Celebrating the hype of The Flight
Allow me to join in the celebrating of the arrival of Volume 4 of Alpha Flight as an ongoing monthly series.
Below are three interviews/articles on the announcement of the ongoing, with many interesting spoilers contained within.
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from: http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=34112
In the Marvel Universe, superteams often enjoy close relationships with their governments, but they're not usually agents of their home country. Canada, though, has a long, proud tradition of government superteams. In the wake of the recent "Chaos War" event, Canada's premier team of costumed heroes, Alpha Flight, reformed.
The original lineup of Alpha Flight -- Guardian, Vindicator, Snowbird, Sasquatch, Puck, Northstar, Aurora and Marina -- put their lives on the line for their country countless times, and some of their number even died protecting their nation. They were later brought back to life by the mystical conditions of the "Chaos War," so the group was furious and terrified to recently discover that their country had turned against them.
Canada's turn against Alpha Flight is being chronicled in the team's current self-titled series by writers Fred Van Lente and Greg Pak and artist Dale Eaglesham. So far the series has showed how new Prime Minster Gary Cody and the members of his Unity Party have exploited the chaos of the current "Fear Itself" event to turn Canada into a draconian police state. Most of Alpha Flight have been declared outlaws. Now, to save their country, they must fight against it. It's going to be a long, epic fight, too. At Saturday's "Pint O' C.B." panel at the Fan Expo Canada Convention in Toronto, Marvel announced that Pak and Van Lente's "Alpha Flight" series had expanded from a miniseries to an ongoing. Comic Book Resources spoke with the writers about their plans for the series.
CBR News: These days we're more likely to hear about an ongoing series being downgraded to a mini than a mini being upgraded to an ongoing. How does it feel to move from an "Alpha Flight" mini to an ongoing?
Greg Pak: It's really great. I think we really need to tip our hats and express our extreme thanks to the fans, because from the beginning we were dropping hints that if fans ordered the book and the numbers were good enough, it could be extended. And the fans really came through. Folks talked it up and preordered with their comic stores.
Fred Van Lente: We blame you, the public! [Laughs]
How long have you guys known that "Alpha Flight" would become an ongoing series? How has that affected the book's current storyline?
Van Lente: We had an inkling of this really before issue #1 came out. So we always had a backup plan. That plan allows us to do even more of what we're currently doing. I'm not sure how I can explain this without being spoilery, but we basically have a more robust second act to the "Unity" storyline, which I'm really excited about.
It's fun to be able to work on a broad canvas like this. We were able to do three years worth of stories on "Incredible Hercules," and now it's great that the first act of our "Alpha Flight" story is going to be at least a full year long. That's really exciting.
Pak: Fred and I have talked about how there is a big transition in writing a genuine team book. With "Hercules" we had a really big cast, which was a blast, but it was really the story of two buddies: Amadeus Cho and Hercules. That's a fairly straightforward thing to focus in and concentrate on. With "Alpha Flight" we've got our big plan where we have fun things going on and revelatory events occurring with different characters in each issue, so everybody gets their moment in the sun. Plus there's this great shared drama that's going on with all of them. Now we've got a little more real estate, and that helps in the sense we've got a little more room to play our various cards and to really give all our characters moments to shine. So that's a big bonus.
So there's room to tell some extra tales that tie directly into what's going on, like perhaps the story of how Puck escaped from Hell?
Van Lente: Exactly. Basically it allows us to have a lot of fun with the outlaw status of this former team of government superheroes. That's the place where they're going to end up very soon, and it's a fun status quo for Alpha Flight, which is sort of typified by the cover of October's issue #5 which has them toting guns, '90s-style. They start robbing banks. We have a bank heist scene coming up that's a lot of fun. It's a very different thing for Alpha Flight and superheroes in general, and we get to maintain that status quo even longer.
It seems like Alpha Flight's outlaw status would be a matter of concern to some of the other major players in the Marvel Universe, like the Avengers or the X-Men. Now that your series is an ongoing one, are you able address how the situation in Canada is affecting the rest of the Marvel U?
Pak: Yeah, we'll get a sense of how the things going on in Canada are being perceived around the world and how it affects the wider Marvel Universe. Also we'll see what happens when the wider Marvel Universe starts to take an interest in all of this.
Van Lente: As many Wolverine fans know, one of his first unrequited love interests was Heather Hudson. So part of the reason Wolverine left Alpha Flight was his feelings for a married woman. Now that Mac [Heather's husband, Guardian, aka James MacDonald Hudson] is apparently a criminal in the eyes of his government, he's going to show up and sniff around. So there may be a renewal of that love triangle because now Heather Hudson, Vindicator, is the official superhero of Canada.
What about heroes from other continents? Will they become involved? It seems like another major government-sponsored superteam, England's MI-13, would be especially interested by what's going on in Canada.
Van Lente: Captain Britain and MI-13 will play a role in this series. There's a little organization that's existed for years in the Marvel Universe, but no one has really paid that much attention to it. It's called the Commonwealth Heroes. We're going to be introducing them in future issues of "Alpha Flight." We'll see how Alpha Flight reacts to being a member of a "super" superteam formed from the superhero teams of all these different countries, and the insanity will get ratcheted up even further.
So far we've talked about your plan for the near future of "Alpha Flight." Let's talk a bit about your current and immediate plans for the series. So far, "Alpha Flight" #0.1 and #1-3 have been released. How would you describe the dynamic of the team going into issue #4?
Van Lente: Northstar definitely seems to not want to be with Alpha Flight, but he's a hero at heart, and that's what I like about Northstar as a character. He is a reluctant hero, to say the least. He joined Alpha Flight in the first place to be closer to his estranged sister and has been trying to get away ever since, but they keep sucking him back in. Of course he also has to find his boyfriend, Kyle, who has fallen into the clutches of Department H, as many of our readers already know. So we have some exciting developments along those fronts, as well.
Even Northstar was happy to see Puck when he ran into him in "Alpha Flight" #2, and now that Puck is back, the Alphans are really starting to gel again as a team. What do you feel he adds to the team?
