2.245 (610) Alpha Flight vol 1 #115 ...

The wonderful thing about doing reviews of comics without following the latest releases is of course giving the reviewer hindsight on the fate of the comics although there is one trend that is always prevalent from comics and that is when sales are down and they are slated for the cancellation axe, the comics quality drops significantly. O you will get the letters where there are fans raving about new directions and new artists and you will find editors replying with all sorts of positive energy but the majority of that fans' series who pops in and out just to see if there is any more point in collecting that series know the truth and that is what happened to Alpha Flight

Take this issue for example. Look at that cover. Not saying it's bad but it's literally trying to cash in on the 90s trend of blood and gore and gnashing teeth. And the choice of interior artwork is Pat Broderick ... again not saying it's bad but his artwork is pedestrian at best and you know he will be slotted in a book that is not expected to top the charts

That having been said how is the tale proper?

Well issue 114 was the build up issue and so this issue supposedly delivers the big punch with a villain named Wyre because his body has wires of a sort coming out. Wow talk about innovative names eh? But hey it's the 90s. Love the title though - Extreme Prejudice which is so Rob Liefeld at that time hahahaha

Other than that, we see Wild Child fighting Wyre and actually giving Wyre a hard time regardless of the misleading cover SPOILER ALERT TOO LATE ... so once the rest of the team sort out another mess and got to the scene, the villain is for sure you know going to panic and skedaddle leaving us with more "mysteries" for the future ...

And because they want to give us something to lure us back for next month's issue, the last page and panel is something ominous with the words Weapon X ... yeah, right, like for sure because of that we will all rush back, eh?

But basically that's it. If you are looking for a jumping on point, this issue is so not it. Unless you are a regular reader there is nothing here to attract you. And if you are a fan of comics much later after this era, you will definitely not buy this

Ratings: 2/10

326. Alpha Flight vol 3 #1 ... Marvel ...

Yet another number 1 issue in our reviews .... if the hype of the 90s are to be believed, number 1 are collectibles. Hahaha! Right! Thanks to all the constant cancellations and relaunches, we have tons of number 1 these days and here is another

Now before we start, after the end of vol 2, there was this volume and another on Omega Flight (Civil War stuff) before ending with yet another short run Alpha Flight ... and like we said earlier in other reviews, each volume gets shorter and shorter and this is shorter than vol 2

We have Lobdell (he who used to do good X-Men stories) on writing duty and ably assisted by Clayton Henry on pencils. When you look at the cover and then the first page, you know that this is an either you like it or dislike it issue. If you are a huge fan of vol 1's first 50 issues, chances are, you will not like this. If you are a fan of early Deadpool, then maybe and that's an iffy maybe, you will try this

So this volume starts off with a gathering of heroes ... but only briefly before we are sent tumbling back to see how they are all assembled and the assembly is basically a recruitment process in short we get to see each of them before they came to be Alphans with the natural ending as a team. It's an okay story and if you like some of the characters, you may come back for more but there are no significant hooks to lure you back which is why this failed

Who is on this team?

The real and original Sasquatch (thank goodness)! A old man who has a jumpstart and joins with super strength. Some native in the jungle who doesn't understand modern civilization (sigh). A former villain whose knife can slice through pretty much anything. A bargirl who can kick all the asses in one room (say what) and finally the Maple Leaf bloke (ugh)

Ratings: 4/10

307. Alpha Flight vol 2 #1 ... Marvel ...

After many years of hiatus with only the occasional appearances here and there in other comics, the Flight returns slightly more than a decade ago with this awesome cover. There is a mix of old and new characters but what is a disappointment is the choice of writer. Seagle. Don't get me wrong. This guy can write and his work is generally in a more Vertigo-esque style

So while he tries to inject overwhelming paranoia in this volume and in a very odd, third person narrative talking direct to us readers, somehow, the nonstop use of this technique made the series subsequently too weighty to be picked up by anyone who didn't read the first few issues. That and the odd choice of penciller, Clark, who used to do a better job (seriously) years ago on Stormwatch made this a wee bit of a mess to read

I remembered buying a number of back issues and trying to dive into them only to give up and left them on the shelves. It took months of occasional boredom to finally plough through my back issues of like 8 issues? Hahaha!

So the new members include Murmur (Purple Girl wannabe), Flex (guy who can change his hands into some sort of metallic weapon but who whines non stop ... still my fave new member) and his big bro who is a Skids wannabe (yes of all people, right?)

Back for another turn at stardom is Heather in the green suit, Sasquatch like creature but minus Walter's presence so more animalistic, Puck (who can ... bounce around? Really?) and resurrection joke, Guardian - he's back yet again and younger with no memories of who he was

The team is assembled or rather woken up in Dept H seemingly to have rejoined but their memories are unclear and as the issue went on, more and more dubious intentions are sprayed everywhere ... and I guess the closing panels are meant to be a cliffhanger of sorts to make us wonder what the F is going on ... well if the artwork is more "clean" I would care but this? UGH!

