run afoul with some danger and decides to help them out, with a few allies (Major Mapleleaf, Nemesis, Centennial, Puck and Yukon Jack) do you think the series would have lasted longer?

MM :?:
This would have been even less Alpha Flight than what we got...but as a matter of course, sad as it is, Wolvie appearances would have increased sales. At least when Mac, Heather, Puck and Aurora are involed with the team, Alpha is a place where Wolvie is always welcomem because the fit is natural, not forced.

varo

02-03-2005, 03:17 PM

no way marvel would have allowed wolverine to be in a "funny" comic book.

noooooooooo waaaaaaayyyy!!!!

Mokole

02-03-2005, 06:05 PM

I liked the characters and art and didn't like the humour much, it just didn't fit. I'll have my #12 in a week or so and be unhappy that we're done with it.

JohnnyCanuck

02-04-2005, 12:54 AM

[quote="syvalois"

, that is where I got the taste to bought europeen comic book (called BD for bandes dessinées)

My franco friend in collage gave me a pile of BD magazines. ZIP POW they were a whole more graphic than I was expecting..!

As for the best writer, I don't know. Not byrne,

I don't think hiring Byrne would be best as he didn't really enjoy it anyway.
I would like Peter David, but I'm not sure he would get the "canadian" in a way he is soooo american (in the good sense of it) I would team him up with a canadian penciller, so he could have hte feed back on that aspect, and with me for the quebecois aspect 8)

I'll back you on the Peter David selection. And Characterization wouldn't be a huge problem for him. Gary Frank , Dale Keowen ((SP?) you know the guy who did hulk with him.) Would be great artists.

syvalois

02-04-2005, 09:45 AM

[quote="JohnnyCanuck"][quote="syvalois"

, that is where I got the taste to bought europeen comic book (called BD for bandes dessinées)

My franco friend in collage gave me a pile of BD magazines. ZIP POW they were a whole more graphic than I was expecting..!

Zip Pow, I don't think I know that but go to : www.humano.com that is the kind of BD that I like. Not all of them, I don't know them all, but many looks good. We bought for Bruno's niece (she is 17 years old) "L'enfant de l'Orage" and it's a nice format to give as a gift. The new book will come out soon, maybe for her birthday, she will get the new book. http://www.humano.com/catalogue/fiche_catal.php?id=35090&page=fiche_image

I'll back you on the Peter David selection. And Characterization wouldn't be a huge problem for him. Gary Frank , Dale Keowen ((SP?) you know the guy who did hulk with him.) Would be great artists.

I must admit that Gary Frank would be so good, but I think Peter David and Ed as the penciller would make a good team and Peter could get the canadian aspect that way (and maybe get Ed snowbird) and of course that team would need me for the quebecer aspect . I don't trust Ed on that part :twisted:

kozzi24

02-04-2005, 10:34 AM

Love the new avatar and rank, Ben!

Mokole

02-04-2005, 07:56 PM

I will have all 12 of v3 next week. I have 4 issues of v2. I have 7 or so of v1. If my optimism isn't misplaced [-o< then maybe soon there will be a version 4 full of action and including characters I like, not necessarily Zuzha and MML and GG and Box and Feedback and Nemesis and Witchfire and Windshear but characters like them in spirit and powers. Oh, to be lucky. \:D/

cmdrkoenig67

02-05-2005, 02:48 PM

I don't see how can you dislike the Hudsons and the twins, so much with only 7 issues? Which issues of Vol. one do you have?

Dana

DelBubs

02-05-2005, 03:10 PM

I don't see how can you dislike the Hudsons and the twins, so much with only 7 issues? Which issues of Vol. one do you have?

Dana
Maybe I missed the boat, but where was it said that the writer didn't like the twins or the Hudsons?

kozzi24

02-05-2005, 03:17 PM

I don't think Mokole's said that in this thread, Del, but he's made it very clear in most others, expecially with the Hudsons.

