The Superhero Book

[Flightpath07]

Not sure if this is the proper place for this; we'll see.

Purchased The Superhero Book, and Alpha Flight is in it.

Scans and a brief write-up here:

http://canadas-own-the-flight.blogspot.ca/2014/07/i-found-some-alpha-flight.html

[Crackity Jones]

Thanks for that!!!
I bookmarked it.

[Tawmis]

Cool that they got 2 page mention. Bummer that not even one photo was used!

[Flightpath07]

Its a neat book, but with very few photos, and the few that are used are very small.

[Crackity Jones]

What do we have to do to get Alpha more love????
Tell me, and I will do it!
Do I need to tweet some folks?
Tweet-scream at someone?
FB someone?
Start a petition?
March to Canada?
March to Marvel?
Throw things?
Make threats?
Beg?
Buy someone lunch?
Sell my soul?

[Phil]

Convince 100,000 other people to buy the title every month for the rest of their lives.

[Crackity Jones]

Convince 100,000 other people to buy the title every month for the rest of their lives.

What title?
AXM?

[Alphan East]

What do we have to do to get Alpha more love????
Tell me, and I will do it!
Do I need to tweet some folks?
Tweet-scream at someone?
FB someone?
Start a petition?
March to Canada?
March to Marvel?
Throw things?
Make threats?
Beg?
Buy someone lunch?
Sell my soul?

I admire your passion to the Flight. :)

- If you tweeted at least 50,000 people and each of them bought an Alpha Flight issue... Marvel may take notice.
- If you tweet-screamed an additional 50,000 and THEY bought one each also... that would definitely work.
- Facebook John Byrne... get him back on board.
- A petition could work. I started one back in the 80's to save the whales... and they're still here!!! I can't help but feel partly responsible.
- Depends on your starting point. If its the Northern U.S., definitely come join us, the weather's great. If its Brazil, you may not GET here until next March.
- I think its about time for all of us to march on Marvel.
- Yes, throw things. Definitely throw things. Big things... directly at any writer who's ever killed off an Alphan.
- Yes, make threats. Definitely make threats. Big threats... directly at any editor-in-chief who's ever canceled an Alpha Flight series. Except for volume 3... that was more of a mercy killing than a cancellation.
- ... and borrow... and steal.
- I can't make any promises... but I'll take a ham and swiss on rye bread.
- Keep this as a last resort. But if you decide to go for it, do it before you march to Canada... our exchange rate sucks right now.

Hope this helped. :)

[rplass]

I saw that book, well, the first printing at my LCS. If anyone wants a copy, let me know and I'll pick it up.

[Flightpath07]

I gots it off Amazon.com. Fairly cheap. And it'll keep me reading for months, at 463 pages. It doesn't deal with just comic book appearances, it also talks about tv and movie appearances, toys, etc.

[Le Messor]

- A petition could work. I started one back in the 80's to save the whales... and they're still here!!! I can't help but feel partly responsible.
- Facebook John Byrne... get him back on board.
- Yes, throw things. Definitely throw things. Big things... directly at any writer who's ever killed off an Alphan.

You realise that would include John Byrne, right?


I gots it off Amazon.com. Fairly cheap. And it'll keep me reading for months, at 463 pages. It doesn't deal with just comic book appearances, it also talks about tv and movie appearances, toys, etc.

Since it covers different companies, that's probably why there's so few photos - copyright issues.

~ Le Messor
"Save the whales! Collect the whole set."

[Alphan East]

You realise that would include John Byrne, right?

I know... its a vicious circle. :)

[Le Messor]

I know... its a vicious circle. :)

Has Pacman gone made again?

~ Le Messor
Teacher: "There are no dots on your 'i's or 'j's, and no full stops in this assignment."
Student: "I know... I did it on my computer, and my Pacman got loose and ate them all."
~ You Can't Do That On Television (?)

[Crackity Jones]

I admire your passion to the Flight. :)

- If you tweeted at least 50,000 people and each of them bought an Alpha Flight issue... Marvel may take notice.
- If you tweet-screamed an additional 50,000 and THEY bought one each also... that would definitely work.
- Facebook John Byrne... get him back on board.
- A petition could work. I started one back in the 80's to save the whales... and they're still here!!! I can't help but feel partly responsible.
- Depends on your starting point. If its the Northern U.S., definitely come join us, the weather's great. If its Brazil, you may not GET here until next March.
- I think its about time for all of us to march on Marvel.
- Yes, throw things. Definitely throw things. Big things... directly at any writer who's ever killed off an Alphan.
- Yes, make threats. Definitely make threats. Big threats... directly at any editor-in-chief who's ever canceled an Alpha Flight series. Except for volume 3... that was more of a mercy killing than a cancellation.
- ... and borrow... and steal.
- I can't make any promises... but I'll take a ham and swiss on rye bread.
- Keep this as a last resort. But if you decide to go for it, do it before you march to Canada... our exchange rate sucks right now.

