|
Post by badwolf on Jun 5, 2019 16:19:24 GMT -5
So I have decided to dig into the Alpha Flight Omnibus (by John Byrne, although some work by other creators from the same period is also included.) I've read almost all of the contents before, and most of it many times over. This may be my favorite Byrne work after his Fantastic Four.
I'm going to nitpick right out of the gate and ask why they used the cover art from AF #1 for the cover of this book. All the other characters are a distraction, and without the word balloon, there's no context.
This would have been much better...
Or even this.
Ah well.
As everyone probably knows, Alpha Flight were introduced in the pages of the X-Men, with their de facto leader James MacDonald Hudson (then code-named Weapon Alpha) appearing first, in
X-Men #109
"Home Are The Heroes!"
Written by Chris Claremont, drawn by John Byrne and Terry Austin
The X-Men are returning home from preventing the mad Shi'ar emperor from destroying the universe with the M'krann crystal and settling it, hoping to relax. Former rebel and new empress Lilandra has come with them. We get a recap of recent events.
Jean's parents are trying to come to terms with her recent transformation into Phoenix. Storm tends to her neglected garden, Nightcrawler sets up a date to see a popular film, and Colossus writes a letter to his parents. Scott broods and Nightcrawler attempts to give him a reality check but is interrupted by Banshee.
Storm, Colossus, Banshee, and Moira McTaggart are going on a picnic, and Wolverine informs them he's going to tag along, but just so he can go hunting on his own, a statement that Storm grossly misinterprets. Meanwhile, someone is tracking him...
While Wolverine is off doing his thing, he is surprised by an old friend.
I don't know why he chose to come up through the ground, but I guess it makes for a dramatic entrance.
Hudson informs Wolverine that he's come to bring him back to Department H, where he got his start, but Wolverine reminds him that he resigned. A fight ensues.
The others' picnic is interrupted by a flying Wolverine, and they rush to his defense. During the battle, one of Hudson's energy blasts goes astray, wounding Moira, which enrages Banshee. S*** just got real. Hudson very quickly realizes he's not ready for this encounter, and disappears. Wolverine confirms that he and his attacker know each other, and tells them that things are going to get worse.
**
Weapon Alpha's battlesuit is, of course, meant to resemble the Canadian flag, but as a kid I just saw it as a sort of "explosion" design. I don't think I knew what Canada's flag looked like then, but even if I did, it might have still been too abstract to me.
In the flashback at the beginning of the issue, Corsair (of the spacefaring team the Starjammers) asks Jean to not tell Scott that he's Scott's father, a conversation which Storm overhears. By the time Scott finds out, a few years later, Jean will be dead, and Storm will bear the brunt of his anger.
|
|
|
Post by Icctrombone on Jun 5, 2019 16:56:27 GMT -5
It’s funny but I really thought this series was special, but I re-read it and I had a hard time getting through it.
|
|
|
Post by dbutler69 on Jun 5, 2019 17:43:08 GMT -5
I love Alpha Flight when Byrne is on it, but it falls off a cliff as soon as he leaves.
|
|
|
Post by badwolf on Jun 5, 2019 17:46:02 GMT -5
I love Alpha Flight when Byrne is on it, but it falls off a cliff as soon as he leaves. Agreed. We'll get there.
|
|
|
Post by Icctrombone on Jun 5, 2019 17:58:21 GMT -5
I really loved the Vindicator. Once he died , it became poorer for it. And they were trying to build up Puck as another superstar like Wolverine. They failed.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jun 5, 2019 18:44:49 GMT -5
Sasquatch is my favorite member of this team. I like this team in general and they have their moments.
|
|
|
Post by Roquefort Raider on Jun 5, 2019 18:58:31 GMT -5
Vindicator’s suit had such a great design; it was not just Canadian-themed, but was the actual Canadian flag wrapped on James Hudson. Not from the front, but from the side. That was made even more obvious in the Alpha Flight title itself, when the stem of the maple leaf (which initially extended all the way to James’ foot) was shortened to its normal length.
Byrne was, for my money, one of the very best designers of superhero comics in the 70s and 80s. The members of Alpha Flight all had simple but memorable looks, with “classic” written all over them. (Or they should have had “classic” written all over them if that wou.dn’t have looked odd).
|
|
|
Post by badwolf on Jun 5, 2019 19:12:36 GMT -5
Vindicator’s suit had such a great design; it was not just Canadian-themed, but was the actual Canadian flag wrapped on James Hudson. Not from the front, but from the side. That was made even more obvious in the Alpha Flight title itself, when the stem of the maple leaf (which initially extended all the way to James’ foot) was shortened to its normal length. Byrne was, for my money, one of the very best designers of superhero comics in the 70s and 80s. The members of Alpha Flight all had simple but memorable looks, with “classic” written all over them. (Or they should have had “classic” written all over them if that wou.dn’t have looked odd). I actually think he could be a bit iffy at times on costume designs. I do think Northstar's and Aurora's matching costumes are particularly striking. (Aurora's second costume being one of the iffy ones.)
|
|
|
Post by badwolf on Jun 5, 2019 19:13:25 GMT -5
Sasquatch is my favorite member of this team. I like this team in general and they have their moments. He seemed to be other writers' favorite as well, although there might have been story mechanic reasons for that, which I'll try to remember to mention when it comes up.
