we should try and save Alpha Flight

[mrdann1205]

hello guys and girls

i realize i am very new to this site, i joined because i love alpha flight, and i love the new one and i love eagleshams art, it is gorgeous and i already told him that, they made AF super badass again AF got me into comics again after 8 years, and if i plan to track down mr eaglesham at a con and make damn sure i get his autograph on the cover of alpha flight

what i DON'T love, is the fact that marvel didn't even give us a chance. for those of you that are old enough to remember the original spider girl run, you should remember what i am talking about. the fans saved the book even for alittle while. if you want something BAD enough when people band together and DO something we can make a difference.

i say instead of giving up we should band together and attempt to save it.

now i realize that it might be fruitless and that i may get shot down by suggesting such a thing. and i don't even know myself if its even worth trying to do this. but even if nothing happens it DOES send a message.

i myself i would have been happy with 8 part series if they would have kept their mouths shut, from the get go, but from the expo vid and the fact they were joking about canceling it back then made me wonder. i honestly don't know WHY they were going on with all the lies and deceit, and the expo art yet too.

why would they go SO FAR for all this hype to just do a 180 and cancel it dead

the only thing that i can really think about doing is probably starting an online petition, if there is enough support i still think we might make them think a little and they very much change their minds, but that is getting my hopes a little to high.

what do you guys think?

D

[swh_comicguy]

I'll sign!

[Sypes]

I totally understand that's it's about money for Marvel, and it makes sense for them. But as I said before, I never bought comics before Alpha Flight, and really do not care much for them in general. Alpha Flight was something I could relate to, and will continue to support in hopes of seeing more mini series once in a while The work that Fred, Greg, Dale and Sonia did is spectacular and am happy we got to share that together! That being said, I'd be game to try to save it

[EccentricSage]

I get that it's got to be about money, too, but that means you should want a diverse and ever expanding target audience. Marvel does the opposite. Marvel looks at the consumers they have, and then try to formulate based on what they like. It's bad business.

And as others pointed out, you can't predict a trend on only four issues. Give the book time to gain more fans who've never read anything Alpha before. Wait for a couple well thought out guest appearances or cross-over stories to get people hooked who haven't been waiting for a new Alpha series like we have. Wait for fan enthusiasm to spread.

And it's largely Marvel's fault that it's so hard to gain new fans. I hate ordering books online based on solicits and recommendations, especially with how much comics cost nowadays. I want to pick it up, leaf through it, and make my decision then and there. That means I'm not even able to get every issue when it comes out every time something interests me. I have to get a ride with a friend to Gram Crackers every so often, and money is tight.

[mrdann1205]

I get that it's got to be about money, too, but that means you should want a diverse and ever expanding target audience. Marvel does the opposite. Marvel looks at the consumers they have, and then try to formulate based on what they like. It's bad business.

And as others pointed out, you can't predict a trend on only four issues. Give the book time to gain more fans who've never read anything Alpha before. Wait for a couple well thought out guest appearances or cross-over stories to get people hooked who haven't been waiting for a new Alpha series like we have. Wait for fan enthusiasm to spread.

And it's largely Marvel's fault that it's so hard to gain new fans. I hate ordering books online based on solicits and recommendations, especially with how much comics cost nowadays. I want to pick it up, leaf through it, and make my decision then and there. That means I'm not even able to get every issue when it comes out every time something interests me. I have to get a ride with a friend to Gram Crackers every so often, and money is tight.

agreed. i mean if they weren't going to even give it a chance... why even bring it back in the first place. i mean i got several of my friends hooked on alpha flight i showed them the books, some CDN some not. one of my friends commented on aurora upside down shooting guns in #1 and i quote "That is f***ing bad ass and i'm not even Canadian!" its little moments like this that i love, you show people something and they like it they will get it. thing is IF we try to save it, we are going to need one HELL of a group of people, and if anyone has ideas i'm all ears only thing i can think of is an online petition

[EccentricSage]

Online petition couldn't hurt, I agree.

[Phil]

I think the problem is, we've got no timescale.

If Marvel had announced it were to end with #12 then we'd have time to change their minds.
With #8 advertised in press as the last issue that means that it's guaranteed, and that Pak & Van Lente have most likely already finished the final script and moved on to other projects.

I don't think we're going to be able to save anything, but rather take in the fact that we've got the great maxi-series we originally thought we were going to get, and most likely another mini further down the line next event. Two months ago we'd have all been happy with that.

[Wolfie]

Hi guys,

A petition wouldn't hurt, but honestly I'm not sure how much it would help. Think about it: you could get 30,000 signatures on there, and if I were a business owner, I'd say: "Well, that's great. But if you love it so much, why aren't you BUYING it?!" What do words represent, really? What we need is for more people to BUY the book!

So here's my question to you: Just HOW MUCH do you care about the book? I think I told you guys what I do in our village, right? I order 30 copies from a comic book store in Montreal, and they give me a nice discount because I'm buying so many. I drive to Montreal to get the books, bring them to my village, and sell them at cover price there. In the end, the small profit pays for my gas. I'm not making money, but I'm not losing any either. What I AM doing, however, is boosting sales a bit and converting new readers into Alpha Flight fans.

Right now my purchases account for 1/1000 of the book's sales. How many of you care enough about this book to do the same? Let's say we can find 100 die-hard AF fans to do the same... all of a sudden, we've boosted AF sales by 3000 copies. If we can boost it even more, ask yourself this: would Marvel cancel a book that's selling 30,000?