Ratings: 3/10

305. Alpha Flight vol 1 #4 ... Marvel ...

This is John Byrne at his best ... seriously!

Anyway, as the cover indicates, we are treated to the continuing saga of Alpha Flight where as the premier team of Canada, they have spent the past two issues dealing with internal problems that somehow got them encountering a new super-villain who had apparently been part of humanity from the early ages i.e. the dawn of civilization! And the origin story of that including Alpha member, Marrina is now told in full ... as she too is an alien not of Earth!

This issue sees the guest-stars that appeared briefly (cameo) in the last issue making their presence felt as Namor and Invisible Woman enter the fray ... very good fighting sequences as we see the Flight finding each other in the maze, working to help each other out before the final big clash with the villain du jour

This is comic story telling at its best! (Sorry we just loved this issue so)

Ratings: 8/10

293. Alpha Flight vol 1 #3 ... Marvel ...

Check out the cover first! Here's a voluptuous woman fully clothed yet managing to look o-so-sexy! All you bad girl pin-up artists should learn a thing or two here especially as you can see even though she has tights on there is no nipple! Don't get me wrong! I do collect the 90s comics from Image a lot

Anyway, in this the third issue, the primary highlights are that we get to see an aspect of Snowbird's abilities that are largely ignored throughout Alpha's issues which is certainly refreshing as I too have forgotten until I re-read this issue

Aside from that, each Alphan finds themselves being challenged with their worst fears by the revealed villain from last issue, the Master of the World ... and he even shares his origins with Marrina (and no it is not cliche) ... and what an unexpected origin it is too ... something I would never have dreamt of

And as for a cliffhanger ending ... yup ... I thought when the word balloon popped up it would be an Alphan ... what an unexpected but delightful surprise! We will not SPOIL it for you by disclosing who are the guest stars since even the covers kept them out of it

Finally, on the flipside, we see more development in Weapon Alpha in Dept H as Mc develops his suit and other operatives come onboard including a certain mutant with claws

Ratings: 8/10

292. Alpha Flight vol 1 #2 ... Marvel ...

Well, if you thought we were just going to do more Ultimates interspersed with Wolverine only ... hehehe ... this is a good break then, eh? We take a time machine and skipped back to the ... 80s ... and to the hey days of John Byrne as he came into his own as both writer and penciller able to churn out monthlies on time!

In this second issue of the series, Byrne ably splits the actual book into two but that's not all he is using for the 2. Second issue = 2 stories = 2 origins.

First up is thanks to the cover we see the development of Marrina. As the Flight does some practise scenarios in the great countryside that is Canada, our resident water girl is suddenly overcome with pain and lashes out injuring fellow Alphans before disappearing and while she swims to only Byrne knows where, we are given flashbacks to how she came to be on Earth and we find out that she is not human!

The ending also introduces us to a new villain who will end up being an arch nemesis of the Flight in the years to come

Now on the flipside, we have the start of the saga of how Alpha Flight came to be ... literally as we see Mc being a government stooge and having a hardtime accepting the fact that his R&D will be used by the military (grow up you moron)!

Honestly? I loved the Guardian battlesuit but not the man inside. Somehow, I never gelled with him or his wife Heather. I like all the other Alphans though even Aurora

Ratings: 7/10

249. Alpha Flight vol 1 #16 ... Marvel ... John Byrne

It all ends here, folks! For those of you who have picked this series up from the back issue bins or online, and read bits and pieces, basically the first attempt at Marrina's origins more or less concludes this issue. It started way back in #2 and through various other character's storylines and even crossing into the Avengers, but finally, it ends here!

Basically, originally, everyone knew that Marrina had human parents and we subsequently found out that like Superman, her parents found her and she hatched from an egg. So she is supposedly otherwordly

Along the way, whenever she gets annoyed, she can turn a little bit more monstrous but aside from this, she doesn't actually do much in this series, I kid you not. However, inspite of all this, she somehow captured Namor, the Sub-Mariner's heart and he wants to wed her! Yup, crazy fish prince!

As if that isn't enough, by the time this issue hits, we found out that as Marrina reverts to more and more savagery, she is breaking away from both Avengers and Alpha Flight with Namor in hot pursuit. However, someone else, a new villain in Marvel-dom, has emerged calling himself Master of the World and he supposedly has been around for a long time but keeping himself to himself

Well for some reason he wants her and thus encounters the flight

Even the origins of the master keeps on changing over the years making him also a strange person with near immortality and outer space links! It can be fun for the serious comic reader but for everyone else? A bit of a headache, eh?


