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Report: Alpha Flight #1 Signing at Midtown Comics
On Saturday, June 18th, Midtown Comics hosted a creator event at their Downtown Store at 64 Fulton St. in New York City. Alpha Flight writers Fred Van Lente, Greg Pak and Alpha Flight Editor Mark Paniccia signed copies of the #0.1 and #1 issues for the fans, along with anything else they wanted to get signed! alphaflight.net member rplass was on hand and wrote up a report of the event:
Hey I had fun at the signing. It was FVL, Greg Pak and Mark. I also met Thor [Parker, the Special Events Coordinator at Midtown Comics], who was so very nice and professional as well. He told me that Midtown really went nuts on Alpha Flight, ordering 30x the number of copies they usually would order for a series like that and they were promoting it. I saw stacks at the register (where they do the heavy promoting), plus about 10 copies of the variant cover, plus the Chaos War issue - it was Alpha Flight everywhere in that place! He let me take some photos too. Most of the people there were FVL or Greg Pak fans, or both, because I saw a ton of stuff non-Alpha Flight related, but there were a few hardcore AF fans there too, one guy in particular who was very touching - he said he was an old school fan and would keep his signed copy of Alpha Flight #1 that he got today for his whole life and pass it down to his kids, pretty intense, huh?
Thor told me some interesting news: first, that copies of signed issues of #0.1 and #1 would be available at Midtown Comics stores AND online at midtowncomics.com, and that they would be sold for cover price, so if you couldn't make it to the signing, go pick one up at a store or online! He also said that a Midtown Comics Exclusive Alpha Flight t-shirt was in the works, but something got fouled with the licensing. He showed me a new Cyclops shirt from the same company and said he was expecting an Alpha Flight shirt but it never came. It was supposed to be red, that's all he knew. Keep an eye out for that.
I had the chance to talk to the guys extensively. Here are my personal views: FVL and Greg Pak are really good friends, you could just tell, not just writing partners but really close with each other. We're getting two for the price of, well, we're getting a team effort here. I had the sense that they were both absolutely brilliant. Not just smart, but really very smart, and the same for Mark of course too.
I overheard FVL say "Marinna" (rhymes with vanilla - those of you who heard the podcast thingy know what I'm talking about) and I mentioned that it's pronounced like the place boats are kept - Muh-ree-na. I even told him I read it in a John Byrne piece from 1982 - (the piece I'm talking about is the interview in Amazing Heroes #22), but he stood his ground. He conferred with Greg, who also said it the same way. I politely insisted it was Muh-ree-na but they insisted back it was "Marinna" so I guess the official pronunciation has changed.
I spoke with him quite a bit about Marrina's new personality. I reminded him that Byrne didn't have her around all that much, and she basically left AF right away. He agreed, calling her a "plot device to reach the Master". I noted to him that the 9 issues of his run plus the Chaos War issue would be more issues than John Byrne wrote with her, so he would be writing the majority of the Marrina issues. I asked him how old she was and he said, well she's an alien, so we don't know exactly how she ages, but she's not a teenager anymore. I suggested that Marinna (and here I said it Marinna by accident and he caught me on it which was really funny), I mean Marrina, had no personality and he wasn't really changing her, he was establishing her. He said that her personality is a combination between the "monster" part of her and her youth and added that he needed a young person on the roster. I said, well you have Beta and Gamma Flights, what about those kids. He said they were mutants, and largely depowered, which is a Marvel Editorial thing, and that's that.
I asked him a few questions about John Byrne, one of which was if he had heard any feedback from Byrne on the new Alpha Flight either directly or through the grapevine of the industry, "or do you not care?" and he said that he hadn't heard, and that he wants Byrne to like it, but it's not required. Fair enough. I got the sense that he felt complete ownership over Alpha Flight, without any need to seek approval from anyone about what he was doing, and it was a message delivered with confidence.
I asked Mark if he felt as if he had to be an Alpha Flight trivia buff to be a good editor for this series. He admitted that he wish he were but hadn't read every single Alpha Flight book ever, but what he does is go ask someone if he needs to clarify a detail on something. He said that when he was working on the X-Men Forever series, he would consult the Official Handbooks of the Marvel Universe (OHOTMU) for things, and contact the OHOTMU writers, who have in fact read every single X-Men book. He was gushing about Dale Eaglesham - all three of them were - and that they all felt lucky to have him on. He said that he couldn't believe how many Alpha Flight pitches there were before this series, and I asked him if he remembered one [that had been rejected]. He said that one had Alpha Flight in the role of "world avengers" , saving the whole world, which we both agreed wouldn't be consistent with their Canadian character.
My daughter came over and Greg recorded a video message from her on his phone and sent it to Jeph Loeb about Hulk-Sized Mini-Hulks, and it was super cute.
Greg said he was really happy about alphaflight.net, that there was an organized group of fans out there from day 1 on this project. I suggested he join up with an account but he said he was reluctant to post on message boards. I reminded him this is a creator-friendly site, which he appreciated but I doubt he'll be signing up anytime soon. He also said something I really loved - he said he considers Alpha Flight to be "A-List" characters, and not just because he's on the book! He also gave me a free copy of the GN for his three-issue Vision Machineseries, a completely unrelated comic, which I read on the subway on the way home and it was pretty good stuff, go check it out.
Ok here are some pics of the signing. I'm not a pro photographer but they came out ok.
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Greg signing the variant cover for Alpha Flight #1
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Big stacks of Alpha Flight everywhere
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Greg signing another copy of the variant cover for Alpha Flight #1. Note the FCBD issue in front of FVL
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Fred signing the #0.1 issue and Greg reading an issue he hadn't seen yet
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Mark showed up a little late (he's the guy on the right)
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All 3 guys, that's Thor in the background (wearing a tie)
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You can see in the foreground they had these certificates of authenticity on the table for fans to take.
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After the signing was officially over, they stayed to sign dozens and dozens more for the store inventory so go get your copy while you can!
