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John Byrne & Bill Mantlo were the only two writers to ever do a readable Alpha Flight story. I recently finished up reading all the way through the AF series. MAN it sucked!

If it sucked so badly, why would you continue reading it? Especially since at this late date it really doesn’t matter?

Completism, curiousity, optimism, to see where it went?
Lots of reasons, even if you disagree with them.

I’m always astounded people likes the Mantlo AF stories. Sure, they were fine stories generally, but they were aweful as Alpha Flight stories. Puck as an enchanted ancient tall-guy? Heather becoming Guardian after Byrne did a story about explicitely why she wouldn’t do so? The villains, the new characters… they just didn’t fit the mold, IMO.

Ditto. But i think it must have been some editorial decision, since almost every mutant AF member suddenly were not mutants anymore (Northstar as an elf, etc.)

Definitely deserves to be called “old school” or “classic” way more than anything where Mr. frickin’ Sinister or Gambit show their stupidly designed faces, grumble, grumble…

Alpha Flight should have never got their own book. They should have stayed on permanent “coolest guest star ever” status, like Namor or Hercules.

Namor could work in his own book, but only if it was the last Namor book ever published. It would end with Sue Storm giving birth to the next half-atlantean, half-human.

Actually, it would probably have to be one of the last Marvel books ever published. I don’t think the FF could survive that one. Oh, and did I mention that Atlantis would have staged a full take-over of the United States?

Yeah, okay, so it’s never gonna happen.

Bill Mantlo’s Alpha Flight was the single greatest title destruction ever done on comics.

Like a razed serial killer, Mantlo went after every single one Alpha member and did him bizarre changes, taking out anything that was appealing about the character in the process: Puck becomes a long-lived shrunk big guy, Northstar isn’t gay but a (literal) fairy, even dead James Hudson is retroactively made a manipulative bastard, and on and on and on.

Maybe Shooter asked him to do that to get “revenge” on Byrne for jumping out to DC. That’s the only possible explanation I can find for anyone to be so thorough at destroying a (then) best-selling comic.

Best,
Hunter (Pedro Bouça)

“If it sucked so badly, why would you continue reading it? Especially since at this late date it really doesn’t matter?”

As a kid, I read most of Byrne’s AF run, but had to stop buying it before his run ended. I bought a full run on eBay pretty cheap because of nostalgia and good memories. I didn’t know about the rest of the run until I read them. I was contunially amazed at the lack of intelligent writing and wondered how it could have lasted past 50 issues.

I finished reading the entire thing because I’m a little anal & a little OCD. I had a financial inventment in the books and felt an obligation to read them at least once, regardless of how painful. Second, I was continually hoping they would get better. Third, I felt the need to finish out the entire run, just to say I had read them all, again regardless of the pain.

“I’m always astounded people likes the Mantlo AF stories.”

Note that I didn’t say I liked them. I said they were readable. In comparison to the Hudnall garbage (Dream Queen storyline), they’re solid gold. But no, even the Mantlo stuff wasn’t anywhere it should have been. He was a much better writer than that.

Where’s my Alpha Flight Classic v2 ?

And come to think of it what about a V0 ? X-Men 109,120 & 121, 139 & 140, Machine Man ?? (can’t remember the issues, Marvel two in One 74 & 75 ?? (again can’t remember the issue numbers)

The changes to Northstar were editorially mandated, not Mantlo’s choice. If anything he was more up front about Northstar’s sexuality than Byrne had been.

The “Dark Phoenix Saga” is still, in my opinion, the greatest superhero comic ever made.

Anybody else notice how the last couple Dark Phoenix issues are a kind of a mishmash of plot points and concepts from the Lee/Kirby Fantastic Four, specifically FF 44(?)-51? Was that done on purpose?

Dark Phoenix is a lot more thought out and still really good, mind. But I just read both of ‘em this week and it bothered me.

>
> The changes to Northstar were editorially mandated,
> not Mantlo’s choice. If anything he was more up
> front about Northstar’s sexuality than Byrne had been.
>

I wish that was the only bad thing about Mantlo’s run.
At least that one was easy to retcon (which happened
rather quickly).

What he has done to the other characters was FAR more
destructive on the long run.

Best,
Hunter (Pedro Bouça)

X-Men 121 was great, but the issue before it was even better. Has any new team ever had such a gripping introduction as Alpha Flight did in X-Men 120?

Well, yes, now that I think about it.
Just one other group intro compares in my memory - the Inhumans in FF 45.
These are two of my favorite comics all time.

Days of Futures Past is maybe my favorite Claremont-Byrne story, but there are so many high points during the run. And Byrne’s Alpha Flight was incredible.