Pak: Historically he's been the comic relief of the team. This team is fun because we've got a number of quippers including, Marina and Walter [Langkowski, aka Sasquatch]. Every team has a character, though, that embodies a lot of the spirit and ethos of the team, and I think people have thought that way about Puck. He's the bon vivant who readers have really glommed onto. In a lot of ways he's the heart and soul of the vibe that is Alpha Flight. So having him back has been a ton of fun, but these are strange and bizarre circumstances, and Puck is coming from a strange and bizarre place. [Laughs] He spent some time as a lord of hell. So now he's got a whole different take on things, which is sort of very appropriately off kilter and even disturbing. But at the same time it preserves a lot of that lighthearted fun that he always brings. So he definitely brings the right kind of spirit in multiple ways to the team.
In "Alpha Flight" #4, in stores September 14th, you introduce the team to the Canadian government's new official superteam, Alpha Strike, a group lead by Vindicator that's been tasked with taking down the fugitive members of Alpha Flight. Alpha Strike's ranks include Purple Girl, Citadel, Wendigo and Ranark the Ravager. What made you want to include these characters on the team?
Van Lente: I always got a kick out of Purple Girl, a creation of Greg's personal hero, Bill Mantlo, when he was writing the book. So I definitely wanted to use her, but I thought it would be cool to make her badass and more of a villain. I often bemoan the lack of really good female villains.
Citadel is a character I created in "Wolverine: First Class" with Clayton Henry, one of our "Incredible Hercules" collaborators. He's basically the anti-Wolverine. He has an adamantium exo-skeleton and a healing factor, as opposed to an adamantium internal skeleton and a healing factor. He's the big brawler.
I like having Wendigo on Alpha Strike because Wendigo is this big, scary creature, and anyone who would put Wendigo, a cannibalistic unstoppable monster, on a superteam is obviously insane. That just goes to show you the mindset of the people running Department H.
Lastly, this character is close enough to being an original character, but we have Ranark the Ravager, who is one of the earliest Alpha Flight villains from one of their earliest appearances, which was in "Marvel Two-in-One."
Basically we had Dale totally redesign him because he kind of looked like a knockoff of Apache Chief from the "Super Friends" cartoon. So it was a little iffy in terms of political correctness and design. We went to Dale and said, "Ranark the Ravager is an evil shaman. Go!" [Laughs] And this is what he came up with; this wonderful, creepy, Blair Witch-type character who is covered in bones and has rubbed soot in his skin. He's an undead shaman who -- and this is a retcon on our part -- worships the long-time Alpha Flight foes, the Great Beasts of the North. His presence on the team also indicates that the people running the show up in Ottawa are a little crazy, because Ranark's presence in and of itself may break down the barriers between our world and the world of the Great Beasts. That obviously is a very bad thing.
Alpha Strike aren't the only villains playing a role in Alpha Flight's immediate future. In October's issue #5, the team runs afoul of Taskmaster. Fred, what's it like returning to Taskmaster after your recent miniseries with the character? What role does he play?
Van Lente: It was awesome. He's definitely in a support role, but I'm not going to tell you what he's doing, and I'm not even going to tell you if he's on Alpha Flight's side or isn't. What he's actually doing in issue #5 is a fun revelation. You'll also learn that Taskmaster and Puck go way back. As Alpha Flight fans know, Puck is a well-travelled mercenary. So he and Taskmaster have crossed paths before.
Artist Dale Eaglesham seems to have enjoyed drawing some of the more villainous characters of "Alpha Flight," like Taskmaster and Ranark the Ravager. What can readers expect from his work in the months ahead?
Pak: Dale has eaten alive anything that we throw at him. I loved working with him from the minute I first had the chance to on the "Savage Land" arc of "Incredible Hulks." The pages I saw there were tremendous, but Dale is not the type of guy to rest on his laurels. He always pushes himself to do things in different ways and do new, fun things. Really, every time he draws an image there's always something special and surprising coming out.
Van Lente: And we always have him redesigning something. [Laughs]
Pak: [Laughs] Yeah. His Ranark design is amazing. Plus his work just has these fantastic little touches. I think Dale is having a blast with Puck and finding cool ways to show that Puck is just a bit off. He's keeping him really fun, but at the same time the character has this dark glint in his eye that's really great.
Also, I love it when artists give background characters character. Because when those incidental characters in a book feel real, the superheroes feel more real. If you see a person reacting in the background in a stunned way to what a superhero is doing, then what the superhero is doing becomes even more spectacular, and Dale is just having a lot of fun with some of these background characters. So we really appreciate that. It makes the scenes have more impact, and it makes everything just special and fun.
So Dale, like you guys, is on this book for the long haul?
Pak: Oh yeah. Dale has also been a dream to work with because he's so passionate about the book. He's been talking it up and getting out there on the Internet to plug it. It's clear that he really cares about this book and wants it to succeed. The fact that we've been extended is due in large part to the fact that he's been out there hustling it just like everybody else.
Your last major ongoing series, "Incredible Hercules," ran for three years and told a complete story with a beginning, middle and end. Are you guys looking to do something similar with "Alpha Flight?" Now that it's an ongoing, have you started thinking about a larger, overarching story for the book?
Pak: Fred and I talk usually several times a week every week about the immediate thing we're working on. Then once a month we usually sit and have our two-brain summit where we talk in a big way about the future of our books and remind ourselves of what the big themes we're working with are, and where we want to go. We've had several of those about "Alpha Flight," and we'll continue to do that. We have a lot of writing to do just to finish the story that we're working on right now, but we're definitely thinking about where this is all pointing to. Without even discussing it, we've created a new world, a new milieu for these characters which can be infinitely interesting.
With "Incredible Hercules" we realized that we were bringing in all these mythological characters and had reintroduced this Greek-myth milieu for our characters to play around in, and a in a similar way we're starting to build things up for "Alpha Flight." We'll have lots of possibilities to choose from the next time we sit and figure out where things are going to go. There's been a nice ground work that has been set. So we're very grateful to have the extra real estate to spread the story around and expand.
