Official Handbook Updates

[Le Messor]

Dana, that... that actually works.

- Le Messor
"If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something."

[rplass]

Northstar sneaks into the VAMPIRE Official Handbook in the background of an illustration in Jubilee's entry, taken from Dustin Weaver's cover of Nation X #2. It's also a darn good handbook, and it includes the recent "Curse of the Mutants" saga.

[rplass]

Keeping this thread up-to-date:

As I mentioned in this post earlier in this thread, Marvel is publishing tpb versions of the hard-cover OHOTMU books, with additional material.
issue #2 of the OHOTMU TPB series came out in Nov 2011 with new info: Gammas Auric and Silver now appear as members of China Force
issue #3 came out in Jan 2011 with new info: in the Demons entry, Neotooq is mentioned as a Great Beast, Deadly Earnest's entry is updated with the new Nemesis info released in issue #1, and Diamond Lil's entry is updated with new info.

Of course they also contain the original content which can be found
here: http://alphaflight.net/showthread.ph...ll=1#post68020
and here: http://alphaflight.net/showthread.ph...ll=1#post68635

Love,
rplass

[rplass]

The OHOTMU TPB #4 came out today and it has the same basic entries as volume 4 of the Hardcover from 2008:

Earthmover - 1/2pg entry - no changes/updates
Flex - 1/2pg entry - no changes/updates
Guardian (Mac) - 3pg entry and appears on the cover - a few changes: first, they fixed the silly error where he was stepping on some of the text at the bottom of the main illustration, and second, they changed his name to James MacDonald Hudson (no "Jr." anymore) and removed his his paternal grandfather's name from the list of relatives; it was 'James MacDonald Hudson, Sr.' but was later revealed to be Frederick Hudson in Wolverine Origins #33. His maternal grandfather is added as just "James".

In the Exiles group entry, alt. Heather Hudson and alt. Sasquatch are in a few pictures and now I notice AoA Wild Child in the Exiles entry as well. (he was in the HC but I didn't mention or notice it four years ago, sue me) - no changes/updates to the Alpha Flight related portion of that entry.

The big news is that Guardian got an update - about 1 full column of new text that describes the Hudson/Wolverine relationships and various relatives (ugh) and a nice summary of the events from the Chaos War resurrection through the end of Alpha Flight v4 #8. It also seems to indicate that the Unity cure had been applied to Heather before she kidnapped Claire, and suggests Vindicator's betrayal was not caused by the Unity process. This part is quite puzzling and I'm not sure what the basis is for this. It's a shame to read a handbook and become more confused instead of less, unless I misread issue #8 of the maxi-series. When I read that, it seemed that Kyle was the only one affected by the un-Unity machine and that Heather flew off with Claire right away.

[Flightpath07]

unless I misread issue #8 of the maxi-series. When I read that, it seemed that Kyle was the only one affected by the un-Unity machine and that Heather flew off with Claire right away.

Nope, you read that correctly.

[Le Messor]

It might've been based on original scripts that we've never seen?

Loki?

- Le Messor
"If out of sight means out of mind, why does absence make the heart grow fonder? If you should look before you leap, why is he who hesitates lost?"
~ Mark T. Shirey

[Loki]

Alpha Flight #8 is unclear if she was infected with Unity or if she was acting of her own volition. The Unity cure wasn't selective - it cured everyone. If Vindicator was infected, she would have been cured. Yet after the cure was released, she still took the baby and fled, still behaving as she had the entire series/not acting cured. That cast doubt on her being infected.

Our text reflects that:

After fiercely battling each other, Guardian and Vindicator confronted the Master, who threatened a captive Claire at the same moment Alpha Flight’s Unity cure was activated. The two defeated the Master and saved Claire, but Vindicator fled the scene with their daughter, casting doubt upon Vindicator’s betrayal being caused by the Unity Process;

[Phil]

I read it as she was definitely infected as she was missing a toe, and as she says in #8 "Why do you think I embraced Unity." implying she choose to be infected of her own free will in order to save her daughter.

She could well have been cured instantly because if the cure was based on Persuasion's pheromone powers then it would have been released and spread into the oxygen curing everyone. This however contradicts the later panel where Hu states there is a cure and shows the police checking people's feet.
Perhaps the pheromones only spread so far and Heather was within that range, and still took off as Claire was her focus, this justifying her volunteering for Unity.

[Le Messor]

She could well have been cured instantly because if the cure was based on Persuasion's pheromone powers then it would have been released and spread into the oxygen curing everyone. This however contradicts the later panel where Hu states there is a cure and shows the police checking people's feet.

