Quote:
Originally Posted by
Flightpath07
Well, it would be time consuming to go back over old threads and finds quotes from Marvel staff, or find links to articles and interviews where some people say some fairly foolish things about AF
But that doesn't necessarilly equal disdain, AND it's the personal opinion of staff, not the company's stance as a whole.
If it was company mandate to disdain AF then the characters would never be used again; there'd be no guest appearances, no maxi-series, no solictations, no posters, no interviews. They would be completely ignored and effectively erased from continuity.
Everytime there's an AF relaunch the interviews are littered with comments about how much AF is loved by staff and writers and how they constantly get AF pitches and that it's hard to find one that works.
Quote:
In fact, we have had Marvel staff laugh at Alpha Flight, mock them, make fun of them, downplay them, and ridicule both them and their fans, on more than one occasion; hardly a good way to do business.
As they have done to other heroes and teams and books; to me it's not a 'clear disdain for AF'.
As to business; I agree it doesn't help, but they still promoted the heck out of Volume 4 - beyond other books.
Quote:
Just off the top of my head, do we now think that killing them off-panel wasn't disdainful?
I don't personally; no. I don't agree it was a great storyline or great writing (but then again I don't think much of Bendis' work is generally) but it's not a case of them being the first heroes Marvel have ever killed off.
It got people who hadn't cared about AF in years caring about the team again, albeit briefly.
Plus the deaths led to Omega Flight which I enjoyed.
Plus it erased the whole Volume 3/Temporal Copies thing.
Quote:
How about the entirety of Volume 3? I enjoyed a few portions of it, but a few pages out of 12 issues of crap is not much to smile about. Whose idea was it to allow Volume 3 to be put out?
But one man's crap is another man's gold.
There were people out there who loved Volume 3, and people who got into AF purely through it.
It wasn't completely my cup of tea either.
Marvel took a chance on trying something new (which is what a lot of us say they don't try) - they tried a JLI type superheroey-humour book which worked really well for DC. It pretty much failed and they saw that and pulled the plug before it could get any worse.
Quote:
How about Pointer in the Guardian suit? That wasn't full of disrespect and disdain?
Maybe to a Canadian; that's something I can't judge not being one.
Quote:
If Greg and Dale and Fred had been allowed to continue the series and start advertising the upcoming nuptails, say starting in issue 4, run the ads for a few months in every Marvel mag, do massive interviews, are you trying to say that the press wouldn't have been flocking to read the issue of Alpha Flight where the gay hero gets married?
But there weren't a few months worth of ad's in every Marvel mag or massive interviews before the issue this way round.
Why should a wedding in the pages of AF be treated more specially than one in X-Men?
That's bias towards AF.
And yes, I truly believe that even had Fred/Greg/Dale been the new creative team on Astonishing X-men and written the exact same wedding in there that they had planned for AF Vol.4 it would sell more copies labeled as 'X-Men' than as 'Alpha Flight' even with equal advertising and equal interviews. The 'X-Men' is a general public brand name now - like 'Coke' 'McDonalds' etc. Alpha Flight isn't.
Quote:
Especially if done correctly. Hell, Marvel could have had a couple of Avengers and X-Men issues coming out at the same time, dealing with the issue of the wedding, heroes getting ready to go to it, best wishes for the happy couple, all that sort of thing, to further peak interest in the issue.
But that's your definition of 'correctly' and isn't a business-orientated one.
They haven't had Avengers and X-Men issues coming out this way round either, have they?
Quote:
I don't think that it being Alpha Flight, or set in Canada, should have or would have any bearing on the issue it raises.
But the same-sex marriage in New York is a newer thing; fresh as part of the Obama regime and is bigger news.
Quote:
'Northstar, the member of Alpha Flight (who is also a member of the X-Men) getting married to another man', would have gotten just as much airplay and facetime and news stories, if done correctly by Marvel, as 'Northstar the X-Man getting married to another man'.
Again, I don't think it would.
How many non-comics people remember the coming-out of Northstar? That made the news.
Quote:
Unfortunately, like it or not, this isn't a marriage issue, this is a gay marriage issue. The issue is huger than normal, because of the issue it is forcing the public's attention to.
But what baring does the fact that it's a gay marriage have on what title it appears in? I agree; it's a gay marriage issue and it's a huge issue having one.
Quote:
Having it happen in Canada, where Northstar is actually a citizen, would have made FAR more sense. That's my opinion, and I am sticking to it.
Have we had confirmation that Kyle is a Canadian citizen?
Quote:
If Alpha Flight Volume 4 was still going, that'd be a moot point at best.
It's not though, because even in Volume 4, he wasn't a team member of Alpha Flight AND he was still appearing in X-titles as a team member of the X-Men.
But anyway, as I say; all partly my opinion, partly business sense and partly just to give Marvel's opinion because they deserve someone on the site to do so.