Any final thoughts you would like to share about your work on "Alpha Flight?"
Pak: We want to reiterate that now we're going to start to see how what Alpha Flight is doing affects the rest of the Marvel Universe, and vice versa. That's a nice next step that will have some big impact and be a lot of fun.
Van Lente: Yes, and again the response to the book has been tremendous, and the entire team is incredibly grateful. So thank you.
Pak: Absolutely, especially to all you Canadians who are entrusting a couple of dopey Americans to tell these stories. Thankfully we have Dale and his wife Louise to keep us honest. So we're very grateful to have them on the team helping us to not embarrass ourselves too much when it comes to all things Canadian.
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from: http://marvel.com/news/story/16547/fan_expo_canada_2011_alpha_flight
Marvel has no intention of letting the Great White North exit the spotlight any time soon. Originally set for eight issues, ALPHA FLIGHT, from writers Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente and artist Dale Eaglesham, has made the transition to an ongoing series.
“The main reason a series like this gets the vote to keep on keepin’ on is because of the fans,” Senior Editor Mark Paniccia says, crediting ALPHA FLIGHT devotees. “There are enough readers and fans supporting this that we were able to make the decision to extend it.”
For the writers, the news does not force them to alter their plans so much as allow them more room to explore plot points and themes.
“Our story has remained the same and will hit a massive climax in issue #8,” confirms Pak. “We now have the real estate to spread out some of our characters’ subplots and give them room to really breathe. And we're really opening things up with a big, big idea we've been mulling over with issues #9-12.”
An international perspective will provide one way to grow the story. With Canada’s close physical proximity to the United States and historical connections to the United Kingdom, it only makes sense that the Unity Party machinations would reverberate beyond national borders.
“The situation in Canada goes from bad to worse,” Van Lente forecasts. “This requires intervention from its neighbor to the south, in the form of the Avengers.”
With the Avengers on the way, that guarantees a certain short and short-tempered Canuck will be returning to the land of maple leafs.
“Wolverine,” Pak teases. “Did I say that out loud? Yes, Wolverine.”
Van Lente elaborates: “Wolverine was trained by Alpha Flight and is supposed to lead them. And he still has feelings for Heather Hudson, to all appearances now the villainous Vindicator, so he is definitely going to want to check this out.”
Across the proverbial pond, the British also have their interest piqued via a heretofore unseen network of heroes.
“Alpha Flight finds out they're [part] of a super team they weren't even aware of—the Commonwealth of Heroes,” Van Lente reveals.
Pak continues, “The other nations within the Commonwealth have a strong interest in what goes on within her borders, which may result in some pretty shocking super hero action.”
Artist Dale Eaglesham finds the international perspective thrilling as it gives him a chance to tackle a longtime favorite.
“I’m really psyched that I’ll get to draw Captain Britain,” he enthuses. “I love that character. So this should be fun.”
Pak also gets a chance to capture a personal favorite in the pages of ALPHA FLIGHT.
“Taskmaster shows up in issue #5,” he pledges. “Fred's TASKMASTER [series] from last year was pure genius, so I was thrilled when we came up with a great story reason for the character to play a role ALPHA FLIGHT.”
Going global does not mean that Canada disappears in the shuffle though; the team insists that Canadians, heroic and otherwise, remain at center stage.
“Beginning in issue #4 this oppression of the people might just be how Alpha Flight can win them to their side and [begin] turning the tide against the hidden forces behind Unity,” says Van Lente, “[Citizens are] going to become increasingly aware of it—in fact, by the big events of issues #7-8, they won't have a choice [about choosing sides].”
“Alice Hu, the reporter we met in issue #1, will play a big role as the series progresses,” notes Pak. “And Northstar's non-powered boyfriend Kyle Jinadu is incredibly important.”
All it all, ALPHA FLIGHT will continue to delight its loyal fans to the end of the current storyline and beyond.
“With an eight-issue [limited series], the main focus was seeing the fascist government take control turning our heroes into outlaws and seeing their struggle to survive,” Paniccia says. “Now we can seed a whole new set of awesome subplots and bring in other teams and characters and let the book continue to rock.”
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from: http://www.newsarama.com/comics/pak-van-lente-alpha-flight-110828.html
When Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente launched an eight-issue Alpha Flight maxiseries in June, the hope was that sales would be strong enough that it could be elevated to ongoing status and keep going to #9 and beyond.
On Saturday at Fan Expo in Toronto — as geographically fitting a location as any — Marvel announced that the book would indeed be continuing indefinitely, and Newsarama spoke via telephone with co-writers Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente about the support that's carried the title early in its existence, the seen and unseen contributions of series artist Dale Eaglesham, and what readers can expect in the near future of the book.
And in this case, "the near future" involves appearances from fellow Canadian Wolverine (and the rest of the Avengers), an escalation of the rift between Guardian and Vindicator, and a "Commonwealth of Heroes' involving superheroes from other nations — including MI: 13, a group rarely seen since the end of the acclaimed but short-lived Captain Britian and the MI: 13 series. Read on for more details, straight from Pak and Van Lente.
Newsarama: Fred, Greg, though I'm sure it's probably ultimately more of a scheduling coincidence, it must feel pretty good to be announcing the news that Alpha Flight is now an ongoing at Fan Expo in Toronto.
Fred Van Lente: Well, it's not really a coincidence. [Laughs.] Marvel definitely started talking about this as soon as the sales figures from issue #1 came in, so we've had this in the back of our minds for some time.
Greg Pak: We honestly only got the final confirmation fairly recently, but we knew about the possibility long enough that we were able to start thinking about it, and planning it.
Nrama: Given that the book has achieved enough success to extend it past issue #8, have you been getting feedback not just from people who were familiar with the original Alpha Flight concept, but also readers new to the team that discovered them through this series?