Yeah, I was just thinking that.
Then thinking that I was the one who asked for Loki's input, and I should probably support it when it comes.
I never did find a solution.

- Le Messor
"If people from Poland are called "Poles", why aren't people from Holland called "Holes"?"

[Loki]

From the writer of the Guardian update:

Hmmmm...

You are correct - Kyle is individually blasted and the police are inspecting individual people in #8, but based on the cure being pheromone based, one is led to believe that the cure would ultimately be area/airborne (as well as having an individual blast possibility). I don't think it's feasible in any stretch of the imagination to think that any country could systematically check every single citizen of a country (or even just one province or one city) and offer an individual cure to each one. I can't see Van Lente or Pak even suggesting it - that's too far-fetched, even for comics. I think what we're seeing in the scene with the police are spot checks to confirm all is well.

I disagree that Heather left before the treatment could have affected her - the art on that page leads one to believe she *could* have been exposed to the cure. However, she still ran off. Is she under Unity influence? Is she not?

However - you have a good point about Wolverine spotting Heather's missing toe in #7, though.

Perhaps a better way we could have phrased that final sentence is something like:
casting doubt upon whether Vindicator’s actions were completely caused by the Unity Process;

Bottom line really is we won't know until her next appearance. Hopefully that will clear up if all her actions were Unity-based or if she had free will. Personally, I think it's more the latter.

[cmdrkoenig67]

Heather was definitely changed by the Unity process before she kidnapped Claire...She murdered in cold blood, unarmed civilians (her cousin and his wife) to get her baby back. Heather would not have murdered them, when she simply could have just taken her baby and held them back with a force shield.

As for the reasons for her fleeing, she may have been cured of Unity's influence due to her nearness to the active device, but I think perhaps she fled to avoid losing her child again (as the court order still stood), she had killed her daughter's guardians and maybe to also remove Claire from the life of superhero-ing?

Dana

[Flightpath07]

Well, I agree with everyone! Do a get a cookie for that?

Seriously, a good discussion. However, i think I read things much differently than any of you other did...

Taskmaster and Alice Hu talking in the tent in issue 8, in hiding, Alice says "Taskmaster, shouldn't someone turn on Dr langkowski's machine?" and Taskmaster says, "Hudson was pretty darn specific we can't reveal ourselve suntil he gives the signal. Gotta assume he knows what he's doing."

A few pages later, Aurora fights off Unity's brainwashing, without any pheremones or machines to help. (Question - does she have four toes, then, or five? Answer - unknown.)

Although Kyle is shown being hit by beams from the de-Unity machine, he is not 'healed' from The Master's influence until AFTER The Master is blasted by both Guardian and Vindicator.

I guess I took it that the machine Walter built was all a ruse, to draw out The Master so they could defeat him. And it was defeating him that caused people to revert back to their normals selves. Which is why the machine wasn't turned on until after The Master arrived; if it had been turned on earlier, The Master would have seen that the machine didn't work and so would not have bothered to show up.

By the way, when it comes to Heather's now-dead cousins, i have a few issues as well. I am still not convinced that she actually killed anyone at all, and if she did that she was actually responsible for the act. Firstly, her cousins were a shade of purple before she killed them, which would show Purple Girl's influence on the situation. Second, we saw early in the mini that Unity used some of Mac's machines (Virtual Reality machines, i beleive - i don't have that issue in front of me currently) to show those they captured whatever he wanted them to see. Couldn't the whole situation with Heather and her cousins have been set up in the same way?

This is why a mini is so hard. Its abruptness leaves too many plot holes and unanswered questions.

[cmdrkoenig67]

Aurora/Jeanne Marie was never submitted to the full Unity process, FP (so she very probably still has ten toes)...The brain-washing had started but not the rebuilding, as Jean Paul freed her...Jeanne Marie was simply working for them, secured by their promise to rid her of Aurora.

Very good point about the Unity machine...That makes a lot of sense that they needed something to make the Master come out of hiding.

Dana

[Phil]

A little something from FVL on le Twitter:
https://twitter.com/#!/fredvanlente/...39139361898496

In Alpha Flight? No. RT @Wyrdest Have to ask, was Heather cured? Thanks.

Obviously until it's in print it's not canon so the Handbook still overrules it, but it's interesting discussion fodder.

[Le Messor]

There's two ways to take that; is he asking 'Heather in Alpha Flight?' or 'was she cured in the pages of Alpha Flight?'.

I'm thinking it confirms (at least until an actual issue confirms / denies it - sorry, the Handbook has been overruled a few too many times for me to assume it's the final word) that she isn't cured.

- Le Messor
"If the world were logical, men would ride side-saddle."