The Future of The Flight

[Flightpath07]

The Future of The Flight:


With AF coming back together for the Chaos War: Alpha Flight one-shot, and with Mac and Heather and Shaman and Marina returning from the dead to join with Sasquatch, Snowbird, Northstar and Aurora, plus with Puck showing up and fighting alongside (?) Wolverine in Hell in Wolverine issue 3, this seems like as good a time as any to speak about what the future of Alpha Flight is (or should be).


It has been said before that Alpha Flight is a family. A bit of a dysfunctional one, but a family nonetheless.


Well, a team of costumed freaks does not a family make. A team of costumed freaks is nothing more than “a job”, not a family. The only way to show the family relationships between the members of Alpha Flight, is to spend just as much time showing their lives away from the masks and capes as they do showing them wearing them. I want to see my heroes interact with each other at coffee shops, at golf tournaments, during a night of drinking, at the local shopping mall, and at the beach. I want to see them paying their bills, just as much as I want to see them kicking Stilt-Man’s arse.


I want my heroes to be, first and foremost, people. Because people matter, more than heroes do.


So, what I want to see from the people who are tasked with writing and drawing The Flight do, is to take that into account. Less fights with super-villains, and more real life stuff. I want to know and care about them as people first, and as heroes second.


And I want Alpha Flight’s reaction to the death of Diamond Lil. I want their reaction to the fact that Wolverine never came to pay his respects when they all died. I want their reaction to Sasquatch drinking himself silly after their deaths and then forming a group called OMEGA Flight that included their killer and a couple of American heroes.


I want to know what they think, and what makes them tick. Then, and only then, do I want to see them go and toss around The Master or The Great Beasts.


I want my Alpha Flight back, the way they were intended to be written; As people.

Because, without this, there is no future for Alpha Flight.







Also posted here...http://canadas-own-the-flight.blogspot.com/2010/10/future-of-flight.html

[Phil]

All I know is, having dug out my trades of Vol.3 to take to NYCC this weekend and reading through them in one go, I want the future of Alpha Flight to be nothing at all like Vol.3.
It holds up even more worse than I remember.

[Flightpath07]

Agreed, Phil. Volume 3 would have made a great series - if they hadn't used AF, and had just made up some heroes for it to be about.

As part of the AF franchise, it was abysmal.

[suzene]

All I know is, having dug out my trades of Vol.3 to take to NYCC this weekend and reading through them in one go, I want the future of Alpha Flight to be nothing at all like Vol.3.
It holds up even more worse than I remember.

I admit to being curious as to what were you digging them up for. Planning to present them as a cautionary example to Jim McCann? ;)

[ClawMaraud]

So, kind of like a soap opera, but with a superhero twist?

Byrne was always great at doing this with his characters. I even loved his West Coast Avengers comic. That is saying a lot, because I do NOT like the Avengers as a title at all. Some of the stupidest comic book characters EVER were brought to life in the comic - Ant Man? Wasp? Come on!

Alpha Flight was a stroke of genius. Marvel knew they messed up BIG TIME by giving Byrne the reigns to these characters. He is instilled in them life and soul.

I even made up my own Alpha Flight-like team when I missed the Alpha Flight that was. Too funny! Now that I look at the characters .... they piggyback BIG TIME off of Alpha Flight.

I agree wholeheartedly with flightpath. I want the personal interactions amongst the team to be VERY human.

[Le Messor]

Well, a team of costumed freaks does not a family make. A team of costumed freaks is nothing more than “a job”, not a family. The only way to show the family relationships between the members of Alpha Flight, is to spend just as much time showing their lives away from the masks and capes as they do showing them wearing them. I want to see my heroes interact with each other at coffee shops, at golf tournaments, during a night of drinking, at the local shopping mall, and at the beach. I want to see them paying their bills, just as much as I want to see them kicking Stilt-Man’s arse.
I want my heroes to be, first and foremost, people. Because people matter, more than heroes do.