|
|
|
Post by Roquefort Raider on Jun 5, 2019 19:26:01 GMT -5
Vindicator’s suit had such a great design; it was not just Canadian-themed, but was the actual Canadian flag wrapped on James Hudson. Not from the front, but from the side. That was made even more obvious in the Alpha Flight title itself, when the stem of the maple leaf (which initially extended all the way to James’ foot) was shortened to its normal length. Byrne was, for my money, one of the very best designers of superhero comics in the 70s and 80s. The members of Alpha Flight all had simple but memorable looks, with “classic” written all over them. (Or they should have had “classic” written all over them if that wou.dn’t have looked odd). I actually think he could be a bit iffy at times on costume designs. I do think Northstar's and Aurora's matching costumes are particularly striking. (Aurora's second costume being one of the iffy ones.) True, true, they can’t all be winners... but the man would regularly come up with great designs over the course of two decades, so I doubt it was a series of flukes. I think he really had a sense of what would look simple, yet classic : Wolverine’s brown costume, the FF’s black and white uniforms, Vindicator, Snowbird, the Hellfire club’s goons, and even Four Freedom Plaza (which could never replace the Baxter Building in my heart of heart, but had a striking look). Most other artists of the same era would just add clutter to their designs: extra pouches, bits or armour, shoulder pads, baldrics, jackets, or all of these simultaneously. Some did come up with great ideas, but rarely as regularly as Byrne (in my humble opinion... and I’m not even a Byrne fan, generally speaking!)
|
|
|
Post by beccabear67 on Jun 5, 2019 19:48:39 GMT -5
I made it to #23. I think maybe that second logo was enough to dull my enthusiasm. I do have the first three X-Men appearances again though. I think JB was probably very wary of getting anything too close for the already existent Captain Canuck uniform. It changed to being less a flag motif later itself though. Interesting to know what it might've looked like outside Canada as a design.
Snowbird I expect was a bit of homage to the famous pop song written by Gene MacLellan and recorded by Anne Murray. The character seemed to have a bit of Anne Murray to her (she was on Canadian tv a lot in the '70s and early '80s). Puck was hard to not see as a hockey puck, but if you can pull off a character like this without it just being a one-dimensional gag more power to thee, and he is an actually interesting character! We did used to snicker a bit at Pierre Trudeau being a shadowy mastermind of some sort and mention of advanced Canadian technology (being dumb kids and not knowing about the Avro Aero jetplane developed in the '50s and then mothballed inexplicably).
The first run-in in #109 is pretty exciting given how nothing was known about Wolverine's past at the time, and here some of his Weapon X past wants to pull him back! Now it seems pretty un-Canadian to me, but maybe we just got tired of pouring money into actors and comedians (and doctors) and having them move south? Pierre says, non, we will have this one back, we're still paying for the Montreal Forum too.
I hope Hulk Annual #8 was included which co-starred Sasquatch, an important early appearance, as well as the Machine Man cross-over.
|
|
|
Post by badwolf on Jun 5, 2019 21:31:43 GMT -5
Yes, the omnibus includes the Hulk annual and the Machine Man issue. I believe it includes everything from this period except for the two Rom issues (licensing) and the final issue of The Saga of Crystar (don't know why, maybe they thought it would be out of place, being the wrap-up of a completely different story.)
|
|
|
Post by rberman on Jun 5, 2019 22:13:08 GMT -5
Hudson’s self-castigating internal monologue made him unusual among X-Men antagonists up to this point. He berates himself for his poor performance and endangerment of civilians.
|
|
|
Post by codystarbuck on Jun 5, 2019 23:13:35 GMT -5
I made it to #23. I think maybe that second logo was enough to dull my enthusiasm. I do have the first three X-Men appearances again though. I think JB was probably very wary of getting anything too close for the already existent Captain Canuck uniform. It changed to being less a flag motif later itself though. Interesting to know what it might've looked like outside Canada as a design. Snowbird I expect was a bit of homage to the famous pop song written by Gene MacLellan and recorded by Anne Murray. The character seemed to have a bit of Anne Murray to her (she was on Canadian tv a lot in the '70s and early '80s). Puck was hard to not see as a hockey puck, but if you can pull off a character like this without it just being a one-dimensional gag more power to thee, and he is an actually interesting character! We did used to snicker a bit at Pierre Trudeau being a shadowy mastermind of some sort and mention of advanced Canadian technology (being dumb kids and not knowing about the Avro Aero jetplane developed in the '50s and then mothballed inexplicably). The first run-in in #109 is pretty exciting given how nothing was known about Wolverine's past at the time, and here some of his Weapon X past wants to pull him back! Now it seems pretty un-Canadian to me, but maybe we just got tired of pouring money into actors and comedians (and doctors) and having them move south? Pierre says, non, we will have this one back, we're still paying for the Montreal Forum too. I hope Hulk Annual #8 was included which co-starred Sasquatch, an important early appearance, as well as the Machine Man cross-over. She was on American tv and radio a lot, in the same period too. To my utter horror! Thank McKenzie for Rush! I seem to recall SCTV making fun of Anne Murray, in their earlier syndicated days (no nothing beats Eugene Levy's Perry Como, except maybe Joe Flaherty's Slim Whitman).
|
|
|
Post by berkley on Jun 6, 2019 4:27:15 GMT -5
Pierre says, non, we will have this one back, we're still paying for the Montreal Forum too. Are you possibly thinking rather of the infamous cost-over-runs of Montreal's Olympic Stadium?
|
|