Do You Think This Would Sell?

[Flightpath07]

Do You Think This Would Sell?


My idea for an Alpha Flight Volume 5…

This will be an Alpha Flight from an alternate universe (well, I guess “in” or “of” an alternate universe would be the correct way to say it).

What is the catch? What would make it sell?

Peter Parker.

Bear with me.

As most of us know, currently Mr. Parker only exists as a lonely voice in the head of Dr. Octopus, who has taken control of Spiderman’s body and is masquerading as a much more brutal incarnation of Spiderman at this time.

So, what if Marvel incorporated this idea into their bringing back of Peter Parker (as we all know that this will happen at some point)…

…When Peter comes back, he “wakes up” in control of his own body again, or so it seems. Only, as he comes to discover, he is actually in the body of a Peter Parker from/in an alternate universe!

He stays mum about it, as he tries to figure out what happened. He is wary of saying too much, as so many things in “his life” are new to him. For instance, the Peter Parker of the universe he now finds himself in, is a Canadian, and a member of Alpha Flight! Maybe his Uncle Ben is still alive (living happily in Toronto with Aunt May), even.

This would be the new series; “Alt. Alpha Flight”.

In the meantime, the regular spider-titles would continue, with the Parker from the alternate universe now in the body of OUR Peter Parker!

“Alt. Alpha Flight” would feature Jamie and Heather Hudson running the show from behind their desks, with Walter Langkowski as their chief scientist (Walter is not Sasquatch here). The “Alt. Alpha Flight” members would be Groundhog, Saint Elmo, Box (Roger Bochs), Flashback, Northstar, Aurora, Spiderman, Snowbird, Wendigo, and their field leader, Wolverine. Shaman is retired but is an advisor when needed. And, to Peter’s surprise, he is happily married to Snowbird and they have twin demi-god (?) children named Gwen and Jonah, and Peter Parker works as a contracted-scientist for Department H when he isn’t super-heroing.

I’m envisioning a Spiderman costume that is basically white, with the front logos all in eye-catching (and clearly Canadian) red.

Yes, I know I didn’t include Puck, but I thought perhaps in this universe he could have become a villain after being possessed by Raazor? Maybe the same could be true of Purple Girl, Smart Alec, Madison and Lionel Jeffries, etcetera, or they could just be heroes who are not part of this Alpha Flight team at this time (sorry, it is impossible to fit everybody’s favourite Alphan onto this team; shucks!)?

What do you all think? Would it sell? Would you buy it?

I am talking (hypothetically) of a monthly series here, although eventually Peter would have to find his way home, but that storyline could play out for years in the meantime!

[Sypes]

I think anything with AF would be fun. My problem with anything that relates to other universes / alternate realities is that I don't care as much as I do about the main universe / reality. I'm read Ultimate Wolverine recently and just kept thinking "This doesn't affect Marvel's universe... blah."

[Le Messor]

I'd buy the first few issues, at least, decide how I felt about it.
I think, though, if Marvel did that series, they'd do a few slight tweaks.
The alternate reality would have to have some major difference to 616... so they'd be evil. That's what the twist would be, we all know it.
Also, they'd tweak it so it was either the Avengers or X-Men (and now Spidey is a mutant). Then I wouldn't care anymore.

I like it your way better. Look at what Marvel have done to your idea!

~ Le Messor
"Kitman's Law: Pure drivel tends to drive away ordinary drivel."

[Mokole]

I do think an alternate reality connection would work with AF. One idea, besides that, I had years ago was that AF (Puck, Guardian, Sasquatch, Feedback, Aurora/Northstar, Box, Diamond Lil) decide to do something no other team of heroes would ever do: rid the world of some things that simply have no reason to exist: Apocalypse's safe houses and the Zodiac Key. They coordinate strikes to destroy Apocalypse's regeneration places and steal the Zodiac Key from SHIELD. This makes them public enemies, and they have to be heroes by operating underground, with both heroes and villains being their enemies.

[rplass]

I like your "Spider-Flight" idea. You'd need a plausible explanation as to how PP got there, and an overall arc where they are all trying to get him back to his real world/real body. Trim down the cast of characters though, too many BTS players. Love the Demi-god twins, but flesh out their powers; they'd already be powered at birth, right?

[Phil]

I'd buy simply out of completism, but I don't think it'd take off or work.

[Flightpath07]

Well, it was just one quick idea out of many that ramble around my head at various phases of the moon.

Trying to come up with a new twist ("new" being relative, that is) that'd get people who have no interest in an Alpha Flight comic, to buy something that at least 'resembles' an Alpha Flight comic, and thereby potentially attracting said new readers to the actual Alpha Flight.

I'm not saying I'm sending the idea to Marvel, nor am i saying I would like to write it.

But i thank you all for your comments.