I've been whingeing a lot about the way X-Men are written lately, precisely because they don't do what you're describing. It makes me not care about them at all. I think of them as just a bunch of soldiers - no, soldiers are also people - machines stuck on some island away from everything that makes them human, thinking they're a different, 'better' species.


I want their reaction to the fact that Wolverine never came to pay his respects when they all died.

To be fair, we don't know that this didn't happen - just that we didn't see it. For example, I never knew his reaction to the death of Guardian - until this year, when I finally read the Kitty Pryde / Wolverine mini.
Given my above comment re: X-Men, I wouldn't expect to see a human reaction anyway, even if it happened.

- Le Messor
Andrew: Hey. We're supposed to use that to sterilize wounds. Mr. Giles said.
Anya: Come on, what does it really matter?
Andrew: Hmm. Good point.
Anya: Giles knows his single malt antiseptics.

[Flightpath07]

having dug out my trades of Vol.3 to take to NYCC this weekend

So...you buried them in your yard?

Hmmm...having read them just a few months back...can't say i blame you.

Really, other than Yukon Jack, there wasn't much I liked about Volume 3 at all.

Kind of like Omega Flight; I liked the first issue. It was all downhill after that.


"So, kind of like a soap opera, but with a superhero twist?"

More or less. I want to see their private lives get equal billing to their super-heroing. Make people care about them as people, and they will be more believeable (and better) heroes for it.

[cmdrkoenig67]

I've been whingeing a lot about the way X-Men are written lately, precisely because they don't do what you're describing. It makes me not care about them at all. I think of them as just a bunch of soldiers - no, soldiers are also people - machines stuck on some island away from everything that makes them human, thinking they're a different, 'better' species.



To be fair, we don't know that this didn't happen - just that we didn't see it. For example, I never knew his reaction to the death of Guardian - until this year, when I finally read the Kitty Pryde / Wolverine mini.
Given my above comment re: X-Men, I wouldn't expect to see a human reaction anyway, even if it happened.
- Le Messor
Andrew: Hey. We're supposed to use that to sterilize wounds. Mr. Giles said.
Anya: Come on, what does it really matter?
Andrew: Hmm. Good point.
Anya: Giles knows his single malt antiseptics.

I would love to see Wolverine (maybe in a short back-up story or something) come to Canada to see Mac and Heather (if they're still alive after Chaos War...I hope, I hope!) and just break down into tears, hugging them and them hugging him....The going for a drink...LOL (maybe that's too emotional, but he did just die himself and went to hell and stuff). I'd just like to see Logan open up and all of them just be...Human.

I agree about X-Men...Most of the books just seem like war stories without any personal growth.....It's all fight! Fight! Fight!...Then waiting to see who's going to die next or who they're going to hunt down and kill next (as in X-Force)...It's just sad.

Dana

[cmdrkoenig67]

So...you buried them in your yard?

Hmmm...having read them just a few months back...can't say i blame you.

Really, other than Yukon Jack, there wasn't much I liked about Volume 3 at all.

Kind of like Omega Flight; I liked the first issue. It was all downhill after that.


"So, kind of like a soap opera, but with a superhero twist?"

More or less. I want to see their private lives get equal billing to their super-heroing. Make people care about them as people, and they will be more believeable (and better) heroes for it.

As much as I hated Volume 3, I was sort of intrigued by Yukon Jack (and his people). In the past, I liked Nemesis, but I hated what Lobdell did to her...ugh! I was indifferent to Puck II and Mapleleaf II. I did like Centennial's personality, but I hated that he was basically another Superman rip-off.

I agree with you FP...About Alpha being more about people, than being about battles and costumes. That's how Byrne did it and I loved it. I really liked his format too, Alpha spread across Canada and coming together in times of need...I know it isn't a popular concept with everyone, but I thought it really made the team unique.

Dana

[Flightpath07]

I agree about X-Men...Most of the books just seem like war stories without any personal growth.....It's all fight! Fight! Fight!...Then waiting to see who's going to die next or who they're going to hunt down and kill next (as in X-Force)...It's just sad.