Van Lente: Yes, and we've also gotten the other end of the spectrum, which is also great to hear, people who used to be into comics and have now come back to pick up our new book. That's always gratifying. You always want to have as big a tent as possible, and let as many people in. It's cool to see that when it does happen.
Pak: Absolutely. With a property like Alpha Flight, the last thing we wanted to do was run from Alpha Flight. We love these characters because we love these characters. We didn't want to take the name and do something totally different. The fun was to take those characters and make them relevant again, but be true to the characters and create a book that a new reader could totally jump on board, but would also be a fun thing for folks who are old-time Alpha Flight fans, like Fred said, who maybe have dropped out of reading comics. If you can pull folks like that back in, sometimes you can have a maxiseries turn into an ongoing. [Laughs.]
We're very happy with the way the book has been received. I don't exaggerate when I say that when Alpha Flight got announced, I'd never seen that kind of reaction on Twitter. I think Dale, Fred and I were all just swamped by tons of people who were just really excited to hear that Alpha Flight was coming back. There are a lot of fans out there who really care about these characters, and we've been lucky enough to be able to come on board and play with them — and folks have been awesome to actually buy the book, and preorder it with their retailers.
I can't emphasize this enough: It's totally true, ladies and gentlemen. If you buy it, more books will get made. And preordering makes a huge difference.
Nrama: It sounds almost too simple, but it really is true.
Van Lente: It's the feel-good story of the year.
Nrama: And what you said about not running from Alpha Flight makes sense, because this is definitely the most traditional take on the team of the several relaunches that have been attempted since the original book ended.
Van Lente: Characters we haven't seen for a long time, or have been rethought, or have just not really had a chance to be major players in the Marvel Universe, are back. It's great to see that embraced.
It's also really cool in the context that Greg and I sort of did something new with Incredible Hercules, and that was very successful, and it's cool to go to a different property and have somewhat similar surprising success, but in a totally different venue.
Nrama: So now that the book is being extended into an ongoing, how much does that change your plans? Are some story beats that were going to be wrapped up by issue #8 now getting a little more time to breathe?
Van Lente: It's the same plan, but we're sweating less. [Laughs.] It's very different to go from a book that has two main characters, to a book that has, I think at last count, about 17,000 major characters. All with their own distinct storyline. So it's very cool that everybody's now going to get the room they need to have their stories property laid out. We have this storyline of Jeanne-Marie taking over Aurora's body, and Walt Langowski seemingly can't turn into Sasquatch anymore. And how did Puck get out of Hell? And what really is going on with Heather Hudson? Because there's clearly something very wrong with her, but we don't quite know what it is yet. That is to say, you don't. Greg and I know.
Nrama: That's comforting.
Van Lente: It's very cool, because it lets us tell even more of the story we were going to tell anyway. And there was inklings of this happening even really before the first issue came out, so fortunately Greg and I were able to have this in the back of our minds.
Pak: We're good at working towards different eventualities. If the book had ended as scheduled with issue #8, we were perfectly fine with that. It would have been a great eight-issue maxiseries. But we always have that "B" plan in the back pocket, and it's very fun to be able to shift that into the "A" plan category. There's a way in which what's happening in Canada, as the story progresses, the rest of the Marvel Universe is going to become aware of exactly what's going on and will take an interest. We're going to be able to explore much more deeply how what's happening in Canada affects the Marvel Universe, and how the rest of the Marvel Universe is going to affect our characters. That is an opportunity to really open up the canvas a lot, and having the book turn into an ongoing absolutely with help with that.
Nrama: Right, it sounds like there will be appearances from a few familiar faces from the broader Marvel Universe — including Wolverine?
Pak: Oh yeah. The nice thing about Wolverine is, the joke, "Let's have Wolverine guest," no matter what book you're working on. But it's entirely appropriate with Alpha Flight! It's part of his origin. It's a slow burn that will have a great payoff, and a perfectly appropriate story/character-related payoff.
Nrama: And the Avengers, too?
Van Lente: It's quite possible that the Avengers are going to be interested —once Fear Itself has concluded — in what's going on north of the border, since that is a security situation for the United States, even though I suppose the Avengers are not technically the United States' official superhero team, they do have some kind of pseudo-governmental role.
We may even be pulling in other nationalities of superhero teams, for example, MI:13. It's all part of a large story we like to call "The Commonwealth of Heroes."
Nrama: That team hasn't really been seen much since their book ended, so it must be pretty exciting to get to work with those characters.
Van Lente: Very much so. Greg and I both love the more obscure corners of the Marvel Universe, and MI: 13 was a justly beloved book, and it's really exciting to bring those characters back... into our clutches. [Laughs.]
Nrama: And it seems like that the rift between Guardian and Vindicator isn't going to be resolved anytime soon.
Van Lente: Seems unlikely.
Pak: There are some big confrontations coming. There's a crazy cover coming up that will blow minds.
After the events of issue #4, it's going to be very clear that we're in for a massive conflict. So keep on reading, friends.
Nrama: Artist Dale Eaglesham is on board for the long haul too, right?
Pak: Oh yeah. We're really thrilled. He's integral to the book's success, on multiple levels. Dale and his partner Louise have saved us from our incurable Americanness. We're a couple of Americans writing a book about Canada and Canadian superheroes; Dale and Louise are Canadian, and have provided great checks for us, and tons of great information, and saved us from stupendous embarrassment many times.
Dale has just sunk his heart and soul into this book. You can see it on every page. You can also see it on his Twitter feed and his website. He's always talking about the book, and helping get the word out. That kind of going the extra mile on his part I'm sure is a big reason why the book has done well enough to warrant becoming an ongoing.
Nrama: Fred, Greg, any final words you'd like to share on Alpha Flight becoming an ongoing series?
Van Lente: We just want to say a big "thank you" to all the fans out there who have been picking up the book, and writing in, and supporting it, because this is why good things happen, thanks to you.
Pak: And a big tip of the hat to retailers. Retailers ordered the book in enough quantities for this to happen, so thank you, thank you, thank you.