Hope this helped. :)

I LOVE ham and swiss on rye. Pumpernickel bread is fantastic as well. OM NOM.

And all your answers? <3

[Crackity Jones]

You realise that would include John Byrne, right?

It always makes me wonder why Byrne fans (including myself!) are okay with the fact that he killed off characters.
Maybe because they were his own? Maybe because when he did it, it wasn't to replace them with craptastic, soulless characters that we were forced into reading/dealing with?
Or maybe it's because when he did it, it was to fit a story, or a story to fit the death? It was done decently when Byrne did it?

I just am not sure.





~ Le Messo
"Save the whales! Collect the whole set."[/QUOTE]

[Phil]

I think it was because he killed one character and that that was his plan from #1.

[Le Messor]

Or maybe it's because when he did it, it was to fit a story, or a story to fit the death? It was done decently when Byrne did it?

I think it's all your answers, but mostly that last one. He did it WELL. And often. Mantlo did it way too much.


I think it was because he killed one character and that that was his plan from #1.

Some people count Walt, too, which would double your count.

~ Le Messor
Guest: "Is Jean Grey here?"
Xavier: "I'm sorry, I'm afraid she's dead."
Guest: "That's okay, I'll wait."

[Crackity Jones]

I count Walter. I was so sad. :(

[Phil]

Hmm.. True.

[Garry/Al-Fan]

It always makes me wonder why Byrne fans (including myself!) are okay with the fact that he killed off characters.
Maybe because they were his own? Maybe because when he did it, it wasn't to replace them with craptastic, soulless characters that we were forced into reading/dealing with?
Or maybe it's because when he did it, it was to fit a story, or a story to fit the death? It was done decently when Byrne did it?

I just am not sure.



I was trying to wait before writing something like "When are the powers-that-be @ MARVEL going to realize that killing Alpha Flight characters isn't funny, anymore...if ever it was?", but the indiscriminate deaths that have happened (and apparently are still happening) make it difficult not to chime in. One writer used his storytelling abilities to tell stories that resulted in death: AF# 12 and AF #s 23 & 24; another writer was allowed to get rid of the originals in ways that really have (little-to-) no plausibility [Shaman & Talisman, AF# 38], direction [Michael and Elizabeth plus Snowbird (and her baby), Roger Bochs, and Puck], or logic [Aurora and Northstar].


What do we have to do to get Alpha more love????
Tell me, and I will do it!
Do I need to tweet some folks?
Tweet-scream at someone?
FB someone?
Start a petition?
March to Canada?
March to Marvel?
Throw things?
Make threats?
Beg?
Buy someone lunch?
Sell my soul?

Please, PLEASE, PU-LEASE don't sell your soul...SPOILERS...
If MARVEL isn't above gutting Talisman*, there really isn't any character from ALPHA FLIGHT that is safe. MARVEL seems intent on continuing to kill off these characters. Why? I don't know. For how long (will they be dead)? I don't know. It doesn't make people happy when they do it, though, yet MARVEL keeps on doing it.

* from behind, which is cowardly to me


I think it was because he killed one character and that that was his plan from #1.

Again, one writer pretty much stuck to what he said he was going to do [as outlined in the interview in AMAZING HEROES # 22], and one writer pretty much reneged on just about everything he said he was going to do [as outlined in AMAZING HEROES # 76 and COMICS FEATURE # 42]. Did Alpha Flight sell better on the newstand after the switch, or did it go direct-sell only? Did Alpha Flight become more of a family-oriented team, or was it ripped apart so that "craptastic" characters could replace the originals?


I count Walter. I was so sad. :(

The difference with Walter's death is the team's immediate determination to save his soul, which was unexpected (for me). And that Walter ends up saving Liz, Jean-Paul, and Jeanne-Marie was also appreciated.

It is difficult to find what redeeming results came out of AF#s 29 through 66; there may be some, but they are few and far between.

[Le Messor]

The difference with Walter's death is the team's immediate determination to save his soul, which was unexpected (for me). And that Walter ends up saving Liz, Jean-Paul, and Jeanne-Marie was also appreciated.