Without good characters (not just good superheroes with cool powers), you won't hold most people's attention very long.


I was sort of intrigued by Yukon Jack

Really, what's not to like? he is sort of a Thor rip-off, with his attitude and all - sort of what Snowbird could have been like, had she not been told to take on a human identity??? YJ has a lot of potential, and I'd like to see him pop up in some AF stories...even if it has to be as a villain of some sort.

[Legerd]

The Future of The Flight:


With AF coming back together for the Chaos War: Alpha Flight one-shot, and with Mac and Heather and Shaman and Marina returning from the dead to join with Sasquatch, Snowbird, Northstar and Aurora, plus with Puck showing up and fighting alongside (?) Wolverine in Hell in Wolverine issue 3, this seems like as good a time as any to speak about what the future of Alpha Flight is (or should be).


It has been said before that Alpha Flight is a family. A bit of a dysfunctional one, but a family nonetheless.


Well, a team of costumed freaks does not a family make. A team of costumed freaks is nothing more than “a job”, not a family. The only way to show the family relationships between the members of Alpha Flight, is to spend just as much time showing their lives away from the masks and capes as they do showing them wearing them. I want to see my heroes interact with each other at coffee shops, at golf tournaments, during a night of drinking, at the local shopping mall, and at the beach. I want to see them paying their bills, just as much as I want to see them kicking Stilt-Man’s arse.


I want my heroes to be, first and foremost, people. Because people matter, more than heroes do.


So, what I want to see from the people who are tasked with writing and drawing The Flight do, is to take that into account. Less fights with super-villains, and more real life stuff. I want to know and care about them as people first, and as heroes second.


And I want Alpha Flight’s reaction to the death of Diamond Lil. I want their reaction to the fact that Wolverine never came to pay his respects when they all died. I want their reaction to Sasquatch drinking himself silly after their deaths and then forming a group called OMEGA Flight that included their killer and a couple of American heroes.


I want to know what they think, and what makes them tick. Then, and only then, do I want to see them go and toss around The Master or The Great Beasts.


I want my Alpha Flight back, the way they were intended to be written; As people.

Because, without this, there is no future for Alpha Flight.







Also posted here...http://canadas-own-the-flight.blogspot.com/2010/10/future-of-flight.html


I wholeheartedly agree with everything in this post, especially this part:


And I want Alpha Flight’s reaction to the death of Diamond Lil. I want their reaction to the fact that Wolverine never came to pay his respects when they all died. I want their reaction to Sasquatch drinking himself silly after their deaths and then forming a group called OMEGA Flight that included their killer and a couple of American heroes.

I envisioned a scene between Wolverine and Talisman where she confronts him about not showing up at the funerals and shuts him down when he tries to explain why he didn't make it. It ends with her teleporting him out in to the ocean. To be honest, I've done a 180 about Wolverine being involved with an AF reboot. If anything, I think the team would be looked on more favourably by fans if they tell Logan to take it in the wind, they don't need him, as most readers are tired of him showing up in almost every book going.
If Diamond Lil doesn't make it back in Chaos War, then yes, AF should deal with her death and they should definitely go see Jefferies to express their condolences. Both of these situations (Wolverine and Diamond Lil) could be dealt with very nicely as a side story in X-men a few months down the road.
Any ongoing AF title will have to deal with Sasquatch's survivor's guilt, Pointer being put in Mac's suit and Americans being brought in to handle Canadian security and policing.

[cmdrkoenig67]

Yeah...That's something I'd really like to see almost more than a reunion between Alpha and Logan....Mac and Heather flipping out to their Govt (and maybe Walter) about Pointer (basically, their killer) being put into the Guardian suit after their deaths. Maybe Pointer could become an Alpha villain (he certainly was in the past), another possible recruit for an Omega Flight?

Dana

[Le Messor]

Any ongoing AF title will have to deal with Sasquatch's survivor's guilt...