DelBubs

02-05-2005, 03:24 PM

I don't think Mokole's said that in this thread, Del, but he's made it very clear in most others, expecially with the Hudsons.
Fair dinkum, just wondered where the concept came from, good of you to elaborate.

Le Messor

02-05-2005, 08:52 PM

It hit me at work last night:
The main reason, for me, in the first place, that Alpha Flight is my book is that I'm a damn far'ner (technically). I wanted a series that wasn't set in the USA, and that wasn't, like, say, Cap America, all about 'This is the Greatest Nation on Earth!' all the time. (I've lived there, and I like -this- one better. US is the most powerful. I'll give it that.)
I think one of the failings of post v1 AF is that it din't respect that. - v2 just projected US paranoia onto a foreign country, and v3 turned it into a joke. Part of why I don't think either series should've lasted.

Vote for new writer? Peter David, easily. His teaming with Gary Frank and Cam Smith would, imho, work.
Failing him; the original Excalibur team - Claremont, Davis, Neary.

Oh, and speaking of rank, what's that smell?... I mean, how long am I gonna be stuck in Beta? grumble, grumble...

- Le Messor
"COBOL programs are an exercise in Artificial Inelegance."

Mokole

02-06-2005, 02:17 AM

I don't see how can you dislike the Hudsons and the twins, so much with only 7 issues? Which issues of Vol. one do you have?

Dana

I don't dislike the twins but I do think their continuity makes it hard to write them in AF without making them, well, poor team members. Retconn them back to the early days and they'd fit in better but would that be fair?

As to the Hudons no, I never liked them, as you point out I've said before I found them weak characters and worse, knockoffs of Iron Man and the Guardsman. I found it hard to believe Puck or Shaman would want Heather to go from the wife of an engineer (who himself had no training in combat or leadership) to 'boss' in a matter of days. I think suspension of belief/disbelief makes comics and sci-fi work and I couldn't suspend my disbelief when she took over. Mac's returns from death made me groan out loud.

I have issues 128-130, 120, 98, 112, 118, and I think lower down is 32 and 12. I have read all of 1-130, though, I just didn't like many of them enough to buy the issues from the person who was trying to unload them, I only bought the 8 above. Same with v3, I scanned them all and read internet reviews but I only bought 1, 11, 12, and 16.

Fair dinkum, as Delbubs says. :)

Legerd

02-06-2005, 02:54 AM

It hit me at work last night:
The main reason, for me, in the first place, that Alpha Flight is my book is that I'm a damn far'ner (technically). I wanted a series that wasn't set in the USA, and that wasn't, like, say, Cap America, all about 'This is the Greatest Nation on Earth!' all the time. (I've lived there, and I like -this- one better. US is the most powerful. I'll give it that.)
I think one of the failings of post v1 AF is that it din't respect that. - v2 just projected US paranoia onto a foreign country, and v3 turned it into a joke. Part of why I don't think either series should've lasted.

Now if you would tell Joe Q. that maybe he would listen and get the point about why AF deserves another book, and respect.

Oh, and speaking of rank, what's that smell?... I mean, how long am I gonna be stuck in Beta? grumble, grumble...

Tell me about it! :lol:

Northcott

02-07-2005, 02:21 PM

I must admit that Gary Frank would be so good, but I think Peter David and Ed as the penciller would make a good team and Peter could get the canadian aspect that way (and maybe get Ed snowbird) and of course that team would need me for the quebecer aspect . I don't trust Ed on that part :twisted:

Awww... c'mon! All Quebecois are TEH EVAL SEPERATISTS!!!!11!!1! We all know that. Everybody in Alberta lives on a ranch and hates Canada. Everybody in Ontario is a snob. Only drunken fishermen live in Newfoundland, and BC is populated entirely by hippies.

I've got my finger on the pulse of the nation, baby!