Below are three interviews/articles on the announcement of the ongoing, with many interesting spoilers contained within.
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from: http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=34112
In the Marvel Universe, superteams often enjoy close relationships with their governments, but they're not usually agents of their home country. Canada, though, has a long, proud tradition of government superteams. In the wake of the recent "Chaos War" event, Canada's premier team of costumed heroes, Alpha Flight, reformed.
The original lineup of Alpha Flight -- Guardian, Vindicator, Snowbird, Sasquatch, Puck, Northstar, Aurora and Marina -- put their lives on the line for their country countless times, and some of their number even died protecting their nation. They were later brought back to life by the mystical conditions of the "Chaos War," so the group was furious and terrified to recently discover that their country had turned against them.
Canada's turn against Alpha Flight is being chronicled in the team's current self-titled series by writers Fred Van Lente and Greg Pak and artist Dale Eaglesham. So far the series has showed how new Prime Minster Gary Cody and the members of his Unity Party have exploited the chaos of the current "Fear Itself" event to turn Canada into a draconian police state. Most of Alpha Flight have been declared outlaws. Now, to save their country, they must fight against it. It's going to be a long, epic fight, too. At Saturday's "Pint O' C.B." panel at the Fan Expo Canada Convention in Toronto, Marvel announced that Pak and Van Lente's "Alpha Flight" series had expanded from a miniseries to an ongoing. Comic Book Resources spoke with the writers about their plans for the series.
CBR News: These days we're more likely to hear about an ongoing series being downgraded to a mini than a mini being upgraded to an ongoing. How does it feel to move from an "Alpha Flight" mini to an ongoing?
Greg Pak: It's really great. I think we really need to tip our hats and express our extreme thanks to the fans, because from the beginning we were dropping hints that if fans ordered the book and the numbers were good enough, it could be extended. And the fans really came through. Folks talked it up and preordered with their comic stores.
Fred Van Lente: We blame you, the public! [Laughs]
How long have you guys known that "Alpha Flight" would become an ongoing series? How has that affected the book's current storyline?
Van Lente: We had an inkling of this really before issue #1 came out. So we always had a backup plan. That plan allows us to do even more of what we're currently doing. I'm not sure how I can explain this without being spoilery, but we basically have a more robust second act to the "Unity" storyline, which I'm really excited about.
It's fun to be able to work on a broad canvas like this. We were able to do three years worth of stories on "Incredible Hercules," and now it's great that the first act of our "Alpha Flight" story is going to be at least a full year long. That's really exciting.
Pak: Fred and I have talked about how there is a big transition in writing a genuine team book. With "Hercules" we had a really big cast, which was a blast, but it was really the story of two buddies: Amadeus Cho and Hercules. That's a fairly straightforward thing to focus in and concentrate on. With "Alpha Flight" we've got our big plan where we have fun things going on and revelatory events occurring with different characters in each issue, so everybody gets their moment in the sun. Plus there's this great shared drama that's going on with all of them. Now we've got a little more real estate, and that helps in the sense we've got a little more room to play our various cards and to really give all our characters moments to shine. So that's a big bonus.
So there's room to tell some extra tales that tie directly into what's going on, like perhaps the story of how Puck escaped from Hell?
Van Lente: Exactly. Basically it allows us to have a lot of fun with the outlaw status of this former team of government superheroes. That's the place where they're going to end up very soon, and it's a fun status quo for Alpha Flight, which is sort of typified by the cover of October's issue #5 which has them toting guns, '90s-style. They start robbing banks. We have a bank heist scene coming up that's a lot of fun. It's a very different thing for Alpha Flight and superheroes in general, and we get to maintain that status quo even longer.
It seems like Alpha Flight's outlaw status would be a matter of concern to some of the other major players in the Marvel Universe, like the Avengers or the X-Men. Now that your series is an ongoing one, are you able address how the situation in Canada is affecting the rest of the Marvel U?
Pak: Yeah, we'll get a sense of how the things going on in Canada are being perceived around the world and how it affects the wider Marvel Universe. Also we'll see what happens when the wider Marvel Universe starts to take an interest in all of this.
Van Lente: As many Wolverine fans know, one of his first unrequited love interests was Heather Hudson. So part of the reason Wolverine left Alpha Flight was his feelings for a married woman. Now that Mac [Heather's husband, Guardian, aka James MacDonald Hudson] is apparently a criminal in the eyes of his government, he's going to show up and sniff around. So there may be a renewal of that love triangle because now Heather Hudson, Vindicator, is the official superhero of Canada.
What about heroes from other continents? Will they become involved? It seems like another major government-sponsored superteam, England's MI-13, would be especially interested by what's going on in Canada.
Van Lente: Captain Britain and MI-13 will play a role in this series. There's a little organization that's existed for years in the Marvel Universe, but no one has really paid that much attention to it. It's called the Commonwealth Heroes. We're going to be introducing them in future issues of "Alpha Flight." We'll see how Alpha Flight reacts to being a member of a "super" superteam formed from the superhero teams of all these different countries, and the insanity will get ratcheted up even further.
So far we've talked about your plan for the near future of "Alpha Flight." Let's talk a bit about your current and immediate plans for the series. So far, "Alpha Flight" #0.1 and #1-3 have been released. How would you describe the dynamic of the team going into issue #4?
Van Lente: Northstar definitely seems to not want to be with Alpha Flight, but he's a hero at heart, and that's what I like about Northstar as a character. He is a reluctant hero, to say the least. He joined Alpha Flight in the first place to be closer to his estranged sister and has been trying to get away ever since, but they keep sucking him back in. Of course he also has to find his boyfriend, Kyle, who has fallen into the clutches of Department H, as many of our readers already know. So we have some exciting developments along those fronts, as well.
Even Northstar was happy to see Puck when he ran into him in "Alpha Flight" #2, and now that Puck is back, the Alphans are really starting to gel again as a team. What do you feel he adds to the team?
