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Post by berkley on Oct 13, 2014 11:09:00 GMT -5
In Doctor Fate's Top 50 Marvel characters thread several members of Alpha Flight have been featured and it's started me thinking about their first series.
As I was saying in that thread, I saw Alpha Flight in the pages of the Claremont/Byrne X-Men, but, while naturally I liked the idea of a Canadian superhero team, they didn't make a strong impression one way or the other at the time and I never did look at their solo book. I'm starting to wonder if I might not give it a try after all these years.
On the plus side, I like John Byrne's artwork from just before the Alpha Flight period.
On the minus side, I'm not too enthusiastic over what I've seen of Byrne's writing. But then I haven't seen very much - mostly it's stuff I've read about on the web rather than actually read myself. But some of that is pretty dire.
So how about it? Should I give Alpha Flight a shot? What should I expect from this book? Given my suspicions about Byrne's writing, I'd be happy with straightforward, Claremont-style superhero team stories, even if not up to the standard of Claremont's best. And, while I know a lot of people here still think Byrne's artwork was first rate on the FF and the various DC things he did a little later, I much prefer his earlier X-Men/Iron Fist style - - had it changed much by the time he was working on the Alpha Flight series? Is it closer to his FF than to his X-Men?
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Crimebuster
CCF Podcast Guru
Making comics!
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Post by Crimebuster on Oct 13, 2014 15:08:59 GMT -5
I think Byrne's Alpha Flight stuff is pretty interesting. Given how cheap it is, I'd give it a shot. Just one caveat: The end of his run is so abrupt, and the change of direction so severe when he leaves, that you might get whiplash. He and Bill Mantlo did a crossover between Alpha Flight and Hulk, and during the story they permanently switched creative teams, swapping titles. Mantlo - who had Mike Mignola for an artist! - basically went completely nuts, chucked everything from Byrne's run out the window and wrote some of the weirdest superhero comics maybe ever. At least as weird as Defenders.
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Post by Rob Allen on Oct 13, 2014 19:36:22 GMT -5
On Creepy vs. Eerie, the important difference when I was reading them (1974-78) was that Creepy was all standalone stories, and Eerie was all continuing features. So if you've got a random issue of Creepy, you have half-a-dozen complete stories with characters that will never appear again. With a random issue of Eerie, you have half-a-dozen episodes of ongoing horror features - like a Golden Age comic book but with monsters instead of superheroes.
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Post by berkley on Oct 14, 2014 16:40:44 GMT -5
And if you like Creepy and Eerie you'll probably want to check out Vampirella eventually. I used to look down on it with some disdain, but a lot of the best artists from Creepy and Eerie also did work for Vampirella - e.g. two of my favourites, Esteban Maroto & Gonzalo Mayo. It wasn't just the cheap titillation some of the covers might lead one to expect (not there's anything wrong with a bit of cheap titillation now and then).
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Post by Rob Allen on Oct 14, 2014 17:26:56 GMT -5
Vampirella wasn't cheap titillation - it cost just as much as the other two magazines.
Kidding aside, Vampirella was a cross between Creepy and Eerie. There was the ongoing Vampi series, and for a while, another ongoing series called Pantha (another attractive female lead, this time a cat-woman), and several standalone stories in each issue.
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Post by pinkfloydsound17 on Oct 14, 2014 18:51:54 GMT -5
Couple series I am wondering about...
Omega Men- any good? Worth reading?
Lobo- related to above, mostly referring to the 4 issue mini series. I have the first issue, can't say I love it but wondering if the remaining issues are worth the read.
Foolkiller- is it the culty goodness that I have heard it is?
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Post by adamwarlock2099 on Oct 14, 2014 19:29:32 GMT -5
Scott, thanks for the distinction in Creepy and Eerie. It seems Creepy may be a better start as I will most likely only have random issues available and in my price range.
Regarding Vampirella I have quite a few reprint collections of the Warren Vampirella and I enjoy them thoroughly each time I read them. Some really amazing art and stories in a lot of those magazines. One of the largest TPB I have has about 20 or so issues out of the first 40, plus I have 3-4 other smaller TPB. I also have some modern Harris Vampirella as well as Harris and Warren Panth appearances. I like the Warren stories of her more but I think Texeria draws a great Pantha, both cat and gal.
Pinkfloyd ... I have 95% of the 1983 Omega Men. I got them some years back in a music/video game store's $1 and .50 cent boxes. I enjoyed reading them. I think I have like 4 issues randomly that I don't have so I got a pretty good overall gist of the book. In some ways it reminded me of Dreadstar. I guess because of the team of different aliens all with a common goal. The team leader was a good choice, but some of the secondary characters and a lot of the "sidetrack issues" were better than the main story that fueled the plot.
There was an Adam Strange series from 2004, by Andy Diggle and Pascal Ferry which starred the Omega Men alongside Adam. I don't remember a whole lot about the story, but I do remember liking it and especially the art. This was my first introduction to the Omega Men as I bought this new off the shelf. The 1983 series I got only 3-4 years ago. I might read it now that it's been brought up.
