Not so sure about that because Snowbird's father went bonkers after relations with Nelvanna. As much as I dislike the Mantlo era, it would seem plausible that Doug Thompson went bonkers after relations with Narya/Snowbird. I don't like the extent it was taken because Thompson had a snowball's chance of saving his son considering Pestilence crapped on Alpha Flight AND "The Great Beasts".
Once upon a time, they exploded from the pages of The X-Men. For a moment, they were "Canada's answer to The Avengers."
They were ALPHA FLIGHT....
...once upon a time.
I dunno, it's not so much that she has terrible taste - Doug was okay - as they tend to get fridged around her.
I hadn't seen Garry's post when I wrote that.
Maybe he went a little mad at the end - we all go a little mad sometimes, haven't you? - but wasn't he driven so by a series of terrible circumstances?
Richard Eastman would've been different - he went mad because he was always small-minded, because he was taken out of this world for a night that turned into several years, and he had an experience nobody would've believed, AND he was under the direct influence of a mystical artifact, a metal circlet of some kind that held the power of the great villain. I knew he should've thrown it into that mountain!
~ Le Messor
"A consumer is a shopper who is sore about something."
~ Harold Coffin
When you read the old Bryne-era Doug stuff, he comes across as kind of a possessive jerk. I actually love the idea that being with Snowbird made him crazy - it'd be a fun idea for a future writer to explore.
Really, Narya has such a unique life story that I've been surprised more writer don't deep dive into her psychology more. She is a demi-god raised by a foster father who grew to adulthood in what, like 5 years? She is an Inuit who looks like a blonde white lady, is a former RCMP officer, lost her husband and newborn son to an entity accidentally released by her foster-sister. She killed a teammate, then was killed by a teammate, then had her body possessed by the teammate she killed... I mean... that's a LOT of couch time is all I'm saying...
"Fools! Fools! Your puny weapons are useless against me!"
Byrne-era Doug Thompson is a RCMP sergeant who is strongly infatuated and concerned about his mysterious coworker. He turned into an irrational, raving loon in the Mantlo-era...who had open (inexplicable) disdain for Alpha Flight.
The Mantlo-era is not an experience a comic book reader should put himself through: it got rid of original Alpha Flight in the most ludicrous ways. A writer who cared about what he was doing would have written the characters out in a way that the company/another creative team could do something (positive) with them.
That's what the old-school writers would do: new roster, not butchery and killing characters, willy-nilly.
I can never forgive Mantlo for Black Razer.
"Fools! Fools! Your puny weapons are useless against me!"
Neither can I.
I think Mantlo was better at things where he started the continuity from the ground up. For example, he did ROM and MICRONAUTS - both started as fun reads (and oddly, both got very, very, very strange near the end). So I feel like Mantlo came in with the intention - from the start - to remove Alpha Flight and make it his own "Alpha Flight" by introducing his own custom characters (Purple Girl, Pathway, etc).
There are many things he did in Alpha Flight that seemed to contradict what any Alpha Flight fan would want to see in the comics. In the interview with James Hudnall (RIP) that I was fortunate to have with him back in 2017 - he mentioned how the book was in tattered pieces when he took it over and he had to quickly find a way to try and save the book.
Here's the interview Maico and I had with James back in 2017: http://comicreliefpodcast.com/archives/1375
I don't think Mantlo had anything against Alpha Flight, he just wanted to do his own thing, and got AF instead.
Not to mention, he was suffering a terrible burn-out at the time he got the book.
Maybe it's just me, but when somebody INVITES you to his house and let's you play with his toys in his backyard, and you promptly break the host's toys, then take a long and sustained dump in his backyard, and---as the coup de grace---BLOW UP the house (see AF # 53) is very bad form...especially when Bill Mantle declared in the AMAZING HEROES # 75 interview that ' "I feel that John laid the foundation. I'm going to try to build the house." '
This wasn't solely the writer's fault; the comic books are bad and have little-to-no story cohesion/consistency unto themselves. And the entire run STINKS of "MY characters are way better than YOUR characters."
Correction: AMAZING HEROES # 76.
Truth be told, the real reason I'm salty about his run is that Alpha Flight never squared off against Mantlo creation, the Hypno-Hustler.
"Fools! Fools! Your puny weapons are useless against me!"
I'm not defending Mantlo's run, just saying that he wasn't setting out to destroy Byrne's work.
Intention matters, but it doesn't absolve one of a crime. (Though it can change the nature of a crime.)
~ Le Messor
"It is not the employer who pays wages - he only handles the money. It is the product that pays wages."
~ Henry Ford
On my most uncharitable days I blame...
Editorial. I think once 22 pages came in---no need to proofread it , no need to do any quality control--just slap a cover on that puppy, call it "Alpha Flight", and rake in the cash.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote