The Flight...Canada's Superteam

Some Passing Thawtz

2012-01-05T02:08:00.000-08:00

So, I got myself a 41st birthday gift, which arrived just the other day (a bit early, but that's okay)...

46 of the finest issues of 1990's Image comics to grace the planet. Let the Rob Liefeld adoration begin!

I would like to share with you a quotation from the letters page of Youngblood issue # 2, the issue cover-dated July of 1992. This letter was written by Mike Leonard of Cherry Time, PA, and the quotation reads thusly...

"In closing, I'd like to say that i think single-creator comics will be the wave of the future. With John Byrne handling everything on Next Men, Todd McFarlane on Spawn, as well as Rob (Liefeld) doing his thing here on Youngblood, I think these new formats will give the industry's best and brightest their chance to shine, without having to worry about excessive continuity and "economic constraint". Let's face it, ultra-popular characters like Wolverine and Batman are never going to die. I hope Rob takes full advantage of the "no-holds-barred" concept that Youngblood gives him to do some really fantastic storytelling. I think it's high time we got away from sales gimmicks and the so-called "bottom-line" and went back to the old standards that the comic industry seems to have forgotten. And that is that entertaining the readers is more important than seeing how much money can be drained from their wallets."

What a shame, that the very industry that gave us new life in the 90's through the vision of Liefeld and others in Image Comics, STILL hasn't gotten the message through their thick skulls. Now, more than ever, we the readers of comics have become nothing more than an open wallet to the fat-cats who run companies like Marvel Comics. rather than giving the readers what THEY want, Marvel enjoys TELLING the readers what they want, then ramming it down their throats. They are dinosaurs, usually only surviving due to sales gimmicks like the yearly or twice-yearly massive company-wide events.

Image had it right back in the 90's. It's a shame that the lessons that should have been learned back then, were swept under the rug and forgotten so quickly. We, the consumers, are the ones who are left to suffer.

Marvel still sucks; proof within

2011-12-12T19:43:00.000-08:00

http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/21702.html

Comic sales are up this whole year, across the board!

That being said, this is further proof that Marvel Comics have lied to its fans. The firing of staffers and cancelling of a few titles (most notably Alpha Flight) was a smokescreen, not something necessary due to poor comic sales.

As already reported by moi, Marvel has planned to launch many more irrelevant and stupid series that nobody asked for in 2012 than you can shake a stick at...none of them being Alpha Flight.

Once again, anything to get rid of Alpha Flight.

Which is why Marvel sucks, and is now a failure compared to DC.

newszzszzzz

2011-12-02T03:50:00.000-08:00

Wow. Look at all the comic series that Marvel is starting up this coming year! “Avengers Assemble” will be yet another Avengers ongoing title, there will be a “Marvelman” series started within the next twelve months, a new “Dexter” series starts in 2012, there is rumour of a new “Runaways” series that might start this coming year, a new series launches in January called “Scarlet Spider” (cuz, yeah, like, who didn’t ask and clamour and beg and plead for that one, right?!), as well as a “Hulk Smash Avengers” mini-series in February, their seems to be a new event coming soon, entitled “It’s Coming” featuring a fiery phoenix, there are reports that a “Captain Marvel” series is in the works being developed, and May sees a new ongoing “Age of Apocalypse” series.

Phew! Well, good thing they had to cut back all those titles and fire all those people! Yup. Good thing Marvel has learned not to over-saturate the market with titles nobody wants! Uh huh.

Once again, "Alpha Flight" got screwed, and Marvel did the poking without using protection. Marvel Herpes, Flight fans?

Marvel does nothing but lie…

In GOOD news, IDW will soon be publishing a “Dragon Age” comic, written by the game’s developers and designers, and Rob Liefeld is bringing “Youngblood” (and numerous other titles) back to Image comics!

Boom will be putting out “Outcast” a sword and sorcery book about a just (good) king who is killed by an evil necromancer, but comes back to undead life and wants to reclaim his soul! Sounds AWESOME!

Also, early in 2012 is Pak and Van Lente’s HC anthology of "Alpha Flight", featuring issues 0.1 to 4 collected of Volume 4 of AF.

In other news, Marvel’s new series (another one!) “Villains For Hire”? The main villain behind all this is The Purple Man.

The State of Comics Today

2011-11-24T19:14:00.000-08:00

There is something so incredibly disappointing about the state of comics today.

Some would say that my dissatisfaction stems from viewing them now through the window of adulthood, instead of back when I was enjoying them as a child and a teenager. There may be something to that…but there is more to it than JUST that…

Heroes today are out of touch with what it means to be a hero. The street-level hero is all but gone and forgotten. The Avengers live in their mansion (or there tower, before it was recently destroyed). The FF (I refuse to call them the Future Foundation!) live in their penthouse. The X-Men, on their own island (although recently Wolverine has moved some of them back to Westchester, into the new Jean Grey Academy). Even Doctor Strange has his Sanctum Sanctorum. There heroes, aren’t. They aren’t, because they have forgotten why they became heroes in the first place.

Heroes should be amongst the people, the average and ordinary members of humanity. A hero isn’t necessarily somebody who stops Galactus from destroying the Earth. A hero should be somebody who works the street, who knows the people in the neighbourhood they work by name. A hero of the people, for the people.

Remember the days of Daredevil, Spider-Man (before he was on 50-hundred teams), and Powerman & Ironfist? These guys knew what it meant to be a hero. They had compassion for their fellow man. They were just as interested in stopping some young thugs from shaking down a grocery store owner as they were in going on cosmic adventures, if not more so. To the people of their neighbourhoods, a hero might be the person who bumped into you and then helped you pick up your groceries afterwards, or the lady who offered to share her taxi cab with you, because not only ARE these ordinary people heroes but they might also be the masked heroes that swing by and keep your neighborhood safe as well.

I don’t care about the big events. I don’t. I want my heroes to be heroes, to care about their fellow man – that is why the X-Men will probably never be heroes ever again. They’re too segregated, too fixated on their own issues.

Have you ever realized how many of the X-Men’s foes are bent on world conquest, genocide, or world destruction? What happened when you could read ten issues in a row without ever seeing a villain that nasty, and be better off for it? Do you know how often in comics, in Marvel comics in particular, that towns are destroyed, thousands of people die? WAY TOO OFTEN! It’s a gimmick. Shock value is NOT my friend, it just makes me numb. After a while, I just don’t care about the loss of life anymore; if the heroes don’t seem to really care about humanity, why should I?

I love old comics. I own the Essential Defenders Volumes 1, 2, 3, and 6. I am currently still reading my way through Volume 6, and as I do, I cannot help but notice how awesome the writing is! Never have I seen so much exposition by the characters! They spend 9/10 of their time talking to each other, treating each other like human beings, caring about each other and opening up and trying to help each other through difficulties. Anybody see any of that in comics today? Anybody? Anybody at all? Oh, don’t get me wrong, I think Avengers Academy is the bomb; the writing is top-notch. So far, the only thing in this series I have not enjoyed has been the crossover with Fear Itself, which I definitely could have done without! But at least this is one comic where the main focus is on growing the characters. One comic, out of how many series that are put out nowadays by Marvel? Let me tell you something; that’s sad.

On another note, I think this is one of the reasons why my beloved Alpha Flight does not sell well enough to be an ongoing series. I think these heroes should be shown doing heroic things in their day-to-day lives. Walter should be seen reaching out to his estranged teenage son. Shaman should be seen spending time with Talisman. But more than that, I would like to see what they do, as heroes, when Alpha Flight is not needed. I would like to see them, as individual heroes, battling street level crime in the neighbourhoods they live in. Making a difference. Caring about their fellow man. Inspiring others, with and without powers, to follow their example.

Comics today just are not what they used to be. We have lost our innocence, and with it we have lost most of what makes up our very humanity. And we are all very much poorer off for it.

The End; again.

2011-10-21T22:19:00.000-07:00

So, its true.

Marvel has lied to comics fans, yet again.

Just two (?) months after announcing that the Marvel maxi-series, Alpha Flight, was being upgraded to a monthly title, they have already pulled the plug.

Alpha Flight is being cancelled.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5UrVdvk1Ao

Issue # 8 will be the last issue.

Goodbye Marvel. In my youth, you were my friend. Now, you are my sworn enemy. And I will never, never, EVER trust you again, or support any of your products. Complete Marvel ban, starting once I have collected the last issue of Alpha Flight volume 4.

Dark Horse, DC, etcetera, you've got my vote - give me your best comics, I'm comin' over full-time to you!

Marvel, you suck.

Flightpath 07's review of AF Vol. 4 Issue # 3

2011-09-15T03:30:00.000-07:00

Review: Alpha Flight, Volume IV, Issue # 3

(Flightpath 07 - that's me!)

Once again…It has been a long wait. ‘Nuff said. And now I will get to my review.

“They are on their own. They are fighting for each other. They are…Alpha Flight.” Again, I love how on the first page, these few sentences sum up so perfectly the essence of what this incarnation of the Flight is all about at this point in time. I am still enjoying seeing the “posters” of each Flight member at the bottom of the page, wherein you can learn the current status of each.

The art: Walter Langkowski looks good. Dale Eaglesham does a good job with him (weird seeing him without glasses on page one, though!). Agent Brown…getting creepier and creepier as this series goes on. I…don’t trust him. And I do not trust Greg and Fred enough, to think that maybe Agent Brown is even MORE involved in all this than we could think! Anyways, yes, Agent Brown comes off as very slick and creepy looking.

Marrina’s “transformation” from smiley and happy to ferocious and fierce is…whoa!

Even Snowbird, in a smaller sized panel ( I know, I know – the panel size isn’t Dale’s fault! lol), Dale manages to get across her angry face to the reader. And the hug between Puck and Marrina is adorably done. I love Aurora in full fight mode, and Northstar blocking her, all appearing at super-speed, of course!

Lol – I have to say, when Guardian avoids that bazooka or rocket launcher fired at him from inside Department H…lol, is it just me or is he striking some sort of 70‘s disco move?!?

Walter Langkowski’s leap into the fray (“it’s Sasquatch time!”) is epic, only beaten by the very next panel where a still-not-Sasquatch Walter gets his face caved in. I also like Shaman’s bearskin that he wears in one panel, a very nice touch.

Later, as Mac and Northstar fight over the phone, is it just me or does Marrina seem to have taken on some latent sexuality in the way she lounges around? She almost reminds me of a classic Janet Van Dyne, at times…

Aurora’s fight with herself is another classic moment. Anybody else notice that her eyes change colour between her two personalities? Hm…it is hard to tell through her coloured goggles, but does it seem like Heather’s eyes are also possibly brown in this issue? That’d be…odd…as she has BLUE eyes…this, together with the strange piece of cloth that Prime Minister Gary Cody carries in his hand…these are clues. But, clues to what?!? Oh, nice job, Misters Pak and Van Lente…nice job indeed! Way to drop the hints and keep us guessing!

As far as the story itself goes, it is again a top-notch thrill-ride of an issue. Walter’s discussion with Agent Brown is, again, something right out of Volume 2. Makes me wonder…could Mesmero be behind all of this? Marrina being “so tricksy” was hilarious! Walter’s banter with Michael Twoyoungmen took the place of Walter’s usual banter with Aurora. The pissed off demi-goddess when she is released. Marrina, more than able to take care of herself; damn, the girl is just OOZING with self-confidence! Aurora’s fight with herself, both literal and figurative. Northstar’s concern first for his sister, and then later for Kyle. Bouncy Puck! Who doesn’t love bouncy Puck!?! The whole way that Alpha Flight is set up as the fall guys, now seen by an entire country as traitors. Mac wanting to make a beeline for Wolverine. Agent Brown confronting Purple Woman and Citadel and “drafting” them into Vindicator’s new group.

And finally, the last page…creepy looking, dangerous, and the heralded return of the Great Beasts as well! Awesome Alpha Flight-y goodness, indeed!

This series totally has it going on! Loving it!

I won’t say much more, but…a little bit of research into Alpha Flight’s past, and…I am now thinking that Mesmero is indeed the one behind all of this! But, all things will be revealed in time, right?

Writers: Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente
Pencils: Dale Eaglesham
Inks: Andrew Hennessy
Colours: Sonia Oback
Letterer: Simon Bowland
My issue’s cover by: Phil Jimenez and Frank D’Armata
Editor: Mark Paniccia

My ratings for this issue:
Art: 10/10
Story: 10/10
Dialogue: 10/10
Intangibles (or, as some call it, Alpha-Flight-iness): 10/10

I’m giving this one 40 Maple Leafs out of 40!

Flightpath07's review of AF Vol 4 Issue # 2

2011-09-15T02:51:00.000-07:00

Review: Alpha Flight, Volume IV, Issue # 2

(Flightpath 07 - that's me!)

Once again…It has been a long wait. A LOOOONG wait. But I finally have ownership of this issue, and have read it, and now I will get to my review.

“Forsaken by the country they are sworn to protect, they face unheard of perils and conflicts. They are hunted. They are feared. They are…Alpha Flight.” I do love the first page of this issue. These few sentences do indeed sum up the essence of what this incarnation of the Flight is all about. It is also nice to see the “posters” of each Flight member at the bottom of the page, wherein you can learn the status of each.

The art: no real complaints in the art department. I am getting more and more used to Dale Eaglesham’s way of doing things. I like how baby Hudson (Claire MacNeil Hudson) has Heather’s hair and Mac’s eyes; nice attention to detail, there! I am appreciating Dale’s talents for facial expressions more and more as the series goes on, he does a spot-on job with Mac and Heather in the courtroom scene, and even the judge’s stern countenance is extremely well done.

Although Sasquatch (in furry form) is only briefly seen in this issue, I like his facial fur (does that make sense?) a lot more in this issue than I have in others.

Dale does a really nice job with portraying Aurora, her facial expressions really capture her internal moods well enough that even a casual reader can tell there is a lot going on within her.

Oh, and Vindicator’s butt still looks awesome, even if she IS currently evil!

Puck bouncing across the nursery…wow! That is classic John Byrne Alpha Flight art happening there! I’m looking forward to seeing Eugene in casual clothes in the future as well. He may be a little cuckoo right now, but he is still Eugene Judd, and ya gotta love the little guy.

The story is very tight. The characters seem to stay within themselves, yet also tend to reveal little bits about themselves that are newer twists added by Fred and Greg as well. The agony of the court case. The betrayal and attack of the team by the Box-bots. The evil slyness of Agent Brown makes a lot of sense; after seeing how he was in Omega Flight and Marvel Comics Presents, and how he worked so closely with the American version of Guardian (Mailman Mike the Alpha-killer and power-vampire and life-force-drainer), it isn’t that surprising to see that he has turned against Alpha Flight. Issue # 2, and already Northstar is turning into a hero?! Who would have believed that? Aurora being tempted by having her awful past dangled in front of her. Heather Hudson trying to both trick Mac (with Virtual Reality pods) and convince him that her way is the right way; yet it is a Heather without any compassion…something just isn’t right, but we still don’t know what it is, do we? Citadel and Purple Woman under lock and key in Department H. Northstar’s shock at finding Puck in Department H. The Canadian military rounding up politicians, reporters, and family members of Alpha Flight at gunpoint and taking them away. Mac returning the favour and blasting Heather from behind, as she did to him earlier. Puck’s insane ramblings about those he met in Hell. The Box-bots. And finally, we learn that Aurora is to be indoctrinated into Unity…

The story builds, but still doesn’t give anything away. For everything it reveals, it adds many more shadowy pieces that we still do not understand.

Basically put, the writing and dialogue and plot are OUTSTANDING.

There was a lot to like about this issue of Alpha Flight. Actually, there was nothing worth complaining about at all!

Writers: Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente
Pencils: Dale Eaglesham
Inks: Andrew Hennessy
Colours: Sonia Oback
Letterer: Simon Bowland
My issue’s cover by: Phil Jimenez and Frank D’Armata
Editor: Mark Paniccia

My ratings for this issue:
Art: 9.5/10
Story: 10/10
Dialogue: 10/10
Intangibles (or, as some call it, Alpha-Flight-iness): 10/10

I’m giving this one 39.5 Maple Leafs out of 40!

Celebrating the hype of The Flight

2011-08-28T22:37:00.000-07:00

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.

---------------------------------------

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.”

---------------------------------------

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.

The...Big...News

2011-08-27T15:48:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Fred van Lente, Greg Pak, Dale Eaglesham (and Wolfie!), and all the rest of the creative crew on Alpha Flight!

Yes, you heard it here first (well, probably not, but...); Alpha Flight is now an ongoing series!

http://ifanboy.com/articles/fanexpo11-alpha-flight-now-ongoing-canada-rejoices/

http://www.alphaflight.net/content.php?522-Alpha-Flight-Becomes-Ongoing

Yay!

And well deserved, too. Nice job. And continued good success.

hardly worth mentioning

2011-08-26T18:07:00.000-07:00

So, the big reveal over at the Toronto comic convention by FVL concerning Alpha Flight?

Not so exciting. Basically put, Taskmaster and Wolverine and Captain Britain will all be appearing in the series.

Yeah, that's it.

YAWN...

Just goes to prove, nothing good ever comes out of Toronto.

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/fan-expo-marvel-fear-itself-110826.html

Revealed?

2011-08-26T04:42:00.001-07:00

Below is a link to a new-ish interview with Fred van Lente. As FVL points out, important Alpha Flight news is about to come out (this wekeend, i do believe...)!

http://nerdcaliber.com/blogs/?p=4176

Bummed

2011-08-16T10:08:00.000-07:00

Just got my order of comics in the mail, from mailordercomics.com, and Alpha Flight # 2 is not in amongst them. Unshipped this month, this means I have to wait a whole 'nother month before receiving it.

My 0.1 issue shipped a whole month late to me, as well. Is Marvel having some sort of trouble getting this comic to their major online retailers?

The delays I am experiencing (which are unprecedented), and sometimes having to wait two months betweeen issues, is making it very hard to be excited about the series. No fault of the creative team, so where does the fault lie?

yay!

2011-08-15T11:44:00.000-07:00

Just ten minutes ago, I purchased two more (new-to-me) comics featuring 'official' (according to the Appearances section of the alphaflight.net forum) Alpha Flight appearances: X-Men Chronicles # 1 , and X-Men Unlimited # 45.

:)

Good Vibes

2011-08-15T08:30:00.000-07:00

According to a hint dropped by Fred Van Lente on Twitter, there is strong hinting that at the next Comic-Con, which is coming up *soon* (cannot remember when), in Canada (cannot remember where, but it might be Toronto?), that there might just be an official announcement that Alpha Flight has become an ongoing series!

Thanks to Varo over at http://www.alphaflight.net/ for dropping that hinted bombshell!

panels

2011-08-11T01:37:00.000-07:00

Panels from my recently-purchased Classic X-Men # 16.

Dale E pic

2011-08-11T01:34:00.000-07:00

A pic for the Canada fan expo that is upcoming, by Dale Eaglesham.

new appearances issues for me, yay!

2011-08-04T12:23:00.000-07:00

I am now the proud owner of three new (to me) Alpha Flight appearances;

X-Men Adventures Vol.2 #5

X-Men Unlimited # 25

Weapon X # 4

Couldn't be happier!

:)

Mainly Pumped

2011-07-27T09:50:00.000-07:00

I am fairly pumped!

I just received, in the mail (thank you, Canada Post, for not staying on strike any longer!), issues 1 and 2 of "The Northern Guard" from Moonstone publishing. Looking forward to reading about another team of Canadian heroes!

Also received were issues 1 through 3 of Avengers Academy, which i am also looking forward to reading (and eventually sharing with my daugher - at 12 years of age, she is starting to get the comics and superhero bug, and i am hoping to get her reading and collecting Avengers Academy...and maybe eventually Alpha Flight!). This means that i am only now missing issues 4, 5, 6, and 9 of this awesome series so far.

Also got some Danger Girl comics, and some Cavewoman ones as well - should be good clean fun!

Now, if I could only hurry up and receive my copy of Alpha Flight Volume 4 issue 2!

Hurry up and wait...hurry up and wait...hurry up and wait...

Flightpath 07's review of AF Vol4 Issue # 1

2011-07-05T21:59:00.000-07:00

Review: Alpha Flight, Volume IV, Issue # 0.1

(Flightpath 07 - that's me!)

First off, let me say that it feels good to be holding this issue in my hands. It has been a long wait.

Let’s start with the art, shall we? This is my first full issue of Dale Eaglesham’s artwork. Over all, I would say that the art is good; perhaps not great, but surely better than average.

My first complaint would be that, other than that huge splash page where Attuma/Nekkrod enters Vancouver, most of the panels tend to be small and cluttered. I hope that in the future, Dale tends to draw larger panels. Now, I do realize some of the smaller panels may be because there is a large story to tell, in only 8 (or 9) issues. But I prefer quality or quantity. I want to see faces and facial features and facial expressions up close, where I can FEEL the emotions going through the characters; this is a large part of what brings them to life.

My second complaint about the art, tends to fall upon the shoulders of the colourist; I count six separate panels, where the colourist makes the mistake of making the skin tone of the person or persons in the panel take on a purplish hue. Since Purple Woman is not in this issue, I have a little bit of a problem with that!

Shaman…I’m not sure that I like how muscular he is. He is a doctor, and a magic-based hero. Yet he looks like he can bench-press Benjamin Grimm!

Although I had already seen her in the preview pages, I really enjoyed how the news reporter looks – making her Asian was a great bonus, as it plays on the large Asian population in the Vancouver area.

Do I need to keep re-touching on how fantastic Vindicator’s butt looks?

Sasquatch looks good in this issue; but he could use a few more smiles. Happy, friendly Walter is the one I like best as Sasquatch; this should show in his facial features as well.

Marrina looks really good; I like the way Dale E. makes her new look work for her.

Aurora looks a little less chesty than I remember her. Or is her black costume just minimizing things?

As far as the plot goes…nice job! Although Vindicator has been bandied around on the AlphaFlight.net message boards as being a possible betrayer, I still didn’t see that coming! Again, this surely must be an issue of a mother doing whatever it takes to get her child back.

Excuse me, FVL and Pak, but I think there is a grievous mistake you have made in this issue. It involves when Mac grabs Nekkrod and they both end up in Newfoundland. Doesn’t the Earth rotate to the East? If Mac stops himself against the Earth’s rotation, wouldn’t the two then end up over Russia?