I agree with the rest of your post ('cept I still say Wolverine attending their funeral could be as off-panel as their deaths), but not this bit.
Two reasons:
a) Sasquatch isn't the type to get that, or maybe to let it show if he does.
iv: There's a reason TV Tropes spells 'angst' with a 'w'. Handled well, yeah, it'd work. But it wouldn't be handled well.

- Le Messor
"... it causes me to be short with my family. I can't sleep at night. The other day I stubbed my toe and I took it out on the dog. And two weeks ago I ran out of vanilla ice cream and struck my wife. Then I find out my wife's been dead for six years. Who the hell did I hit?!"
~ Family Guy

[Flightpath07]

Originally Posted by Legerd
Any ongoing AF title will have to deal with Sasquatch's survivor's guilt...I agree with the rest of your post ('cept I still say Wolverine attending their funeral could be as off-panel as their deaths), but not this bit.
Two reasons:
a) Sasquatch isn't the type to get that, or maybe to let it show if he does.

Actually, Sas has already been shown to have that guilt eating him up, in Omega Flight.

[Phil]

I admit to being curious as to what were you digging them up for. Planning to present them as a cautionary example to Jim McCann? ;)

As much as the writing kills me, I do like Henry's artwork.

[Mokole]

Clay Henry does do good art, most definitely.

[Ahab]

As much as the writing kills me, I do like Henry's artwork.I liked it too.
And there were other things about the 3rd series that I liked.
1. The acknowledgment that Flashback was still alive, even if his demise is inevitable someday due to the accident with Delphine Courtney.
2. Mar - who in my mind was one of Marrina's surviving children.
3. The concept of Centennial - a "feeble" old hero that had super strength, though I agree with Dana that as we saw more of his powers, his powerset was becoming too much like a ripoff of Superman
4. The return of Nemesis
5. I liked Yukon Jack's powerset, when we finally saw it, though it tool entirely too long to finally see

So I think there were some nuggets, even though though the series as a whole was pretty much forgettable...

[DaVeO]

I recently read Vol 3 on Marvel Digital just as I was letting my sub run out. Aside:They only have 8 issues of the original up but they put all of vol 3, ugh.
Only new character I liked really was Puck II, but then I'm a sucker for legacies. And while I do feel some of the past Alpha Flight baggage should be dealt with, I think it would be a bad idea to do it right away if a new series or mini series follows the one-shot. Alpha has to attract new as well as old but have the original members there and get to the core of what makes them cool. If pulled off the readers will come.

Unfortunately to be perfectly honest there are a few writers at DC I think would be better suited for this. Geoff Johns, Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Grey come to mind. But we'll see.

[Flightpath07]

Unfortunately to be perfectly honest there are a few writers at DC I think would be better suited for this. Geoff Johns, Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Grey come to mind. But we'll see.

Is that unfortunate because you don't think they'd switch companies? Or unfortunate in that nobody at Marvel comes to mind for you?

[suzene]

Until recently, I'd have put my full support behind Fred Van Lente as the writer for an Alpha Flight mini/ongoing, but now I just worry that he'd wind up treating us to another volley of "BTW, Northstar is gay!" jokes.

[Ahab]

Until recently, I'd have put my full support behind Fred Van Lente as the writer for an Alpha Flight mini/ongoing, but now I just worry that he'd wind up treating us to another volley of "BTW, Northstar is gay!" jokes.

why so? I read so few comics anymore - has he done something to make you tink he would do this?

[suzene]

why so? I read so few comics anymore - has he done something to make you tink he would do this?

This page from Hercules' funeral. (http://northstarfan.tumblr.com/post/1270294254/for-all-that-i-can-fanwank-in-reasons-for) He's done OK by the Flight in his all-ages work, and I rather liked his use of Snowbird in SI, but that was a big misstep for no good reason.

[Le Messor]

I dunno, that wasn't so much a joke at Northstar's expense as acknowledging Herc's past (from the mythology)... and at least he wasn't as smarmy as every. single. one. of the women.