Yes, I may be the one who brought it up, but I DON'T count Walt's death, at least not as Byrne - because he got better IMMEDIATELY. (The issue after.) Oh, he came back as Box - but he came back.

~ Le Messor
"My rule is to be true rather than funny."
~ Bill Cosby

[Crackity Jones]

I count Walter's death. And I WAS sad, but it was done interestingly, and seemingly with heart. And made for a great story, imo.

[Flightpath07]

MARVEL seems intent on continuing to kill off these characters. Why? I don't know. It doesn't make people happy when they do it, though, yet MARVEL keeps on doing it.



No, it seems to make some people happy; some people who work for Marvel.

Considering that Alpha Flight has had a longer run, and been in more comics, than some of the characters that Marvel keep trying to push onto their readers, AF REALLY deserves more respect than some of the people (note I said "some of") who work at Marvel give them. I know I can't be the only one who wonders if some people sit around at the Marvel offices, joking day after day that if any writers need a character to do something horrible to, why not just grab one of those AF characters; nobody cares about the wacky Canadian characters anyways, eh.

[Le Messor]

I know I can't be the only one who wonders if some people sit around at the Marvel offices, joking day after day that if any writers need a character to do something horrible to, why not just grab one of those AF characters; nobody cares about the wacky Canadian characters anyways, eh.

They may joke like that, I don't know, but I imagine you're only half right.
I suspect they think 'We need to kill somebody off to prove it's a real threat. Is Guy Fleegman available? No? Let's see... who doesn't have a book right now?'

Then somebody like Alpha Flight, or Cloak and Dagger, or Power Pack, or whoever gets it.

~ Le Messor
"We've got to get out of here before one of those things eats Guy!"
~ Galaxy Quest

[Garry/Al-Fan]

Skimmed the Yost/Kyle interview. I get Wendigoes are dangerous---deadly, even, but...

A death an issue? Really? Please tell me it isn't so.

[Flightpath07]

Skimmed the Yost/Kyle interview. I get Wendigoes are dangerous---deadly, even, but...

A death an issue? Really? Please tell me it isn't so.

Yeah, i miss the day when heroes saved the day, without having to bump people off. I miss the day when skyscrapers (full of people) didn't have to get trashed in every super-fight. I miss the days when villains didn't detonate themselves and kill children.

I seriously miss those days. i'd rather that was an extreme that we only saw once a decade or so, rather than the norm. At this point, these people stop beign heroes, to me; they're soldiers.

I want comics the way they used to be. :(

[Le Messor]

I seriously miss those days. i'd rather that was an extreme that we only saw once a decade or so, rather than the norm. At this point, these people stop being heroes, to me; they're soldiers.

I miss those days too. But there are some comics about that have such things; New New Warriors seems good that way. Um... uh...
Nightcrawler.

I'm out. (of Marvel.)

~ Le Messor
"Nature abhors a hero. For one thing, he violates the law of conservation of energy. For another, how can it be the survival of the fittest when the fittest keeps putting himself in situations where he is most likely to be creamed?"
~ Solomon Short

[Crackity Jones]

I miss those days too. But there are some comics about that have such things; New New Warriors seems good that way. Um... uh...
Nightcrawler.

I'm out. (of Marvel.)

~ Le Messor
"Nature abhors a hero. For one thing, he violates the law of conservation of energy. For another, how can it be the survival of the fittest when the fittest keeps putting himself in situations where he is most likely to be creamed?"
~ Solomon Short

I find myself feeling like Claremont's Nightcrawler is (so far) lacking...something.
I cannot exactly pin-point what it is, but it's lacking.
It all seems surface to me. There doesn't seem to be any meat to it. Rushed and heartless. Maybe it'll get better once Amanda and Margali are out of it. Though, he IS doing a great job (at least in #3, I haven't read #4 yet) in making them into villains.

At first I thought it was light-hearted and fun. And I haven't read any of Claremont's X-Men other than the ANAD stuff, but Nightcrawler seems...meatless right now.

[Le Messor]

I find myself feeling like Claremont's Nightcrawler is (so far) lacking...something.

I think I know the feeling. Not about this particular comic - besides Claremont, Nauck's art is just cartoonish enough to bring back the good feelings he gave me with Young Justice, but not so cartoony it detracts from this one.

BUT, I've read things that hit every beat of what I keep saying I want to read... and still just don't have 'it'.

~ Le Messor
"He has a certain, as the French say, I don't know what."
~ Dr Evil

[Crackity Jones]

I think I know the feeling. Not about this particular comic - besides Claremont, Nauck's art is just cartoonish enough to bring back the good feelings he gave me with Young Justice, but not so cartoony it detracts from this one.