I think the characterizations in this issue are all done well. Everybody seems to stay true to who they are. Sas and Aurora banter back and forth playfully. Northstar shows concern for his sister, who then blows him off angrily. Mac and Heather work well together as a team (until the end of the issue!). All is good in Alpha-land.

I enjoyed this issue. For whatever reason, I actually enjoyed the 0.1 issue more, although I am not able to put my finger on why. This was a good issue, setting up more of what we can possibly expect in the coming issues.

Writers: Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente
Pencils: Dale Eaglesham
Inks: Andrew Hennessy
Colours: Sonia Oback
Letterer: Simon Bowland
My issue’s cover by: Phil Jimenez and Frank D’Armata
Editor: Mark Paniccia

My ratings for this issue:
Art: 8.5/10
Story: 10/10
Dialogue: 10/10
Intangibles (or, as some call it, Alpha-Flight-iness): 9.5/10

I’m giving this one 38 Maple Leafs out of 40!

mail and other catastrophies

2011-07-05T10:58:00.000-07:00

I was going to blog here a few days ago, about how glad i am that the Canadian Postal Workers have been forced back to work by the government, after having been on strike for a few weeks. See, i was thinking that means that maybe my AF Volume 4 issue 1 would be delivered to me soon!

As it so happens, it arrived today, with my April's batch of comics, via UPS delivery.

But...a funny thing happened on its way to me. Canadian Customs got a hold of it. My batch of ten comics cost me $24.84, plus shipping and handling. Customs decided that my ten comics were actually worth $265.18, and billed me accordingly. Yes, you read that right. It just shows that some people don't know what a comic is really worth!

It seems they charged me a $10 brokerage fee, for each and every comic, and that brought the price up rather steeply. So, for my ten cmics worth under $25, Customs charged me $24.46 - either pay it, or never see my comics again! (anybody else think this is actually extortion by the Canadian government? darn that Unity Party!)

Anyways, looking forward to reading my issue of Alpha Flight Volume 4, # 1, which i shall do shortly. Stay tuned here for a comprehensive review, in the next day or two.

Long live The Flight!

My Flight, My Way

2011-06-18T09:48:00.001-07:00

Just having a little fun with my two of my three favourite superheroines...

You might wanna click on it and blow it up to see what I mean...or, you might NOT wanna...lol.

coupla answers

2011-06-18T08:48:00.000-07:00

A big thank-you to “Ahab” at alphaflight.net, who asked these questions and got the answers…

FYI - Some answers from the creators:

1. When Aurora shrugged off Citadel, was she just moving her hand at top speed to shake up/damage his arm within the adamantium or was she using the power shown in the Weapon X series where she could actually increase the velocity of another object? There has been a little debate as to what occurred in that situation.

The former.

2. I always assumed that the Hudsons knew that Gary Cody had been killed by Bedlam. I admit that I can't remember if this was ever acknowledged in the series though. Is it safe to assume that they didn't know, hence why they are not bothered that he is running for office? Or are they just resigned to the fact that other dead people have returned to the land of the living as well, such as Citadel?

These, along with a couple other niggling continuity things, are generally ignored so newbies aren't completely lost. We want to introduce as many new fans as we can to the Flight without them requiring a PhD in Flightology. For one thing, if memory serves, Bedlam didn't kill Cody, he rendered him brain dead. But to answer your question directly -- more the latter. The Hudson (particularly Mac) have come back from the dead themselves, along with Marrina and Shaman, the return of Cody, to them, is not hugely noteworthy.

Citadel

2011-06-17T20:03:00.000-07:00

It has been pointed out to me that the villain Citadel from Alpha Flight volume 4 issue 0.1 , is supposed to be dead.

I have scoured the 'net, and can find ZERO information on this villain. Can anybody help me out with this one?

Flightpath 07's review of AF Vol4 Issue # 0.1

2011-06-17T07:44:00.000-07:00

(Flightpath07 - that's me!)

Review: Alpha Flight, Volume IV, Issue # 0.1

Well, first let me say that it took me a long time to get my hands on this issue. Many weeks of waiting, keeping my eye on the mailbox. Many weeks spent NOT going on alphaflight.net, as I did not want to know what was going on in the issue before I actually read it. Many days of crying myself to sleep into my pillow, muttering “Hurry up, dang it…” in my dreams.

But, the issue is here. And I have read it.

The wait was immeasurable, but it was well worth it. As was waiting for Fred Van Lente and Greg Pak to resurrect this dying franchise; it has been a long wait since Brian Bendis killed over half the team off in New Avengers without a second thought, but now the original team is back and they are being written respectfully at last (no offense to Michael Oeming of Omega Flight writing credit, who did a truly wonderful job despite the fact that Omega Flight was never going to be Alpha Flight, nor was it going to be liked or pushed by the Marvel executive suits).

Artist Ben Oliver does a fairly decent job on this issue, the 0.1 jumping-on point for those who are interested in purchasing this maxi-series (8 issues, and hopefully becoming an ongoing really soon). I still think his Sasquatch leaves something to be desired. That being said, Sas seems to be one of the hardest characters in comics to draw properly (John Byrne really spoiled us with his great rendition of Walter Langkowski’s alter ego); Ben did a decent job – truly, I’ve seen much worse.

I should mention here that in this issue, Ben Oliver shares artist duties with Dan Green, as well as colourist Frank Martin. For those of you who really need to know, the lettering is done by Scott Bowland, the editor is Mark Paniccia, and the cover (oh, the cover!) is rendered by Phil Jimenez and Frank D’Armata.

Let’s start with the cover. First off, I do have to say that it is a little misleading; Marrina is shown looking more like how we have always known her to be and a lot less than how she is actually now being drawn. Aurora is shown in her short hair and yellow costume, which is also not how she is pictured inside. And finally, Sasquatch…looks like he went to the beauty parlour and spent way too long under the hair dryer, lol! All that being said, the cover does look amazing. Very iconic, very…classic. Well done, misters Jimenez and D’Armata!

The story itself is well-told. Van Lente and Pak do a great job of throwing one into a plotline, creating angst and suspicion and intrigue, without actually giving away any answers to any questions. The characters…Alpha Flight actually acts like Alpha Flight! It is amazing how good these characters are, when they behave like themselves. The villains are a good mix of big, nasty, threatening, familiar, and disturbing (that last one, because one used to be a hero and a friend).

Now, let’s talk about each Alpha character in a bit more detail.

We’ll start with Snowbird. In this issue, we get to see her in her Anne Mackenzie character as well as in her demi-goddess form. It is good to know that Snowbird has something to do, when she is not super-heroing. You can tell Van Lente really knows and understands this character; she seems to have almost no emotion in her scenes as Anne Mackenzie the meter maid. In fact, she seems to not understand humour, or irony, or whatever, and just plays all her scenes as the “straight-man”. People yell at her and stuff, and she just looks at them without saying a word or showing any emotion. She has a good grasp of her ability to undergo form changes, as at one point she rapidly switches back and forth between several animal forms. And she ends up being the one to get close enough to Purple Woman to knock her out with one punch. All in all, a quite believable Snowbird. A nice bit of humour, as well, slipped into the story, with Anne ticketing the villain’s vehicle – nice way to make her seem not so bland. Good job, FVL and GP!

Next up, we’ll take a peek at Guardian and Vindicator. James is shown to be his usual self, totally not interested in or believing in politics or politicians. He doesn`t trust them, it seems, which fits well with his character I think. Heather is his emotional tie, who tries to get him to focus on better things; indeed, in many ways, James is seen as the one brooding over the loss of their daughter. By showing him doing so before Heather, he is seen as having strong family attachments, which is good. Heather being the first to answer their summons from Department H, shows her leadership skills, which is also in-character, as she is probably a stronger leader than Guardian is. Heather is shown looking a little mousy, it is probably her bland-style brown hair that helps a lot, as well as the glasses. Once she switches to her Vindicator uniform, her figure comes more into play; interesting that she is still drawn as having probably the best bum in all of comics, yet I definitely detect that her boobs are now drawn in more of a “I’ve had a child, my boobs sag a little now, and I am just not as young as I used to be” sort of manner. Heather’s bravery is seen as she blasts into battle against Citadel, only to find her electromagnetic blasts from her battle-suit to be useless against him – thankfully, she is rescued by Aurora (anybody else notice that Aurora seems to ‘almost’ grab Heather’s boob as she carries her to safety?). Even as she is being rescued and carried to safety, heather is barking out commands, planning the team’s attack as she instructs Sasquatch, Marrina, and Shaman. Meanwhile, Guardian is liaisoning with S.W.A.T. team members, and arguing with Northstar – two strong personalities that obviously do not get along. FVL and Pak do give Guardian a funny line, though, at least showing him to have a sense of humour (something usually given to Heather, not Mac). When Mac tells Heather that Kara Killgrave is attacking them, she seems much more surprised than he is – but this is quickly explained , as Mac admits Heather has had way more contact with the Beta Flight members than he has (which is quite true). Northstar and Mac get in each other’s way, still arguing as they try to prepare to face a new threat, only to have the threat roll right over them. As a per-usual Alpha staple, lack of teamwork caused by infighting and bickering; classic Flight! Once Purple Woman is taken down, Heather is shown to be feeling bad about losing yet another one of her ‘children’; Mac is shown to feel Heather’s pain, and Vindicator tells Agent Brown of Department H to make sure that Kara is treated well. All in all, Guardian and Vindicator are treated well, their characters staying within proper parameters, playing well off of each other and other teammates as well.

I think I will tackle Sasquatch and Aurora as one. They are first seen together, Aurora flying and carrying Walter Langkowski, who is dressed in his green flight suit that protects him from the wind when being carried at high speeds. Aurora shows she is reading Department H briefing logs, and Walter shows how impressed he is with that; she responds that she has been in therapy, and he says he wants to date her again, and she says “Sorry, doctor’s orders” and drops him. Of course, it is all part of the plan, as he transforms into Sasquatch mid-fall, tearing out of his jumpsuit and lands on top of Citadel. Good exchange of banter between the two, showing their past together as well as their playful teasing in the present. These two legitimately love each other, whether they are dating are not, they care deeply about each other and it shows. As Sasquatch gets pummelled by the villain, Aurora is right there to take the fight to him, and we see that she still does not like to be touched; Citadel grabs her by the shoulder/neck, and she says that she would cut off his hand for touching her if she could. She then has a good use of her powers, as she vibrates quickly to get him off of her, and then Vindicator jumps in to the battle. When Heather is threatened, Aurora runs in at super speed and carries her off, and then Sasquatch picks up a turbine (they are fighting at a large dam, after all) and hits Citadel with it. I am quite happy with the way both of these characters were handled. Sasquatch looks a little rough in his furry form, certainly not up to Byrne standards, but Walter looks exactly like Walter should. Aurora looks good, and although I enjoy others of her costumes more than her black and white one she is wearing here, her shape is drawn right, very sexy. The conversation between the two characters is excellent.

Now we come to Northstar. I have already touched a bit on his arguments with Guardian. It seems that Northstar is not a current member of Alpha Flight, and really wants nothing to do with them; it is actually his boyfriend Kyle who presses him to continue being a hero, while JP is more interested in just being with Kyle. In his exchange with Guardian, Northstar seems less pissy than he used to be written by Byrne, and more self-confident; it is almost like he is laughing at Mac, for the suit he wears (“draped in the flag”), for the way he appears to be looking after the interests of the rich and powerful only, and because Mac still believes he can “change the system from within”. Northstar seems less cocky, and more sure of himself for real; which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Again, he does not want to be associated in any way with Alpha Flight, and makes that quite clear to Guardian as they talk (as they are being shot at). Northstar’s fear for Kyle is quite evident, and shown well. And, at the end of this issue, when Alpha Flight poses for the cameras, Northstar is nowhere to be seen…But he does make sure that Kyle is alright, and express to him how important he is to him. Kyle tries to say that Northstar and Alpha Flight saved him (which they did), but Northstar cuts him off and says that it is only because of Alpha Flight that he was in trouble in the first place.

Shaman has always been a difficult read; Shaman, the stoic one. When first we see him, he is in an operating room in a Native hospital, and he receives the call from Ottawa and leaves his body behind to astral-ly investigate. As has been stated before, it is quite strange that his body can continue to operate (literally!) without his spirit inside of it…When he joins the battle, it is to read the mind of Citadel and discover that the real danger is heading towards the city…Beyond that, same old stoic Shaman, although his response to Citadel saying “Hey Indian” to him is a little unique at least…

Finally, Marrina. She…definitely has her own personality in this series, much more pissed off than anyone has ever really been in a Flight book. She uses her water powers in the fight with Citadel, calling him a “land mollusk” with a tough exterior but a “squishy center”. Later, as Alpha poses for the cameras, she starts screaming at the media, saying how she is an alien and proud of it. Some of her comments make me think the gossip mags have been talking about her alien heritage and chasing after her for photos or something! As she bellows, “Bite me, Earth media!”

Purple Woman, Kara Killgrave, as a former Flight-er, deserves some mention here as well. Something has definitely got her riled up (or is controlling her), as she is looking downright pissed off, and thinks nothi9ng of using innocents to get her way, or of having people under her command try to kill Guardian and Northstar. She looks good (va-va-voom!), she seems mean and svelte and a nasty piece of work; I am sure she would make her father proud (it IS almost Father’s Day, isn’t it?). But the answers to the question, Why? Those will have to wait.

All in all, I cannot help but give this issue full marks. The art was better-than-expected, hitting far more than it missed (Sasquatch). The characters were written beautifully, the dialogue was both informative and witty, and we were teased lots without being told too much of anything. This has me very much looking forward to the next issue! Great job, everyone involved.

Art: 9.5/10
Story: 10/10
Dialogue: 10/10
Intangibles (or, as some call it, Alpha-Flight-iness): 10/10

I’m giving this one 39.5 Maple Leafs out of 40!

Heather's Bum:

Van Lente and Pak introduce...your Alpha Flight team, Volume 4!

Finally!

2011-06-14T11:37:00.001-07:00

I finally received my Alpha Flight 0.1 in the mail today. Two copies. Plus, my Phil Jiminez Alpha Flight poster (also two copies).

I have read it; once only, so far.

I need some sleep, then have to work. After that, maybe I will (PROBABLY I will) post an in=depth review of some sort.

For now, let me just say, that it is VERY nice to see that Alpha Flight Is Back!

Long live The Flight!

Dredd Sweet / Flightpath 07

more comics news

2011-06-09T11:11:00.000-07:00

So...still waiting for my Alpha Flight issue 1 to appear in my mailbox...

Sigh...patience sucks...

In the meantime, I just picked up a couple of "Alpha Flight"y appearances, namely;

Wolverine issues #s 84, 95, 110, 142, 143

Exiles issues #s 10, 12, 31, 69, 73

Haven't read any of them yet, but I was excited to find them all.

Remember the Defenders?

2011-06-03T08:45:00.000-07:00

The Defenders were always my favourite super team, outside of Alpha Flight. They were mystical, fantastic, and they were unknown enough by mainstream heroes that they were always good for an occasional dust-up fight with the Avengers or some other hero or group of heroes.

Anybody remember a few years ago, when Marvel Comics published a mini-series entitled The Last Defenders ? Supposedly, it was the last gasp effort to revive a new Defenders team, and of course it failed miserably (it was planned to fail, as that was how the mini-series was written).

Well, remember how Marvel Comics also published Omega Flight, saying it was the very last chance for Alpha Flight to succeed in a series (then down-graded it to a mini-series before it even came out!)? Yes, even though it wasn't Alpha Flight, they said it was Alpha Flight's last chance to succeed.

Well, I am predicting, here and now, that within three years, we will see a new Defenders team hit the shelves, one led by Doctor Strange and probably featuring Gargoyle, Hellcat, and Nighthawk, among others; possibly even the Hulk.

There is no LAST TIME/LAST CHANCE in comics. Each day is a new day.

Marvel; bring back the Defenders.

comix

2011-05-30T22:50:00.000-07:00

Recently picked up a couple of Alpha Flight appearances: Wild Child in X-Factor #s 116, 117, and 119, and Northstar and Aurora in X-Men #s 188, 189, 190 and Annual # 1.

Been reading a lot of Gen13 lately as well.

Still working my way through the Essential X-Men Volume 5 - I forgot just how extremely well Chris Claremont writes Alpha Flight!

My Walk And What I Learned

2011-05-26T11:36:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, I went for a walk, down to my LCS. I was itching to get my hands on the 0.1 issue of Alpha Flight. I have been finding it VERY difficult to sit here and await its arrival in the mail, and even harder to stay away from alphaflight.net so as to not know what has already been published in said comic.

The good news is, my LCS was completely sold out of Alpha Flight 0.1! Mind you, the bad news is I STILL have to await its arrival in the mail...

On another hand (yes, I DO have three hands! What's it to you?!), I was able to pick up a couple of old X-Force comics I did not own, featuring Alpha Flight in one, and WildChild in all three, so that was fairly awesome.

picture, etc

2011-05-20T17:02:00.000-07:00

First, sharing this cool Alpha Flight computer wallpaper with y'all:

Next, just a few thoughts on a few Marvel comics;

Feat Itself, issue # 1, was actually fairly decent. I don't see myself buying the whole mini-series, but as far as first issues go, it was intriguing.

Looking forward to the "Fear Itself: Youth in Revolt" mini-series. I was a huge fan of the Avengers Initiative series, and especially some of the characters that came out of it. And since Thor Girl and Komodo will be in Youth In Revolt, how could I NOT be looking forward to picking it up? The Initiative gave Marvel the chance to create some great new young heroes; usually these types were previously only seen in X-Men titles.

Got to admit it; even though i do not know why, the Thunderbolts series keeps hooking me into buying it. I guess I just love villains that are on the verge of becoming more heroic!

And, Avengers Academy is another Marvel product that I seem to keep buying lately. Well, I AM a HUGE Tigra fan, and she is part of the teaching staff there, so...can you blame me?

I'm glad Marvel is using Moon Knight. But, I am not at all happy to learn that he is being used as a brutal psychotic again. NOT GOOD.

That's it for now. Still anxiously awaiting my snail-mail Alpha Flight 0.1 ...

John Byrne mentions Alpha Flight

2011-05-18T23:47:00.001-07:00

John Byrne mentions Alpha Flight!

Okay, okay...it is from 1999's issue # 1 of Spider-Woman. Still, he mentions them...

Trying to find things to talk about while I await the delivery (snail mail) of my 0.1 issue of Alpha Flight. Should be here in about...three weeks (groan!). In the meantime, avoiding alphaflight.net like the plague, so the issue isn't completely spoiled for me.

My Need

2011-05-17T23:14:00.000-07:00

Just feeling the need to get a few thoughts and musings out of my head, before the release of Alpha Flight 0.1 ...

Lots of interviews by the creative team right now, too many to follow. All of them good, though!

My thought 1: Gary Cody. Fred Van Lente suggests he is acting strangely. Well, Gary was brain dead, for the most part. So, isn't it probable that the hints FVL has been dropping about Hercules bringing back a few other people from the dead, likely mean that Gary's body has been invaded by somebody else's soul and mind? It is Gary Cody's body walking around, but inside is somebody who was dead, soembody who hates Alpha Flight...hm. Jerry Jaxon, anybody?

My thought 2: They have hinted that Puck is in the basement of the Department H building. But they have also hinted that he is in Hell, and unavailable to them. All misdirection. In the Department H building, is Puck's body, preserved since he died. The means to bring him back, at some point.

That's all for now! Stay tuned, though!

A Closer Look

2011-05-11T22:50:00.000-07:00

"Look at me, In the eyes!
You shall see nothing
Hear nothing
Dream of nothing
But Sven Gali... Sven Gali
(Sven Gali, Sven Gali)
Yaaaaa.... that is right, leibchen"
- Sven Gali, Under The Influence

A Closer Look at the Alpha Flight art of Dale Eaglesham:

Note: The following pages have already been released on-line, with word-bubbles now in place. Due to not wanting to spoil anybody's Alpha Flight # 1 experience, i will refrain from showing the pages this way or speaking about what Van Lente and Pak wrote thereupon.

First Page:

First to be noted is the iconic image of an army boot trodding on a newspaper featuring the election of Gary Cody and the Unity party. Gary is making the "V for victory" sign.

Beside that, we have the speeding truck full of Canadians being removed by soldiers. Brings to mind real-life images of people being herded off to concentration camps or something. Are the soldiers saving these people, or are they forcefully removing them? Hard to tell, exactly.The face of the red-haired woman (and the body, too - va-voom!) being held back by the soldier in the back of the truck...although drawn in a simple manner, she is rendered quite beautifully. Her hair and clothing blowing in the breeze, the anguished raising of one hand as it stretches out towards the soldier carrying the red-haired girl that we can only assume is the woman's daughter, her other hand gripping the truck's tailgate for support as it speeds away...even the carefully drawn folds of her shirt and jacket, make this one woman, a background piece in this panel, a most spectacular rendering indeed. The soldier holding back the woman almost seems to be kissing the top of her head, he is leaning in so close to her. The soldier carrying the girl is heavily muscled, like an extra from a Rambo movie, and the newspaper blows behind the truck as it speeds off; is this the same newspaper the soldier had just stepped on earlier? The soldier now carries the young girl to another waiting truck, where an old woman sits, carefully holding onto a carrier cage that likely holds her precious cat (or perhaps a small dog). Another soldier helps the girl over the side and into the back of the truck, and then everyone gazes skyward as a large shadow falls over them all....what could this be? The faces show shock and concern, and the elderly woman has her hand over her mouth.In the final panel of this page, once again that darned newspaper is on the ground, this time being quickly wetted by water; from whence does this water come? The fact that this panel alone shows the paper and the water, seems both significant and ominous...

The Second Page:

A massive two-pager, we see a huge wall of water approaching the city, towering high above it, and Attuma and his army with weapons of mass-destruction coming out of said wall of water to attack. Attuma holds a huge hammer in his hand. A-ha! Now we know why that last panel had the shot of the paper and the water. This is deliciously drawn, the water seems overwhelming as it rises above the city and begins to flood it. The figures stalking out of it seem surreal. The Atlantean siege engines and machines tear into structures. Quite terrifying. You get a real sense of just how dangerous this foe and this attack are!

The Third Page:

Attuma, at the crest of a giant wave, springs out to attack a building with his hammer, punching a destructive hole in it. Seen from a distance, it shows off Attuma as a larger-than-life villain, his cape blowing regally behind him (almost reminds me of old-time Magneto, or Doctor Doom, here). The waters are his to command, and his hammer reigns terrible destruction upon all in his way!

