Ben
02-10-2005, 06:24 PM
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http://www.alphaflight.net/reviews/af3_12_review_1.jpg[/img:93c766bfa4]
Writer: Scott Lobdell
Artist: Clayton Henry
Story: "DAYS OF FUTURE PRESENT, PAST PARTICIPLE" PART 4 OF 4)
OVERVIEW:
[img=left:93c766bfa4]http://www.alphaflight.net/reviews/af3_12_review_2.jpg[/img:93c766bfa4]Having found herself under attack by an anti-super hero militant group at the end of last issue, we catch up with Nemesis, having defeated the lot of them. Tired, and beat up, she returns to the Plodex ship the team has been using as a base. In the corner, Walter Langkowski is lost in thought and confusion, while still in mid-Sasquatch form. Nemesis decides to find out what the latest alteration in the time-line has done. Turning on the TV, she learns that after the incident in New York, Alpha Flight and Omega Flight came back to Canada as one team. Over time this united force split, raging a destructive war over Canada. It was then that the militant group called "The Militia For A Super-Hero-Free Canada started, and it was they whom Nemesis battled. Seeing no other choice, Nemesis runs her sword through herself, to go back in time.
In "place between times" Nemesis come upon herself in the past. A large house is on fire in the distance, and her past self is lying in an open, shallow grave. Nemesis comforts her past self for a moments before reaching her desired pace in time. Now in the past, she comes upon Guardian trying to prevent his power-pack from exploding. She finds Heather coming along, just at the time where she would have found Mac, and delayed him in stopping the power pack's explosion. In Nemesis' twisted way, she keeps Heather from distracting Mac, by killing her.
[img=right:93c766bfa4]http://www.alphaflight.net/reviews/af3_12_review_3.jpg[/img:93c766bfa4]Returning to the present, Sasquatch finds himself caught in an explosion. As he shakes it off he finds Nemesis' sword lying the rubble, and realizes she had done something. Just then Aurora, appears, wearing her old yellow costume. She speaks to him in a very strong french accent, telling him that the others are waiting for him. Aurora flies Sasquatch to Ottawa, and the Parliament building. There he sees a statue of Guardian on the lawn. Entering the building he finds Mac, who since Heather's death in New York, has become a tyrant with aspirations of ruling the world. It is then that Wild Child enters carrying Nemesis by the hair. She admits that she told Mac everything, and he blames her and all her associates, including Walter, for the death of Heather. As Diamond Lil and box seize Sasquatch, the wall explodes. Standing in the debris are the other members of the All New, All Different Alpha Flight. All having aged somewhat, in the years they were caught in the past, they go to work against Mac's assembled force. Walter pulls Nemesis' sword from a concealed place in his fur, and runs himself through. Arriving just at the point where Alpha Flight had found Yukon Jack after fighting Omega Flight, Sasquatch gains the attention of Shaman. After Shaman uses a spell to stop the battle with Yukon Jack, Sasquatch explains to him the errors he has made, and how the time-line has been damaged. Walter convinces Shaman to use a spell to fix the time-line. Reaching into his medicine pouch Shaman draws out a series of golden coins with the faces of all the original Alpha Flight members on them. He blows on them, and they turn to dust, just as everyone except Sasquatch and Yukon Jack vanish. Suddenly they are both sucked into the medicine pouch, which lay on the ground.
[img=left:93c766bfa4]http://www.alphaflight.net/reviews/af3_12_review_6.jpg[/img:93c766bfa4]The time is now just after the battle with Big Hero 6, and the All New, All different Alpha Flight would seem to have no memory of their time travel. This time when Gardner Monroe approaches Sasquatch, it is not to beg for help, but to present him with Shaman's medicine pouch. He said he was doing it there and then, just has Sasquatch had asked him to do many years ago. Once back in their Plodex headquarters, Walter tips over the pouch, and out falls the coins Shaman had produced. As the coins fall from the pouch, they transform into their respective member of Alpha Flight. They are the members from the past, transported into the present. Enjoying a nice arctic Bar-B-Q, both incarnation of Alpha Flight attempt to understand what has transpired. Both Nemesis and Shaman have memory of the events, as they are both being of magic. Shaman tries to convince Nemesis that she should confess her identity to Centennial, and there is an odd interaction where they speak of the story as if it were in a comic book, and wish for a mini series, or one shot to deal with that issue...As many times before, Puck asks the question "What are we going to do with thirteen members of Alpha Flight"?