Pak: Historically he's been the comic relief of the team. This team is fun because we've got a number of quippers including, Marina and Walter [Langkowski, aka Sasquatch]. Every team has a character, though, that embodies a lot of the spirit and ethos of the team, and I think people have thought that way about Puck. He's the bon vivant who readers have really glommed onto. In a lot of ways he's the heart and soul of the vibe that is Alpha Flight. So having him back has been a ton of fun, but these are strange and bizarre circumstances, and Puck is coming from a strange and bizarre place. [Laughs] He spent some time as a lord of hell. So now he's got a whole different take on things, which is sort of very appropriately off kilter and even disturbing. But at the same time it preserves a lot of that lighthearted fun that he always brings. So he definitely brings the right kind of spirit in multiple ways to the team.
In "Alpha Flight" #4, in stores September 14th, you introduce the team to the Canadian government's new official superteam, Alpha Strike, a group lead by Vindicator that's been tasked with taking down the fugitive members of Alpha Flight. Alpha Strike's ranks include Purple Girl, Citadel, Wendigo and Ranark the Ravager. What made you want to include these characters on the team?
Van Lente: I always got a kick out of Purple Girl, a creation of Greg's personal hero, Bill Mantlo, when he was writing the book. So I definitely wanted to use her, but I thought it would be cool to make her badass and more of a villain. I often bemoan the lack of really good female villains.
Citadel is a character I created in "Wolverine: First Class" with Clayton Henry, one of our "Incredible Hercules" collaborators. He's basically the anti-Wolverine. He has an adamantium exo-skeleton and a healing factor, as opposed to an adamantium internal skeleton and a healing factor. He's the big brawler.
I like having Wendigo on Alpha Strike because Wendigo is this big, scary creature, and anyone who would put Wendigo, a cannibalistic unstoppable monster, on a superteam is obviously insane. That just goes to show you the mindset of the people running Department H.
Lastly, this character is close enough to being an original character, but we have Ranark the Ravager, who is one of the earliest Alpha Flight villains from one of their earliest appearances, which was in "Marvel Two-in-One."
Basically we had Dale totally redesign him because he kind of looked like a knockoff of Apache Chief from the "Super Friends" cartoon. So it was a little iffy in terms of political correctness and design. We went to Dale and said, "Ranark the Ravager is an evil shaman. Go!" [Laughs] And this is what he came up with; this wonderful, creepy, Blair Witch-type character who is covered in bones and has rubbed soot in his skin. He's an undead shaman who -- and this is a retcon on our part -- worships the long-time Alpha Flight foes, the Great Beasts of the North. His presence on the team also indicates that the people running the show up in Ottawa are a little crazy, because Ranark's presence in and of itself may break down the barriers between our world and the world of the Great Beasts. That obviously is a very bad thing.
Alpha Strike aren't the only villains playing a role in Alpha Flight's immediate future. In October's issue #5, the team runs afoul of Taskmaster. Fred, what's it like returning to Taskmaster after your recent miniseries with the character? What role does he play?
Van Lente: It was awesome. He's definitely in a support role, but I'm not going to tell you what he's doing, and I'm not even going to tell you if he's on Alpha Flight's side or isn't. What he's actually doing in issue #5 is a fun revelation. You'll also learn that Taskmaster and Puck go way back. As Alpha Flight fans know, Puck is a well-travelled mercenary. So he and Taskmaster have crossed paths before.
Artist Dale Eaglesham seems to have enjoyed drawing some of the more villainous characters of "Alpha Flight," like Taskmaster and Ranark the Ravager. What can readers expect from his work in the months ahead?
Pak: Dale has eaten alive anything that we throw at him. I loved working with him from the minute I first had the chance to on the "Savage Land" arc of "Incredible Hulks." The pages I saw there were tremendous, but Dale is not the type of guy to rest on his laurels. He always pushes himself to do things in different ways and do new, fun things. Really, every time he draws an image there's always something special and surprising coming out.
Van Lente: And we always have him redesigning something. [Laughs]
Pak: [Laughs] Yeah. His Ranark design is amazing. Plus his work just has these fantastic little touches. I think Dale is having a blast with Puck and finding cool ways to show that Puck is just a bit off. He's keeping him really fun, but at the same time the character has this dark glint in his eye that's really great.
Also, I love it when artists give background characters character. Because when those incidental characters in a book feel real, the superheroes feel more real. If you see a person reacting in the background in a stunned way to what a superhero is doing, then what the superhero is doing becomes even more spectacular, and Dale is just having a lot of fun with some of these background characters. So we really appreciate that. It makes the scenes have more impact, and it makes everything just special and fun.
So Dale, like you guys, is on this book for the long haul?
Pak: Oh yeah. Dale has also been a dream to work with because he's so passionate about the book. He's been talking it up and getting out there on the Internet to plug it. It's clear that he really cares about this book and wants it to succeed. The fact that we've been extended is due in large part to the fact that he's been out there hustling it just like everybody else.
Your last major ongoing series, "Incredible Hercules," ran for three years and told a complete story with a beginning, middle and end. Are you guys looking to do something similar with "Alpha Flight?" Now that it's an ongoing, have you started thinking about a larger, overarching story for the book?
Pak: Fred and I talk usually several times a week every week about the immediate thing we're working on. Then once a month we usually sit and have our two-brain summit where we talk in a big way about the future of our books and remind ourselves of what the big themes we're working with are, and where we want to go. We've had several of those about "Alpha Flight," and we'll continue to do that. We have a lot of writing to do just to finish the story that we're working on right now, but we're definitely thinking about where this is all pointing to. Without even discussing it, we've created a new world, a new milieu for these characters which can be infinitely interesting.
With "Incredible Hercules" we realized that we were bringing in all these mythological characters and had reintroduced this Greek-myth milieu for our characters to play around in, and a in a similar way we're starting to build things up for "Alpha Flight." We'll have lots of possibilities to choose from the next time we sit and figure out where things are going to go. There's been a nice ground work that has been set. So we're very grateful to have the extra real estate to spread the story around and expand.