Next, a huge ship, a freighter or some such thing, flows down a main street, threatening the soldier and old lady and young girl. Again, Eaglesham gives a great view of just how large this ship is, showing it basically from the viewpoint of those threatened by it. And then, seemingly out of nowhere, they are saved! Sasquatch launched himself into the ship, halting its progress. Hurray for Sas, shown to be one of the strongest individuals there are, and not the wimp he is too often made out to be!Even as Walter holds back the huge boat, the young girl falls off the back of the army truck, swept away by the waters. You can see that she was hanging onto the sleeve of the soldier, and that the sleeve actually rips in her hands. The soldier looks and reaches back, but it looks like it is too late.

The Fourth Page:

A magical protective bubble keeps the water from washing away the rest of the people in the truck; we see Shaman, floating in a cross-legged position, hands out and keeping the barrier intact. One of the authors pointed out in an interview that they had done away with Shaman's headband, which I had not noticed before; it does indeed add more character to the character, as his long hair can now blow freely. Even with the grey streaking his hair, he comes off as seeming to look younger somehow. Meanwhile, the young girl is washed away, her anguished face just above the waterline, her hands stretched out as she hopes and prays for a rescue. Suddenly, a panel showing red arms and white gloves reaching down and plucking her from the waters, the girl's face showing both surprise and awe equally. Next panel shows a muscular (perhaps too muscular?) Heather/Vindicator, swooping into the sky with the youngster cuddled to her.

The Fifth Page:

Heather hovers in a vertical position, seen from behind, the girl still clutched to her, as she watches Shaman lift the truck and people within the bubble up above the raging water. In the distance, smoke curls up from elsewhere in the city. Vindicator's costume is nicely rendered, her Maple Leaf emblem now being the mirror image of Mac's. Her pony-tailed hair blows in the wind. Her butt is...exquisite. As well as the energy field surrounding her, there is also a large tendril of crackling energy that goes form her feet towards the ground; I am wondering if this has something to do with her geo-thermal powers? As Heather deposits the girl into the floating truck (reaching right through an opened hole in Shaman's bubble to do so, a nice effect), a channel 4 newscaster is viewing this from a news helicopter. I like that Eaglesham included a small Canadian pin on her lapel to remind readers that this is Canada. The newscaster also appears to be Asian or part-Asian, which makes since as this seems to be the Pacific coast of Canada. Then, the nasty Attuma throws his nastier hammer, striking the helicopter and separating the tail from the rest of the copter. Heather is nearest as this happens.

The Sixth Page:

Guardian flies through one door of the copter and out the other, rescuing both the reporter and the pilot. Mac is very stern of face as he does so. Notice the good reporter does not drop her microphone? In the background, the shadowy form of the cameraman can be seen to be falling to his certain death...only to be rescued by the willing Vindicator. Even the cameraman managed to hang on to his equipment; amazing! Next panel, the reporter, still in Mac's one arm high above the city, shoves a mic in his face. Guardian manages to look quite annoyed at this. Nice facial expression by Eaglesham, subtle yet obvious. he deposits the two safely onto the roof of a building, where wait (blue or grey) uniformed and helmeted men with "Dept H" written across their backs. One is speaking into a walkie-talkie. Heather comes in quickly and deposits the cameraman there as well; Heather appears to bump into and knock over the reporter. Mac still looks peeved. As the two heroes take off, they face each other. Mac looks a bit relieved, while Heather's expression appears almost joyfully mischievous. The fuming reporter glares up after them, hands on her hips; I guess she never got her interview!

The Seventh Page:

On this page, we get to see the bad-ass Marrina in action; flowing out of the waters, she lands a hard knee to the face of Attuma, while Guardian looks on. Marrina looks great, although her leg fins (parts of her costume) seem to make her feet disappear in these panels, lol. She looks like she really rocked Attuma, who then causes some sort of whirlpool action in the water, and Guardian swoops in to pluck her away (she looks like she is more interested in fighting than in being rescued, she definitely gives the impression of having lots more confidence!) while Attuma menaces the two by pointing his hammer at them. There is a panel showing what must be some interaction between Mac and Marrina; both look like they do not like each other. Mac and Marrina come back and hit Attuma together, he by air and she in a swirl of water, both side-by-side. In the background, Snowbird approaches, only seen as a shadow for now. Again, Attuma has been rocked.

Snowbird descends from the sky, crashing down to earth as a giant white dinosaur that instantly attacks Attuma by attempting to swallow him whole, but managing only to catch one arm and some cape. Again, love the way the cape swirls and twists! In this panel, that hammer looks HUGE.

The Eighth Page:

Sasquatch grabs an Atlantean war machine by one of its squid-like arms and heaves it bodily into a building, smashing it. Hope there was nobody left in that building! Sas looks good in this panel, and in the next where two Atlanteans emerge from the surf and shoot him; Sas looks to howl in pain. Next panel, the two mermen (great expressions and detail here) suddenly are missing their weapons. An extremely beautiful Aurora hangs upside down in the air in front of Sas, firing the mer-weapons, guns a blazing. She looks hot! And is there anything better than seeing a well-drawn Sas in the same panel as a beautiful Aurora?! Priceless! The last panel shows Aurora and Sasquatch leaving, Sas striding off through the water and Aurora, now gunless, floating after him. The same news reporter is reporting this scene live on the news.

All in all, hard to find ANY fault with Eaglesham's work in these pages. Awesome! Can't wait for it to come out!

Lotsa New News!!!!!!

2011-05-06T05:09:00.001-07:00

First up, let me direct you to the newest Marvel Podcast, featuring Pak and Van Lente talking about Alpha Flight:

http://marvel.com/news/story/15820/download_the_alpha_flight_1_podcast

Note To Self: Take out the trash.

Next up, there has been a tonne of artwork released in the last little while. Alpha Flight 0.1 is being released...sometime very soon, this month even!

Note To Self: Remove my "note to self".

Here is some of Ben Oliver's artwork, the artist for the 0.1 issue.

Note To Blog Readers (and Self!): As you can plainly see, Kara Killgrave, now known as Purple Woman, is most definitely 'behaving badly', and seems to be working with the fascist government against Alpha Flight. Naughty naughty, Kara! (Naughty naughty, she's a purple hottie!)

Note To Anybody At All: Kara seems to have absconded Kyle, Northstar's boyfriend, into a giant conglomeration of stacked and smooshed people turned purple. This appears to make Northstar angry. Considering that Pak and Van Lente say Northstar is the main character, I'd say that gives him reason to go off the deep end and go hard after the new Canadian government to get his lover back; either he goes in with (metaphorical) guns blazing, or (more likely) he ends up working for them to save Kyle's life.

Note To Nobody In Particular (Please Oh Please Do NOT Read This!): The new government team, the one tasked with going after the traitorous Alpha Flight, we know that Purple Woman seems to be on it (perhaps even leading it?). We know that Northstar may betray Alpha Flight to save Kyle. We know that the ensuing custody battle between Mac and Heather and "whoever has their baby" (either Heather's parents, or the Canadian government) may cause Heather to betray the team for the sake of her child. And we know that Shaman has hardly been mentioned by the creative team at all, which is odd. And that Puck, who is seemingly not counted as an Alpha Flight member by Pak and Van Lente, has been "changed" by his recent time in Hell, and does definitely appear in this series; but on which side?

Following (as in, below) are some art images from artist Dale Eaglesham, who takes over Alpha Flight after issue 0.1 (with issue 1, to be released on June 8th of 2011):

Note To The Aliens Inside My Right Nostril: There is way to much artwork here, too much of it blindingly amazing in its breath-taking richness and the fullness of the detail, to even begin to discuss right now; although, I may take a stab at it in the next few days. Or, I may just wait until the actual comic comes out...we'll see.

Note To My Psychotherapist: Dear Carrot-Top, I hope you are well (rot in hell!), I am completely over my psychosis now (invertebrates rule!), so go away (is it okay if I pay you in Venetian Rubles?). Sincerely, the not crazy anymore guy.

We also know that the new Canadian team is called Alpha Strike. I am betting that Tigerstryke is on it, perhaps as its leader. Seems to make sense, given the team name and all.

Something else you may have noticed. ATTUMA! Cool! I thought something smelled fishy...

Well, that is all for now from me. So, let me put this question out to y'all; anybody else excited to read and purchase this series?

sneaky sneaksters

2011-04-08T00:57:00.001-07:00

Ya gotta love the internet age. Alpha Flight issue 1 isn’t even out yet (heck, 0.1 ain’t even out yet!), and we already get to see the cover to issue #2, by Phil Jiminez.

Plus, we get to see this Dale Eaglesham variant cover!

Sneaky sneaky sneaky!

Fred Van Lente has been telling us that Puck isn’t likely to appear because he is already being used somewhere else; yet, who is that Canadian dwarf who appears on the variant cover?

FVL has also recently said that Madison Jeffries will not be appearing in Alpha Flight…but that Box might be.

Hmmm…judging by the fact that they are lying about Puck not being in the series…does anybody really know if this statement is truth or just another smokescreen?

Can’t wait, can’t wait, can’t wait!

Hey! Maybe they are bringing back Scramble the Mixed Up Man from the dead, and separating him from Roger Bochs, thereby returning the original Bochs to the Box armour!

Oh man, that’d be sweet…

Next question: Who has the type of power displayed on the regular cover of AF # 2, to be doing that to our Canadian heroes? It is a pretty big explosion, with a hot and bright core; could this be a certain Japanese hero who hung around Department H in AF Volume 2?

(Almost) last thought for now. Puck was last seen in hell. What exactly would he do, to get out of there? Would he, agree to work for the government AGAINST his teammmates, perhaps? Or... ...there is this quote, from the official solicitation: "But as FEAR ITSELF takes over, their own country turns on the Flight and brands them traitors for the shocking actions of one of their closest allies. As the borders close and an entire nation hunts them down, will the newly reunited Alpha Flight survive?" Seems like maybe Puck comes back, doesn't like what is going on, and does something against the government, causing said government to turn on the Flight!

FVL's reveal

2011-04-02T11:11:00.001-07:00

Fred van Lente has revealed that the new Canadian PM who gets elected is none other than Gary Cody, former Alpha liaison.
Gary Cody was declared brain-dead after messing with a very bad baddy (Bedlam) in AF Vol 1.

FVL says that he is back from the dead, due to what Hercules did in Chaos War. Something in the way he said that, makes me think more than just Cody are back from the dead to haunt Alpha Flight. And, since we know that the government forms a super-team to track down Alpha Flight, here are a few names I now think may be on it...

Deadly Ernest
Wild Child
Nemesis
Smart Alec
Breakdown
Ms. Mass
Pestilence
Scramble

My Fave

2011-04-02T00:14:00.000-07:00

My favourite all-time Alpha Flight cover art...

Flight updates!

2011-03-25T13:49:00.000-07:00

The Betrayer, the person who is/was close to Alpha Flight and betrays them, causing them to go on the run, would seem to be none other than...Prime Minister Cody!!!

Wow. Did anybody else see that one coming out of left field?

Some new Eaglesham artwork of various Flight members were posted online by Marvel, but nothing too exciting. Except for Marrina, who is going with a pierced and tattooed punk/goth look that...is a big change...but isn't totally unappealing. Also revealed in Eaglesham's scribblings, it seems to be hinted that there are only tentative plans to use Puck in the series, nothing firm yet (unless that is a red-herring?).

Stay tuned, true believers, comics are about to get exciting again!

Flight Update

2011-03-22T14:09:00.000-07:00

Okay, thanks to AlphaFlight.net for directing my attention to the below points. If you are an Alpha Flight fan and you aren’t paying attention to AlphaFlight.net , then you are mistaken.

According to recent interviews and tweets, Puck is a strong “maybe” to appear in the maxi-series. Where Persuasion (Purple Girl) is, will be revealed. And Beta Flight will definitely make an appearance.

Also, a government-created Alpha Flight team will be going up against our Alpha Flight, and from the image below…

…it looks like Mac might well be leading them!

Also, some cool sketch images from Dale Eaglesham.

The official solicitation…

ALPHA FLIGHT #1 ( of 8 )
Written by GREG PAK & FRED VAN LENTE
Penciled by DALE EAGLESHAM
Cover by PHIL JIMENEZ
FEAR ITSELF TIE-IN

A FEAR ITSELF maxi-series spinoff! Do you fear...your country turning on you? Alpha Flight has long been the protector of an entire nation...but what happens when that nation needs to be protected from itself? New York Times best-selling authors Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente, along with red-hot artist Dale Eaglesham, bring back the team you demanded—the original Alpha Flight! Sasquatch, Snowbird, Northstar and Aurora have been joined by their revived allies Guardian, Vindicator, Shaman, and Marrina as the paragons and protectors of an entire nation. But as FEAR ITSELF takes over, their own country turns on the Flight and brands them traitors for the shocking actions of one of their closest allies. As the borders close and an entire nation hunts them down, will the newly reunited Alpha Flight survive?
40 PGS./Rated T+ ...$3.99

(ON-SALE 6/8/11)

And, it is official, the maxi-series is 9 issues; 8 issues, PLUS the 0.1 to start with (in May).

More Alpha Goodness - news, news, and news!

2011-03-10T13:45:00.000-08:00

Here is the official Marvel solicitation for the first issue [ 0.1 ] of the Alpha Flight maxi-series…

Written by GREG PAK & FRED VAN LENTE Penciled by Ben Oliver Cover by PHIL JIMENEZ
Because YOU demanded it: Exploding out of FEAR ITSELF with an all-new series is the ORIGINAL Alpha Flight by the superstar creative team of writers Greg Pak & Fred Van Lente and artist Dale Eaglesham --- with covers by the incomparable Phil Jimenez! Get in on the ground floor of this highly anticipated maxi-series with this standalone adventure by artist X: Who are Guardian, Vindicator, Sasquatch, Snowbird, Shaman, Northstar, Aurora and Marrina? How did they become their nation's most beloved heroes? And are they strong enough to withstand their greatest challenge yet?

Special POINT ONE issue.

DO YOU FEAR...YOUR COUNTRY TURNING ON YOU?

The following is from an Interview done by Fred Van Lente…

Van Lente: “Alpha Flight is the government-run superhero team, the idols of an entire nation — but precipitated by the events of Fear Itself, that government falls into the hands of a fascist-minded party. Before they know it, the once-beloved super heroes are branded traitors and have to go on the run from the nation that once adored them — and betrayed by one of their own members. Can Alpha Flight figure out who is behind the conspiracy against them — and lead a fight to overthrow their own government — before they’re caught and destroyed themselves?”

And finally, word has come from artist Dale Eaglesham that the maxi-series will have variant covers by Dale, as well as the regular covers by Phil Jiminez.

art update

2011-02-16T14:01:00.000-08:00

According to a recent intervew with Dales Eaglesham, the artist for the Alpha Flight maxi-series, the inker for the series will be Drew Hennessy, and colours will be by Morry Hollowell.

Alpha Flight return IN A SERIES!

2011-02-16T01:19:00.000-08:00

.
.
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Yes, you have heard it correctly…Alpha Flight is returning to its own series!

Alpha Flight will be a maxi-series, eight issues, starting in June of 2011. In May of 2001, a special “.1” episode will come out to introduce the series.

Writers are Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente. Artist is Canadian Dale Eaglesham, and covers on all 8 issues will be by Phil Jimenez. The first four issues will feature the Fear Itself brand on the covers, as the series is launching out of the events of the Fear Itself comic event.
The “Point 1” issue will feature the artistic talents of Ben Oliver.

Fred Van Lente is a huge Alpha Flight fan, while Greg Pak knows next to nothing about them, which FVL promises will bring a richness to the writing process that will keep it both fun and informative. Dale Eaglesham tells us that his knowledge of actual Canadian locales will keep him involved in the whole process, and FVL lets out that the writers are deeply entrenched in figuring out how the Canadian political system works (very well, thank you!).

In the new series, a new government takes over Canada, a facist regime that brands Alpha Flight as traitors and has them on the run from their own government. As well, FVL tells us that one or more people will be working ‘from the inside’ to try to bring about the downfall of Alpha Flight, who will spend the series both trying to figure out who is sabotaging them as well as figuring out who the main villains in this whole thing are.

FVL says that the series will bring together the whole original team from the days of John Byrne, not actually seen working together since X-Men 120. Puck is hinted at as being in the book, although publicly nothing has been officially said yet...

There is a sort of reboot underfoot in many ways, as the writers have decided that the only things that are absolute canon are things John Byrne did and said about and for these characters. Anything Pak and Van Lente do not like about what subsequent writers did to Alpha Flight members or the team as a whole will likely be entirely ignored or at least not commented on. “This is one of those stories that wants to start with a clean slate,” says Pak.

Greg Pak gives props to editor Mark Paniccia, who really championed the book. (Note to self: Put Mark on my Christmas list)

When asked about Wolverine, Namor, The Avengers, or the X-Men showing up in the series, FVL laughed. The writers are keeping quiet about guest appearances, although we’ve been told that one of the four mentioned will be appearing, but which one may be a surprise to us…

FVL notes that the original Alpha Flight #1 back in the 80's sold half a billion copies. The artistic team expects this series to sell well, and hope that if it does then there will be a ninth issue and beyond!

Greg Pak, who, as the non-Alpha-geek of the two writers, should know, says that fans do not need to have read anything Alpha beforehand, nor even Chaos War, to be able to dive right in and appreciate this new series. He goes on to say that some amount of time has passed since Chaos War ends when the story picks up in issue one, and the team is back to being "the glorious defenders of their great nation." FVL mentions the team still is working for Department H, but as a result of Fear Itself there is a change in the Canadian government and "Alpha Flight find themselves to be that country's greatest traitors," and adds they'll need to work to discover who or what is behind the government takeover.

FVL says he is “a walking encyclopedia of Alpha Flight knowledge." The Canadian on the creative crew, Eaglesham, says that Alpha Flight are synonymous with Canada, and that he cannot wait for Alpha Flight to become a “serious contender” in the Marvel Universe; he hopes to “inject a lot of humanity” into the series, Adding “there's a lot of depth to these characters, and a lot of potential."

FVL thinks Alpha Flight is “such a wonderfully colourful bunch. In creating them, John Byrne really gave each of them such an interesting personality." Greg Pak adds that they are loved for their “self-deprecating humour” – I think he is talking about Alpha Flight, not himself and Van Lente!

Greg Pak goes on to say that the series will show “what happens when the government you work for starts doing things you don't like”. He clarifies that the series is perfect to launch out of Fear Itself, because “it's the government they serve going crazy.” FVL adds that “Since we have an entire country to play with, we can do it and do it right.” The two seem to have put some thought into the fun of having a world government that they can do amazing stories through, without having it affect every single comic out there like it would if it was the American government that turned facist. “It's the all-new Canada!" Van Lente said. Which made Eaglesham a little nervous…

While FVL says they are having difficulty in getting Puck released to them for this series, Pak somewhat contradicted this by saying that if the readers buy it and read it expecting to see Puck, they might be quite happy. They heavily hint that Puck will appear in the series…but nowhere is he listed as a part of the Alpha Flight team…

Note: This leads me to believe that Puck is still in Hell, and may even be part of the plot against Alpha Flight!

Northstar will definitely be a full-time member of Alpha Flight from here on out, although the writers remain open to allowing him to be used by X-Men writers should they wish to. Northstar’s boyfriend, Kyle, introduced in X-Men, will also be making an appearance in the new Alpha Flight series.

Van Lente said that while the government turns against Alpha Flight, some members of Alpha Flight side with the government.

Greg Pak lets us know that he and FVL planned for this series when they wrote the Chaos War: Alpha Flight one-shot, and then after the success of that issue they got their plans approved. He adds that this series will not be a comedy, but a clear-cut action-adventure, one that people really need to check out. "It's not a spoof book. It's a big, crazy action-adventure thriller with a big canvass and the world turned on its ear," he says.

It was mentioned, too, that the Canadian government going fascist should not be a surprise, as the end of the original Alpha Flight series helped to set this up.

My thought: Could Joshua Lord (changed from Justin Lord, thanks to the eagle eye of reader Dana) be behind all of this?

Van Lente also says that since time has passed since the end of Chaos War and the resurrection of Alpha Flight (or at least the four dead members who returned to the living), it will be “seamless” for new readers to jump onboard, as they will immediately see signs of Alpha Flight relaxing and all settled into the their new digs.

Pak says "Old time Alpha Flight fans will have a lot of fun seeing everything referencds, but you don't even have to have read an 'Alpha Flight' book before." He adds that in issue one, “All hell breaks loose.” (Note: A reference to Puck, who currently leads the denizens of Hell?) "I love these characters, and it's a total blast to be punching into it," he added.

Eaglesham says "I'm pretty excited to build a Canadian super-team into a force in the mainstream…”

Over the past few years, the most oft-repeated comment from Marvel Editorial has been that they were waiting for the right pitch to make the fan favorite team work in the modern Marvel U. What was the element of this pitch that made this series get the green light? The hard right fascist government story hook didn't hurt, the writers explained. "We're going to play this on a huge scale, and it fits right in with the 'Fear Itself' story line," said Pak, while Van Lente noted that doing such a twist in Canada opened them up for some more story latitude. "We can do this right and in the most intense way possible."

"The other aspect to this isthat this is the original team," Van Lente said, noting that this will be the first appearance of the original team working together as one force on the page maybe ever – a situation brought about by many of the members return from the dead in "Chaos War."

Pak added that the fascist takeover of the Canadian government was hinted at in the end of the original, long-running ‘Alpha Flight’ monthly. "Stories often come out of unexpected contrasts. The stereotype of Canada is not one you'd automatically associate with booming fascism," said Pak.

Here is a sample piece of cover art by Phil Jimenez…

Ben Oliver's wikipedia page…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Oliver

and Ben Oliver’s blog…
http://benoliverart.blogspot.com/

and a cover gallery…
http://comicbookdb.com/creator_covergallery.php?ID=181

Dale Eaglesham’s site…
http://www.daleeaglesham.com/

His wikipedia site…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dale_Eaglesham

and some of his artwork…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dale_Eaglesham

Greg Pak’s site…
http://www.pakbuzz.com/

wikipedia…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Pak

Fred Van Lente’s site…
http://www.fredvanlente.com/

wikipedia…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Van_Lente

Twitter account…
http://twitter.com/fredvanlente

new series with Alpha Flight!

2011-02-15T14:05:00.000-08:00

Okay okay, it's a maxi-series, 8 issues (plus a pre-series .1 issue in May) spinning out of Fear Itself.