Like I said, in the end the whole endeavor doesn't COST me any money. It costs me a bit of time and effort and promo energy, but I'm perfectly willing to put those in.

If you really want to get Marvel's attention and you like this action plan, you can pre-order the last 3 issues right now and even re-order the first 5 if you want to sell the whole series to people.

So that's my two cents on the matter! I'll try to come up with other ideas, but right now that's all I've got.

Wolfie

[Phil]

It's annoying that only US/Canadian sales count towards the total figures.
I'd be interested to find out how many sales are added the rest of the world over.

[Flightpath07]

To be the pessimist here...I'm interested in how many here really trust that Marvel says what they mean and mean what they say, especially when it comes to Alpha Flight.

Hey, don't get me wrong, we got some great issues of Alpha Flight by a fantastic creative team; lots of props, i ain't knocking that at all.

It is the company behind them that i can no longer believe in, and no longer trust.

The outright lies have happened too many times to be 'just a fluke'.

I've been doing this since I joined up here in '07 (and I have been a Flight fan since the mid-80s). Pouring my heart and soul (and hard-earned money) into Alpha Flight. At this point, I just don't want Marvel to ever touch them again. I'd prefer, if they are doing that poorly financially, that they sell off the rights to Alpha Flight to a company that won't lie to the consumers of their products time and time again.

I'll still be around here. Still talkin' Alpha Flight. Still lovin' them. They are, as we all know, some really great characters.

But i am through with trying to convince Marvel of anything, other than to take a flying leap.

Sorry to be so negative. I'm not mad...not anymore. I just have my eyes wide open, and refuse to close them anymore.

[Alpha Rider]

Tell them that you will not buy another Marvel book until AF comes back. But mean it. How many people are here on this site as a member? and if we tell enough people not to buy Marvel...who knows. I for one am tierd of them canning the two books that I buy Alpha Flight and Ghost Rider. AF has been canned 4 times after this series, 5 if you count Omega Flight. Same with Ghost Rider, been canned 5 times as well 3 of them in the last 10 years.

[mrdann1205]

To be the pessimist here...I'm interested in how many here really trust that Marvel says what they mean and mean what they say, especially when it comes to Alpha Flight.

Hey, don't get me wrong, we got some great issues of Alpha Flight by a fantastic creative team; lots of props, i ain't knocking that at all.

It is the company behind them that i can no longer believe in, and no longer trust.

The outright lies have happened too many times to be 'just a fluke'.

I've been doing this since I joined up here in '07 (and I have been a Flight fan since the mid-80s). Pouring my heart and soul (and hard-earned money) into Alpha Flight. At this point, I just don't want Marvel to ever touch them again. I'd prefer, if they are doing that poorly financially, that they sell off the rights to Alpha Flight to a company that won't lie to the consumers of their products time and time again.

I'll still be around here. Still talkin' Alpha Flight. Still lovin' them. They are, as we all know, some really great characters.

But i am through with trying to convince Marvel of anything, other than to take a flying leap.

Sorry to be so negative. I'm not mad...not anymore. I just have my eyes wide open, and refuse to close them anymore.

i was thinking that the other day, i mean but instead of just alpha flight any character that they don't use anymore they just should sell off, to another company, personally if they were going to sell them off, i would much rather see DC get them since they don't seem to know canada exists but that's my 2cents and i also agree with wolfie, i mean a petition is one thing, but we have to act as well if we want to save it, i already have a couple things in the works from my end. oh and i'm also a new reader, i never heard of these guys before until i seen dales cover way back when, and after i seen it i was hooked and i will support it to the end

[EccentricSage]

I love that idea Wolfie, and you are awesome for doing that!

I live paycheck to paycheck, myself, and can hardly afford to buy myself comics, though. If we were having this conversation a good four or five years ago, when I was working the same **** job I have now, but the US dollar was actually worth something, I'd do it. Unfortunately, even if I manage to scrape some money together to buy extra issues, I'm not even sure who I'd re-sell them to, or how. There's not much of a community here, sad to say.

[EccentricSage]

Tell them that you will not buy another Marvel book until AF comes back. But mean it. How many people are here on this site as a member? and if we tell enough people not to buy Marvel...who knows. I for one am tierd of them canning the two books that I buy Alpha Flight and Ghost Rider. AF has been canned 4 times after this series, 5 if you count Omega Flight. Same with Ghost Rider, been canned 5 times as well 3 of them in the last 10 years.

I already don't buy American comics at all anymore, at least not until Alpha Flight was brought back just now. I guess Marvel didn't miss me. Oh, that's right, I'm female, and 'not their target demographic' as some dumb ass on Marvel's forums told me back when I said I'm giving up on Marvel. That was back when I was pissed off over Weapon X and Tieri was boasting about how one issue sold a whole 10,000 copies (like the mature adult he clearly was).

[Le Messor]

one of my friends commented on aurora upside down shooting guns in #1 and i quote "That is f***ing bad ass and i'm not even Canadian!"

Well, that's a problem right there...
There was a strip I read, saying 'Iron Man is a great comic book movie. When will the academy start recognising movies like Iron Man?'
'Maybe when you stop calling it a great comic book movie and start calling it a great movie.'

- Same issue here; why should it matter if your friend is Canadian or not when judging the bad-assitude of a scene? Why is Canadianosity even a factor?

Alpha Flight should be a great comic, not a great comic... for one in Canada.

- Le Messor
Lonestar: "Not bad... for a girl."
Dot Matrix: "Are you kidding? That was good for Rambo!"