As to the Hudons no, I never liked them, as you point out I've said before I found them weak characters and worse, knockoffs of Iron Man and the Guardsman.

Say WHAT?!? Where in the jib-jabbin', tap-dancin, flamin' blue hell did you get that theory? :shock: Other than donning a suit that grants them powers, Mac has nothing in common with those characters. Origins, motivations, personalities, appearance (in and out of costume)... all are radically different.

Please, other than the superficial suit angle, how do you classify Guardian as a knock-off of Iron Man?

I found it hard to believe Puck or Shaman would want Heather to go from the wife of an engineer (who himself had no training in combat or leadership) to 'boss' in a matter of days.

Let's go through the characters in the MU who have training in combat and leadership:

Captain America -- nope. He was a skinny kid from New York who was given steroids, spandex, and a rank because of his patriotism.

Thor -- kind of. He smashes stuff with a cinderblock on a stick, and has done so for a couple thousand years. Technically it's not "training" per se, but it's a lot of experience. We'll count that one.

Cyclops -- yes in one, no in the other.

Hawkeye -- no in both, though he's a good shot with a bow. Or was.

Storm -- no to both when she became a superhero. By the time she lead the X-Men she had combat experience, but no leadership training.

Captain Britain -- no to both.

Reed Richards -- no to both.

Seeing where I'm going with this? Superheroes aren't about military personel getting beefed up with powers -- not unless you're Mark Millar. It's about the everyday Joe with a good heart who discovers not only fantastic ability, but the old addage: with great power comes great responsibility. To that extent, characters who represent "the common man" will always remain in the forefront of the super-hero genre as leaders, while the more obsessive, driven, skilled characters tend to follow their lead. The over-arching theme is about moral compass, not practicality.

Mac's returns from death made me groan out loud.

Even the most diehard of Guardian fans join you in that -- especially after the third or fourth time. ;)

jay042

02-07-2005, 03:51 PM

As for who I'd like to see writing Alpha Flight, I'd love to see Judd Wynick on the book. He did a great run on Exiles, including that alternate Alpha storyline. Either one of the artists he had on that book would be okay.

cmdrkoenig67

02-08-2005, 02:29 AM

Seeing where I'm going with this? Superheroes aren't about military personel getting beefed up with powers -- not unless you're Mark Millar. It's about the everyday Joe with a good heart who discovers not only fantastic ability, but the old addage: with great power comes great responsibility. To that extent, characters who represent "the common man" will always remain in the forefront of the super-hero genre as leaders, while the more obsessive, driven, skilled characters tend to follow their lead. The over-arching theme is about moral compass, not practicality.

Exactly....superheroes CAN be engineers and secretaries. I think Heather excelled at being a super hero and leader....sure she had trouble at first, who doesn't? Such roles take time to grow into. She was also a perfect example of a superhero who isn't perfect...she made mistakes.

[quote]Mac's returns from death made me groan out loud.

Even the most diehard of Guardian fans join you in that -- especially after the third or fourth time. ;)

I'm in that crowd too. Guardian's death was such a blow to the team and an amazing story(not to mention really ironic that he never really wanted to put the suit on and it was suit that ended up killing him...well...sort of). I for one, wish it had been left alone. The Delphine Courtney fake resurrection story was brilliant, though.