Apparently, it is written by Fred Van Lente and Greg Pak (FVL is a huge AF nerd), and it is all about what happens when the original AF team has to deal with a change in the Canadian government. The government goes fascist, and brands the team as traitors, forcing them to go on the run. Someone or someones on the team supports the government and the team needs to figure out who, while still helping the people of the nation who now hates them.

I'll write more later!

In the meantime, check out articles below:

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=30845

http://www.multiversitycomics.com/2011/02/multiversity-comics-presents-fred-van.html

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/fear-itself-tie-in-110215.html

Enjoy!

Go Flight or go home!

They're Alive...Alive...!

2011-01-28T13:58:00.000-08:00

I hear the good word, that as of the end of Chaos War Issue 5 (the last in that series), all four previously dead members of Alpha Flight stay alive. In fact, apparently they are the ONLY ones to return permanently from the dead...

Which leads me to (believe) hope...

That Marvel has plans for Alpha Flight. Why bring 'em back, if not with some good ideas on how to use them moving to the forefront of their evil plans?

Stay tuned, once I have the comic in my clutches, I'll post some more thoughts and some photos (scans of Alpha Flight, not photos of me reading the comic!)...

In the meantime,

Long Live Alpha Flight!

positivity cures death (sort of)

2011-01-07T22:48:00.000-08:00

Has anybody else out there heard of any actual negative reviews for Chaos War: Alpha Flight ?

Yeah, me neither...

So, what happened to the Alpha Flight haters out there (because there must be a couple of them somewhere, right?)?

Huh. Hear that?

Silence.

Positive reviews. An epic one-shot. Team treated with respect. Even Marvel higher-ups saying that if the same creative team wanted to do it, they believe that an Alpha Flight series could fly.

I believe we may just have a Flight rebirth in the works...

In the meantime, I'd like to thank all the people who visited this site recently; I hope you come back, as occasionally I have something intelligent or relevant to say. Thanks again to rplass at http://alphaflightcollector.wordpress.com/ for firing people in my direction.

See y'all on the http://alphaflight.net forum!

Welcome!

2011-01-07T12:48:00.000-08:00

Hello!

If you are looking for the Jim McCann interview from X-Men Curse of the Mutants Spotlight (and a HUGE thank-you to "rplass" over at http://alphaflightcollector.wordpress.com/2011/01/06/alphans-appear-in-x-men-curse-of-the-mutants-spotlight/ for directing people to this site), it can be found at this link;

http://canadas-own-the-flight.blogspot.com/2010/12/chaos-war-alpha-flight-full-review.html

by scrolling to the bottom of the post (as it is posted after a lengthy Chaos War: Alpha Flight review).

Thanks for stopping by! If you like what you see, head back to http://alphaflightcollector.wordpress.com/ and give 'em kudos!

Interview with the creative team

2010-12-16T05:39:00.001-08:00

Here is a link

http://www.alphaflight.net/content.php?416-Interview-Jim-McCann-Reilly-Brown-Chaos-War-Alpha-Flight&nocache=1

to the interview conducted by and on AlphaFlight.net with Reilly Brown and Jim McCann, creators (pencils and words) of Chaos War:Alpha Flight !

A very engaging interview, with two men who are truly fans of the franchise (and salivate at the thought of doing more with them...).

Read it, and enjoy!

Chaos War: Alpha Flight (full review)

2010-12-15T15:10:00.000-08:00

Twenty-three pages of oozing Alpha Flight goodness... aaaaahhhhhh! [very large and loud contented sigh]

Written by Jim McCann
Art by Reilly Brown and Terry Pallot
Colors by Val Staples
Letters by Dave Sharpe
Cover art by Salva Espin and Victor Olazaba

Where oh where oh where to begin? [Note to self - endeavour not to appear to be merely a fanboy, but a serious reviewer.]

First,

the cover

Truth be told, for me, this is one of the worst parts of this issue. I think, were I not an Alpha Flight fan, the cover would turn me off enough that I might not even wish to purchase the comic.

It brings up memories of too many piss-poor artists who were previously pushed onto the Alpha Flight franchise. The style is silly, the figures are all out of proportion, the expressions are stupid and almost all the same. Could have really done with better and more established (I am guessing Espin and Olazaba are newcomers?) cover artists!

That being said, the actual layout or overall vision of the cover picture is good; the living Alphans in front, charging into action, with the iconic headshots of the four dead Alphans who appear inside floating in the clouds looking on. A cool concept...just poorly executed.

Were I to give the cover a rating out of ten, ten being highest, this cover would rank a 4/10.

Interior art, by Brown and Pallot, is much better. Perfect? No, not by a long shot. Still not my favourite style, too much anime influence. But the attention to detail is quite amazing. For instance,

I love the way Snowbird's body twists

in the second panel of the second page of action. And the following panels, where

her mother is killed

, is awesome; the look on her face, her hair, her jewelry, even the blood splatter, all drawn in an expert manner! [Note: I'm not sure if Narya has ever looked this good, since John Byrne himself drew her!] Page six, the big reveal panel where

the dead members walk

into the land of the living, is amazing; they all look so happy to be back (and when is the last time you saw Shaman smile?)! Page seven,

the hugs

between Heather and Northstar and Snowbird and Shaman...brought a tear to my eye. Page ten, the huge scene of the Chaos King's

thingies tearing

into the Great Beasts; everyone watching, Shaman helping Narya to her feet, she with barely contained rage (as seen in her clenched fist), he acting like the concerned father helping her up off the ground...Page fourteen, Marrina in her

vortex of water

...Page seventeen,

the close-up

of Heather...And page 22, the last panel on the page is another

iconic

image...

The details are amazing. Unfortunately, I still am not a big fan of a lot of the facial imagery, something about the style used just turns my stomach a bit. It's like...were there actually two artists, one who draws faces well and one who doesn't? And Sasquatch...sigh. Look, I get it, he's hard to draw! But, geez...was that seriously the best those two could do with him? His face was all wrong, proportions totally off. The arms have to be longer, like an orangutan. And you need to find a way to make him look fiercer when he is in battle. Yes, he is orange and cuddly when he smiles, but when he snarls, he should look bad-arse!

As far as interior art goes on this issue, were I to give it a rating out of ten (again, with ten being the highest), I would rate it 8/10. They got much right. Just not Sasquatch. Any other marks that came off their final score, would have just simply been for me not liking the style used so much...

Things I like that I noticed in this issue...

Page two, Snowbird is referred to correctly as Narya. Also, it is pointed out to the reader that only Snowbird can travel between dimensions, the Inuit gods cannot. Page three, the land of the Great Beasts is colourless (again, correct!). And the Great Beasts are well-drawn. Interesting that they refer to themselves as the "gods of the elder night", a term I have not heard before in reference to them. I'm not quite sure what exactly it is that

Sas brings them

on the last panel of page three, but I am willing to bet that one panel was well-researched and totally in keeping with canon and continuity for Alpha Flight! On page four, Sasquatch is shown images of dead loved ones; I am trying to figure out

who they all are

. I see AF on the right. Is that Saint Elmo next to them, with the beard? Who else is there? I note that Snowbird says, on page five, that her "family is dying", NOT that they are already dead, so perhaps they will not be eternally-wiped-from-existence. Page seven, Mac says it's good to be alive, "Again, again." LOL. Also on that same page,

Aurora hugs Sas

(in a classic pose for those two) while Northstar looks on (wish we could have seen his face in this panel!), and the panel where they realize Puck is

beyond their reach

is great, Shaman looks so lost looking at his hands while Narya stands by supporting him, Marrina hugs herself quietly, Sas looks anguished as he cries out Puck's name, and Heather and Mac stare at the ground and mourn silently as they hold hands. Page 8, the way Narya says "Files" in quotations,she reminds us all that she is a god (demi-god) and above mortals, there is both some attitude towards Heather in how she states that and also there is the fact she is hurting inside from the attack on her kin. Page eleven, and the AF infighting has begun! Snowbird and Sasquatch argue. Then Sasquatch and Northstar argue. Love it! Page eleven lists the fact that the Great Beasts need to be on our plane for twenty minutes before being restored to full power. On page fifteen, Aurora and Northstar butt heads over their involvement with the X-Men versus their place with Alpha Flight. Mac brings up his and Heather's daughter ( I really think she should have done that, not him!). And Snowbird turns her back on saving Somon from death on page 16. Page 18, we see Marrina slowly losing control and becoming more of a plodex beast again. And there's Sas's anger when he realizes that the dead Alphans are trying to sacrifice themselves again. Page 19, lol, why Northstar attacks Mac and tells him Heather is a better leader...I don't know WHY he does this, but it sure is funny! It is strange, how on page 21 Marrina is now all calm and under control, almost like banishing the Great Beasts did away with whatever was tainting her.

There were a lot of great moments in this issue. Alpha Flight fans cannot help but be encouraged. Jim McCann did a splendid job with writing the characters, he treated them with respect. The issue went by very quickly, I wish it had been double-sized or something, but it was very, very, very good nonetheless.

As far as intangibles go, in that I mean did the writing (and art) stay true to what Alpha Flight was all about? In this, were I to give it a rating out of ten, with ten being the highest, I would rate it 10/10.

As far as the actual script, and the plot, considering this was a one-shot spun out of a larger event, I'd once again have to give it a 10/10 due to the way Alpha Flight was treated.

There were some disappointments, although they were so overshadwoed by the highs that I hate to even discuss them...but I will anyways. Puck being absent...sucked. The fact that the other AFers who died in NA#16 did not get resurrected too, and Shaman's explanation that they "were with" him, and then suddenly when the Chaos King's forces attacked...what, he lost them? It was weak; understandable, but weak. As much as I loved seeing Aurora, I almost wish she hadn't been so close to Walter, hugging him and stuff, or that Northstar had blown up and attacked Walt again becuz of it. Also, as good as she looked, I missed her red designed outfit from her little tete-a-tete with Norman Osbourne...More info on how Shaman got his medicine pouch back, why Mac and Heather are suddenly lookin' lovey again after all they have gone through, whether or not Mac is a clone or a cyborg or a real person or a 19 year old would have been good to know, and at least SOME mention of Elizabeth by Shaman would have been expected (as well as an appearance). And Heather`s suit, and her powers? Hmm...oh well, I liked it anyways!

But, it is hard to complain, really. Overall, it is hardly worth it (complaining, I mean). What Jim McCann did, in one single issue, was to breathe hope back into a dead franchise! Amazing job, Mr McCann!

Of course, the best part of the Chaos War:Alpha Flight one-shot comic book, is that it exists! The second best thing about it, is that Alpha Flight is in it. The third best thing, is that Alpha Flight is alive again, and back together (or nearly so - poor Puck...). So, the fact that it was beautifully written, and the characters were handled respectfully (and they stayed true to their character), is an absolute blessing on the side.

All in all, I would recommend this issue to any fan of the Flight. Here is hoping Mr. McCann gets a chance to write more great Alpha Flight stories!

My final rankings...

Story - 10/10
Art - 8/10
Intangibles - 10/10

Grand Total Rating - 28/30 !!!

Cheers! And long live Alpha Flight!

Note: Some described images above can be clicked on to reveal a scan of the actual image. Yes, they are links!

Below, I am also including a short interview conducted with Jim McCann in the pages of X-Men Curse of the Mutants Spotlight issue. Yer welcome!

better review, but...

2010-12-12T04:27:00.000-08:00

My review, quickie though it was, of the Alpha Flight Chaos War comic was, shall we say, mildly humdrum; it had good points, and it had bad.

My review of Wolverine issue 3, guest-starring Puck, showed that i hated, deplored, and detested this comic and all that it stood for.

By contrast, Dead Avengers issue 1 was all that a good comic book could hope to be. Amusing, informing, well-written, well-drawn, not too rushed feeling, and with excellent and interesting characters, it drew me in and had me wanting more.

Just so that nobody thinks I am just on a negative kick right now...

Wolverine Issue # 3

2010-12-12T03:16:00.000-08:00

Just read issue 3 of Wolverine. It (guest-)stars Puck, which is why I bought it.

The content - hated it.
The plot - hated it.
The script - hated it.
The art - completely sucked.
Puck - only on one page. Hated the way they drew him. And he isn't very heroic, now, is he? Well, that is just WRONG!

All in all, this was a waste of time and money. Both of which I wish I had back.

A Quick Review

2010-12-12T02:50:00.001-08:00

First thoughts, having just finished reading the "Chaos War: Alpha Flight" one-shot comic book.

The plot was decent, if feeling a bit rushed throughout.

The interaction between the characters was fairly believeable, if feeling a bit rushed.

The art was...not my style preference. Too close to anime for my tastes. Sasquatch's body looked fine, but his head looked gimpy.

The fact that Puck was never seen (only briefly mentioned in one or two panels) was lame.

The fact that Sasquatch almost seemed to take over leadership of the team on the last page, was inappropriate.

The non-appearances of Diamond Lil' and Smart Alec and Wild Child,was forgiveable, but may have been a mistake in the long run. Bringing back thse characters, as well as the others (plus Puck!), might have been a smarter long-term plan of action.

The sense of each Alphan grating on the others was well-handled, as well as the mentioning of Mac and Heather's child. Having Shaman not ask about Talisman (and not having her appear) was odd, to say the least...

All in all, I am happy they are back. The book was mighty okay, and the bringing back of Alpha Flight was an awesome idea (not killing them in the first place, would have been even awesomer).

Cheers!

excitement building...

2010-12-10T15:16:00.000-08:00

Just got my parcel notice in the mailbox today. That means that tomorrow, after 1pm, I can go and pick up my copy of the one-shot return of Alpha Flight comic.

Which means that, after work tomorrow night, I can finally read it!

YAY!

New Flight Fan-Fic by Flightpath07

2010-12-02T02:28:00.000-08:00

This is a small piece of new Fan-Fiction written by myself.

Three chapters, followed by a short breakdown of who is on the team.

Enjoy!

Chapter One

A scene inside a government penitentiary, maximum security. Outside, heavily armed and armoured guards, high stone walls, guards towers, machine gun posts, barb-wire, everybody on high alert at all times. Inside, cold and starkly barren white walls, fluorescent lights, long corridors broken up only by the many sets of floor-to-ceiling iron bars and the heavy and thick metal doors.

One large room, where a group of three distinguished individuals are seated on a platform behind a long table; all three are frowning heavily.

The man in the middle clears his throat and looks up from the papers before him.

“Mister Cody, this is an extremely unusual request you have brought before us today.”

The slight man with the strong spectacles stood up, from behind a small table in front of and to the side of the three member panel. His reddish-brown hair was receding, although he was still only in his very early-forties. His moustache was small and pencil thin. But his voice was the opposite of what one would expect from this man, as it boomed out with good-natured confidence.

“Yes, and I am thankful that you have taken the time today to review my work with your…guest here. The fact that you have allowed me the time to interview him extensively these last few weeks, gives me great hope that you are going to allow me to continue on the work of my brother, Gary. After all, if you didn’t believe in what I have been doing with Mr. Cassidy, I don’t think you would have invited me here to his parole hearing. I stand by my research, my stated goals, and my strong belief that I can make this work. And my government stands behind me, as well. Gentlemen and lady…I respectfully await your approval.”

The man in the middle takes off his glasses and rubs the bridge of his nose. The woman to his left leans forward, elbows on the table, and speaks.

“And what of you, Mr. Cassidy? What do you think of all this? Are you in agreement that this…job opportunity…that is waiting for you on the other side of these walls…that this is something that is to your liking, something you can throw yourself behind?”

Gordon Cody sits back down. Only his one hand rubbing his chin betrays any sign of his nervousness, as he looks over to the table that is facing the three on the podium.

The man in the orange prison jumpsuit looks up. He begins to rise from his chair, causing the two guards on either side of him to react, one hitting him in the stomach with a nightstick and the pressing a Tazer to his side and jolting him with electricity. He sinks back into his chair with a loud groan, his head slumping forward and whacking on the table in front of him.

The distinguished woman waves irritably at the two guards. “For the love of pete, let him stand up and speak for himself, would you! The man could be a free man tomorrow; at least do him the courtesy of not hitting him until he actually tries to make a break for it, would you please?”

Gordon Cody chews on his bottom lip.

After a few moments, the man in orange raises his head again. He looks at the table with the three people behind it, then glances over at Gordon Cody. Looking forward again, he slowly rises to his feet. Gordon Cody wonders to himself if he is the only one who notices the way the man glances at his two guards out of the corners of his eyes as he does so…

He reaches his feet. His hands are shackled in front of him; his feet are bare on the cold floor. His hair is short, dark, so dark as to be pitch black, and parted in the middle. His nose is thin and pointed. His eyebrows are dark and thick. His moustache and pointed goatee are neatly trimmed. He has a strong face, one many women would find handsome. Then he scowls briefly, and for just one small moment his rugged handsomeness is lost in one small look of regal rage, and then the look disappears. He breathes in deeply, and address the three he is facing, in his Irish accent.

“Aye…I’m ready to be out of here, that is for sure. But there is more to my story than that…my story of redemption, as it were. It is a long story, to be sure, and it had its roots a long time ago. But of late, there be nothing more I have wanted to do, aye, nothing a’tall more precious to me, than hearing the wondrous offer Mr Cody has so generously extended to me on behalf of his Canadian government. Once, I was called Black Tom Cassidy. And I reckon that I always will, what with my dark hair and all. But the blackness that was in my heart for so long…that is a part of me that I have said good riddance to. So, when y’ask me if’n I’m ready to go out and conquer me demons, the answer is a firm and resounding aye. Aye, I’m ready. The government of Canada is putting itself in a predicament, trusting an ex-con to be a part of their new Alpha Flight team. But Black Tom appreciates what they are doin’ for him, and Black Tom’ll make sure he plays by the rules, all the rules, that’s for sure.”

And with that, he sat back down.

Gordon Cody bit his bottom lip again. He glanced at the table. The three at the big table put their heads together, and some whispering ensued. The man in the middle was frowning and gesturing as he shook his head. The man to his right, dressed in the white coat that proclaimed him of the medical profession, stabbed his pencil repeatedly at the clipboard full of papers that he pushed towards the man in the middle. The woman to his left put her hand over his and spoke softly, but firmly.

The deliberating took barely four minutes, but felt like it lasted a lifetime.

At last, the man in the center stood up. “Prisoner Tom Cassidy, you may rise now,” he said. The woman to his left glared at him; he glanced at her, then cleared his throat as Tom Cassidy got slowly to his feet.

“Black Tom Cassidy, this institution finds you to be a free man, your debt to society paid at this time. As of noon tomorrow, you are to be remanded into the custody of the Canadian government, and her representative Mr. Gordon Cody, and are to be flown directly to Canada once released by this penal institution. There, as per the agreement laid out, you are to remain for the full three years of your probation, and not to exit that country except as your work demands. Should you ever be found on American soil, for a non-work-related incident, you will be locked up and incarcerated for the rest of your natural life, if there is any justice at all.” The man leaned over and stamped a piece of paper in front of him. “Black Tom, let us never see your troubled face again. Dismissed!”

Black Tom Cassidy let out a sigh of relief, and Gordon Cody’s face beamed out a smile bright enough to grow plants under.

“May I have a word with Tom?” asked Special Agent Cody, of Canada’s Hudson Department, of the three figures behind the desk. The woman smiled, and answered him; “You can walk with him as far as the security area. He is back to his cell tonight, but he’s all your tomorrow at noon. Take good care of him, Mr. Cody…we really hope we never see him behind these walls again.”

Gordon nodded and ran to catch up to Black Tom as his guards escorted him from the room and into the hallway. The two guards fell back ten feet behind as Gordon and Tom walked together.

“I hope you are ready for this, Tom. This is your big chance, your last and best chance to make a go of it…”

Black Tom Cassidy smiled at the suited Canadian. “Aye, I know all that. And I am truly thankful for this opportunity, I am. Please tell your government just how happy I am to be serving under them, would you?”

Gordon nodded. “I will do that.”

“As much as I appreciate you and your government working out this plan for me, taking these risks to set up this chance for me…”

He paused. When he did not continue, Gordon glanced at expectantly him as they walked.

“Your government did do for me that other favour that I asked of them, didn’t they Mr. Cody?” asked Black Tom.

“Of course they did, Tom. He is waiting for you in Canada. Knowing how he feels about you, he’ll probably be the first person to greet you when you disembark the plane.”

“Ah, that’s good to hear!” smiled Tom.

“But that is not what you were going to say, is it, Tom? You were mentioning something about us setting up this chance for you, then you stopped. Are you going to finish that thought, or do I have to get it out of you in more therapy sessions?”

“Nah, I’ll yell ye. As long as me old pal Juggs is on-board for this Canadian superhero thing, I’m not goin’ to hide nothin’ from ya, Gordon. See, I was just thinking that you and the government put all this work in to give me a second chance, and how nice that is of you to do. But…did you notice how close that vote was to release me?”

Gordon Cody nodded. “Looks like your doctor was on your side, but the two other chair-people were divided. The director didn’t seem to trust your rehabilitation too much.”

“Aye, I’m thinkin’ it was the vote of Ms. Dancey that swung it in my favour. She’s mainly in charge of the paperwork here at this prison; did you know that, Mr. Cody? But she is also a qualified psychiatrist herself. A very smart woman, that one. She should be running this place, not that dumbbell Director Stacey Cookson!”

“Cookson…that was the guy in the middle, then; didn’t remember his name. But…what does this have to do, exactly, with my government taking a chance on you? I’m not understanding.”

As they were getting close to a large metal door set into the hallway, Black Tom slowed his walking pace. He faced partially towards Special Agent Cody. “Black Tom never leaves anything to chance. If hers was the swing vote, then it is a good thing that Black Tom slept with her last week, isn’t it?” He smiled, and winked, then stepped closer to the metal door. The two guards had caught up by now, and pushed past Cody, who was standing stil and nodding to himself. ‘Smart,’ he thought. ‘Very smart indeed. Just as smart as I thought he was, and more so!’

Chapter Two

The interior of a building in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Looks like an unused office building of some sort. Many cubicles, but nobody working.

A hallway, with a water cooler and some dead potted plants in it. Just around the corner form it, comes the sound of a loud machine humming, followed by the sound of a falling can. Seconds later, a shout.

Snowbird, in full uniform, comes around the corner towards the water cooler, dripping wet with a dark coloured liquid running off her face. She is NOT smiling.