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Post by fanboystranger on Oct 14, 2014 20:52:51 GMT -5
Couple series I am wondering about... Omega Men- any good? Worth reading? Lobo- related to above, mostly referring to the 4 issue mini series. I have the first issue, can't say I love it but wondering if the remaining issues are worth the read. Foolkiller- is it the culty goodness that I have heard it is? I recently picked up the first ten issues of Omega Men (minus issue 3), and it's pretty good. Keith Giffen is the artist for the five that I've read, and his art is comparable to his work on Legion around the same time. I'd say give it a shot if you liked books like L.E.G.I.O.N or R.E.B.E.L.S.
Lobo is a mixed bag. The first two minis are pretty good, largely because of Bisley's art, but the ongoing isn't that great. Lobo, in my opinion, only works in juxtaposition to an authority figure that's either much smarter or much more clever than he is, like Vril Dox. When you don't have that, the one-note that Lobo strikes isn't very effective.
If you mean the early '90s Foolkiller mini by Steve Gerber and JJ Birch, it is excellent. It's the one truly good superhero deconstruction books that gets ignored now that Marshall Law is back in print. Can't recommend it enough.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 20, 2014 2:13:52 GMT -5
Not quite comics, but related since they are the same shared universe as his Stumptown comics, but has anyone read any of the Atticus Kodiak novels by Greg Rucka or a Fistful of Rain? I am just discovering Stumptown with the third mini and am interested in exploring more, but have a lot on my to read pile, so would like some opinions before I sample the novels.
-M
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Post by Nowhere Man on Oct 20, 2014 2:57:12 GMT -5
I think Byrne's Alpha Flight stuff is pretty interesting. Given how cheap it is, I'd give it a shot. Just one caveat: The end of his run is so abrupt, and the change of direction so severe when he leaves, that you might get whiplash. He and Bill Mantlo did a crossover between Alpha Flight and Hulk, and during the story they permanently switched creative teams, swapping titles. Mantlo - who had Mike Mignola for an artist! - basically went completely nuts, chucked everything from Byrne's run out the window and wrote some of the weirdest superhero comics maybe ever. At least as weird as Defenders. This is why my personal end to the Alpha Flight story is issue #29, the first Mantlo issue. It works pretty well as a final story with Alpha Flight becoming a proper team and Heather becoming the leader. (Though I might be miss-remembering this. It's been years since I read that issue.) |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Oct 20, 2014 9:43:49 GMT -5
Not quite comics, but related since they are the same shared universe as his Stumptown comics, but has anyone read any of the Atticus Kodiak novels by Greg Rucka or a Fistful of Rain? I am just discovering Stumptown with the third mini and am interested in exploring more, but have a lot on my to read pile, so would like some opinions before I sample the novels. -M Stumptown is excellent. But I haven't read his novels at all. Sorry. |
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Post by earl on Oct 20, 2014 22:33:53 GMT -5
"Opinions on Jonah Hex"
Jonah Hex is a really bleak comic for 70s DC comics. It's often got a cynical dare I say near existential angst that was pretty rare for it's day, especially in the 4 color code comics. Get it in the Showcase, I think the black and white works well with the artwork.
I really liked the Hex comic back in the 80s. I need to get that one and Electric Warrior to re-read them again, as they were both totally nuts. I kind of saw those titles as DC trying some 2000 AD style strips in US comics. None of them really caught on, but I give them kudos for trying to get weird.
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Post by berkley on Oct 21, 2014 0:28:45 GMT -5
Foolkiller- is it the culty goodness that I have heard it is? If you mean the early '90s Foolkiller mini by Steve Gerber and JJ Birch, it is excellent. It's the one truly good superhero deconstruction books that gets ignored now that Marshall Law is back in print. Can't recommend it enough.
Yeah, I second this recommendation. I don't rate Foolkiller up there with the very best things Gerber wrote - it's a bit one-note and even preachy at times, for me - but it's still a thought-provoking look at the whole vigilante idea, and far superior to pretty much anything else Marvel was printing at the time. Personally, I always thought the second (I think it was?) Foolkiller that appeared in the pages of Man-Thing was the most interesting: the guy who demanded that you "live as a poet" - or he'd kill you. |
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Post by pinkfloydsound17 on Oct 22, 2014 21:43:22 GMT -5
Having just seen the trailer for Avengers: Age of Ultron, I must say I am very excited. That voice Spader uses just sounds fantastic!
On a comic related note though, what are thoughts here on Avengers storylines that center around Ultron? Which are the best? Is Age of Ultron any good (I know, I know, its quite new and the movie will not be based on that storyline).
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Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2014 22:16:55 GMT -5
My favorite Ultron stories are Avengers 160-162 and Busiek & Perez's Ultron Unlimited (19-22), but I like all of the Ulton stories from Avengers Vol. 1.
The only issue of Age of Ultron worth reading is the follow up issue 10.something a Hank Pym story by Mark Waid that is very good. The other 10 forming the main series are pretty much forgettable tripe.
-M
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