Dana

kozzi24

02-08-2005, 12:20 PM

Heather's leadership cam frrom life experience.
She was the oldest of something like seven siblings, and as a child often supervised and led younger kids..including Elizabeth Twoyoungman.
He administrative assistant job would also have cultivated leadership and organizational tools, and the big joke from the old WKRP in Cincinatti show of Loni Anderson truly running the compasny and making the dicisions for the CEO is more common in the corporate world than many people realize.
Leadership often comes about because one person rises to fill a vacuum and takes the reigns when no one else does so in time...and that's just what Heather did following Mac's death in V1#12. Some of her mistakes were glaring...but her excellent leadership skills were far more subtle:
Leading by example, with her willingness to be on the front lines despite a lack of power (Plodex arc, AF #14-16, meeting Omega at the mall AF #25-28)
Her regard for team vs team sessions in danger room scenarios as unhealthy
Her caution against such experiments such as the one that brought the Hulk from Crossroads (#28 -29)
Her recalling of the team's absent members circa AF#17-18 began with the most distant member, Northstar, not the easy ones first
Her organization in keeping detailed records in audio journal form, shown in various Byrne issues including #24 and #28
Her assumption of the Guardian battlesuit was that of a wise leader implementing all tools available to her. Without the suit, she could not contribute as much to the battles, and more importantly, she posed more of a liability because most of the others were distracted by concerns that their powerless leader would be hurt.

Heather exemplifies the "common man" as hero more than Mac did. Mac was a genious with no family. Heather was a secretary of average intelligence but a great deal of common sense with an estranged family. And she did assume leadership of the flight while it was very broken and disjointed and she was, essentially a homeless widow living off friends.

If you don't have those issues available to read consecutively to see the development that Byrne put into Heather as the "common man" going to heroic leadership, you really should be laying off her and eeping your comments more resticted to the characters you have more familiarity with

HappyCanuck

02-08-2005, 12:36 PM

Well, it's very rare that I do this (mostly because I tend to disagree with him on more points than not - just a character trait, not a stab at Kozzi), but Kozzi hit Heather's number on the head. She isn't the natural leader, but she grew into the role partially because she felt she had to, and because she needed to. As much as many of us might gripe about Mantlo putting her in the suit (myself included), Kozzi has just demonstrated how it was actually natural progression for her to don it. Yes she was a good leader outside the suit, but tactically, she was pretty useless - and with ppl like Puck and Shaman more concerned with her safety than with the battle-at-hand - it made for more mistakes. Having Heather in the suit, able to defend herself AND add to the battle beyond the planning stage is just good ol' practicallity.

Northcott

02-08-2005, 12:56 PM

Heather exemplifies the "common man" as hero more than Mac did. Mac was a genious with no family. Heather was a secretary of average intelligence but a great deal of common sense with an estranged family. And she did assume leadership of the flight while it was very broken and disjointed and she was, essentially a homeless widow living off friends.

That's always what I thought Heather's failing as a character was -- the suit. The common man theme of super-heroes is always accompanied by a gift: in most it's their powers, but in some (like Reed Richards, Hank Pym, Tony Stark, and Mac) it's their mind. There's a throwaway line from the "Marvels" mini-series written by Busiek: a few reporters are talking about Iron Man, and how he seems to mostly avoid the alternating waves of adulation and contempt that the public has for super-heroes.

In response, one of the other reporters quips: "Yeah, but that's because he's just a paid athlete in a fancy suit of armour. Now if he had built that suit himself, he'd be one of the marvels."

The hero invariably needs their own schtick, even those described as being without powers have them to an extent (if you think of it in thematic terms, not literal): Hawkeye's astounding aim and trick arrows, Cap's perfect physicality mixed with that unbreakable shield, and the astounding intellects of the characters mentioned above.

That said, Heather seems to be the exception: she functioned as a character and even gained her own following while stepping outside the boundaries of what normally constitutes a hero. But it remains that her dependance upon a technological device which she lacked the knowledge to modify or repair was a glaring weakness.

kozzi24

02-09-2005, 01:11 PM

That's always what I thought Heather's failing as a character was -- the suit. The common man theme of super-heroes is always accompanied by a gift: in most it's their powers, but in some (like Reed Richards, Hank Pym, Tony Stark, and Mac) it's their mind.

That said, Heather seems to be the exception: she functioned as a character and even gained her own following while stepping outside the boundaries of what normally constitutes a hero. But it remains that her dependance upon a technological device which she lacked the knowledge to modify or repair was a glaring weakness.