She half turns behind her as she marches past the water cooler, throwing words over her shoulder angrily. “I can open my own stupid can of cola, you know! There’s no NEED for you to follow me around, and then slice open my can of pop with those stupid bone-blades of yours! Stop following me, and leave me alone!!!”

She storms by the water cooler, and around another corner and off. Following her at a quick jog comes none other than Yukon Jack, dressed in his fur loincloth. The tattooed black symbols on his arms and chests are glowing. He stops in front of the water cooler, staring at it with a puzzled expression. He pokes it hard, with one finger, and the bottle jiggles and the water within swishes around. Yukon Jack stares for a few more seconds, then shrugs and hurries off after Snowbird, calling after her; “You should be happy, wife, that a god such as myself would love you enough to stoop to opening cans of soda pop for you…”

As he steps around the corner she previously went around, her voice, very angry, comes floating back towards the water cooler. “I am…NOT…your wife, and you are…NOT…a god. Now…stop….following…me!” As the last word came out, there was a pause, followed by the angry roar of a polar bear, and Yukon Jack hurried back around the corner and went back in the direction he had come from.

In another part of the same building, in a much quieter section. James MacDonald Hudson, Mac to his friends, stepped off an elevator. He was dressed in a brown suit, the tie loosened and hanging askew. A greasy wrench and some hastily folded papers were half falling out of his pocket.

Beside him walked the man known as Puck. He wore his Alpha Flight costume, but with the headpiece pushed back and hanging limply behind him.

“You sure this is going to work out alright, Mac?” asked Puck.

“Eugene, the one thing I am sure of in life, is that you can never be sure of anything.”

Eugene Milton Judd nodded, but said nothing.

Mac continued. “We’ve all been through a hell of a lot lately…no pun intended.” Judd noticeably shuddered. “But, my diminutive friend, we’re here, we’re alive, and our country wants us. And this time, their plan at least sounds like it might work.”

The two walked slowly down the hallway together. Finally, Judd spoke.

“Yeah, but we just get everybody back together, back and in the land of the living, and already so many have gone their separate ways…”

Mac nodded sagely. “The times, they are a-changin’, Puck. We’re all getting older, and we have been through a lot. Some of us…need more time than others to sort out what has happened, figure out who they are and what they want to accomplish. We wouldn’t be friends if we didn’t allow them that space, now would we?”

A distant sound of machinery running, power tools being used, was gradually growing louder as they walked.

Mac continued. “Heather and I, while still legally married…we are not really much of a couple anymore. She’s gone off to her folks place, and rightly so – she has a child to take care of. She needs time. She may be back. I think she’ll be back. But only time will tell us that answer. Walter…well, Walter saw us all die, and he had to live through that pain. I can see it in his eyes…its haunted him. I can’t blame him for saying he wants out of the hero game for now. Walter’s a scientist, and a teacher, and that is what he wants to be. Being a hero was never part of Walter’s plan, you know that as well as I do, Eugene. I wish him well. We’ll miss him; we’ll miss him a lot.”

“And the others, too,” said Judd. The sound of the machinery was now louder.

“Again, Marrina is feeling traumatized. She is the last of her race on this planet. She has been used and abused by her own genetic makeup. She loved, and was subsequently killed by the man she loved. I wish she had stuck around with us, but she needs to go and figure out who she is. Shaman wants to spend time with his daughter, Elizabeth, for the time being, but has promised us that if we should have need of him, he will answer our call. He also mentioned that he wished to track down Earthmover and find out what happened to his one-time protégé, Michael mentioned something about him having too much power and how it was dangerous for him to be left alone with it. Northstar, I never figured he’d stay with us. Apparently he feels he has a good thing going in San Francisco, so he buggered off again…”

“Leaving his sister here!” interjected Puck.

Mac continued. “Yes, that was a surprise. To be honest, I think she only decided to stay after she heard that Walter wasn’t staying. I guess there is a lot of painful history there, still…Lil is dead, I’ve been told. Unlike us, she didn’t get a second chance. That’s a real shame. Nice of Madison to tell us, though. Even nicer of him to come by and help us with our work for a few days; his help really speeded things up in our work. Rachelle and I have it almost all done now, whereas it would have taken us months to accomplish it without his powers assisting us…”

“Which brings us to the new team members, as well as some who have been with us before” said Judd, grinding to a halt in front of a closed metal door. The cacophony of metal screeches and grinding noises came from within.

Mac faced him. “Murmur was a good suggestion on your part, Judd. I’m glad you tracked her down and brought her into the fold. She’s not much older than Rachelle is, which should really help her to fit in with us. I can’t wait for you to meet her.”

“And what about the criminals?” asked Puck bluntly.

Mac frowned. “I thought you would have more compassion on them, Eugene, seeing as how you were once one of them as well. Black Tom Cassidy needed a place to call home. He seemed to be working very hard at rehabilitation while in prison, and had expressed remorse many times over what has happened in his past. Both he and his pal the Juggernaut are a risk, but I think they are good risks for Alpha Flight at this time. Agent Cody and Black Tom should be in the air as we speak, and Aurora and Juggernaut are waiting to meet them at the Ottawa International Airport. They are the last of the team to arrive.”

The metal door suddenly opened, and the red-headed woman who came out almost collided with the two in the hallway. “There you are, Mac!” she cried out, hands on hips. “Hurry up, we need to finish the Box robot so I can take it for a trial run!”

Her red hair was all one length, and fell to the top of the shoulders. Her eyes were blue. She was dressed in a stained white t-shirt, blue denim overalls with grease all over the front of them, and combat boots, and she held a cordless drill in her left hand. And she couldn’t be more than 17 years old, thought Puck to himself.

“Eugene Milton Judd, I’d like you to meet Rachelle Allison Bochs. Rachelle, this is the living legend known as Puck. Eugene, this is the pilot for our new Box robot, and the daughter of the late Roger Bochs himself.”

Rachelle flashed a bright smile, and leaned over slightly and held out her hand to shake with Judd. “I am very pleased to meet you, Mr. Puck. I am going to carry on my father’s legacy. Oh, and I’m 19 years old, by the way, just turned last month.”

Puck stared at her slack-jawed as he released her hand. She shrugged. “I always get asked that; it’s just commonplace for me to tell people my age now.” She glanced back at Mac. “Mac; are you ready to finish up my robot and get her into the air?”

Mac smiled kindly at her. “Let’s get to it!” he said, and the two stepped through the door and it closed hard behind them.

Puck turned and began the walk back to the elevator. He began to mutter aloud to himself. “Two convicts, in Juggernaut and Black Tom Cassidy. A woman who may or may not have split personalities, in Aurora, but at least we are familiar with her. An Inuit goddess in Snowbird, and a strange man who behaves like he is a god, in Yukon Jack. Then there’s me, and then there’s Mac. Then we’ve got the young and inexperienced daughter of a dead Alphan in this Rachelle Bochs, and Murmur, who unfortunately has shown a strange need for physical contact with people. Hmm…yeah, Mac, that’s one big happy family, all right…” Puck sighed. “Oh well. It’s Alpha Flight, and that means it is home.”

Chapter Three

“So, you’re ready then?” asked Mac.

“Ready,” answered Rachelle.

“Okay, just two tests left, then you are certified good-to-go!”

Rachelle stood beside the van in the middle of the empty field. She was dressed in a white front-zippered jumpsuit with a red maple leaf over the left breast, and the same combat boots as before. She glanced inside, where Mac sat at a computer terminal, he now wearing his Guardian battlesuit.

“Um…Mac? Are we going to do this…anytime soon?”

“Oh, sorry.” Mac shook his head. “Just lost in thought. Alright…um, weapons check, then?”

“That’s what I am here for!” the redheaded teenager announced with a big smile.

“Okay…target is that haystack at the other end of the field. Whenever you are ready, let’s give this tin can a go!” said Mac.

She nodded, and stepped away from the van several feet. “Weapons test in three…two…one…test away!”

With that, she reached up and grabbed the zipper of her jumpsuit and quickly unzipped it to her belly. She grabbed both halves of the jumpsuit and pulled it slightly apart at the chest. Two round holes appeared, one over the other, in the middle of her chest, where previously there had been just skin. From these two holes fired two rockets, streaking over the ground, and exploding downfield in a fiery shower of burnt hay.

“Awesome!” cried Mac, crawling out of the van. He stepped over to her and high-fived the teenager. “Rachelle, that worked great! Did you see that!?!”

She hurriedly zipped back up her jumpsuit.

Mac noticed. “Oh, hey, don’t worry about it. Nothing I haven’t seen before, anyways. Heck, I built some of it!”

He bit his bottom lip, hard, as he noticed her blush.

“Really, Rachelle, that worked great. Those chest rockets are a thing of wonder. Your Dad designed those…just perfect. Um…we are going to have to re-design your uniform, however. Hmm…”

“Side zippers,” said Rachelle, looking at him. “Side zippers, so I can get in and out of the costume. Do away with the front zipper, put a hole between the…well, between the boobs, a hole in the costume, just skin showing through there, so I can fire these off without torching my costume in the mix!”

“Yup, that’ll work,” said Mac. “You’ve got a really good brain in there, Rachelle.”

She shrugged. “Only thing that is an original part, actually.” She smiled. “Okay, so the weapons are a go. And we have already checked the legs,” she said, raising one leg in the air, and then smiling as it quickly shot out and extended ten feet. She reeled her leg back in and put it down. “And, the arms, too” she said, raising an arm and also extending it out to ten feet and then back.

“And we’ve already seen you lift the van over your head,” said James MacDonald Hudson. “This robot body isn’t as strong as your Dad’s was, but it isn’t exactly weak, either.”

“And it is a heck of a lot better looking,” said Rachelle with a laugh.

Mac put an arm around her. “Your Dad did a good job keeping you safe. He loved you very much. He designed robots for a living, and he did it all for you.”

“Stupid disease,” said Rachelle Bochs. “But my Dad and I, we beat it in the end. It may have taken my body, but with my brain transplanted into this robot body…ha! Now I get to fight crime and be a hero! How cool is that?!”

“Alright,” said Mac as he took off into the air. He called back down at her. “Get those booster rockets firing, and let’s see how you manoeuvre up in my element!”

There came a rumbling, the ground under Rachelle’s combat boots began to grow hot, and then she slowly rose into the air…

The new Alpha Flight

1. Guardian - James "Mac" MacDonald Hudson

2. Puck - Eugene Milton Judd

3. Snowbird - Narya/Anne MacKenzie

4. Aurora - Jeanne-Marie Beaubier

5. Box - Rachelle Allison Bochs
- 19 year old daughter of the late Roger Bochs. She, with the help of Mac, and Madison Jeffries, created her own version of the Box robot that houses her brain, the rest of her teenage body having been destroyed by disease. It has flight abilities, strength, chest rockets for weapons, and hyper-extension of both arms and legs.

6. Yukon Jack - Yukotujakzurjimozoata
- Yukon Jack can manipulate and enlarge the bone pieces which normally rest over his body, which can apparently slice through anything at will. He also has the power to emit light from his hand, possibly related to the telekinetic bone manipulation. He is a very skilled hand to hand fighter, usually fighting with a very strong and durable bone knife. He is apparently immune to temperature changes despite wearing little more than a loincloth. (from WIKIPEDIA)

7. Murmur - Arlette Truffaut
- Psionic ability that allows her to manipulate others upon physical contact; by touching them they are completely under her control and obey verbal commands. May have other, unknown or unexplained, powers as well?

8. Black Tom Cassidy - Thomas Samuel Eamon Cassidy
- Black Tom is a mutant whose principal power is the ability to generate and discharge concussive blasts of force and heat through any wooden medium. He typically carrisd a shillelagh, a traditional Irish wooden fighting stick, which he uses as a focus for his power. He was immune to Banshee's sonic powers, as each other's powers cancel each other out on contact. Black Tom is a good hand-to-hand combatant, and skilled with bladed weapons: he has carried a sword and battle-axe on occasion. He is also a master of terrorist strategies and tactics.

9. Juggernaut - Cain Marko (stepbrother of Charles Xavier)
- When Cain Marko finds the Gem of the mystical entity Cyttorak, he is empowered with magical energies and transformed into an immortal avatar.As the Juggernaut, Marko possesses superhuman strength, being capable of shattering mountains,lifting and using buildings as weapons,and extreme durability,which is also amplified by a mystical force field that grants invulnerability (at its maximum).When the force field has been temporarily absorbed by Thor's Hammer, the Juggernaut's natural durability proved to be great enough to withstand blows from Thor.The Juggernaut is described as physically unstoppable once in motion,does not tire from physical activity and is able to survive without food, water, or oxygen.The character, however, is vulnerable to mental attacks, a weakness that has been exploited via the removal of his helmet.The Juggernaut has circumvented this weakness by on occasion wearing a metal skullcap inside his main helmet.If Juggernaut loses his helmet he can recreate it by touching certain materials (as long as he possesses the full power of the gem). (from WIKIPEDIA)

10. Shaman - Michael Twoyoungmen
- reserve member of the new Alpha Flight.

Sasquatch link!

2010-11-17T22:00:00.000-08:00

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid16671794001?bctid=665778631001

If all goes well (oh please oh please oh please), this should link to an episode of the 1996 Animatedn show The Hulk, to an episode that guest-stars Sasquatch of Alpha Flight!

The Future of The Flight

2010-10-07T00:25:00.000-07:00

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The Future of The Flight:

With AF coming back together for the Chaos War: Alpha Flight one-shot, and with Mac and Heather and Shaman and Marina returning from the dead to join with Sasquatch, Snowbird, Northstar and Aurora, plus with Puck showing up and fighting alongside (?) Wolverine in Hell in Wolverine issue 3, this seems like as good a time as any to speak about what the future of Alpha Flight is (or should be).

It has been said before that Alpha Flight is a family. A bit of a dysfunctional one, but a family nonetheless.

Well, a team of costumed freaks does not a family make. A team of costumed freaks is nothing more than “a job”, not a family. The only way to show the family relationships between the members of Alpha Flight, is to spend just as much time showing their lives away from the masks and capes as they do showing them wearing them. I want to see my heroes interact with each other at coffee shops, at gold tournaments, during a night of drinking, at the local shopping mall, and at the beach. I want to see them paying their bills, just as much as I want to see them kicking Stilt-Man’s arse.

I want my heroes to be, first and foremost, people. Because people matter, more than heroes do.

So, what I want to see the people who are tasked with writing and drawing The Flight do, is to take that into account. Less fights with super-villains, and more real life stuff. I want to know and care about them as people first, and as heroes second.

And I want Alpha Flight’s reaction to the death of Diamond Lil. I want their reaction to the fact that Wolverine never came to pay his respects when they all died. I want their reaction to Sasquatch drinking himself silly after their deaths and then forming a group called OMEGA Flight that included their killer and a couple of American heroes.

I want to know what they think, and what makes them tick. Then, and only then, do I want to see them go and toss around The Master or The Great Beasts.

I want my Alpha Flight back, the way they were intended to be written; As people.

Because, without this, there is no future for Alpha Flight.

the news takes a tune for the best - Alpha Flight returns!

2010-09-09T20:28:00.001-07:00

Well, I have been remiss in keeping this site up-to-date with Alpha happenings.

Alpha Flight is returning! Yes, seriously!

Back from the dead, due to the Chaos War arc sweeping across Marvel comics, the Alpha Flight one-shot entitled CHAOS WAR: ALPHA FLIGHT, written by Jim McCann, Guardian and Vindicator (or at least Heather Hudson), Shaman and Marrina all return from the dead to the land of the living. They team up with Snowbird, Sasquatch, and the twin speedsters Aurora and Northstar, to reform Alpha Flight...at least for now.

As for Puck, he is apprently still dead, but for reasons unknown. However, he is appearing in Wolverine issue 3 (due out November 2010, same as the AF one-shot), helping the apparently deceased Wolverine somehow...?...

Well, that's all i gots for now! Other than to say that Mr McCann has admitted to beign a huge fan of the original Alpha Flight who would love to tell more of their stories. And Marvel SEEMS to be softening their stance on "Alpha Flight can't work, and so won't be back", that is for sure!

Stay tuned, true believers and Flight fans!

News!

2010-08-30T19:34:00.000-07:00

So...I guess I am soon going to have to comment here on the soon-coming resurrection of the original Alpha Flight, their one-shot comic coming out soon, and the possibility of a new AF series being published in the next year or so.

Exciting things are happening.

And I will get to them all, when I have a spare moment. For the most part, I have been without a computer for the last four months or so (give or take), so you will have to bear with me a little bit longer...

Or "bare" with me, if you'd prefer. :) ;) :)

AF Volume I, a series in review by Dredd Sweet (aka Flightpath07)

2010-08-19T21:17:00.000-07:00

Alpha Flight.

Different people see it differently.

So, here is my stab at saying what it is that I like about different issues.

The following is my review of the Alpha Flight Volume I series.

It is not lengthy. I tried very hard to keep it short. I decided to forgo pictures of the covers of each issue, at least for now.

I break the series down, ten issues at a time. I assign some basic grades to each issue, and to each group of ten I then give a percentile grade and a letter grade, and then I talk about what I liked (or did not like) about the issues in this group of ten.

I hope you enjoy it. I certainly know that I have enjoyed reading this series, each and every time.

The first of these reviews can be found by clicking the link below. Enjoy!

http://canadas-own-the-flight.blogspot.com/2007/03/reviewing-af-vol-1-issues-1-10_07.html

new (old) batch

2009-11-20T16:21:00.000-08:00

Got a bunch of older comics in, from Mile High Comics.

West Coast Avengers, #s - 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 15, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 29, 32, 34, 35, 36, and 38.
Weapon X: Kane
Ultimate X-Men #s - 93, 95, 95, and 99.
Birds of Prey #s - 86, 89, 101, 105, and 106. Birds of Prey: Manhunt # 1.
Birds of Prey: The Ravens # 1.
Micronauts #s - 1, and 3.
The Micronauts #s - 1, 2, 3, 9, 12, 14, 15, 16, 20, and 26.
The Micronauts: The New Voyages #s = 1, 1, 2, 3, 19, and 20.
Marvel Adventures: Avengers # 3.
Moon Knight #s - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.
Marc Specter: Moon Knight #s - 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 45, 47, and 50.

Cool...

Happy reading to me!

On another note, AlphaFlight.net has been moved to a new server. Yours truly (and many others) helped by donating some money to the cause, and now it is up to "the mighty Ben" to begin the hard work of upgrading and changing the site, taking it from the fabulous to the super-unbelievable. Stay tuned...

Hulk vs.

2009-11-15T14:26:00.000-08:00

I watched the "Hulk vs." DVD a couple of days ago. As it has Wolverine in it, I feel it is okay to plug it here.

Man oh man! I thought it was going to be okay...but it was freakin' AWESOME!

The first part was Hulk vs. Thor. The story was decent. But man oh man, the pure unadulterated violence of this one...wow! If you want to see these two go toe-to-toe and trade hits , beating each other to exhaustion...man, I do not understand how Thor even SURVIVES this fight, lol! Dude gets his royal arse kicked! And we are talking about THOR here! Thor is (or used to be, anyways) so totally awesome!

The second part is Hulk vs. Wolverine. As much as I did not see how Wolverine could stand up to the Hulk in a fight for very long, I wondered what the heck they were gonna do with this one. Well, the fight between them is interesting. This episode has TONNES of humour, made me roll on the frickin' floor lol-ing. I was never a fan of Deadpool, but now I am. Yes, he is in here too (yet another "Canadian" type hero), and man is he hilarious. Awesome fights, but even better dialogue and plot. Haven't seen anything better since I watched the "Watchmen" movie.

All in all, I say, if you haven't seen this, go out and get it. You won't be sorry you did.

I rated the first episode a 7/10. I rated the second episode a 10/10. 17/20...can you get that much enjoyment from most DVDs this day?

Don't think. The "Hulk Vs" DVD, just go get it.

hell-o!

2009-11-13T20:07:00.001-08:00

Had a fun time tonight. Went to the Post Office at 7pm, then came home and opened up my parcels, to discover a few comic-related goodies...

The fourth and fifth seasons of "The Batman" animated series. Man, do I ever LOVE this series!

Also, got my copy (finally) of "Hulk Vs", featuring the Hulk squaring of against Wolverine, followed by the Hulk facing down Thor. This is gonna be...so...cool!

Also, got my monthly order of comics from the Post Office as well.

Let's see...

I got a book, volume 1 of "The Art Of Greg Horn"

I got a video, some low-budget flick called "Blue Bulleteer; Captured By The Cloak"

I got Teen Titans # 76

I got Groo: The Hogs Of Horder # 1 of 4

I got Dynamo 5 # 25

I got Avengers:The Initiative # 29

I got Abe Sapien - The Haunted Boy

I got Don Bluth Presents Space Ace # 3 of 6

I got Dark Avengers # 10

I got Blackbeard-Legend Of The Pyrate King # 1

I got Vengeance Of The Moon Knight # 2

I got Doom Patrol # 3

And, I got Buckaroo Bonzai # 1

Phew! That is a lot of cool reading I have got ahead of me!

Slainte!

What (Isn't) New

2009-11-09T16:30:00.000-08:00

So, “what has been going on in the world of comics” is the question you are wanting answered if you are here reading this blog.

From an Alpha Flight standpoint...not so much. No word heard from Aurora since her confrontation with Norman “the world belongs to me” Osborne several months ago. Northstar is still appearing in X-men comics, but basically as a bit player – not surprising, since there are approximately one billion mutants or ex-mutants or repowered mutants or wanna-be mutants hanging around the X world right now. Mister Madison Jeffries is still showing up regularly as a member of the science team in X-men comics; and, they are still getting his character completely wrong! Madison is still being displayed as some sort of brilliant scientist type, when every true Flight fan knows that Mister Jeffries has no doctorate of any kind and is a mechanic by trade. Presumably, Sasquatch and Arachne are the only members of Omega Flight left in Canada, and I guess they are carrying on the good fight sight unseen (although how just the two of them could do much is beyond me!). Marina and Wild Child are the recently-deceased former members of Alpha Flight. Michael Pointer, former member of Omega Flight and the killer of Alpha Flight, now known as Weapon Omega, works for the evil Norman Osborne in his Dark X-Men. Talisman and Snowbird are presumably still somewhere in Canada, doing whatever it is they do when nobody is using them. The rest of Alpha Flight is unheard from, dead or presumed dead, or in limbo until somebody decides to do something with them.

On a personal note, I recently received in the mail my very own copy of Alpha Flight Volume 2 Annual featuring The Inhumans. Thanks to “rplass” from alphaflight.net, who was kind enough to pick up a copy for me and send it to me (you rock!). I thoroughly enjoyed the issue.