[Phil]

I think that given the recent cancellation of AoA and X-Treme X-Men alternate reality books really aren't selling well at the moment, and horseshoeing Spider-Man into Alpha Flight wouldn't go down well.

[Le Messor]

Phil's right...
Then again, if we're looking for popular characters to shoehorn in, Wolverine is made for that.

~ Le Messor
"Kin: An affliction of the blood."

[Chris]

I agree with Phil also. Books that are out of continuity or take place in alternate dimensions don't last very long with the exceptions of the original run of Exiles, Spider-Girl, and the Ultimate line. And now the Ultimate line seems to be floundering. Sales on the Ultimates and Ultimate X-men are not healthy these days. They are fast approaching the 20,000 mark.

I like your Spider-Man idea but the closest we'll ever see of that is maybe an issue of Superior Spider-Man Team Up with Alpha Flight.

[Phil]

I wouldn't go as far as to say I was right; it was just my opinion and thoughts. I could be completely wrong and surprised and it could take off.

[Le Messor]

I wouldn't go as far as to say I was right

We would!

[-K-M-]

Sad thing is not many new Marvel books last. X-Factor is ending (had a good long run though), Winter Soldier, Gambit, and Red She Hulk are on their way out apparently (EDIT: Confirmed they are cancelled). Even new books such as Morbius and Fearless Defenders are selling badly and will be axed. I don't think Captain Marvel is doing too either

[Flightpath07]

Sad thing is not many new Marvel books last. X-Factor is ending (had a good long run though), Winter Soldier, Gambit, and Red She Hulk are on their way out apparently (EDIT: Confirmed they are cancelled). Even new books such as Morbius and Fearless Defenders are selling badly and will be axed. I don't think Captain Marvel is doing too either

I'm a big Morbius fan (the character, that is), but could not get into his new series, so to hear that it is doing poorly is sad but not surprising.

Fearless Defenders? Now, THAT surprises me. Other than the last issue, which was a stupid marvel Age-of-Ultron throw-away issue (meaning, it had basically nothing to do with the plot of the series at all), this series has been hitting it out of the park; just goes to show, people want the same old tripe they are used to, and nothing more ("hey! I sure wish there were more books about/featuring Iron-Man, Thor, Captain America, Wolverine, and Spider-Man, don't you?").

[Phil]

Related: http://www.newsarama.com/17959-marvel-now-wave-one-winners-and-losers.html

[Flightpath07]

Well, if "Fearless Defenders" ends up being cancelled at some point due to low sales, I will be down to only one Marvel comic then ("Uncanny Avengers").

In the meantime, DC has all-but-erased my disappointment with their cancelling of "The Ravagers", by quickly hooking me in to their two new teen series, "The Movement" and "The Green Team".

As far as newer stuff goes, I am also getting into "Jirni" from Aspen Comics, and I am eagerly awaiting the debuts of Valiant's "Quantum And Woody" (JUNE) and IDW's "Thunder Agents" (AUGUST) to see if they are any good.

Lots of good stuff happening out there in the comics universe, peoples!

[Le Messor]

Other than the last issue, which was a stupid marvel Age-of-Ultron throw-away issue

Ugh... that reminds me of the Wolverine and the X-Men AoU crossover issue. The worst, most offensively intrusive cross-over issue I've ever read. They literally stoppped the ongoing story for an issue, to print a story that was absolutely unconnected to the current storyline (was even set at a different time, and the only regular character it had was Wolverine himself), and put 'to be continued in Age of Ultron' at the end, and then continue the WX story next issue, just as if it never happened.
Sounds like the same thing happened to Fearless Defenders.


Related: http://www.newsarama.com/17959-marvel-now-wave-one-winners-and-losers.html

It's disappointing that they're changing creative team on Nova; I've been enjoying that.

~ Le Messor
"Knee-jerk liberals and all the certified saints of sanctified humanism are quick to condemn this great and much-maligned Transylvanian statesman."
~ William F. Buckley, Jr., The Wit and Wisdom of Vlad the Impaler

[Phil]

Ugh... that reminds me of the Wolverine and the X-Men AoU crossover issue. The worst, most offensively intrusive cross-over issue I've ever read. They literally stoppped the ongoing story for an issue, to print a story that was absolutely unconnected to the current storyline (was even set at a different time, and the only regular character it had was Wolverine himself), and put 'to be continued in Age of Ultron' at the end, and then continue the WX story next issue, just as if it never happened.
Sounds like the same thing happened to Fearless Defenders.
To be fair they purposely didn't; all the Age Of Ultron tie-ins, including that issue, had the AU suffix so it was an optional extra not included within the series' numbering specifically so as not to interrupt the storyline and flow.
I had to specifically order the Uncanny Avengers AU issue as my LCS wasn't sending it out to people who were just down for Uncanny Avengers.
In that way it's the best cross-over tie-ins Marvel have done.