I think the fact that Heather was not the creator of the suit or an engineer made her more of the "common man" in this day and age, and even in the 1980s. How many of us can program our own computers or fix our own TVs. There's still a lot of people out there who can't change the headlights on their own cars. You are right in a sense that Heather as a solo hero would not work for that weakness, but within context, that weakness really emphasizes that she is part of a team, and even as team leader, relies on the abilities of her teammates to compensate for her weaknesses.

Mokole

02-09-2005, 01:33 PM

Northcott

02-09-2005, 01:53 PM

I think the fact that Heather was not the creator of the suit or an engineer made her more of the "common man" in this day and age, and even in the 1980s. How many of us can program our own computers or fix our own TVs. There's still a lot of people out there who can't change the headlights on their own cars. You are right in a sense that Heather as a solo hero would not work for that weakness, but within context, that weakness really emphasizes that she is part of a team, and even as team leader, relies on the abilities of her teammates to compensate for her weaknesses.

And that's the exact reason why Heather always felt "wrong" to me as a super-hero. I still think she worked, mind you -- she drew a fan base, and that's what any commercial literature is about. I'm just stating my opinion on it, based on my "rule of thumb" philosophy in regards to these characters: while they should reflect the "common man", there also needs to be a fantastical element as a key part of their nature to make them a super-hero.

I had the same problem with War Machine: a guy weilding power beyond his understanding. It lessens the element of the fantastical and drags the genre down to the mundane; as you point out, lots of people don't know how to use the technology around them to it's fullest extent. The idea with super-heroes is that they are more capable than we are. When that capability comes from an artificial source, the character is lessened. Even Green Lantern, the very icon of item-dependant heroes, had unique requirements in bearing his power: fearlessness and an indominatable will.

Part of it, too, is that I'm sick to death of seeing this trend of empmowering women by making them more violent. There's this reoccuring theme that the only method of empowerment and validation is through smashing someone else's head in. I think that is perhaps the most misguided, half-witted, slack-jawed approach to rationalization that I've ever had the misfortune of encountering.

A woman is not empowered by acting like the stereotypical (and insulting) testosterone-driven, knuckle-dragging male. By acting that way she's merely dragged down to that level. It would have been more difficult to write, but (utterly imo, of course) Heather would have been a landmark character had she served as the emotional core and stalwart leader of Alpha -- without going into battle.

This is not to say that female characters should be depicted as physically helpless. If anything, I think Snowbird could use a little beefing up -- she's been underplayed given her demi-goddess nature. Merely that blowing things up need not be, and should not be, the only expression of courage or capacity to lead. Nor should it be the only path left open to female characters for establishing a place of respect in the Marvel U.

My apologies for the long-winded response. It's long been a pet peeve of mine. :)

cmdrkoenig67

02-09-2005, 05:10 PM

But that, in itself, is a problem. Who fixed the suit? Who redesigned it for her? When it broke down who fixed it then? How did she learn so fast how to operate it? how did she learn to fix it with no prior knowledge or experience?

It's like me getting a helicopter and flying it expertly, with no training, by Monday, and also being able to fix it to suit me AND fix it when it breaks down (ie. knowing where the problem is).

Just can't suspend my disbelief.

Um...weren't you paying attention?....In Volume one...both Madison Jeffries and Roger Bochs could have been her repair/maintenence crew for a very long time(she was dating Madison for many, many issues)....and who's to say, she wasn't given some pointers by them on minor repairs and such? She IS a smart lady and people do tend to pick things up from time to time...and with experience comes knowledge.

In Volume two....the techs at Dept H were responsible for the creation, repair and maintenance of the Geothermal suit...However.....in issue# 12 of vol 2, I have to ask how the heck she knew how to cut the suit's power supply before it blew up...if she knew little about the suit and it's origin's....THAT was the part that's a bit hard to believe.