I have also been collecting, online through Mile High Comics, a number of other titles from yesteryear. I now own about half of the West Coast Avengers (1980s and 1990s) series, as well as a bunch of old (1970s) Werewolf By Night issues and (1980s) Moon Knight issues. I have been enjoying reading through these classics very much!
That is about all there on these subjects, so that is all I will write about for now. Back with more news, when there is news.

another (related?) topic

2009-10-30T20:07:00.000-07:00

This one is for my daughter and her mom, who I am happy to report are fans of the Teen Titans!

Well, it seems lately that this space is becoming a haven for me to talk about a lot of things to do with comic books, but not so much to do with Alpha Flight. Part of the reason being, there is no Alpha Flight right now, so not much to talk about there.

Teen Titans. Anybody familiar with there animated adventures on television? I am kind of an addict of that show.

Well, i have a treat. For anybody familiar with the kids tv show, but not the comic book heroes, I present for you here a run-down of "where are they now" for the main characters. Please note, this is not an all-inclusive thing (no free salad bar. I am not as random as you think salad!), there are holes everywhere that I have not the time or patience (or knowledge) to fill. Most of the information presented here is taken from the Teen Titans Outsiders Secret Files And Origins comic book from 2003...

Enjoy!

First up...Beast Boy!

Yes, Beast Boy and Raven DID fall in love and date for a while.

Next up...Raven!

It seems Raven has "died" and been brought back to life a number of times...

And, evil Raven...

Next up...Cyborg!

Next up is...Nightwing!

Once called Robin, Dick Grayson became the superhero Nightwing when he left the crime fighting duo of Batman and Robin behind. He had two separate costumes as Nightwing. As of 2009, Grayson has become the new Batman; ironically enough, he has his own Robin sidekick, who is the son of the original Batman...

Next up is...Starfire!

Next we have Deathstroke, who in the animated series was simply known as the villain Slade...

And, any discussions of the Teen titans would be incomplete without including Ravager, who is the daughter of Deathstroke...

And that, is that.

Maybe, one of these upcoming days, I will blog here about the current lineup of the Teen Titans, as I follow their monthly adventures in the comic book.

Slainte!

walp x2

2009-10-28T14:01:00.001-07:00

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Here be a couple of Ultimate Alpha Flight wallpapers I put together real quick like.

Ultimate Alpha Flight

2009-10-27T14:42:00.000-07:00

The few issues of the Ultimate line by Marvel that I have read, I have absoolutely hated.

That being said, when I see pictures like this

my curiousty level rises.

Now, once alphaflight.net is back up and running properly, I will check around there and find out what issues these AF characters appear in, and will see about purchasing them.

A picture tells a thousand words, they say...what words will revolve around these Ultimate Alpha Flight characters, I wonder?

Thanx

2009-10-27T14:40:00.001-07:00

Thanx to the few folks who have managed to somehow post replies to my "it's time for a new Flight" article over at alphaflight.net.

I'd love to join the discussion there, but as all regular users of the site are now no doubt aware of, the site is pretty much hooped right now, and I cannot post anything until the almighty Ben manages to get it fixed somehow.

Disappointment runs deep. I think I am needing my daily fix of alphaflight.net something fierce.

It is time to launch a new Flight book

2009-10-22T12:37:00.000-07:00

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Welcome to the new Flight...
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So, as has been discussed on AlphaFlight.net numerous times by various posters, the quality that most defines a successful Alpha Flight comic seems to be a sense of family and connection between the characters (and I would say that two other qualities that define a successful AF comic would be, focussing more on characterization than just running from massive battle to massive battle, and having a creative team who is passionate about and committed to the characters).

This leads me to the natural thought – how would a new launch of the Alpha Flight franchise look, for it to be successful and satisfy both new readers and long-time fans?

First, who would the creative team be? Second, what characters would be on the team? Third, how would the creative team launch this series?

Let me tackle the characters first; and I think I will mix in some of the “launching” into this portion of it. It stands to reason (at least in my mind it does) that if characterization and connections are a large part of this series, then that directly ties into the characters that are to be in the series.

Characters that should be in the series...actually, let’s start with characters that should NOT be in the series. Guardian; sad to say, it is time to lay him to rest permanently. And the Guardian suit, too. And the whole Mac and Department H thing. It has run its time, run its course, and it should be done with. A new page is needed. Just like we first heard that Omega Flight was going to honour the past but be different, the new Alpha Flight launch needs to do something similar (only it should actually stay true to that, without the interference of Marvel executives who do not know or respect this franchise). I love Guardian as much as anyone does. I deeply respect what Mac and Heather have done for the Alpha Flight series. I actually applauded bringing Guardian back, I never liked the fact that Mac died in issue 12. But enough is enough. I feel that the best way to honour the sacrifice of both Mac and Heather, is to leave them in the grave. Their time is done. But their legacy lives on, in the people they have affected by their actions and their selflessness.

So, how do we bring in characters with a sense of family ties and deep friendships, yet still honour the past, while putting (gently) to bed the fragile remains of Mac and Heather and others who have made the ultimate sacrifice?

Well, first we have Walter Langkowski. Football star. Scientist. Brilliant man. Great big hairy beastie, given to fits of rage, and always aware that he could be a conduit for the Great Beasts to enter our world. A staple and a cornerstone of Alpha Flight (and Omega Flight), he was in every significant series (well, technically, he never showed up in Volume 2 until the end of it...). And he should definitely be in Volume 4 of Alpha Flight. (Which begs the question, should Alpha Flight be called “Alpha Flight”, or “AF Vol 4”, or should it just be called “Flight” perhaps? – Personally, I like the thought of calling the comic “Flight”, but having the team be called Alpha Flight.)

Of all the characters who “died” at the hands of Michael Pointer defending their country, I think the only one who should be “brought back” is Puck, Eugene Judd. I have a thought for how to bring him back, which I will discuss later on...

Now, having already said that Sasquatch will be an integral part of the new Flight (yes, that is how I will refer to it for now) , I think a wonderful way to involve some past history of Alpha Flight in the new Flight book, would be to include Aurora. Not only to include her on the team, but to have her be mentally stable enough to be attached romantically to Langkowski. In fact, I would love for the opening scene of the new Flight book to be (sorry, I know I am jumping ahead here) the wedding of Sasquatch and Aurora, which would be attended (in plain clothes) by all the new members of Alpha Flight. Immediately following the wedding, the team is pressed into action against The Master. We get to watch the team in battle against a dangerous enemy, and do not actually know yet who all the members of the team are! The battle could last several issues, perhaps, and we could have flashbacks showing how the team came together and helping to generally introduce the characters to the readers. Having Aurora (but leaving Northstar with the X-Peoples) would give Alpha Flight yet another link to the X-Men for future meetings and cross-overs. And hey, who doesn’t love Northstar’s disdain for Sasquatch, and his protective hovering over his sister? What an awesome way to bring that back to the Flight!

Seriously, I love my little idea for the start of the series. Remember how awesome (John Byrne’s) volume 1’s back stories were, showing who the characters were and how they came to be a part of Flight? That is the sort of thing this idea leaves wide open for use by the new creative team. Think about the possibilities...

Walter’s present partner-in-crime is Arachne. One of the things I would like to see covered in the new Flight series is to actually see her being granted dual-citizenship, to give her a real reason to stay in Canada. Julia is also great, because she has the tag-along, her daughter, which also helps to give Flight that family feel.

To further that end, and with my mind lovingly connecting to the old days of the West Coast Avengers series and the Vision and the Scarlet Witch mini-series, I would like to see Julia’s boyfriend, the Shroud, brought to Canada to be part of Alpha Flight as well. I know that he is undercover in America as part of the criminal underworld, so what we need to do is screw that up for him. With all the crap going on in Marvel comics right now, with Osborne and the Hood and all, it seems it would be pretty easy for somebody to discover that the Shroud is really a good guy, and “out” him. With his cover blown, his days undercover as a bad guy have to be behind him. What better thing to do, than join his girlfriend in Canada as part of the new Alpha Flight? Once again, we have the family relationship aspect of Alpha Flight. More and more, it is already becoming a lot like John Byrne meant it to be, as a sister-comic to the Fantastic Four, more like the family feel of that comic than the team comics that are X-Men and the Avengers.

Again, the new Flight comic does not always have to star every member in each issue. The writers can go back to the tried-and-true of having some issues be stand-alone adventures for one or two of the members. This allows Alpha Flight to have a fairly large number of members, but still keep that close-knit family feel and work on developing characters in a way that has meaning and stays true to who the characters are. I bring this up, because, so far, for characters, we have Puck (still unrevealed as to how he comes to be alive and well), Sasquatch, Aurora, Arachne, and Shroud. That makes 5 characters, and I have 6 more that I want on this team still!

First, though, another word about who should NOT be on this team. Although I deeply respect what magic-users and mystical beings such as Shaman, Talisman, and Snowbird brought to Alpha Flight in the past, I think that none of them (nor Earthmover, either) should be a permanent part of this team. I have no problem with Alpha Flight hooking up with Talisman or Snowbird at times, indeed I expect it to happen from time to time (it would be wrong to completely ignore these characters), but I also think it is important to establish that Canada has other heroes that are not current members of Alpha Flight, ones that are off having adventures and keeping Canada safe (even though we may not see those adventures). – As an aside, I’d like to have it be established that Talisman has taken Albert Louis (Feedback) under her wing and is advising him and helping him to manage his powers. I’m not sure why that is really important, I just think it would be a cool way of establishing that characters that are not heard from are still alive and active. - So, all this is to say that I do not wish for Talisman and/or Snowbird to be a part of Alpha Flight, but I do want them to show up in the books from time to time, and to be spoken of as if they have real lives and are busy in them defending Canada from other menaces that Alpha Flight themselves are not facing.

Having said that, I am sure some of you are wondering how Alpha Flight will fare without a magical person on the team. Quite well, thank you! As already established, when the story calls for it, Talisman and/or Snowbird will be available to help the team out. Perhaps the spirit/ghost of Shaman can show up at times, too. And, the team has this new character on it...

One of the new characters that I like is Airborne, who is a young half-Asian man from Vancouver, Charles Thomas “Tommy” Wong. His primary power is a limited, by-touch control over gravity. This is his main ability (which he gained in an accident). His mother was an Asian woman, and his father was Smart Alec (Alec Thorne). This gives him some interesting ties to Alpha Flight’s past and history, does it not? Like his father, he is brilliant, but only as far as numbers go. Amazingly enough, he has an innate understanding of and sense for magic, although he is incapable of using it himself. Basically, he senses magic by “seeing it” as a series of numbers and numerical equations that he can make sense of.

...He may not be able to use magic, but he can sense it and understand it. I am sure this will be useful to Alpha Flight at times.

Next character to bring into the fold is another new character. It is not really known if she is a mutant, having been this way from a young age, but is something of a snow-leopard/human cross. Like Marina before her, she brings to mind the fact that Canadians are thought of world-wide as friendly and accepting, as she was adopted by a human couple. She can change back and forth between her furry form and a more human-seeming form. She is furry (black and white stripes), has a tail, and has slightly-clawed hands. She has cat eyes with excellent vision, and can also smell quite well. She is quick and agile (but no super speed or reflexes), and has a working knowledge of karate at an amazingly high level. She comes from the Yukon area of Canada. She was recruited by Sasquatch to be a member of the new Alpha Flight, and her first mission for him (before the new Flight was officially a ‘go’) was to hunt down Yukon Jack and see if she could bring him into the fold. This task she successfully completed. Her codename is “Marten”, which is a weasel-like animal from the northern forests. The name given her by her adoptive parents is Angelica Bianca Hannover.

Which leads us to Yukon Jack himself. As you may recall, he was supposed to have married the doppelganger of Snowbird, which he did. But not long afterwards, she winked out of existence. He pined after her. In truth, he began to wander the frozen north, searching for her. And, if you think about this closely, you will understand why having Snowbird permanently on the team is not an option. However, think of the fun the first time the two meet! She is a half-god or demi-god. He thinks he is a god, has a superior attitude (a la Thor or Namor), and thinks she is his long-lost love. Let the sparks (and fists) fly! Lol. Yukon Jack is a great character. He is powerful, he is unpredictable, he has so far been little used (so no convoluted back-story to fix up), and he has the attitude that every team needs. He tends to be a loner because of his attitude, but the one person who has earned his respect and friendship is Marten, who successfully tracked him down and convinced him to come and join up with Alpha Flight. Throw in his moodiness over having lost his wife and not being able to find her, and you have a real gem in Y.J. that a decent writer will have a field-day with.

Next up for the new Alpha Flight is Purple Girl. Yes, I said “Purple Girl” and not “Persuasion.” Why? Read on!

As we all know, PG was a former member of Alpha Flight and Beta Flight. In particular, she has connections to Northstar because of her earlier crush on him. But the real reason she is here, is because having her present is the way that we get to have Puck back on the team. Although we have all thought that Alpha Flight died the day they met the Collective-possessed Pointer, we later found out that Sasquatch had survived. In the same way, Puck too, survived. The problem was, he survived in a brain-dead state. Literally, he was kept physically alive only by machines; his brain activity had shut down. In a last ditch effort to save him, Walter (wouldn’t it be nice to see Walter visiting Puck in some hospital!) finds Persuasion and calls her in. She makes a tremendous effort and commands him to “awake”. Pucks turns a deep purple colour, sits bolt upright, his brain functions miraculously returning. But Persuasion slumps to the ground, cries out, then passes out. Puck’s skin returns to its normal tone, but he remains sitting up, breathing on his own, his brain functioning properly, now fully healed. Persuasion recovers, too; but her powers have fled. The strain appears to have been too much for her. Although her powers have gone away, her skin still stays purple, so she goes back to the moniker of the Purple Girl.

So, you ask, if she has no more powers, why is she a part of Alpha Flight? Maybe it is because of the influence of the next two members of Alpha Flight to be introduced...

Next up is Manikin, or Doctor Whitman Knapp. Former intern to Dr Lionel Jeffries, Madison’s crazy brother (now deceased). Former boyfriend of Purple Girl. Now a full-fledged doctor in his own right. Lost the ability to draw three past/future versions of humanity out of himself, but he now has the ability to become one of the three himself. How will he and the Purple Girl feel about each other? Will they pick up their romance, or just be friends? As for Manikin himself, let’s establish some limitations. Seems to me, his abilities as Highbrow never had any real limits, and that is not a good thing. I think his ability to teleport people or things should have some strict limits on it. I also think that, although it is stated that Highbrow can “fly”, I would much rather leave this as simple levitation. Also, the “circuitry’ that is seen on his skin, can we just call that some form of tattoo or something, rather than leaving us with the feeling that this mysterious stuff on his skin is an unlimited power source of some sort? Everybody needs restrictions, and I think that by restricting what he can do as Highbrow, we establish this for Manikin. Besides, I see him being important in many ways to this team, such as being a support for Purple Girl, and also his medical training being much needed without Michael Twoyoungmen on the team anymore (RIP, Michael).

Also on the team is everybody’s favourite Brit and former leader of Beta Flight, Colin Hume Ashworth. He has immediate ties to both Manikin and Purple Girl, and can be a steadying influence to Purple Girl in particular , as he too understands what it means to lose ones powers. Speaking of having lost his powers...what is he doing on the team? Well, simple, really; it is redemption time for him. In my mind, he was always shown to be too weak-minded, and I think it is time he was shown to be a true hero. To that end, I decided that during all the time that Omega Flight was arresting those villains who fled north across the border into Canada, they surely must have confiscated some super-technology and stuff from the villains. So, I have given him a confiscated suit belonging to a villain that I call “the Fly”. He has taken both the costume and name of the former villain, and now has a suit/belt that allows him to shrink down to small size, fly, and also has gloves that allow him to pack a big whallop of a punch. Drawbacks? Well, he has to either be small, or not be able to use any of the other powers in the suit. Also, after about 5 to 6 hours of continuous use, the suit must be “plugged in” and recharged. The technology is alien, of unknown origin, so it cannot be copied.

And that, that is my version of the new Alpha Flight team of heroes! Following are my Alpha Flight team, as envisioned by moi!

1. Sasquatch ( Dr. Walter Langkowski )

Sasquatch is Dr. Walter Langkowski.

When making official appearances, Langkowski wears this cool looking orange spandex costume.

Walter wears orange briefs of unstable molecules,

that shrink and grow with his drastic changes in mass, so as to avoid being arrested for indecent exposure every time he changes from Sasquatch form to Walter form.

2. Aurora ( Jeanne-Marie Beaubier-Langkowski )

Aurora is the resident flying speedster mutant of Alpha Flight, and now that her mental state is pretty much under control she has become the new wife of longtime love Dr. Walter Langkowski. Her new name is Jeanne-Marie Beaubier-Langkowski.

Aurora’s new costume has done away with the maple leaf design, as Alpha Flight has decided to honor the late James Hudson by refusing to wear any maple leafs on their costumes; from now on, the maple leaf design stays with him in the grave.

3. Puck ( Eugene Milton Judd )

Puck is back. Eugene Milton Judd, wise-cracking investigator and tumbler, a man cursed with dwarfism from birth, is back from the seeming-dead, and Canada could not be happier.

Along with his rebirth, Judd has gone back to a classic design for his costume.

4. Arachne ( Julia Cornwall Carpenter )

Arachne is Julia Cornwall Carpenter, mother of Rachael Carpenter, and now a citizen of both the USA and Canada.

She too has changed the design of her costume.

5. The Shroud ( Maximilian Quincy Coleridge )

The Shroud is Maximillian Quincy Coleridge, a blind man who controls the Dark Force.

He is also a former long-time mole in the machinations of evil, having spent a lot of time working undercover as a villain.

With the fact that he is really a hero on the side of good out in the open, he has been marked for death by many a villain that he has crossed, and so Max Coleridge bolted for the Canadian border to come and be with his long-time girlfriend, Julia Cornwall. Here is the Shroud in costume.

6. Airborne ( Charles Thomas “Tommy” Wong )

Airborne is Charles Thomas Wong, or Tommy as he likes to be called. Tommy is a half-Asian young man of 19 years of age, born in Vancouver and raised there by his immigrant mother and grandparents.

At the age of 16, he was involved in an accident resulting from his being chased by members of a Chinese-Canadian triad, and he somehow gained the ability to affect the pull of gravity on an object or person; this is only activated by touch, though. So, Tommy could touch a person and cause them to either be rooted to the ground or to free-float into the air. There is a limited and finite number of objects or people that Tommy can touch and activate with his powers before he loses control over everybody or everything he has affected. And here is Tommy in costume as Airborne.

Airborne also has other powers and things of interest. Tommy’s father was none other than Alec Thorne, or Smart Alec. Because of this, Tommy is unusually brilliant, at least as far as numbers and numerical equations go. Amazingly enough, he has an innate understanding of and sense for magic, although he is incapable of using it himself; basically, he senses magic by “seeing it” as a series of numbers and numerical equations that he can make sense of. He cannot use magic, but he can sense it and understand it. When using this innate ability to see magic as a numerical equation, Tommy’s eyes go completely white and pupil-less. Because of this, he has incorporated a pair of wrap-around sunglasses into his costume. Airborne stands 5 feet, 5 inches tall. He is 125 lbs. He has short, black hair. He is very polite. Brown eyes. His hobbies are X-Box and skateboarding. He also loves martial arts movies. For all intents and purposes, Tommy is a normal 19 year old young man.

7. Marten ( Angelica Bianca Hannover )

Angelica Bianca Hannover grew up in Whitehorse, Yukon. She was adopted by a nice Canadian family when she was 10 months old. Her real parents are unknown.

By the time she was one, she began to show the ability to “change forms”, switching back and forth from a human resemblance to the form of a grey and white furred creature with a tail. Ma and Pa Hannover took this in stride, and raised the child with love. At 15 years old, Bianca’s parents died (Ma of cancer, and Pa of a broken heart soon afterwards), and she went to live with her Aunt Matilda in Fredericton, New Brunswick, where she stayed until she was 19. She then spent five years living in Montreal, where she became fluent in French, then moved to Edmonton for two more years. Finally, at 26 years of age, she moved back to Whitehorse. Not long after arriving back there, she helped to track down a robbery suspect by using her “furry form”, and got a write-up in the local paper.

Sasquatch saw this article and contacted her to join the new Alpha Flight; but first, he sent her to try to track down the elusive Yukon Jack and offer him membership as well. Bianca took and completed this assignment, and earned the respect and friendship of Yukon Jack, who commented to her that she looked like a northern weasel, like a marten. She liked the name, and Marten became her code name. Bianca is 5’2” and weighs 120 lbs. She has long blonde hair and brown eyes. She has a pilot’s license. When Bianca becomes Marten, she is 5’6” and weighs 130 lbs. Marten has grey and white fur growing in a pattern resembling that of a zebra or perhaps a tiger. Her feet are human-like, but with a longer tuft of fur on the top, and with hard soles that allow her to not have to wear shoes. Her hands have slight claws at the end of her fingers, and she has another of those longer tufts of fur at her wrists. She has a wide, striped, long-furred tail. Her face is a cross between a human bone structure and that of a canine snout. She has brilliant green eyes that are shaped like cats’ eyes, and a mess of long grey fur on top of her head. Although Marten has speedier reflexes than that of a human, she has no superhuman speed. Her unique eyes give her excellent vision in this form, and she also has an excellent sense of smell. She also has an extremely high level of competence in karate, and mastered it (Olympic level athlete in karate) at an early age – she is much better at it in her furry form than in human form, however. Tests by Dr. Langkowski have not revealed who or what Bianca is, but have ruled out her being a mutant.

8. Yukon Jack ( Yukotujakzurjimozoata )

What more can be said about Yukon Jack? Arrogant, pushy, self-righteous, thinks he is a god. An extremely powerful and dangerous ally. Misses his wife, the doppelganger of Snowbird, to the point of obsession. Has agreed to be a part of Alpha Flight, because Marten convinced him that this was his duty. She seems to be the only one who can influence him.

(Sorry - I know I should have drawn on his tattoos, as they are integral to his character, but I don't have that sort fo confidence in my ability to do freehand art!)

9. Purple Girl ( Kara Killgrave )

Formerly known as Persuasion, Kara Killgrave is a now-depowered mutant, but is still cursed with her purple skin.

