Everything new is old again... or somesuch. Alpha Flight flies again

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As DC's attempt to revive the 1980's title The Outsiders fades away, what cutting edge title does Marvel have to look forward to..


"It's aboot time, eh?"

I'm probably going to hell for typing that.

From Comicbookresrouces



Marvel's James Viscardi started the ball rolling by announcing that the series will be a maxi-series in conjunction with the "Fear Itself" event, written by Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente and drawn by Dale Eaglesham, who all joined in on the call. The series will be eight issues starting in June with a prelude "Point 1" issue drawn by Ben Oliver shipping in May.

...

"You don't have to have read anything to jump on board here," Pak said at the start. "Old time Alpha Flight fans will have a lot of fun seeing everything references, but you don't even have to have read an 'Alpha Flight' book before."

...

"Basically, if John Byrne didn't come up with it, we're throwing it out," said Van Lente who noted that through no intentional malice, the team had been subjected to a lot of bad continuity over the years. "I wouldn't say we're ignoring everything that came later, but we're not going to be referring to an individual character's multiple resurrections over the years...this is one of those stories that wants to start with a clean slate," Pak added.

...

He added that for those looking to place this series into the context of the Marvel U, the book will pick up with a reestablished Alpha Flight in the wake of the recent "Chaos War" series, and with issue #1 "All hell breaks loose."

Asked whether the book will feel a bit dated, Van Lente argued that the book's initial audience numbered at half a million issues sold as the book was created by a very popular creator in Byrne. "Alpha Flight" was in many ways the first X-Men spinoff, so the writers expect that the original fan interest in the concept and characters will carry over to their modern take on the team.

Ummm, no it really wasn't. The New Mutants first appeared in Marvel Graphic Novel #4 in December 1982, with the ongoing to follow in March 83, Alpha Flight #1 hit the stands in August 1983.

So, "Next big thing", or "Been there, done that"?


 

Comments

[ghosty732]

So happy about all of this!

The creative team did an awesome job with Snowbird. I'm sure they can extend that to the rest of the team.

[cainofdreaming]

So, "Next big thing", or "Been there, done that"?

I'm hoping more of a "nostalgia trip" than either of those, really. But anyways, what the heck is a "maxi-series"? Does that tranlate into an ongoing, or just a really big mini?

[terrykun]

Jean Paul! Make sure to bring Madison with you!

Drs Nemesis and Rao, you can come too.

[tahngarth.livejournal.com]

Hm, will they keep Heather with superpowers then? Cuz that happened after Byrne left the title, under the penmanship of Bill Mantlo.

[protogarrett]

...No.

Marianna was turned into a monster. She was killed and beheaded.

Northstar has been great awith the X-Men.

Snowbird was great in Hercules.

The others? Really, who care?

Just... no...

[okkult3000]

Does this mean Puck will be an acrobatic dwarf again instead of an immortal mercenary turned short by a demon? 'Cause I would like that.

[crabby_lioness]

Having loved the original team and hated what happened to them, I'd be curling my lip in disdain if it weren't for the team. It's Pak, Van Lente, and Eaglesham. Their track record for taking one note jokes and respectfully injecting them with new vigor is impressive.

[q99]

-
As DC's attempt to revive the 1980's title The Outsiders fades away,-

How many tries did it go through?

The initial Nightwing one wasn't bad...

[shadowpsykie]

so long as Jean Paul stays with the X-men he can moonlight as much as wolverine and spider-man does

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

"Basically, if John Byrne didn't come up with it, we're throwing it out,"

...really?

I have some Alpha Flight issues, and I'm not a die hard fan, but God damn does that line annoy me. We get characters regressed so we get the same stories again, yippee!

Byrne told some good Alpha Flight stories, but he ain't the only one. And I'm sick and f**king tired of writers disregarding stuff not because it doesn't compliment a character, but because that's 'that's not how it was originally done/supposed to be'.

[long_silence]

I like that Aurora is in the yellow costume at least. Though I never really saw the point of having both her and her brother on the same team, but it's not like the X-books have been using him all that much. And hey maybe his boyfriend Kyle will get an actual personality beyond "human boyfriend freaked out by superheroics"

Plus since this is Pak and Van Lente they might address that gag from Hercules Fall of An Avenger where it was implied Herc and JP hooked up in the past.

Kinda wish they'd use some later Alpha Flight members like Talisman or Persuasion or Madison Jeffries.

[rainspirit]

I for one would be excited if this turned out actually good. I know absolutely nothing about Alpha Flight except for a few strange, esoteric comic book in-jokes made on this community, and I've always advocated having more Canadian-centric comics out there (was very pleased by how well Scott Pilgrim did States-side.) But Canada as a fascist police state? Isn't that what we are already I mean uh, well, I guess we'll see where he goes with that plot line.

[wizardru]

"Ummm, no it really wasn't. The New Mutants first appeared in Marvel Graphic Novel #4 in December 1982, with the ongoing to follow in March 83, Alpha Flight #1 hit the stands in August 1983."

Technically they weren't a spin-off but an extension of the line. The only thing that linked them was Professor X and Moira McTaggart. Alpha Flight actually appeared IN the X-Men and they proved so popular they were spun out into their own title. The New Mutants was the first real 'x-title', to be sure...but Alpha Flight I think rightfully deserves the title of spin-off. In media terms, a spin-off generally refers to moving a character from one title to another and then changing the focus and protagonist (example: Angel moving from Buffy to his own show).

[wizardru]

I should point out that I will probably buy this due to the characters and the creative team. Alpha Flight has had a long host of successively terrible runs, I'd love to see the team handled with some fun and respect.

Is that Heather there as the second Vindicator or whatever names they finally chose? I wonder if they'll re-use the Master of the World? Last time I saw him was in the Avengers during Busiek's run.

[crabby_lioness]

Can we please keep Paul Cornell's portrayal of Jeanne Marie from Dark X-Men? She was awesome there.

[vitruvian23]

So, does Shaman being back to his old tricks here (ba-dum dum) mean that Elizabeth has handed him back the medicine bag, or was he brought back from the dead with a duplicate?

[ogrebear]

As long as I get more Sasquatch beefcake to droll over then I'm in....