Dana

Ben

02-09-2005, 05:23 PM

In Volume two....the techs at Dept H were responsible for the creation, repair and maintenance of the Geothermal suit...However.....in issue# 12 of vol 2, I have to ask how the heck she knew how to cut the suit's power supply before it blew up...if she knew little about the suit and it's origin's....THAT was the part that's a bit hard to believe.
Dana

After the trauma of seeing Mac's suit "kill him" I don't think it's such a stretch to thing Heather would want to know how to avoid such a thing, and if she learned anything of the suit, that would be it. Besides, the fundamentals of the suit were most likely build on Mac's design, and the power system would probably be very much the same.

Ben

Le Messor

02-09-2005, 07:46 PM

Same with v3, I scanned them all and read internet reviews but I only bought 1, 11, 12, and 16.

Wow! How did you get v3 # 16 already? 'specially since 12 is only just out, if yet, and the last issue?

:roll: Okay, it's possible you meant v2.

I never had a prob with Mantlo putting Heather in the suit. I always thought that was a great, logical, flowy idea.

Jeffries, at first, repaired her suit for her - he created her version after all. He was with her for almost all of v1, when she wore it. Then, in v2, she wore a suit designed, created, and maintained by Department H. In v3, Mac was around.

Any more questions?

- Le Messor
"Coed dorms promote campus unrest."

kozzi24

02-09-2005, 09:22 PM

No need to apologize for your thoughts, Ed, ESPECIALLY when you defend them with rationale and obvious knowledge rather than a judgment made off off incomplete information.
I agree with you entirely about War Machine, on the solo hero principle. They raised that issue in his first series, and had actually given him a new suit of alien origins. Unfortunately, the title got axes around the time of Heroes Reborn, so we never saw what might have come of it.

HappyCanuck

02-09-2005, 09:29 PM

Actually, they partially explained that. In the original series (AF 32), Madison redesigned and rebuilt Heather's suit, and since he was around for the rest of the series, we can assume he did the repairs on the suit (it was never meantioned on panel). In vol 2, the suit was redesigned by Department H, and presumably maintained by them as well. Later, with Mac back, it's assumed he did the repairs and such.

EDIT: Hmm, if I'd take time and finish reading the thread, there's less chance of me repeated almost word for word what was said... oh well...

beetleblack

02-10-2005, 07:47 PM

I know I've probably said this a hundred times before elsewhere but I prefered Heather as the leader WITHOUT the suit. I liked her as a character, it wasn't the same when she put the suit on, she seemed to lose her personality, it was like the suit took over or something.

kozzi24

02-10-2005, 08:58 PM

I think the change was that the Heather Vindicator was the first step in Mantlo's disdain of the original characters to making it a team of "his Alpha." In doing so, Vindicator always came out as perfectly right in everything. I think it was more bad writing than anything else.

Garry/Al-Fan

03-23-2005, 10:10 AM

Three things that I liked about volume 3: (1) it didn't forget to be entertaining, (2) it remembered that one of ALPHA FLIGHT's greatest strengths (and/or weaknesses) is its interdependencies, and (3) the creative team was not afraid to take chances with the content of the stories. The jokes didn't always work for me, either, but it wasn't just a joke-book. I wasn't laughing when NEMESIS sliced the woman who happened to be herself in two. I wasn't laughing when Amelia was in a grave and someone's house was on fire. Enough was presented to know that her relationship with Rutherford ended badly; do we really need to delve into the details? Nobody is going to listen to me, but I think it would be better to let them rest in peace. Create a new NEMESIS (or go back to St. Ives' daughter*), because I don't think too many people will touch the subject of miscegenation with as much understatement and sophistication as SL & CH.

* Hope not. I don't want DEADLY ERNEST to come back after being hacked to bits. What good is retribution if it's so temporary?

What I never understood about volume 2 was this: if the Epsilons could capture, brainwash, and control the members of Alpha Flight, exactly what good was AF to Dept. H? Just fodder for genetic/cloning experimentation? YUCK!