She lost her powers making a Herculean and near-impossible attempt to revive the brain-dead Puck, and although she accomplished the task it has seemingly cost her the powers she has used since she was a young teen. Will her powers come back? Will she fall for Dr. Whitman Knapp all over again? Will she stay with the team when she has no powers? Will I stop asking these questions?

10. Manikin ( Dr. Whitman Knapp )

Dr. Whitman Knapp is a medical doctor, and serves both as a combat operative for Alpha Flight and as a surgeon/medic for the team’s injured.

“Whit” can transform himself into three different beings besides his normal one (which used to be called Prime Unit); Proto, Apeman, and Highbrow. Apeman lacks intelligence but has superhuman strength of an unknown level; he uses brute force and savagery to get the job done. Proto is a sentient, single-cell organism. Proto cannot speak, but can understand human language quite well. He is an invertebrate with corrosive abilities, able to instantly dissolve things he/it touches. Highbrow is the only one of Knapp’s other forms that can communicate verbally with others. Highbrow can teleport people and things; his range has been cut back though since Whitman underwent some changes to his powers. Highbrow wears special glasses, enabling him to see great distances, and he also can levitate himself off the ground - indeed, heseems to prefers this to standing. Dr. Knapp can only become one of these beings at a time; when changing between them, he must become ‘himself’ again between transformations.

11. The Fly ( Colin Hume Ashworth )

Colin used to be Windshear, before he lost his mutant powers. He also was the leader/instructor of Beta Flight for a while, helping to train the younger generation of Canadian superheroes.

The suit that Colin now wears was kept by Walter Langkowski, taken off of one of the villains that Omega Flight captured fleeing across the border from America into Canada. This suit seems to be of alien origin. It allows Colin to shrink directly down to the size of 6 inches tall, and to grow again to his normal height. When at the smaller height, the suit allows him to fly, and the gauntlets give him a punch that packs a big oomph, hitting with the force of five regular-sized grown men. Suit consists of goggles, overlarge gauntlets, a large belt, and a leotard type body covering, plus boots. The costume itself is black, as are the goggles. The boots are red, as are the gloves. The belt is white.

The original villain that wore the costume called himself The Fly, and Colin appropriated the name as well as the suit. Now, I wonder if someone might recognize the suit, and want it back…

Now, on to the creative team. Fred van Lente’s name has been bandied about, and he does seem to be interested. As far as previous AF writers whose work I have enjoyed, Simon Furman would be a good choice if FVL is not available or interested. Simon has handled Alpha Flight before, and done so well. His grasp of the characters and their interaction was superb, and he could also write good plots. Either of these two writers would be great on this series.

Artists? Hmm. Trying to think of somebody who worked previously on Alpha Flight, and can actually draw Sasquatch without making him look all gimpy. Sassie needs to look like Byrne drew him.

Other notes: If Purple Girl is going to be powerless (truth be told, I like her character, but I hate her powers), she still needs to be brave enough to help her team-mates fight some of the time. That being said, I think she should have some sort of energy-pistol weapon or something that she can rush off into battle with, something that fires a beam that can knock people down perhaps?

Well, can’t think of much more. There, for better or for worse, is my idea for the re-launch of Alpha Flight, as envisioned in a new comic book series called “Flight”.

My apologies to any of you who may recognize some portions of this as having been something you have already discussed on the alphaflight.net boards. I have not intentionally stolen any ideas, but I recognize that with all the great ideas that get pitched by all of you awesome Flight fans, there is a possibility that some of your thoughts got stuck in my head. Again, if this ends up being the case, my apologies.

new link

2009-10-18T00:56:00.000-07:00

Added a new link, from a friend from the boards at AlphaFlight.net

http://alphaflightcollector.wordpress.com/

wallpaper honouring Aurora

2009-10-17T05:16:00.000-07:00

I present here a new wallpaper, made by moi, in honour of Aurora.

I call this one, "Aurora Comes Out On Top".

Enjoy! Take a copy if you want one! Click on it to enlarge it!

Why I'm Happy, Northstar mini-series, and Sojourn

2009-10-15T20:32:00.000-07:00

So, I am happy. I now have the full spectrum of the official Alpha Flight. That is to say, I now own all of the issues that deal with them, at least the ones that have them by name in the title. Just yesterday I received the 4 issue Northstar mini-series in the mail, and today I read through them. I also own, AF Vol 1, all 130 issues, plus annuals and X-Men/AF crossover one-shots, plus that comic that I cannot remember its name at the moment but it shows the beginnings of Department H pre-AF Volume 1. Also, I own AF Vol 2, all 20 issues, plus I own the two trade paperbacks of AF Volume 3. Now I also have the Northstar mini-series, so now I have all the “official” AF issues (plus the Omega Flight mini-series, and the MCP 12-issue storyline with Mad U.S. Mailman Mikey Pointer). Oh, and I also own the two Trade Paperbacks of the reprinting of John Byrne’s run on Alpha Flight.

This makes me happy. It has been a long time coming. It took me almost three years to collect all of those issues. Since I lost all of the childhood issues I once had, I had to start at nothing and work my way up. It has been expensive, but well worth it.

Now, on to the Northstar mini-series that I completed reading just moments ago…

For the most part, the writing was okay. The story-line was so-so at best. The art…never been a huge fan of Dario Carrasco Jr.’s pencils, and I also do not like the colouring style used in these issues by “Chi & Ovi”, so the less said about the art, the better.

I find it a shame that this is the only member of AF to have been given their own mini-series. I also hate the way Northstar is currently being used by Marvel comics, with his character not being developed or explored at all. That sucks. I was never a huge Northstar fan, but this mini-series has not made me respect him any less as a character; it is decent enough for what it is. I did, at leats, appreciate that they set Jean-Paul up, in that they established that there are limits to his powers, and they ran him up against those limits to see how he would fare as a man without powers – that was a good concept to use, and I appreciate that. Also, it was good to see Weapon P.R.I.M.E. making some important appearances in these pages, too.

Not liking the art, I think I will forgo posting any pictures from it here. By the way, what is with the lame-o cover art on these 4 issues? Did they feel the need to remind us, every issue, just who Northstar was, in case comic buyers were not sure? Lame!

Now, onto something else…

I have always been a fan of a good hack-and-slash fantasy adventure story, so it is no surprise that I have enjoyed every back issue of Cross-Gen’s Sojourn title that I have read.

Below, I present a few images from Sojourn Issue # 18; pencils by Greg Land, Inks by Jay Leisten, Colour by Justin Ponsor.

Click on the images to see them enlarged.

See ya next time!

AJ 2

2009-10-12T02:26:00.001-07:00

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A couple more Ash Jackson pages below (click 'em to enlarge 'em). I wouldnt mind seeing how he handled drawing Alpha Flight...just a thought...

Once again, these pages scanned from my Issue # 1 of Beautiful Creatures, published by Red 5 Comics.

Ash Jackson

2009-10-11T15:49:00.000-07:00

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I picked up Issue # 1 (of 2) of Beautiful Creatures from Red 5 Comics. It is sort of a modern day fairy tale, horror, fantasy type deal.

I was very impressed with the skills of the artist, Ash Jackson.

Here are a few pages scanned from this comic; more will probably follow later.

As per usual, click on 'em to see 'em bigger!

I wouldn't mind Ash Jackson getting a more mainstream gig! I think he does beautiful (pun intended) work. He is very good with facial emotions, especially as portrayed through the eyes.

Without Further Ado...

2009-10-09T21:11:00.000-07:00

...

I have a love of some comic book characters.

As far as villains go, is there really anybody better than the Joker? Really, is there?

As for who else I am partial to, it should be no surprise that I am a HUGE Wild Child fan. Yes, Wild Child, of Alpha Flight, Omega Flight (the original one), Gamma Flight, X-Factor, etcetera.

I even enjoyed hearing that they had brought him back as a villain, after he had started off a hero, then been part of the group whose attack resulted in the death of James MacDonald Hudson (Alpha Fight’s Guardian), then had gone rogue and all villainy for quite a long time, then came back to Alpha Flight with his wild side apparently under control, then went evil again, then joined X-Factor (somehow having reverted to a teenager), then lost all his powers. He even lost his voice at one point, having had his vocal chords removed.

Somehow, through all of that, I was still a big fan of the character.

So, I recently picked up a copy of Wolverine Origins Issue 40 (always “nice” to pick up an issue from time to time, to see how writers have managed to further ruin Wolverine), and I read in the recap that Wild Child had been killed recently.

Sickened. Saddened. But, not surprised.

It wasn’t all that long ago that I was remarking how with Alpha Flight having been killed off and replaced by murderers and Americans, that how long would it be before even Sasquatch himself was killed off by Marvel Comics? Well, in the last few months or so, we have seen both Marina and Wild Child killed. Yes indeed, it is true, Marvel has no love or respect for Alpha Flight. They want to shut up the fans of Alpha Flight, by making sure there is no possibility of there being any Alpha Flight to reform as a team in the future.

Not good.

As far as other superheroes that I enjoy, those of you who know me (and not many do!) may know that I am also a HUGE Tigra fan, going back to her days as an Avenger, and then as a West Coast Avenger (gosh, I miss that series!).

I am happy that she has been regularly appearing in Avengers The Initiative, which is a big reason why I buy it monthly.

Did I mention I have a Tigra tattoo on my back!

Avengers The Initiative has also introduced me to other heroes that I enjoy, such as Thor Girl, Taskmaster (and its about time he was used as a true heavy-hitting force!), Komodo (who has now been depowered – boo! Marvel sucks!), and Gauntlet.

And, for those of you who are dying to know, I am also a fan of Hawkeye (hate him as Ronin…I actually prefer Bullseye in the Hawkeye costume, to Clint in the Ronin get-up), Ms. Marvel, Nightcrawler, Sunspot, Rogue, Jack Of Hearts (deceased), Beast, Sasquatch, Puck, Diamond Lil, Yukon Jack, Manikin (gosh, what an awful name that is!), Squirrel Girl, Magneto, Paste Pot Pete (the most inept villain ever, lol), the Scarlet Spider, the Thing, Doc Samson, The Shroud, Beta Ray Bill, and others too numerous to name (or too tiring to try to think of right now!).

So, now, on to some pictures that I hope you might all enjoy…Please click on any of these photos to view them in larger size...

This is a pictire of Wolverine "taking a little revenge" on Weapon Omega, Mike The Mailman Pointer, for him killing Wolverine's friends in Alpha Flight in cold blood.

The following photos are from Marvel Adventures Issue 15, featuring Tigra and the Hulk.

The above images from Marvel Adventures Issue 15 were drawn by Amilcar Pinna.

These next few pictures are again of Tigra, and come from Avengers The Initiative Issue 28. They are drawn by Rafa Sandoval.

Once agin, please do not hesitate to click on the photos to see them in much larger size.

Okay, this next one is actually of Taskmaster.

That is it for now. But, just so you all know, I hope to be blogging here a little more regularly than i have been. If I cannot find anything new to talk about, then I will just ramble on about stuff that makes me happy, or about old Alpha Flight images and issues. I already have a few ideas tumbling around in the industrial dryer that is my head...

Toodles for now! Thanx for reading!

Why Is This Important?

2009-10-08T02:31:00.001-07:00

Hero.

One word, meaning so much.

The dictionary defines the term “hero” in these ways;
- A person noted for feats of courage or nobility of purpose, especially one who has risked or sacrificed his or her life.
- A person noted for special achievement in a particular field.
- The principal (usually male) character in a novel, poem, or dramatic presentation.
- A man of exceptional courage, nobility, etc.
- A man who is idealized for having superior qualities in any field.
- A man distinguished by exceptional courage and nobility and strength.
- A person who inspires others through courage, strength, bravery, and self-sacrifice.
- Someone who fights for a cause, and/or cares for and protects persons or property.
- Person of great strength and courage celebrated for bold exploits.
- Principle male character.
- A man or boy admired (by many people) for his brave deeds.

Within the heart of every man, lurks the hidden desire to be a hero.

I truly believe that.

That is why we all seek out and recognize heroes, and emulate them and try to be like them. It is why so many men like sports, ladies, in case you did not know that.

When I was a youngster, my heroes were super. I enjoyed comic book heroes, those larger-than-life men and women who stood tall and bravely fought injustice.

The men and women of Alpha Flight were my heroes. In a medium dominated by American heroes, as a Canadian boy it was a real treat to have a group of heroes who were solely Canadian, who protected this great nation from threats from within and without. These were some of my greatest heroes as an impressionable young man.

Years later, I find that these same heroes have been disrespected, killed off, and coldly put out to pasture, without nary a thought for the youngsters of today who need these unique Canadian superheroes to help them discover their love for their nation and that spark within themselves that could cause them to one day blossom into real-life heroes.

That thought saddens me, and angers me. It makes me wish that I could do something about it. I wish I could bring back the heroes that the youth of today so desperately need.

Last year, I found a way, for maybe the first time in my life, to be a hero myself. I felt like a hero. There was a special young lady, and she needed me; she needed my help. She listened to me, and I both supported her faithfully in her hard times and helped her to realize what she needed in her life. Things were going amazing. I poured my heart and soul into this person and this situation – I expended everything that I had within me, trying to make a lasting difference in the life of this special lady.

As with all stories, this one had an ending, and one that was less than satisfying. Suffice it to say, I was plunged into a black abyss from which only a real live Canadian superhero could have rescued me – but there were none. I had to crawl out of that hole, all by myself.

It hasn’t been easy; it hasn’t been fun. I am still not too sure that I am completely out of there yet. It has been the toughest year of my life. And I really do not know how I feel about a lot of things anymore. My world got turned upside down and inside out. I gave everything, for the right reasons; I was self-sacrificing to a degree I had never even known was possible.

In a few short months, I went from feeling heroic, to wishing I were dead. It was a year that I will never forget; it was the best few months of my life, followed by a year that was the worst I have ever experienced. And, strange as it may sound, I know that given the choice, I would do it all again.

Sometimes, being a hero means letting yourself get hurt.

I wish the people at Marvel Comics realized that. Maybe if they did, they would return Alpha Flight to their rightful place of prominence. Instead of thinking that they won’t make money from publishing it, maybe they could see it through the eyes of those most affected by it back when they were publishing it. Maybe they would then take a short-term loss, in order to bring back to the children the type of heroes that they need to inspire them.

Because now, now I am left without any heroes. This explains why I am searching so desperately to be one, but without any success. I have now experienced, just a little bit, what it feels like to be a hero, what it does within a person; and I want that rush again.

I want to risk it all, for the right reasons. I want to sacrifice, and risk getting hurt. I’ve done it before. And so has Alpha Flight.

It is time we both did it again, I think.

News?

2009-10-07T04:04:00.000-07:00

News from "Ben", our fearless leader and site administrator over at AlphaFlight.net ...

"I see AF.net, Alphawaves, and the currently less-than-functional alphanex morphing into an all inclusive fan site. Over a year ago I began development on the scripts to do this, but lost my internet access...due to geography/s**t-service. From the looks of it, I'll have to start from scratch, but the plan is in motion. Some day I dream of a self sufficient AF community, that will constantly draw others in to our fold..."

Yay! Sounds good to me! I look forward to it.

In other Alpha news, Northstar and Madison Jeffries continue to appear in various X-books recently, as well as Aurora having a confrontation with Norman Osborne that she handily won. And Michael Pointer has allied himself with Norman Osborne in his Dark Avengers group; he is no longer in the Guardian suit, either, thank goodness!

Other than that, no real news to speak of. Still next to no chance of seeing any new Flight series launched, becuz Marvel sucks so bad...

Oh, there is a cool new(?) Alpha blog over at http://alphaflightcollector.wordpress.com/ that I am quite enjoying recently - thanks to "rplass" for making such a great and fun and user-friendly site to hang out at!

That's it for now!

Reviewing AF Vol 1 Issues 91-100

2009-08-06T16:45:00.000-07:00

Volume 1, Issue 91
December, 1990
Art by Michael Bair
Story by Fabian Nicieza
Title: A Thirst For Power
Art - 6
Story - 9
Intangibles - 9
24/30

Volume 1, Issue 92
January, 1991
Art by Dan Reed
Story by Fabian Nicieza
Title: Compromising Positions
Art - 9
Story - 8
Intangibles - 10
27/30

Volume 1, Issue 93
February, 1991
Art by Michael Bair
Story by Fabian Nicieza
Title: Playgrounds Of The Mind
Art - 5
Story - 6
Intangibles - 7
18/30

Volume 1, Issue 94
March, 1991
Art by Michael Bair
Story by Fabian Nicieza
Title: Mind Over Matter
Art - 6
Story - 7
Intangibles - 9
22/30

Volume 1, Issue 95
April, 1991
Art by Michael bair
Story by Fabian Nicieza
Title: Lifelines
Art - 6
Story - 9
Intangibles - 10
25/30

Volume 1, Issue 96
May, 1991
Art by Michael Adams
Story by Fabian Nicieza
Title: Slave To The World
Art - 9
Story - 8
Intangibles - 10
27/30

Volume 1, Issue 97
June, 1991
Art by Michael Bair
Story by Fabian Nicieza
Title: The Final Option Part 1-
Decisions Of Faith
Art - 5
Story - 7
Intangibles - 8
20/30

Volume 1, Issue 98
July, 1991
Art by Michael Bair
Story by Fabian Nicieza
Title: The Final Option Part 2-
Decisions Of Strength
Art - 5
Story - 8
Intangibles - 9
22/30

Volume 1, Issue 99
August, 1991
Art by Michael Bair
Story by Fabian Nicieza
Title: The Final Option Part 3-
Decisions of Loyalty
Art - 6
Story - 10
Intangibles - 9
25/30

Volume 1, Issue 100
September, 1991
Art by "various artists"
Stor by Fabian Nicieza
Title: The Final Option Part 4-
Decisions Of Trust
Art - 8
Story - 10
Intangibles - 10
28/30

Particularly strong comics are issues 92, 95, 96, 99, and 100.

Fabian Nicieza proves himself to be a master storyteller. Mac's struggles between his human brain and his computer systems, Lil's cancer scare, a ne wline-up and support teams; everything is meant to grab you emotionally. Unfortunately, Michael Bair must be the worst artist ever hired by marvel, and his atrocious work brings down all of the scores for this group of ten issues.
Fabian brought passion and life to Alpha.
Bair just made me want to throw up.

All in all, on a scale of 300, these ten issues scored 238.
This is an average of 23.8/30 for each of these ten comics.
Percentage score is 79.3%.
Letter grade for these ten comics = C+

what is new

2009-06-17T22:34:00.000-07:00

Well, thought i would update this site, with the little bit that is going on in the world of Alpha Flight.

Northstar has joined the X-Men in San Francisco. His sister, Aurora, was also briefly seen in an X-Men comic, but she was not asked to join. There are rumours that Northstar will not long be a member of the X-men, although what they plan to do with him afterwards, if anything, is a complete mystery.

Madison Jeffries has also been guest-starring in the X-Men, working with Beast's science team on mutant problems.

Mailman Mike, the evil yankee villain who killed Alpha Flight, became the new Guardian, and is now a mutant-killing power-vampire, he has joined Norman Osborne's (or is it the White Queen's?) new X-Team, the Dark X-Men. This team is on a collision course, apparently with the Avengers, or the New Avengers, or the Young Avengers, or the New Old Avengers, or the Pet Avengers, or the Super-Mighty Avengers, or the Dark Avengers, or...oh, hell, i cannot keep them all safe anymore. Suffice it to say, "whammo! blammo!", big team dust-up in the works!

Here is hoping the Mailman bites the biscuit. Idiot. Only people dumber than him, are some of the yahoos at Marvel comics...

...who have cancelled any plans they had for an Alpha Flight comic series. Despite receiving numerous applications from writers wishing to jump on board writing Alpha Flight. Idiots!

That is all the news I can think of for now.

Sorry...

newest of the rumours

2009-01-29T02:23:00.001-08:00

Okay, so there is finally something worth writing...

In a recent issue of Mighty Avengers, Omega Flight made an appearance, apparently for all of one panel. Wouldn't you know it, they died!

Yes, i AM quite serious, actually.

Rumour has it that the Scarlet Witch is involved, so any deaths that happen (apparently Captain America died in this issue again, as well as some other prominent heroes) will probably be overturned within a month or two.

Omega Flight that died consisted of Sasquatch, Arachne, Pointer ( I REFUSE to call him Guardian - and i am most unhappy to see that he has returned to Canada from Alaska, where he fled to at the end of his "Marvel Comics Presents" run because he was a power vampire that had to drain lives, mutant lives, and absorb them, in order to survive himself), and (I think) Talisman. US Agent was not there, as he has already apparently quit the team and joined another team in the States somewhere. Beta Ray Bill, of course, was never really a member of Omega Flight at all, so he was not there either.

Also of note, Canadian mutant and one-time Alpha Flight member Madison Jeffries has started hanging out with the Beast in X-Men, where he is on some sort of team doing some sort of science mission for mutantkind. Also, we hear that another former Alpha Flight member is supposed to join one of the "X" books in the very near future, so stay tuned for that!

In the meantime, no other news of Alpha Flight being reformed and getting their own series...at least not yet. But a couple of other minor Alpha Flight teammates have been having a tendency to pop up in Marvel books in the last little while, so...keep your fingers crossed!

Slainte!

I'll Have To

2008-11-05T23:04:00.001-08:00

I will really have to post some photos of all 9 of my Marvel busts soon...

News about Flight

2008-07-04T20:16:00.000-07:00

There is news.

Apparently at the end of July there is a meeting being held by some Marvel bigwigs and editors and writers, and Northstar and what will be done with him has been talked about a lot amongst these people.

Alos, by the end of the year, there is rumoured to be concrete news coming out about the re-formation of Alpha Flight, one that has more links to the classic series and characters.

Talk around the boards at Alphaflight.net suggests that people are supposing that the new (Volume 4?) Alpha Flight comic series could be launched out of an X-Men series, much as the original was.

In the immortal words of Earthworm Jim - "Only time will tell, Fuzz-buddy...only time will tell..."

Stay tuned, Flight fans!