In story-book style we learn supposedly what the future hold for Alpha Flight. The original members of Alpha Flight would be to return to active duty. Narya and Yukon Jack would be wed, and together rule his country. Major Mapleleaf and Zuzha Yu were to start a family, and continue on as super heroes. Mar, he is to spend time under the sea with Namor,. After many years of being apart, Centennial and Nemesis would die together. Thunder would form a league of "Super-Pets", and Walter would carry on his tradition of using himself as a ginny-pig for his experiments.
REVIEW:
[img=right:93c766bfa4]http://www.alphaflight.net/reviews/af3_12_review_4.jpg[/img:93c766bfa4]Hmmm, where to start. The fundamentals of this book were great. As was expected, it does indeed seem like Scott Lobdell had to rush through the story wrap up, in order to wrap up the series as well. This really is too bad, as I think it really did make the story arc suffer in the end. I loved this arc, and the twists and turns the alterations in the time line created. When Nemesis was forced to "Kill Herself", it was a neat glimpse into her past to what was most likely the event that triggered her becoming Nemesis. This alteration in time was my favorite, with Aurora back in her yellow costume, and Guardian having lost his control, and becoming very "Von-Doom". I also LOVED the appearance of the time-lost members of the team, with Yuke having an eye patch, and Mapleleaf with the beard, and toting the big guns.
It was at this point that the story began to turn for me a bit, as Lobdell began to wrap the book up. The way Shaman "fixed" the time-line was really forced to me, and I fail to see the logic of how pulling the past members of Alpha Flight into the present would do anything but mess time up more. To me this would all be fixed up quite nicely by having the original Alpha Flight, of this time-line return from space, and return their past versions to when they belong. Since they ARE the past versions of the current time's Alpha Flight, every thing they do, the "now" Alpha Flight would "remember"...if that makes any sense! Therefor, as soon as the past versions came to present time, the present versions would "remember" having done this. Great excuse to drop the Plodex off and come home, sending the past version to the moment the vanished, restore all time to how it was before the All New, All Different alpha Flight tried to make changes.
I did not like the discussion between Nemesis and Shaman, implying that this story was indeed a comic book, I really hate when that kind of thing happens in comics. I was also not fond of much of the story-book look at what is/may be to come for the members.
Clayton Henry's art was stellar as usual. I will really miss pouring over his images every month, getting excited with how many grat gallery pics he gives me for AlphaFlight.net every month.
[img=left:93c766bfa4]http://www.alphaflight.net/reviews/af3_12_review_5.jpg[/img:93c766bfa4]I really think that how this series was tied up was not done well, at least not done to my liking. I have been an advocate of this series from the get-go, and have quite enjoyed it. To me, this series was not Alpha Flight, it was The All New, All Different Alpha Flight, and I was quite willing to take pleasure in the unorthodox approaches and writing of Scott Lobdell. That being said, I did not want this to interfere with the already established characters in any significant way. I've been a fan of them for too long to see their history blatantly tossed away, the way seeing the past versions zipped into the present has left me feeling. No, I was not always a fan of some of the things done to the characters over the years, but it's is done, it is written, and can't be unwritten in my opinion. If you are looking for a version of Alpha Flight that was just as Byrne had left them, go and read those 26 issues over and over, or write an Ultimate Alpha Flight picking up at that point in time. I do think this ending has to be fixed, but not in such a way that throws away everything else that has happened in this series, to me it is now part of the history of Alpha Flight, just as are all the events that transpired in the first two volumes. This series was great, this story arc was awesome, and this issue was really good, but the ending of all three left a bad taste in my mouth. The only consolation for me in this, is that it would be very easy to "fix".
The letters page was nice to see, and I was frankly surprised that Marvel printed some shots at them about lack of promotion for the series. Though their editorial comment at the end says they did their best to make the book work, was a load of Sasquatch dung. They did say some encouraging things for the fans of AF about members appearing in other books, from New X-Men, to Weapon X, to Wolverine. I also liked how they said that some day they would like to give the fans a series we all deserve.
