New Omega News At Last!

Alright! Finally, i have dug around the net (well, mainly i
have just checked out that awesome site, AlphaFlight.net) and
come up with some new news about the upcoming Omega Flight
series.

First, this is taken from an interview with Editor Andy
Schmidt...

...it's not Alpha Flight. That's why it's Omega Flight. It's
got more action and bigger thrills than Alpha Flight has
probably ever had. It's no-holds-barred.
The basic gist is that due to the Civil War and the extreme
crackdown in the superhero community on unregistered heroes,
but also on villains, nobody is being left untouched by Civil
War. You gotta have some of these supervillains go on and get
outta here. Their choices are Mexico, where there's not a
whole lot of stuff to loot, or Canada, which is a lot closer.
So they start crossing the border. Alpha Flight no longer
exists, as anyone who reads New Avengers knows, so Canada has
to start dealing with superpowered villains crossing the
border, tearing up the country. So they form this new team to
essentially just stop bad guys. The country's super-crime
jumps up about 700% and it's time to go get 'em.

[Can you talk about the team?]

Not really. I can talk about two of them. USAgent, who's essentially on-loan from the United States. Then we've got Beta Ray Bill. Nothin' says Canada like Beta Ray Bill.What's funny, is that lined up unintentionally. At the end of the Stormbreaker limited series, starring Beta Ray Bill, he took on a human identity who lived in Canada. That wasn't, at the time, a set up for doing a Canadian superteam book, but it winds up pretty well and there's more to it than that.
It's interesting. I think people will be entertained. If it were me, as a reader, I'd be going into this book like "how the heck does this make any sense if these guys are together," but when all is said and done, I think it will.

Next, this is taken from an article with Omega Flight writer
Michael Avon Oeming...

* Oeming fielded several questions about Omega Flight, the
Alpha Flight spin-off that follows Civil War. "We're changing
the name and we're changing the line-up, while still
respecting the roots of the book," he said.
* Asked about Omega Flight's lineup, Oeming said it will
include U.S. Agent, Arachne, "somebody in the Guardian
outfit," someone who was part of the original Alpha Flight
and another former member.
* Oeming said the first two issues will focus on the previous
Alpha Flight members and the reaction to what happened to the
previous team in New Avengers. "It's not about who's fighting
who, that's the icing," Oeming said. "It's about how the
characters act and interact with each other."
* Oeming said that the origin of Beta Ray Bill is tied to the
origin of Alpha Flight. He also promised a powerful version
of the character.
* Oeming said classic Alpha Flight villains will return,
including the Great Beasts and Master of the World.
* While calling Scott Lobdell's last run on Alpha Flight as
"fun," Oeming said, "It might have done more harm than good."
* Oeming said that he viewed Canada as "the fourth leg in the
table" of United States security and that if the fourth leg
was removed the table could still stand, but not as solidly.
Oeming is starting on the Marvel launch of Omega Flight, the
new Canadian superhero team that will follow in the footsteps
of Alpha Flight.
"The first issue of Omega Flight is written, the outline for the first arc is done, and I've gotten a bunch of art in from Scott Kolins that's just amazing, so I'm really excited about it," Oeming said. "Some of the cast members of Omega Flight are 'outed' at this point. U.S. Agent appeared in the Choosing Sides special that Marvel did where we get to see him going into Canada. We also have Beta Ray Bill. Those are the only ones I can talk about. There is a female character, but at this point, we'll keep her identity secret. And there's somebody in the Guardian outfit."
- Will we find out in the first issue who the "somebody" is?
"No. No, I think it's Issue #3 or so," he said. "Old school Alpha Flight fans will be happy with Issue #1 because it actually concentrates on one of the original cast members and somebody else from Alpha Flight's past. So we want to give it a new launch without baggage, but the first issue is definitely dedicated to the roots of Alpha Flight."
- How did you feel about the rather sudden death of the latest, and now late, Alpha Flight team? Were there any characters you wish you could have used? Any chance you'll be able to bring some of them back?
Oeming: Some will be coming back for sure. I thought it was a good death, despite being "off panel"- I think that’s what’s given it so much power.
- Were you told to use any particular characters on your team or did you choose each of them? Any characters that you wanted to use, but were not allowed to?
Oeming: Yea, it was a juggling act for sure. Marvel’s characters are all tied up doing stuff, it was very hard to get team members.
- Speaking of the line-up...currently we know of Beta Ray Bill, USAgent, Arachne, an original member of Alpha Flight, and another former member. Can you drop any more hints for
us?
Oeming: Talisman is the former member, and Sasquatch is in the book - maybe on the team. Maybe...
- Well, we understand you can't tell us all of the characters...how about telling us about the characters that we already know of? Beta Ray Bill - he's the cosmic horse-head guy, right? How'd he end up in Canada?
Oeming: I planted some roots for this in the STORMBREAKER series, not knowing what i was going to do with it. His human identity has ties to Canada (though that part of the story
was recently cut) but BRB also has some strong ties into the supernatural, just check out his origin.
- USAgent - should we call him CanadAgent now? We saw that he was headed to Canada in search of the Purple Man in Choosing Sides. He was a registered hero in that story.
Oeming: Yea, he's soooo much fun! I love guys like that, horrible people on the outside, but great on the inside. Usually it's the other way around.
- Arachne - Spider-Woman - Julia Carpenter? Recently in Ms. Marvel, shown to be anti-registration.
Oeming: Yep, she has a kid, as a father myself i look forward to writing that.
- Guy in the Guardian suit - he couldn't get on a hockey team?
Oeming: Is hockey with the puck or egg shaped ball?
- Which of these characters are you most excited about using?
Oeming: Talisman. I've had the most fun with her. Or Walter, he's great too, lots to deal with there. Lots of history.
- What character, currently not on the team, would you most like to have on the team some day?
Oeming: Wolverine, so I can be in Marvel's top ten! Just kidding.
- What's the big deal with Omega Flight? Why should we buy this book?
Oeming: It's hopefully good characters that are intriguing. Characters that carry along great action, and we get to see the Marvel U from an outside point of view - What are the American heroes like, how are they perceived by others? I think that's really interesting stuff. Talsiman goes off at Tony Stark at one point, possibly my favourite moment in the book.