Alpha Flight: Ponderings from a relatively new fan of the series.
From The Kids!
PWalk is a mate of mine over in
Alpha Waves and he sent me this for the Kids perspective.
My girlfriend is a special education teacher here in Philadelphia. 2 weeks ago she asked me to read to the kids so I took in AF vol. 1 #1. She was a little apprehensive at first saying that even though Spiderman was on the cover he wasn't in the book. I came back to her saying this was a perfect opportunity to teach kids about not judging a book by its cover. She reluctantly agreed and off I went to read to the kids. The kids are 1st and 2nd graders all of whom have been diagnosed with a form of Autism. I showed them the cover and they instantly were hyped about it. "Look at all the heroes!" one kid yelled. I started reading it to them. I didn't read the actual story as they would have been lost within the first 2 minutes. Instead I made up a story of how all these different people came together to stop a mighty giant. There was " Electric Man", " Sassy", " JP" & his sister " JM", Shaman, " Bird Girl", " Fish Lady", and Puck. The kids loved the story and it worked out well. " Sassy" was a favourite along with " Fish Lady". Kids commented on how it was nice to see different people work together instead of fighting each other. They also mentioned that the giant would have won if he had teammates too. It was a great 30 minutes of sitting down and talking to kids, introducing them to comics and finding out what they drew from AF. Now granted I took some creative liberty in telling the story but I think the kids got the message.
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I was so happy when I saw this so I showed it to
Ben, who runs the
forum and he even got misty. Thanks
PWalk! And speaking of
Ben…I love the boy! Right before I posted the last column off to him, I got a box in the mail…it was all of his Alpha Flight doubles. He’d asked online if anyone would give them a good home and I think I jumped on it before he fully hit ‘send’. They’re mine! *goes all manic for a second* ahem… But yes! I got about 30 issues from the two previous volumes to give me an idea of what I have missed. And I’ve missed quite a bit so it seems.
As soon as I came downstairs I saw the box, sitting on my pile of boxes waiting to be hauled off to my con for Halloween weekend. It got grabbed, inspected and as soon as I saw the return addy was from PEI, opened and read! And I went through every one of them in one sitting. I even got teased about this when asked online later that week…har har. Of course there was also the teasing about the border holding it up, like my orders from
Sasquatch comics…also based in PEI. By the way…if you haven’t already, you should check out
Sasquatch. They’re a GREAT online comic shop and a lot cheaper then
Mile High. Besides…with a name like ‘Sasquatch’, how can ya go wrong?
So anyhoo, I got a box of goodies from
Ben and went through them. I got the basic Alpha Flight history in the books I received so I read up on it. O.o Jo got confused real quick, but it was worth it. I got to see every character who ever appeared in the AF world and a bit of background on all of them. If even it was only a page or two. I also got to see the twins in action either together or against each other. Jo loves the twins! And then there was the ‘
JP gets seduced by the Purple Girl’ issue…DROOL! Heh, he’s in his knickers, give a girl a break.
I also noticed the variations from different authors and artists. I can see why you have the die hard Bryne fans, and the die hard fans of other writers. They each took the characters, wiped the slate clean and started from scratch…at least that’s how it appeared to me. I do know that Scott’s current take on the series is vastly different from what those before him have taken. I also got more background on the characters I do know, some of which was a surprise. Which reminds me I need to rewrite a few things in that fic…? Who knew he was Jewish? I figured Polish, catholic! At least as I am familiar with it…but I’m rambling off track there.
The same went for all the different art styles I saw. I knew what I liked and I knew what I didn’t like…I won’t name names just in case there are fans out there of the ones I didn’t exactly care for, just know that I didn’t think it suited the story and characters. The one thing I did like though was each writer’s take on the various characters and how they relate to each other. I knew from my original research into all things Alpha, about the less then loving relationship between
Talisman and
Shaman. It wasn’t until I got my stash from Ben though, that I could see for myself, just how big the wedge was between daughter and father. I also noticed that I have developed quite a fondness for
Liz…she’s my kinda gal. “Oh man I gotta do this crap again!” Sounds like me at work. ^^
Now I have heard Quebecers talking before…they don’t sound like bad French knock offs. Trust me on this! Anyone who watches enough ice hockey can tell you that. (C’mon! Practically half of the NHL is made up of Quebecois!) I noticed though that the bad French knock off accent was written quite frequently throughout the various issues I got. And not just for the Beaubier twins either. Murmur really got stuck with it from the three issues I saw of her. Poor girl. One had to think though if it wasn’t part of the design they cooked up for her though…French cathouse anyone?
But that was my only real gripe with what I saw. I discovered something in my readings that made me smirk. Not every hot redhead in the Marvel Universe is a ‘damsel in distress’ type. Sorry to all you Jean Grey fans out there, but her character revolves around Cyclopes. At least in my not quite so humble point of view.
Heather however proved to be different for me. Okay fine, she did get shown mourning over her
husband’s loss. That’s more then understandable, but from what I did read, she didn’t let it run her life.
Heather had her own life too dammit! And she was shown as being able to put her pain aside and do her job, not only effectively, but very well too! I personally love how she didn’t so much as ‘mother hen’ the rest of them but put up with them more like a big sister would…barely. ^^ And believe me, from what I saw she had more then enough cause. I did notice thing constant throughout the series as a whole. They may be as different as night and day, but they work damn well together! The whole ‘big old happy if slightly dysfunctional family’ thing. Something I know they try for in X-Men and just can’t quite pull off of late. It was a great dynamic to see, and one I’m glad that Scott seems to be keeping with in the latest series.
Luv Jo
p.s. lookie here! I now have an AF specific email addy to send comments, jeers, or whatever to now.
jo@alphaflight.net