[img]http://www.alphaflight.net/reviews/redleaf.jpghttp://www.alphaflight.net/reviews/redleaf.jpghttp://www.alphaflight.net/reviews/redleaf.jpghttp://www.alphaflight.net/reviews/redleaf.jpghttp://www.alphaflight.net/reviews/redleaf.jpghttp://www.alphaflight.net/reviews/redleaf.jpghttp://www.alphaflight.net/reviews/greyleaf.jpghttp://www.alphaflight.net/reviews/greyleaf.jpghttp://www.alphaflight.net/reviews/greyleaf.jpghttp://www.alphaflight.net/reviews/greyleaf.jpg
P
O
I
L
E
R
S
P
A
C
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http://www.alphaflight.net/reviews/af3_12_review_1.jpg[/img:93c766bfa4]
Writer: Scott Lobdell
Artist: Clayton Henry
Story: "DAYS OF FUTURE PRESENT, PAST PARTICIPLE" PART 4 OF 4)
OVERVIEW:
[img=left:93c766bfa4]http://www.alphaflight.net/reviews/af3_12_review_2.jpg[/img:93c766bfa4]Having found herself under attack by an anti-super hero militant group at the end of last issue, we catch up with Nemesis, having defeated the lot of them. Tired, and beat up, she returns to the Plodex ship the team has been using as a base. In the corner, Walter Langkowski is lost in thought and confusion, while still in mid-Sasquatch form. Nemesis decides to find out what the latest alteration in the time-line has done. Turning on the TV, she learns that after the incident in New York, Alpha Flight and Omega Flight came back to Canada as one team. Over time this united force split, raging a destructive war over Canada. It was then that the militant group called "The Militia For A Super-Hero-Free Canada started, and it was they whom Nemesis battled. Seeing no other choice, Nemesis runs her sword through herself, to go back in time.
In "place between times" Nemesis come upon herself in the past. A large house is on fire in the distance, and her past self is lying in an open, shallow grave. Nemesis comforts her past self for a moments before reaching her desired pace in time. Now in the past, she comes upon Guardian trying to prevent his power-pack from exploding. She finds Heather coming along, just at the time where she would have found Mac, and delayed him in stopping the power pack's explosion. In Nemesis' twisted way, she keeps Heather from distracting Mac, by killing her.
[img=right:93c766bfa4]http://www.alphaflight.net/reviews/af3_12_review_3.jpg[/img:93c766bfa4]Returning to the present, Sasquatch finds himself caught in an explosion. As he shakes it off he finds Nemesis' sword lying the rubble, and realizes she had done something. Just then Aurora, appears, wearing her old yellow costume. She speaks to him in a very strong french accent, telling him that the others are waiting for him. Aurora flies Sasquatch to Ottawa, and the Parliament building. There he sees a statue of Guardian on the lawn. Entering the building he finds Mac, who since Heather's death in New York, has become a tyrant with aspirations of ruling the world. It is then that Wild Child enters carrying Nemesis by the hair. She admits that she told Mac everything, and he blames her and all her associates, including Walter, for the death of Heather. As Diamond Lil and box seize Sasquatch, the wall explodes. Standing in the debris are the other members of the All New, All Different Alpha Flight. All having aged somewhat, in the years they were caught in the past, they go to work against Mac's assembled force. Walter pulls Nemesis' sword from a concealed place in his fur, and runs himself through. Arriving just at the point where Alpha Flight had found Yukon Jack after fighting Omega Flight, Sasquatch gains the attention of Shaman. After Shaman uses a spell to stop the battle with Yukon Jack, Sasquatch explains to him the errors he has made, and how the time-line has been damaged. Walter convinces Shaman to use a spell to fix the time-line. Reaching into his medicine pouch Shaman draws out a series of golden coins with the faces of all the original Alpha Flight members on them. He blows on them, and they turn to dust, just as everyone except Sasquatch and Yukon Jack vanish. Suddenly they are both sucked into the medicine pouch, which lay on the ground.
[img=left:93c766bfa4]http://www.alphaflight.net/reviews/af3_12_review_6.jpg[/img:93c766bfa4]The time is now just after the battle with Big Hero 6, and the All New, All different Alpha Flight would seem to have no memory of their time travel. This time when Gardner Monroe approaches Sasquatch, it is not to beg for help, but to present him with Shaman's medicine pouch. He said he was doing it there and then, just has Sasquatch had asked him to do many years ago. Once back in their Plodex headquarters, Walter tips over the pouch, and out falls the coins Shaman had produced. As the coins fall from the pouch, they transform into their respective member of Alpha Flight. They are the members from the past, transported into the present. Enjoying a nice arctic Bar-B-Q, both incarnation of Alpha Flight attempt to understand what has transpired. Both Nemesis and Shaman have memory of the events, as they are both being of magic. Shaman tries to convince Nemesis that she should confess her identity to Centennial, and there is an odd interaction where they speak of the story as if it were in a comic book, and wish for a mini series, or one shot to deal with that issue...As many times before, Puck asks the question "What are we going to do with thirteen members of Alpha Flight"?