Any final thoughts you would like to share about your work on "Alpha Flight?"
Pak: We want to reiterate that now we're going to start to see how what Alpha Flight is doing affects the rest of the Marvel Universe, and vice versa. That's a nice next step that will have some big impact and be a lot of fun.
Van Lente: Yes, and again the response to the book has been tremendous, and the entire team is incredibly grateful. So thank you.
Pak: Absolutely, especially to all you Canadians who are entrusting a couple of dopey Americans to tell these stories. Thankfully we have Dale and his wife Louise to keep us honest. So we're very grateful to have them on the team helping us to not embarrass ourselves too much when it comes to all things Canadian.
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from: http://marvel.com/news/story/16547/fan_expo_canada_2011_alpha_flight
Marvel has no intention of letting the Great White North exit the spotlight any time soon. Originally set for eight issues, ALPHA FLIGHT, from writers Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente and artist Dale Eaglesham, has made the transition to an ongoing series.
“The main reason a series like this gets the vote to keep on keepin’ on is because of the fans,” Senior Editor Mark Paniccia says, crediting ALPHA FLIGHT devotees. “There are enough readers and fans supporting this that we were able to make the decision to extend it.”
For the writers, the news does not force them to alter their plans so much as allow them more room to explore plot points and themes.
“Our story has remained the same and will hit a massive climax in issue #8,” confirms Pak. “We now have the real estate to spread out some of our characters’ subplots and give them room to really breathe. And we're really opening things up with a big, big idea we've been mulling over with issues #9-12.”
An international perspective will provide one way to grow the story. With Canada’s close physical proximity to the United States and historical connections to the United Kingdom, it only makes sense that the Unity Party machinations would reverberate beyond national borders.
“The situation in Canada goes from bad to worse,” Van Lente forecasts. “This requires intervention from its neighbor to the south, in the form of the Avengers.”
With the Avengers on the way, that guarantees a certain short and short-tempered Canuck will be returning to the land of maple leafs.
“Wolverine,” Pak teases. “Did I say that out loud? Yes, Wolverine.”
Van Lente elaborates: “Wolverine was trained by Alpha Flight and is supposed to lead them. And he still has feelings for Heather Hudson, to all appearances now the villainous Vindicator, so he is definitely going to want to check this out.”
Across the proverbial pond, the British also have their interest piqued via a heretofore unseen network of heroes.
“Alpha Flight finds out they're [part] of a super team they weren't even aware of—the Commonwealth of Heroes,” Van Lente reveals.
Pak continues, “The other nations within the Commonwealth have a strong interest in what goes on within her borders, which may result in some pretty shocking super hero action.”
Artist Dale Eaglesham finds the international perspective thrilling as it gives him a chance to tackle a longtime favorite.
“I’m really psyched that I’ll get to draw Captain Britain,” he enthuses. “I love that character. So this should be fun.”
Pak also gets a chance to capture a personal favorite in the pages of ALPHA FLIGHT.
“Taskmaster shows up in issue #5,” he pledges. “Fred's TASKMASTER [series] from last year was pure genius, so I was thrilled when we came up with a great story reason for the character to play a role ALPHA FLIGHT.”
Going global does not mean that Canada disappears in the shuffle though; the team insists that Canadians, heroic and otherwise, remain at center stage.
“Beginning in issue #4 this oppression of the people might just be how Alpha Flight can win them to their side and [begin] turning the tide against the hidden forces behind Unity,” says Van Lente, “[Citizens are] going to become increasingly aware of it—in fact, by the big events of issues #7-8, they won't have a choice [about choosing sides].”
“Alice Hu, the reporter we met in issue #1, will play a big role as the series progresses,” notes Pak. “And Northstar's non-powered boyfriend Kyle Jinadu is incredibly important.”
All it all, ALPHA FLIGHT will continue to delight its loyal fans to the end of the current storyline and beyond.
“With an eight-issue [limited series], the main focus was seeing the fascist government take control turning our heroes into outlaws and seeing their struggle to survive,” Paniccia says. “Now we can seed a whole new set of awesome subplots and bring in other teams and characters and let the book continue to rock.”
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from: http://www.newsarama.com/comics/pak-van-lente-alpha-flight-110828.html
When Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente launched an eight-issue Alpha Flight maxiseries in June, the hope was that sales would be strong enough that it could be elevated to ongoing status and keep going to #9 and beyond.
On Saturday at Fan Expo in Toronto — as geographically fitting a location as any — Marvel announced that the book would indeed be continuing indefinitely, and Newsarama spoke via telephone with co-writers Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente about the support that's carried the title early in its existence, the seen and unseen contributions of series artist Dale Eaglesham, and what readers can expect in the near future of the book.
And in this case, "the near future" involves appearances from fellow Canadian Wolverine (and the rest of the Avengers), an escalation of the rift between Guardian and Vindicator, and a "Commonwealth of Heroes' involving superheroes from other nations — including MI: 13, a group rarely seen since the end of the acclaimed but short-lived Captain Britian and the MI: 13 series. Read on for more details, straight from Pak and Van Lente.
Newsarama: Fred, Greg, though I'm sure it's probably ultimately more of a scheduling coincidence, it must feel pretty good to be announcing the news that Alpha Flight is now an ongoing at Fan Expo in Toronto.
Fred Van Lente: Well, it's not really a coincidence. [Laughs.] Marvel definitely started talking about this as soon as the sales figures from issue #1 came in, so we've had this in the back of our minds for some time.
Greg Pak: We honestly only got the final confirmation fairly recently, but we knew about the possibility long enough that we were able to start thinking about it, and planning it.
Nrama: Given that the book has achieved enough success to extend it past issue #8, have you been getting feedback not just from people who were familiar with the original Alpha Flight concept, but also readers new to the team that discovered them through this series?