Reviewing AF Vol 1 Issues 81-90

2008-07-04T19:57:00.000-07:00

Volume 1, Issue 81
February 1990
Art by John Calimee
Story by James D. Hudnall
Title: Prisoners
Art - 9
Story - 10
Intangibles - 10
29/30

Volume 1, Issue 82
March 1990
Art by John Calimee
Story by James D. Hudnall
Title: The Under Kingdom
Art - 8
Story - 8
Intangibles - 10
26/30

Volume 1, Issue 83
April 1990
Art by James Sherman
Story by James Hudnall
Title: Talisman (The Second)
Art - 5
Story - 7
Intangibles - 9
21/30

Volume 1, Issue 84
May 1990
Art by John Calimee
Story by James D. Hudnall
Title: Earth War Part One - The Big Picture
Art - 9
Story - 8
Inatngibles - 9
26/30

Volume 1, Issue 85
JUne 1990
Art by John Calimee
Story by James D. Hudnall
Title: Marching To Doom
Art - 8
Story - 8
Intangibles - 8
24/30

Volume 1, Issue 86
July 1990
Art by Mark Bagley
Story by James D. Hudnall
Title: The End Of All Things
Art - 8
Story - 8
Intangibles - 9
25/30

Volume 1, Issue 87
August 1990
Art by Michael Bair
Story by Fabian Nicieza
Title: Building Blocks Part 1 of 4
Art - 5
Story - 7
Intangibles - 10
23/30

Volume 1, Issue 88
Septmeber 1990
Art by Michael Bair
Story by Fabian Nicieza
Title: Building Blocks Part 2 of 4: "Trust"
Art - 7
Story - 8
Intangibles - 10
25/30

Volume 1, Issue 89
October 1990
Art by Michael Bair
Story by Fabian Nicieza
Title: Building Blocks Part 3 of 4: "Faith"
Art - 7
Story - 9
Intangibles - 10
26/30

Volume 1, Issue 90
November 1990
Art by Michael Bair
Story by Fabian Nicieza
Title: Building Blocks Part Four: "Strength"
Art - 8
Story - 10
Intangibles - 10
28/30

Particularly strong comics are issues 81, 89, and 90.

James D. Hudnall continues to show that he cares about Alpha Flight. Unfortunately, before this batch of ten issues finishes, Mr Hudnall is replaced by writer Fabian Nicieza, who takes the team in a new direction after JDH wraps up the Llan the Sorcerer conflict. Fabian also does a nice job of scripting for this team, moving right in and immediately beginning to tie up so many of the loose ends that have plagued this comic for so long. Unfortunately, Marvel did not give Mr Nicieza much to work with for an artist, as the appreciation for the artwork plummeted dramatically. And, of course, we cannot forget to mention that Mr Nicieza masterfully decided to give AF fans what they have been clamouring about for so long - the return of James "Mac" Hudson, the original Guardian/Vindicator.

All in all, on a scale of 300, these ten issues scored 253.
This is an average of 25.3/30 for each of these ten comics.
Percentage score is 84.3 %.
Letter grade for these ten comics = B.

On to the next batch of ten! Click below!

http://canadas-own-the-flight.blogspot.com/2009/08/reviewing-af-vol-1-issues-91-100.html

Good News

2008-07-03T10:31:00.000-07:00

Hey All,

Been a while...and, I come bearing good news!

I have started work...no, let me re-phrase that. I have decided today to contineu the work that i started early last year, and have not touched in about 13 months. Yes, i am going to get around to finishing my review of the entire first volume of Alpha Flight!

So, stay tuned to this area for more goodies, coming soon!

Ciao!

My 3 newest busts

2008-05-27T15:38:00.001-07:00

Shaman, Hellcat, and Beta Ray Bill! Click on them to enlarge them! Enjoy!

Bust-ed

2008-05-10T01:45:00.001-07:00

I did it!

I finally got my first super-hero bust/statue.

Below find my photos of... Tigra!

I have another bust on the way, and four more that i am currently looking at intently.

I will post more, as I have more to post.

Enjoy! And, as per usual, Click 'Em To Enlarge 'Em!

New News [ At Last ! ] ...

2007-12-19T22:46:00.000-08:00

At last, I bring you some Flight news.

Two things of interest happening in March of 2008...

- Marvel Adventures Iron Man # 11 features an appearance by Canada's Superteam, Alpha Flight. Obviously, this does not take place in the "normal" Marvel Universe, but at least it is an Alpha Flight appearance, at last!

- A new series debuts. Entitled Wolverine: First Class, this comic starts out telling previously untold tales of Wolverine (with his partner, Kitty Pryde). The adventures take place in the time of Alpha Flight's very first appearance in the X-Men comic, and we have been promised that Alpha Flight will play a part in the first 8 issues of this series.

On a side note, I was made aware of something by a Post-Mate of mine from AlphaFlight.net, mainly that both of these comics were being written by the same person.
Interesting...Could we be sending out feelers for a return of our beloved Alpha Flight?

Order 4 Me?

2007-10-31T21:54:00.000-07:00

Well, not much happening on the Alpha Flight front right now. Unfortunately. So there hasn't been a lot to say here for a while.

That being said, I have plans in the works to re-read the Omega Flight mini-series, and then to organize my htoughs through the keyboard and onto this blog, to type out a concise and completely biased accounting of the series, both what works and what does not work. Keep checking back here, you may just see that pop up soon!

Two days ago, I got my monthly order of comics delivered. One of these comics was none other than the first issue of Marvel Comics Presents (MCP # 1), featuring a Michael Pointer story in it. When I have the time, and the patience for it, I will review that comic (that story in it, rather) and put that review here on this blog-site. Promise.

Also in that order of comics that arrived, I received some real good comics that totally impressed my socks off. You should check some of these out! Avengers Initiative # 6 was another winner. This is the series that makes that whole Civil War thing worthwhile, the intrigue and mystery as well as the excellent and interesting character development in this comic series is astounding. Brit # 2 was a comic I already owned, but got again by mistake. Nevermind that though, this series is interesting enough that based on that one comic issue I have decided to continue to pick up this series on a monthly basis for a while and see where it all leads. Dynam 5 # 7 - what need be said about Dynamo 5 ? Let's just put it this way; in my opinion, this and Thor are the comics of the decade, the can't-miss ones that everybody should own. Speaking of Thor, issue 3 came in my order. Again, I was blown away. Thor hasn't looked better since the days of Walt Simonson, and his fight (his whooping of) with Ironman was a classic scene worthy of inclusion in the all-time great comic battles of the century. Gen 13 # 12 also came ot my door; i really admit I have become hooked on the Gen 13 crew, in all of their incarnations. I also got the 25th Anniversary Special of Groo, and it was special to laugh (and groan) again with Groo, everyone's favourite idiot barbarian. JLA Wedding Special # 1 was a lead-up to a comic I purchased last month (Green Arrow and Black Canary Wedding Special # 1), and as such was a good pick-up. I don't do many DC comics, but find it interesting how well-written the characters are, they are not so much superheroes as ordinary people who wear tights! Ms. Marvel # 19 came ot me as well, Ms. Marvel is a character that is truly growing on me, which is why I now collect the Ms. Marvel title monthly. I love the Sleepwalker character, very interetsing, as is Machine Man. Mostly though, I wanna know what the heck is wrong with Carol! Shanna the She-Devil:Survival of the Fittest # 2 was quite interesting, already issue two of this mini-series has thrown a curve ball. I thought I knew where it was going after reading issue 1, but they totally shocked me with all the new stuff they introduced in the second isue. A good read! And World War Hulk number 4. Brutal! Man, I thought the first issue of this mini series was a dud, but since then they have cranked up the power, the brutality, and the storyline. Now I am hooked, and just wish it wasn't all ending with another issue! Man, the chills I got when the Sentry blasted into action - I can't wait, I can't wait! Give me more!

Review - Omega Flight Issue 5

2007-10-01T14:01:00.000-07:00

date recieved - Sept 19 2007

One part of me is very sad that this series is now over - Avon, Kolins, and Reber did a great job on these books, and should be commended. And, after all, some of these heroes are Canadians, and Alpha Flight-ers.

On the other hand, I am also glad this series is now over. This was Omega Flight. Not Alpha Flight. Not even close.

As a filler, Omega Flight was quite good. It tied in with Civil War quite nicely. In that context, it made sense. But if more of this is what Marvel will eventually try to pass off as the future of Flight here in Canada, then I want none of it.

Too much about issue 5 was predictable. Mikey Pointer saves everybody, and Sas and Talisman forgive him for murdering Alpha Flight. (Yeah, right!)

Seriously, this issue seemed rushed. Too much stuff stuffed into too small of a space. Beta Ray Bill saves everybody, he's the big hero, yet the other heroes never even got to actually meet him? And this is supposed to be one of the members of Omega Flight? How stupid is that!?!

The page showing Walt remembering Alpha Flight getting murdered is interesting, because it shows who was there; besides Sas, we see Major Maple Leaf Jr, Shaman, Guardian, Vindicator, Puck, and Puck II. Nobody else can be seen. Interesting...

Why does Talisman have less powers, less blessings, than she previosuly had, yet she has the power to open Shaman's medicine pouch, use it to help Walter, trap Tanaraq inside it, and then destroy his power?

I actually felt something for Pointer when he pledges to protect Canada, with a tear coming down his cheek. Then I turned the page, and immediately remembered that he is an imposter and a murderer and that I hate him and wished he were dead. And that made me feel better.

Yup, thanks for the "mini" series, Marvel. Now, bring back the real, the true, the only ALPHA FLIGHT!

Like others have suggested, I am removing this series from it's Alpha Flight designation in my comics storage area, and I am filing it under "O" for Omega.

I am gonna give this last comic in the series an underwhelming
3/10.
A more disappointing wrap-up to things, I have never seen before.

Overall, this series deserves a 5/10. Thanks for trying, appreciate the effort, but you can't fake the Flight by substituting something that isn't the Flight.

Review - Omega Flight Issue 4

2007-10-01T13:51:00.000-07:00

date received - August 15 2007

The opening scene, with Rachel looking into the cell at Pointer, is great. I especially like the dripping maple leafs and blood-like "murderer" graffiti on the outside of the cell. Even the scattered chessboard helps to really set the tone.

"The Guardian? I'm not even Canadian." At least somebody listened to us fans, and decided against retro-ing Pointer from an American to a Canadian.

The "demon" battle from the helicopters is well-drawn; frantic chaos is shown exquisitively well.

Heroic Arachne saving the heros' 'copter is a good thing to see.

Why does US Agent swear so much?

"I'm Beta Ray...Bill..." It seems as if Bill thought about calling himself Beta Ray Thor, but then thought better of it?

I love the fight between US Agent and Sasquatch. The three panels where US Agent attacks and Walter throws him are hilarious!

The page where Pointer first attacks is amazing. KRAKTHOOM! Then he says he isn't good with his powers yet, and wastes a whole skyscraper with one shot. How many more people did this murderer just kill? !!

Of course, the last page is fearfully exciting. Unfortunately, Sas doesn't actually kill Pointer...more's the pity.

Great pace, great art, a few funny moments. The best of the bunch, so far!

9/10

I Feel Lost

2007-08-27T17:23:00.000-07:00

I have lots of stuff to blog, lots and lots of news and stuff to share with you.

Unfortunately, this blog is currently UNDER CONSTRUCTION

(actually, my home PC "bit the big computerized biscuit in the sky" , so I will be offline for about two to three weeks...)

:-(

hey!

2007-08-23T18:37:00.000-07:00

On August 15th, i received my copy(ies) of Omega Flight Issue 4. I plan to , very soon, get around to my full-scale review of this issue.

Also, i wish to respond to some of what Scott Kolins recently wrote, and give my thought on the state of Marvel comics.

All in due time. First, I've got to find the time to sit down and blog, when i have plenty of time to write, vent, review, and post.

Soon, very soon. Stay posted here for more!

More reviews

2007-08-01T18:58:00.000-07:00

Some more quick thoughts on my last batch of comics to arrive...

Dynamo 5 # 4 - Loved it. Really innovative. I am looking forward to continuing to collect this series, and am going to go and order the issues (1 - 3) that I have missed. One of my new favourite comics!

Green Lantern Corps Recharge Trade Paperback - Loved it. Best GL story i have read since...gosh, i haven't read a Lantern comic in about 20 years! lol This one had me hooked, line and sinker. Awesome story, great characters. Always loved Kilowog.

She Dragon # 1 - Wow. Wow. Wow. This was one great comic. Larsen has done it again! Fast paced, like always, there were a few things I did not understand, but all in all it was a highly entertaining story, with great visual artwork. Kudos!

Supergirl # 18 - alright. interesting.

Teen Titans # 48 - not really up on my Amazon War stuff. But it was a good read.

Wildguard Casting Call Trade Paperback - highly entertaining, cutting edge stuff. loved it.

X-Men # 200 - first X-Men story I have read in quite a while. I found it 'interesting' , but really, i am so tire dof the cliched mutant stories, aren't you? this one was good, but not good enough to get me to buy more!

Cheers!

New Readings - Omega Flight 3

2007-07-31T01:47:00.000-07:00

Hi y'all! Just got my latest batch of comics in the mail last night, started reading them just a while ago.
My impressions so far -
Omega Flight # 3 - Loved seeing Beta Ray Bill in action! Hated seeing him about to get stomped! All-in-all, definitely quicker moving than the first two, definitely the best of the series so far! Keep it up!
Avengers:The Initiative #s 2 and 3 - Awesome! Love the series!
World War Hulk # 1 - Uhhh...is this it? This is what the hype was all about? We don't actually get to see Hulk smash Black Bolt, or know how he accomplishes itand then we get pages and pages of a dumbish fight between Hulk and Iron Man? I dunno - seems kinda lame to me, hope it gets better soon...

And More...

2007-07-26T14:18:00.000-07:00

here are the other pix from Omega flight 5 that I promised y'all!

pix and posts

2007-07-22T14:34:00.001-07:00

Hi Y'all!

Wow. Apparently Issue 4 of Omega Flight is out. I was at my local comic shop a few days ago, and they still had two issues left; either they ordered too many, or the demand for it is slowing down in my hometown, i am not sure which. Anyways, I did not pick up an issue, as mine gets mailed to me. Which reminds me, my issue three of Omega Flight should be arriving on my doorstep within the next three days. I am PUMPED, baby! The talk on the blogs has been real positive for the mini-series picking up speed, starting with Issue 4, so that is cool.
Here are some pictures from Issue 5 that I found online, I will post a few more in a few days, k?
Rock on, Flight-lovers, rock on!

Oh yeah, by the way, we may or may not be soon getting an announcement that Omega Flight has been made into a monthly series. However, it has come out that the first twelve issues of Marvel Comics Presents will feature stories about the new Guardian, and will also feature Agent Brown and US Agent.

Here are some of the issue 5 pix I promised ya...

Omega Flight # 2 Review

2007-06-25T11:20:00.000-07:00

I received my copy(ies) of Omega Flight Issue # 2 on Friday the 22nd of June.

I liked this comic, for the most part. The story was entertaining, it introduced many cool new elements to the mini-series. There were some great close-ups of Elizabeth Twoyoungmen's face, in particular, that I enjoyed. There was also her father's face (that is Michael Twoyoungmen, or Shaman as he was known when alive) looking at her from the clouds as she travelled with Agent Brown in the helicopter. I am also really enjoying the way the pages are laid out, with panels overlapping each other and being inset inside of each other, it looks very good. unfortunately, it also tends to make some of the scenes too small, sometimes i would enjoy seeing some fo those scenes in full size view!
Something i did not enjoy was seeing Sasquatch tortured. I have never seen this sort of thing in a comic book before, and truly did not enjoy it at all.

All in all, a good issue, perhaps even better than the first one.

I look forward to Issue 3.

Kolins Speaks!

2007-06-19T23:55:00.000-07:00

Posted by Scott Kolins on the forum board at AlphaFlight.net on June 19th 2007...

Sorry to be away so long. I just finished drawing #5.

Glad most of you seem to be really enjoying the series. There's some great stuff coming up. Each issue feels stronger to me and I hope you all will agree. I'm proud of this series and I think it goes a long way to rebuilding this portion of the Marvel universe - a portion I'm particularly fond of.

Now it's true that my next gig is a Wolverine arc starting in Septmeber, but know that Marvel has heard your voice and recognizes that there's gold in these hills. So I don't imagine it'll be too long before you hear what comes next - and hopefully I'll be along for the ride.

Best,

scottk.

Yup, sounds like it will shortly be revealed that Omega Flight, the mini-series, has been given the green light to go ahead full-throttle as an ongoing monthly title...

Alpha (v.3) and Omega (iss.1)

2007-05-23T12:49:00.000-07:00

Okay.

First, let's talk Alpha Flight, then move on to Omega Flight.

I just finished reading the two Trade Paperbacks that encompass
all 12 issues of the third volume of Alpha Flight.

My thoughts? Look, i knew a lot about these issues, although
until now I have never actually read them.

A lot of AF fans have dissed these issues. Really, upon reading
them, I do not understand why! Yes, they were written a little tongue-
in-cheek, a little whimsically. But they were good and
entertaining stories. They brought us new and interesting
characters.

I am not sure what all the fuss is about. I like the time travel
mishaps. I like the bringing in of the temporal copies of Alpha Flight,
to better serve the country while the real original AF is off in
space. I think this adds tremendously to the living legend of
Alpha Flight.

I think people who are that upset by this version of Alpha
Flight, have every right to their own opinion. Me - i like 'em.

'Nuff said.

Now, on to Omega Flight issue 1.

I have read all about it. I have seen others' comments about it. I have seen previews, and I have seen and heard both likes and dislikes from other Flight fans.

Now, I have read it for myself. And what do I think?

Well, based upon issue one and issue one only, I found it
entertaining. The pace was slow-ish. So far, only Canadian heroes
have been prominently featured. Trying hard to bring the original
AF fans on board. Nice eye for details in much of the artwork. A
bit disappointed for their choice of Prime Minister being other
than our real Prime Minister, Stephen Harper.

The art looks good. The writing seems decent. It looks to be
slowly building momentum as it goes.

Not much more that I can say than that. It is Omega Flight. The
verdict, my verdict, is still out on this series (mini-series).
It isn't Alpha Flight, although this first issue tries hard to
sell itself as such. But we all know that it is going to be a
team comprised of mainly Americans. It is written about
Americans, for Americans. And, as a Canadian who wants
depserately a book about all-Canadian heroes, it is about to fall
short in that regard. Still, as a well-written and well-drawn
(and colored - nice job, Reber!) first issue that has plenty of
homage to the original Alpha Flight in it's pages, it does fairly
well, and I cannot complain too much. It is Flight, and so I will
support it.

Again, 'Nuff said.

Long Live The Flight!

The [ Mail ] System Delivers

2007-05-23T02:45:00.000-07:00

So, this is what I got in the mail yesterday from MailorderComics.com ...

Tellos Maiden Voyage
Essential Defenders Volume 1 TP
Alpha Flight Volume 1 You Gotta Be Kiddin' Me TP
Alpha Flight Volume 2 Waxing Poetic TP
Omega Flight # 1
Omega Flight # 1

After two months of ordering through them, they are still six comics short of what I should have received by now. Sigh...

Meanwhile, i am extremely stoked by what i received, and have just begun to read these beauties, so i will be commenting more later...

Ta ta!

A Long Wait

2007-05-20T20:01:00.001-07:00

It has been a long wait, sitting here awaiting my first issue of the Omega Flight limited series. And still i wait. Lucky me (sigh...).

But, the good news is, I figure it should be arriving this week!

Anticipation is a wonderful thing. Really, i have not minded all that much. It will be worth the waiting, from what i understand.

So, I have not minded all that much. No, really, I haven't. Honest.

Yes, this is one of the 'dangers' of ordering comics from an online company. Delivery times are long.

Still, this should be a good week for comics. I will write more later...

Reviewing AF Vol 1 Issues 71-80

2007-04-19T14:09:00.000-07:00

Volume 1, Issue 71
June 1989
Art by John Calimee
Story by James D. Hudnall
Title: Power Plays
Art - 7
Story - 9
Intangibles - 10
26/30

Volume 1, Issue 72
July 1989
Art by Gerry Talaoc
Story by James D. Hudnall
Title: End Game
Art - 8
Story - 10
Intangibles - 10
28/30

Volume 1, Issue 73
August 1989
Art by John Calimee
Story by James D. Hudnall
Title: Homeward Bound
Art - 6
Story - 10
Intangibles - 9
25/30

Volume 1, Issue 74
September 1989
Art by John Calimee
Story by James D. Hudnall
Title: Dark Reflections
Art - 6
Story - 10
Intangibles - 10
26/30

Volume 1, Issue 75
October 1989
Art by John Calimee
Story by James D. Hudnall
Title: Tigers In The Rain
Art - 6
Story - 10
Intangibles - 10
26/30

Volume 1, Issue 76
November 1989
Art by John Calimee
Story by James D. Hudnall
Title: Bad News
Art - 6
Story - 9
Intangibles - 10
25/30

Volume 1, Issue 77
Mid November 1989
Art by Huw Thomas
Story by James D. Hudnall
Title: Shattered Design
Art - 8
Story - 7
Intangibles - 8
23/30

Volume 1, Issue 78
December 1989
Art by John Calimee
Story by James D. Hudnall
Title: Omens
Art - 6
Story - 10
Intangibles - 10
26/30

Volume 1, Issue 79
Mid December 1989
Art by John Calimee
Story by James D. Hudnall
Title: Outsiders
Art - 6
Story - 8
Intangibles - 10
24/30

Volume 1, Issue 80
January 1990
Art by John Calimee
Story by James D. Hudnall
Title: Counter Moves
Art - 6
Story - 9
Intangibles - 9
24/30

Writer James D. Hudnall continues his masterful run in these ten issues. He pushes, pulls, and prods Alpha through their paces, heaping perils on them, molding them into his team. JDH varies the pace from slow to fast as needed, developing characters amidst the non-stop action. Llan the Sorcerer move sin to take over the Earth (starting with Canada), the Master of the World lives, a visit to the Dreamqueen's realm, battles with major-league Marvel heroes and villains, Heather and Elizabeth battle for apparent control of AF, Puck returns in heroic fashion, Shaman is seriously injured, Madison falls for ex-girlfriend Lillian Crawley, a new headquarters in Edmonton, Diamond Lil joins the team, Gamma Flight is re-birthed, and evil and danger abound! Best of all, I get glimpses of my fave Alpha Flighter, Wild Child! All this...but the artwork still sucks.

Particularly strong comics overall are issues 71-76 and 78.

All in all, on a scale of 300, these ten issues scored 253.
This is an average of 25.3/30 for each of these ten comics.
Percentage score is 84.3%.
Letter grade for these ten comics = B

I hope you enjoyed my review of these comics.

On to the next batch of ten! Click below!

http://canadas-own-the-flight.blogspot.com/2008/07/reviewing-af-vol-1-issues-81-90.html