[Le Messor]

Mine just flowed on, and seemed to be numbered sequentially with the ones around it. If it were a 'one-shot' that was to the side of the series, as you describe, that'd be just fine. They've been doing that with mini-serieses for ages. X-Men: Blood Agenda: Cable and Rocket Raccoon: Dust and Devils: Raw Nerve #1-4, and stuff like that.

Maybe I just mis-read the numbering?

~ LM
"Knowing how things work is the basis for appreciation, and is thus a source of civilized delight."
~ William Safire

[Flightpath07]

And I misspoke. That last Fearless Defenders issue had nothing to do with Age of Ultron. I am obviously thinking of another comic, although now I cannot for the life of me remember which one...

[Jason Eberly]

The premise sounds remarkably like Mutant X, which ran starting in '99(?) for 32 issues, plus a couple annuals. After blowing up in a plane at the end of X-Factor #149, Havok wakes up in an alternate universe version of himself. He is on a team called "The Six" which feature him, Madelyne Pryor (Goblin Queen) who he is married to and has a child with (Scott Summers), Ice-Man (Iceman in permanent ice form), The Fallen (the Angel as a vampire), Storm (also a vampire), and the Beast (with the intelligence of a child). Of course, the entire universe was a darker version of "our" universe, as always seems to be the case in such stories (two things you can count on...alternate universes are darker and every What If? story will end in tragedy [usually the Earth or universe being destroyed if a minor change is made like Spider-Man married Mary Jane on a Tuesday instead of a Wednesday]).

[Jason Eberly]

Mine just flowed on, and seemed to be numbered sequentially with the ones around it. If it were a 'one-shot' that was to the side of the series, as you describe, that'd be just fine. They've been doing that with mini-serieses for ages. X-Men: Blood Agenda: Cable and Rocket Raccoon: Dust and Devils: Raw Nerve #1-4, and stuff like that.

Maybe I just mis-read the numbering?

Probably because numbers flow in the opposite direction in Australia.

[Le Messor]

But not in alternate-Australia, on Opposite Day.

Jason - Yep, I think you're right. (Also, Alpha Flight appeared in a couple of issues of Mutant X.)

~ Le Messor
Buffy: La vache... doit me... touche... de la... jeudi. Was it wrong? Should I use the plural?
Willow: No. But you said, "The cow should touch me from Thursday.
Buffy: Maybe that's what I was feeling.
Willow: And you said it wrong.
Buffy: Oh, je stink."

[Flightpath07]

And I misspoke. That last Fearless Defenders issue had nothing to do with Age of Ultron. I am obviously thinking of another comic, although now I cannot for the life of me remember which one...

Ah, I see the problem!

I misspoke...AGAIN!

It was indeed issue 4 of Fearless Defenders that was the issue I recalled. Actually, the SECOND issue of that series numbered as issue 4...and, no, my LCS (nor I, at the time) never noticed that it was anything but a regular issue. Until, Ugh!, I opened it and read it.

[Phil]

It was numbered Issue 4AU.

[Flightpath07]

Technically, only "4" is a number. And the "AU" is easy to miss at a quick glance.

Trust me, had I known what the interior story was to be, I would have not bought it had i realized it was anything but my regular monthly issue.

[Phil]

Oh yeah, I totally get that, and agree with you for the most part (the Uncanny Avengers one is quite good).

But they were solicited as separate oneshot issues so as not to break up the flow of the actual storyline, so at least Marvel are trying something new...

[Le Messor]

Mine (Wolverine and the X-Men) was 27 au, and came between 26 and 28. Like FP, I'd never have bought it, had I known.
I don't usually even look at the numbers when I pick up my S.O.; I just think 'do I buy this title'? If not, am I looking at somebody else's SO by mistake again? Or did Dee put aside something she thought I'd like again? (That doesn't happen often, but she's usually right.)
When I get home and catalogue it is the first time I see the numbers, so I can check 'Is this next in the series?' ... even then, I missed a couple of letters after the title.

~ Le Messor
"Koin ya no-goto she' (A lifetime goes like an arrow)."

[Phil]

There was/is a normal #27 though.

[Le Messor]

(checks collection)... ... so there is.

[Flightpath07]

There was/is a normal #27 though.

Yup. Just like Fearless Defenders, which had an issue 4, an issue 4AU, and an issue 5.

(Sadly, the AU did not stand for the Australian issue, or I would gladly have mailed my copy off to Le Messor)

[Le Messor]

No, it's only Avengers which had an Australian issue.

~ Le Messor
Lassparri: They threw an apple at me!
Groucho: Well, watermelons are out of season.
~ A Night at the Opera

[Phil]

Uncanny X-Men had a few...

[Le Messor]

So they did!