BUT, I've read things that hit every beat of what I keep saying I want to read... and still just don't have 'it'.

~ Le Messor
"He has a certain, as the French say, I don't know what."
~ Dr Evil

Yesssssssss.
I soooo want this book to be good and to survive. And it's decent enough of a read to keep it in my pull list, but it's barely hanging on.
And I sooooo much love Nightcrawler.

[Flightpath07]

I think I know the feeling. Not about this particular comic - besides Claremont, Nauck's art is just cartoonish enough to bring back the good feelings he gave me with Young Justice, but not so cartoony it detracts from this one.

BUT, I've read things that hit every beat of what I keep saying I want to read... and still just don't have 'it'.

~ Le Messor
"He has a certain, as the French say, I don't know what."
~ Dr Evil

Nauck? As in, Todd Nauck? Man, he was awesome back when he first worked for Image! And, his Wildguard stuff...I absolutely LOVED that stuff!

[Le Messor]

Yep, Todd Nauck.

~ Le Messor
"I don't believe in Todd."
~ Dilbert

[Crackity Jones]

My only issue with Todd Nauck's art so far in Nightcrawler is: His Amanda Sefton looks like one of those Bratz dolls.

[Le Messor]

My only issue with Todd Nauck's art so far in Nightcrawler is: His Amanda Sefton looks like one of those Bratz dolls.

It's probably easier to take if you read Young Justice before Bratz Dolls were a big thing, and you're only peripherally aware of them even now.
Like me.

~ Le Messor
"Modern artists don't know where to draw the line."

[Crackity Jones]

Well, I should clarify, IF I had a complaint about Todd Nauck's art, it would only be with that. But since I don't much care for the character anyway, I think it's kind of funny that she is the only female in the entire book that looks like a Bratz doll.

[Le Messor]

Yes, you've mentioned not caring for her before.

You must feel vindicated... of course, you'd feel moreso if they fixed Heather.

~ Le Messor
"Whenever you read a good book, it's like the author is there in the room, talking to you.
Which is why I don't like to read good books."
~ Jack Handey

[Flightpath07]

So, I just received The Supervillian Book in the mail today. The companion piece to The Superhero Book, The Supervillain Book is 439 pages in length, and is by Gina Misiroglu and Michael Eury. I believe this is a first edition.

I would have expected to see a few Alpha Flight villains in the book, but a scan of the contents page reveals none. Not even The Master of the World or The Great Beasts made it (those looking for the Just Okay Beasts, you are out of luck as well)!

However, in flipping through a few pages, I noted Alpha Flight was mentioned in The Purple Man's article:

"Kara Killgrave, alias The Purple Girl or Persuasion, a character from Alpha Flight, has purple skin and powers similar to Zebediah Killgrave's, and believes him to be her father."

That is all I can find, without actually reading the whole book, cover to cover. And i am still not even halfway through reading The Superhero Book!

[Tawmis]

However, in flipping through a few pages, I noted Alpha Flight was mentioned in The Purple Man's article:
"Kara Killgrave, alias The Purple Girl or Persuasion, a character from Alpha Flight, has purple skin and powers similar to Zebediah Killgrave's, and believes him to be her father."
That is all I can find, without actually reading the whole book, cover to cover. And i am still not even halfway through reading The Superhero Book!

Believes him to be...? Was this not confirmed?

[Flightpath07]

To be fair, the book was published in 2006.

[Le Messor]

(those looking for the Just Okay Beasts, you are out of luck as well)!

Aww, man, those guys never make it in!


Believes him to be...? Was this not confirmed?

It was always her origin, without question before. And that was before 2006.

~ Le Messor
"I'm supposed to respect my elders, but it's getting harder and harder for me to find one now."

[Flightpath07]

Hm...can anyone think, is there ever a time when the Purple Man admitted she was his daughter? It may be a stretch, but without a comic-book paternity test, it is Possible that the two just developed similar powers without being related.

[Phil]

X-Man #34 (http://alphaflight.net/showwiki/X-Man_1995_034), 35 (http://alphaflight.net/showwiki/X-Man_1995_035) & 36 (http://alphaflight.net/showwiki/X-Man_1995_036)

[Le Messor]

I don't think I've ever read a Purple Man story. I mean, sure, there was the one where he came back for Kara - but that was a dream.

I don't know if I have those issues of X-Man.

~ Le Messor
"Joan Crawford has risen from the grave!"
~ Blue Öyster Cult