In story-book style we learn supposedly what the future hold for Alpha Flight. The original members of Alpha Flight would be to return to active duty. Narya and Yukon Jack would be wed, and together rule his country. Major Mapleleaf and Zuzha Yu were to start a family, and continue on as super heroes. Mar, he is to spend time under the sea with Namor,. After many years of being apart, Centennial and Nemesis would die together. Thunder would form a league of "Super-Pets", and Walter would carry on his tradition of using himself as a ginny-pig for his experiments.
REVIEW:
[img=right:93c766bfa4]http://www.alphaflight.net/reviews/af3_12_review_4.jpg[/img:93c766bfa4]Hmmm, where to start. The fundamentals of this book were great. As was expected, it does indeed seem like Scott Lobdell had to rush through the story wrap up, in order to wrap up the series as well. This really is too bad, as I think it really did make the story arc suffer in the end. I loved this arc, and the twists and turns the alterations in the time line created. When Nemesis was forced to "Kill Herself", it was a neat glimpse into her past to what was most likely the event that triggered her becoming Nemesis. This alteration in time was my favorite, with Aurora back in her yellow costume, and Guardian having lost his control, and becoming very "Von-Doom". I also LOVED the appearance of the time-lost members of the team, with Yuke having an eye patch, and Mapleleaf with the beard, and toting the big guns.
It was at this point that the story began to turn for me a bit, as Lobdell began to wrap the book up. The way Shaman "fixed" the time-line was really forced to me, and I fail to see the logic of how pulling the past members of Alpha Flight into the present would do anything but mess time up more. To me this would all be fixed up quite nicely by having the original Alpha Flight, of this time-line return from space, and return their past versions to when they belong. Since they ARE the past versions of the current time's Alpha Flight, every thing they do, the "now" Alpha Flight would "remember"...if that makes any sense! Therefor, as soon as the past versions came to present time, the present versions would "remember" having done this. Great excuse to drop the Plodex off and come home, sending the past version to the moment the vanished, restore all time to how it was before the All New, All Different alpha Flight tried to make changes.
I did not like the discussion between Nemesis and Shaman, implying that this story was indeed a comic book, I really hate when that kind of thing happens in comics. I was also not fond of much of the story-book look at what is/may be to come for the members.
Clayton Henry's art was stellar as usual. I will really miss pouring over his images every month, getting excited with how many grat gallery pics he gives me for AlphaFlight.net every month.
[img=left:93c766bfa4]http://www.alphaflight.net/reviews/af3_12_review_5.jpg[/img:93c766bfa4]I really think that how this series was tied up was not done well, at least not done to my liking. I have been an advocate of this series from the get-go, and have quite enjoyed it. To me, this series was not Alpha Flight, it was The All New, All Different Alpha Flight, and I was quite willing to take pleasure in the unorthodox approaches and writing of Scott Lobdell. That being said, I did not want this to interfere with the already established characters in any significant way. I've been a fan of them for too long to see their history blatantly tossed away, the way seeing the past versions zipped into the present has left me feeling. No, I was not always a fan of some of the things done to the characters over the years, but it's is done, it is written, and can't be unwritten in my opinion. If you are looking for a version of Alpha Flight that was just as Byrne had left them, go and read those 26 issues over and over, or write an Ultimate Alpha Flight picking up at that point in time. I do think this ending has to be fixed, but not in such a way that throws away everything else that has happened in this series, to me it is now part of the history of Alpha Flight, just as are all the events that transpired in the first two volumes. This series was great, this story arc was awesome, and this issue was really good, but the ending of all three left a bad taste in my mouth. The only consolation for me in this, is that it would be very easy to "fix".
The letters page was nice to see, and I was frankly surprised that Marvel printed some shots at them about lack of promotion for the series. Though their editorial comment at the end says they did their best to make the book work, was a load of Sasquatch dung. They did say some encouraging things for the fans of AF about members appearing in other books, from New X-Men, to Weapon X, to Wolverine. I also liked how they said that some day they would like to give the fans a series we all deserve.
[img]http://www.alphaflight.net/reviews/redleaf.jpghttp://www.alphaflight.net/reviews/redleaf.jpghttp://www.alphaflight.net/reviews/redleaf.jpghttp://www.alphaflight.net/reviews/redleaf.jpghttp://www.alphaflight.net/reviews/redleaf.jpghttp://www.alphaflight.net/reviews/redleaf.jpghttp://www.alphaflight.net/reviews/greyleaf.jpghttp://www.alphaflight.net/reviews/greyleaf.jpghttp://www.alphaflight.net/reviews/greyleaf.jpghttp://www.alphaflight.net/reviews/greyleaf.jpg