Ratings: 7/10

221. Uncanny X-Men vol 1 #190 & 191 ... Marvel ...

Back in Chris Claremont, writer extraordinaire's hey day, this is the type of work he can produce on a regular basis. As if the past few years' run of non stop good tales was not sufficient to earn him a slip up, as if the past few issues of over-the-top action was not enough, here he comes with another 2-parter that just kicks so much  @$$

The opening issue wastes no time as we see a world immediately transformed and left us wondering in the first few pages WTF happened from the last issue to this! As it is, a green curtain has thrown up around Manhattan and anyone and anything within, is transformed to something from the age of Conan the Barbarian

And with that transformation, everyone sort of loses their sense of self including remembering that they had been transformed. Who is responsible? Kulan Gath - and this is the guy whose plot has been building up in the form of a necklace found by a dock worker (see how sub plots take months to develop and BANG unleashed as something big?)

So while the outside world is trying to understand what is going on, inside the curtain, all is not well. Like any new power, there are those who support (Callisto) and those who object (Avengers). Amongst all these is Spider Man who for some reason is totally unaffected by the master spell. So naturally Gath has it in for the Spider by sending his people to hunt Spiderman down

Everyone and we mean everyone is featured besides Spidey, we have the aforementioned Avengers (Wasp is some disgusting insect!) and the New Mutants (bad guys too) and the X-Men (naturally). The great thing about Marvel tales of that era is that they somehow managed to squeeze so much into 2 issues with no crossover to other issues!

Ummm do we need to say that huge fight ensues?

Oh yes and we learn a bit more about Selene whom we were given a heap ful from last issue

Ratings: 9/10

182. Alpha Flight vol 1 #23 ... Marvel ...

Our third back-to-back review on Alpha Flight and we decided to choose number 23 - one issue short of 24. Why? Because it has so many critical plot points including:

(a) It is the culmination of the last 6 months and more of plot development with 24 being more of a fight scene to end all the storylines

(b) It has an awesome cover that to us is even better than 24

(c) It has a giant sized good guy tearing into another giant sized bad guy

Get it?

Okay

As for the content itself, it is basically about the strange effects on Walter Langkowski or Sasquatch. Over the past few issues, with each transformation, when he is in pain, he seems to be more bestial ala the Hulk

And here, we see that Snowbird, who is semi-goddess finally realizing what is going on with Walter i.e. Walter is not tapping into any scientific energy to transform himself but rather he is merging with one of the ancient nasty beasts of Canada i.e. one of the baddies!

As she does so, Walter becomes totally the beast and so they duke it out with Snowbird transforming into a white Sasquatch while Walter is the orange chap on the cover. It's awesome the fight!

And the ending?

Shockingly brutal ... and that leads us into the next issue!

Ratings: 9/10

181. Alpha Flight vol 1 #19 ... Marvel ...

Once more, we have to say that this is awesome comicbook storytelling at its best! Why? Look at that cover. We see a supporting character that has been building towards this - her emergence as a new fully fledged super heroine - to the point that the villain of the day (another newbie) is not even mentioned on the cover!

In terms of villains, it continues from the last issue as the Flight, what remains of them, not even a proper team, is assembled in response to their comrade, Shaman's mystical plea. They come, one and all including his daughter Elizabeth to this particularly bleak part of Canada in the hopes of piercing some mystic barrier and tracing the evil to its source ... to better understand it and thus defeat it!

It's all awesome artwork and super fast pacing in terms of storyline ... even the flashback was awesome with an awesome twist!

But what's more important here as the cover clearly indicates is Talisman - or rather how Shaman got his daughter to become the Talisman. And one has to wonder ... is she being manipulated and is he the manipulator here? But we know it will be another story for another day and knowing Byrne we trust him to make it ... you guessed it ... awesome!

Ratings: 8/10

180. Alpha Flight vol 1 #18 ... Marvel ...

In this issue of the Canadian super-team's set-up, we see that it is still a book more concerned with superhero soap opera instead of good guys versus bad guys as the writer, John Byrne continues to give us loads and loads on how each of the characters move on with their lives post-Guardian and the guy has been offed since issue 12!

Is it entertaining?

For me, yes! And this is me speaking not just because I am a huge fan of Byrne's X-Men and FF but rather this particular series itself. I admit the cover is kind of weak but it serves to tell us of the many splinters and threads of storylines this issue contains

On the left, we see Heather standing in front of a mirror posing with the outer suit of her husband's uniform. Will she don and lead the team? Willl she don it with the armor thus giving her power or be just a motivational leader on the ground whenever the team is off on adventures? And will the team accept her as their new leader just because she was Guardian's wife?

On the top, we see Snowbird and her human lover/ husband ... and as the caption reads ... the two of them needs to make a decision ... what is that decision? Will she stay with the team? Will she stay with her human lover? Will she ... well, you get the picture

And finally as this is still a superhero comic, the bottom right panel addresses this as Shaman sensing something is wrong somewhere goes off to investigate only to encounter yet another powerful magical entity coming out into our world and this entity is far more powerful than even Shaman can ever suspect. Will he be able to counter such nastiness on his own?

Ratings: 7/10