- Le Messor
"High blood pressure sufferers: Simply cut yourself and bleed for a while, thus reducing the pressure in your veins."
~ Top Tips

[suzene]

I dunno, that wasn't so much a joke at Northstar's expense as acknowledging Herc's past (from the mythology)... and at least he wasn't as smarmy as every. single. one. of the women.

I disagree. Herc's past relationship with Hylas had already been given a nod in the series proper and he'd been shown flirting with other male characters previous to this issue, so the fact that Herc was supposed to be bisexual had already been established. If that had been elaborated on, if Northstar had been stepping forward as another one of Herc's past lovers revealing something about the man they'd come to honor -- either about Herc himself or how Herc had impacted his life -- Northstar's presence at the funeral would be justified and I would have considered it a bold and admirable move by Pak and Van Lente. As written, however, it adds nothing to the audience's understanding of Hercules' bisexuality or his personality; like the previous instances, it's something nodded to in passing, but not given nearly the same weight as Herc's female conquests. The only purpose it serves is to shoehorn Northstar into that one panel out of the entire book, once again using him as Marvel's shorthand for queerness, which reduces him from a character that serves a purpose to a punchline.

[cmdrkoenig67]

I'm sure some Hercules fans are steaming over this "new" twist, but he's always been the perfect character to introduce a Bisexual fluidity too. He's already been written that way, thousands of years before comic books were even thought of.

Dana

[Le Messor]

I disagree. Herc's past relationship with Hylas had already been given a nod in the series proper and he'd been shown flirting with other male characters previous to this issue, so the fact that Herc was supposed to be bisexual had already been established...

Okay, I understand your point now.

- LM
"History is made at night. Character is what you are in the dark."
~ Lord John Whorfin

[kozzi24]

lol @ Hercules' Greek Nature

Piling all this back history on any new AF ongoing or mini would in a big way just accent the failures. Better to move forward with good stories, and if those succeed, a fight with Pointer and/or dark X-Men could be treated as a Rogue's gallery fight, one with more at stake story wise

[ClawMaraud]

The Gods (in many pantheon-style belief systems) are also rapists of the nastiest order. That does not mean you need to show distasteful lifestyles in a comic book.
What is the topic here again? Oh yes - Marvel, get with it! You know that Alpha Flight is a great storytelling platform. There is nothing like it in comics. I am hoping this one-shot about the Chaos storyline inspires enough love for these characters to get them going again. I plan on buying this one-shot just to relive some of the memories from decades ago.

[Le Messor]

The Gods (in many pantheon-style belief systems) are also rapists of the nastiest order.

Yeah, I've always wanted to see them portray Thor as if he were a Viking war god. As in, marauding up and down the Scandanavian coast, raping, pillaging, and looting. :twisted:

- Le Messor
Xander: How could you let her go?
Giles: As the soon-to-be-purple area on my jaw will attest, I did not "let" her do anything.

[suzene]

Yeah, I've always wanted to see them portray Thor as if he were a <i>Viking</i> war god. As in, marauding up and down the Scandanavian coast, raping, pillaging, and looting.

Eric Larsen did that with Thor over in Savage Dragon. He was about as appealing a character as you might imagine. His deeds included raping a girl, leaving her pregnant with his child, and, when she returned to her life on Earth after the assault to raise the baby in peace, he tracked her down and killed her for hiding his son from him before kidnapping the child. And the superheroes couldn't lay a finger on him because of his godly power.

So yeah. I'll go with yon noble blondie over a more...erm...accurate depiction in this case.

[Legerd]

Yeah, I've always wanted to see them portray Thor as if he were a Viking war god. As in, marauding up and down the Scandanavian coast, raping, pillaging, and looting. :twisted:
That was Thor, if you go by the real world mythology.

[Alpha Rider]

You make some good points Flightpath07. I'd like to see what Mac and Heather's reaction be, since Logan had the hots for Heather, and he and Mac were like brothers.

[Flightpath07]

You make some good points Flightpath07. I'd like to see what Mac and Heather's reaction be, since Logan had the hots for Heather, and he and Mac were like brothers.

Thanx, AR!