Van Lente: Yes, and we've also gotten the other end of the spectrum, which is also great to hear, people who used to be into comics and have now come back to pick up our new book. That's always gratifying. You always want to have as big a tent as possible, and let as many people in. It's cool to see that when it does happen.
Pak: Absolutely. With a property like Alpha Flight, the last thing we wanted to do was run from Alpha Flight. We love these characters because we love these characters. We didn't want to take the name and do something totally different. The fun was to take those characters and make them relevant again, but be true to the characters and create a book that a new reader could totally jump on board, but would also be a fun thing for folks who are old-time Alpha Flight fans, like Fred said, who maybe have dropped out of reading comics. If you can pull folks like that back in, sometimes you can have a maxiseries turn into an ongoing. [Laughs.]
We're very happy with the way the book has been received. I don't exaggerate when I say that when Alpha Flight got announced, I'd never seen that kind of reaction on Twitter. I think Dale, Fred and I were all just swamped by tons of people who were just really excited to hear that Alpha Flight was coming back. There are a lot of fans out there who really care about these characters, and we've been lucky enough to be able to come on board and play with them — and folks have been awesome to actually buy the book, and preorder it with their retailers.
I can't emphasize this enough: It's totally true, ladies and gentlemen. If you buy it, more books will get made. And preordering makes a huge difference.
Nrama: It sounds almost too simple, but it really is true.
Van Lente: It's the feel-good story of the year.
Nrama: And what you said about not running from Alpha Flight makes sense, because this is definitely the most traditional take on the team of the several relaunches that have been attempted since the original book ended.
Van Lente: Characters we haven't seen for a long time, or have been rethought, or have just not really had a chance to be major players in the Marvel Universe, are back. It's great to see that embraced.
It's also really cool in the context that Greg and I sort of did something new with Incredible Hercules, and that was very successful, and it's cool to go to a different property and have somewhat similar surprising success, but in a totally different venue.
Nrama: So now that the book is being extended into an ongoing, how much does that change your plans? Are some story beats that were going to be wrapped up by issue #8 now getting a little more time to breathe?
Van Lente: It's the same plan, but we're sweating less. [Laughs.] It's very different to go from a book that has two main characters, to a book that has, I think at last count, about 17,000 major characters. All with their own distinct storyline. So it's very cool that everybody's now going to get the room they need to have their stories property laid out. We have this storyline of Jeanne-Marie taking over Aurora's body, and Walt Langowski seemingly can't turn into Sasquatch anymore. And how did Puck get out of Hell? And what really is going on with Heather Hudson? Because there's clearly something very wrong with her, but we don't quite know what it is yet. That is to say, you don't. Greg and I know.
Nrama: That's comforting.
Van Lente: It's very cool, because it lets us tell even more of the story we were going to tell anyway. And there was inklings of this happening even really before the first issue came out, so fortunately Greg and I were able to have this in the back of our minds.
Pak: We're good at working towards different eventualities. If the book had ended as scheduled with issue #8, we were perfectly fine with that. It would have been a great eight-issue maxiseries. But we always have that "B" plan in the back pocket, and it's very fun to be able to shift that into the "A" plan category. There's a way in which what's happening in Canada, as the story progresses, the rest of the Marvel Universe is going to become aware of exactly what's going on and will take an interest. We're going to be able to explore much more deeply how what's happening in Canada affects the Marvel Universe, and how the rest of the Marvel Universe is going to affect our characters. That is an opportunity to really open up the canvas a lot, and having the book turn into an ongoing absolutely with help with that.
Nrama: Right, it sounds like there will be appearances from a few familiar faces from the broader Marvel Universe — including Wolverine?
Pak: Oh yeah. The nice thing about Wolverine is, the joke, "Let's have Wolverine guest," no matter what book you're working on. But it's entirely appropriate with Alpha Flight! It's part of his origin. It's a slow burn that will have a great payoff, and a perfectly appropriate story/character-related payoff.
Nrama: And the Avengers, too?
Van Lente: It's quite possible that the Avengers are going to be interested —once Fear Itself has concluded — in what's going on north of the border, since that is a security situation for the United States, even though I suppose the Avengers are not technically the United States' official superhero team, they do have some kind of pseudo-governmental role.
We may even be pulling in other nationalities of superhero teams, for example, MI:13. It's all part of a large story we like to call "The Commonwealth of Heroes."
Nrama: That team hasn't really been seen much since their book ended, so it must be pretty exciting to get to work with those characters.
Van Lente: Very much so. Greg and I both love the more obscure corners of the Marvel Universe, and MI: 13 was a justly beloved book, and it's really exciting to bring those characters back... into our clutches. [Laughs.]
Nrama: And it seems like that the rift between Guardian and Vindicator isn't going to be resolved anytime soon.
Van Lente: Seems unlikely.
Pak: There are some big confrontations coming. There's a crazy cover coming up that will blow minds.
After the events of issue #4, it's going to be very clear that we're in for a massive conflict. So keep on reading, friends.
Nrama: Artist Dale Eaglesham is on board for the long haul too, right?
Pak: Oh yeah. We're really thrilled. He's integral to the book's success, on multiple levels. Dale and his partner Louise have saved us from our incurable Americanness. We're a couple of Americans writing a book about Canada and Canadian superheroes; Dale and Louise are Canadian, and have provided great checks for us, and tons of great information, and saved us from stupendous embarrassment many times.
Dale has just sunk his heart and soul into this book. You can see it on every page. You can also see it on his Twitter feed and his website. He's always talking about the book, and helping get the word out. That kind of going the extra mile on his part I'm sure is a big reason why the book has done well enough to warrant becoming an ongoing.
Nrama: Fred, Greg, any final words you'd like to share on Alpha Flight becoming an ongoing series?
Van Lente: We just want to say a big "thank you" to all the fans out there who have been picking up the book, and writing in, and supporting it, because this is why good things happen, thanks to you.
Pak: And a big tip of the hat to retailers. Retailers ordered the book in enough quantities for this to happen, so thank you, thank you, thank you.
posted by Dredd Sweet at 10:37 PM
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