Up through issue 28, 'cause I refuse to believe the series went on without Byrne:
Favorite - Guardian. My all-time favorite comic book character ever. AF 11 was my very first superhero comic.
Least - Marrina. She didn't seem to be heroic in any way, just a thorn in the side of the team (and Puck, especially).
More like the gut instead.Originally Posted by Ryan Maxwell
That's... kinda sad, in retrospect.
A little more than a thorn, too...
- Le Messor
"Wherever I climb I am followed by a dog called 'Ego'."
~ Friedrich Nietzsche
LOL! We agree about Manikin.
But for Goblyn, at least SOME effort went into making her an interesting character with a unique origin. I have to give points there, even though I am not a Goblyn fan myself. The uniqueness she presented for origin purposes gets points. As for Wyre, I believe he was created as someone who could provide a threat for Wildchild. (Keep in mind, this is why Alpha Flight was originally created; to provide a threat for the X-Men). Although, Wyre seemed like a cross breed of Wolverine and Cable.
God! I hate Man Kind with a passion.
Oh I mean Manikin. I hate Manikin with such a passion. I hope he trips over his proto-plasmic turd and crack his head open and dies.
Probably politically incorrect, but AF was supposed to be newstand-better...
I thought I was the only one who felt that way. The Mantlo era committed sequential art malpractice, month in and month out. It still amazes me that # 43 is out-of-sequence (Northstar references a kiss by Pestilence that doesn't happen until # 44) and this is just the beginning of the stuff that doesn't make a lick of sense.
Despite being created "just to survive a fight with the X-Men" [no small feat when you think about who was on the team at that time], the (pre-)Bryne era implemented some plausibility and common sense into the stories...something that the Mantlo era did not make a very serious attempt to do.
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.
Favorites are tied: Northstar, Sasquatch, Box (Madison Jefferie)
Least favorites: Centenial (the list goes on... Major Mapleleaf II, Dreamqueen..)
Favorite - The Tandom of Roger Bochs and Madison Jeffries pre-Bochs Death. I love the friendship they built, and I especially loved the concept behind Roger Bochs. Sure, Jeffries' version was more "superhero like" but it was less poetic. If they had kept Bochs alive there could have been some really cool tag-team ideas build where the two could work together.
Least Favorite - Gotta also go with Manikin here. I mean, it was just gross and seemed like his entire purpose or story was all for shock/creepy value. I hated him.
An interesting point would be, depending on the writer, "Purple Girl" was either my least favorite or close to favorite. Some writers played her off well while other made her SUPER annoying.
I just realised I never actually answered.
However, my choices are gonna seem cliché but they're exactly the same as Ben's.
I do have a fondness for Wildchild as well though.
my fave alpha is defiantly Sasquatch , when I was a kid I loved his cocky attitude in that hulk annual and in contest of champions the worst alpha member ever is a tie manikin and manbot
Last edited by weaponAlpha; 07-06-2011 at 01:06 AM.
My favorite used to be Snowbird. She fell into the exotic female category of characters like Storm and Starfire, but over time, that's changed.
I think my alltime favorite Alphan is Marrina Smallwood. Not so much for what was done to her, but for her potential. I loved that the nature versus nurture debate was pretty much personified in her (although I wish nurture had won out), and her being a small-town girl was a really nice touch. That she grew up without any of the angst or self-loathing that one would likely see had the character been created in today's comics climate was another nice touch.
It just seemed like no one really knew what to do with her. Marry her off to Namor. Turn her into a sea-monster, and then kill her (twice).
I would have loved to see her stay the sweet, even-tempered small-town girl. Heh. The literal small fish in a big pond, as it wereAh, well, there's always fanfic for that
Not sure what to make of Marrina 2.0 in the new series quite yet, but I'll wait and see.
Least-favorite? I never read religiously after Byrne left, and didn't read anything after Alpha 1.0, so it's a toughie.
I think maybe Wild Child, because I (admittedly, maybe unfairly, since I assume a lot of work was done with him later in the series) saw him as basically another Wolverine.
Take it and run,
It's funny. I always assumed his name to be a play on "Man and kin" though your reference works too.
Regardless, I still liked the character, in that I liked the young doctor aspect of it.
I think Manbot was worse. He made no sense to me, since I always thought Jeffries was why the armor could mutate.
Stop the Goblyn hate!
I also took it as Manikin as reference to Many Kin. I too preferred him to Manbot
Del
Driftwood: Well, I got about a foot and a half. Now, it says, uh, "The party of the second part shall be known in this contract as the party of the second part."
Fiorello: Well, I don't know about that...
Driftwood: Now what's the matter?
Fiorello: I no like-a the second party, either.
Driftwood: Well, you should've come to the first party. We didn't get home 'til around four in the morning... I was blind for three days!
Oh come on guys! The Manikin hate is such a downer... Ain't no love for Highbrow, Apeman nor Proto!?!?! Well, I've got enough to go around. Those guys are awesome! And Manikin is a play on "Mannequin", a life-sized human form you might see in a department store window.
Think about it, the guy has the ability summon three time-phased versions of himself, one being primitively super strong and agile, the other a high-tech futuristic smarts guy and the third is a giant blob of semi-intelligent jelly who can shoot acid out of his pseudopods! How can you get any better than that??!? He's like 3 superheroes all in one and he can kick butt three different ways!!! I'd love to see him come back. One of my favorites!
I'd take Manikin over any of the (new)Vol.3 characters in a heartbeat.
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