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Ronald Joseph
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 18 April 2011
Location: United States
Posts: 1784
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| Posted: 18 December 2017 at 10:51am | IP Logged | 1
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useless BS in their past
Basically, everything that happened after JB left.
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Andrew Bitner
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 01 June 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 7496
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| Posted: 18 December 2017 at 11:29am | IP Logged | 2
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Even though I like (and know) some of those who followed JB on AF, I have to agree. There's almost nothing post-JB's run worth salvaging or remembering.
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Ronald Joseph
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 18 April 2011
Location: United States
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| Posted: 18 December 2017 at 12:45pm | IP Logged | 3
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JB's AF was one of those perfect (yes, perfect) books that I can't find any fault with. At all. The only complaint I have is that it ended before I was ready to let it go.
It is also the template I use when writing my own team book. I revisit JB's run every year or so and read it from beginning to end and it holds up very well.
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Eric Jansen
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 27 October 2013
Location: United States
Posts: 2294
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| Posted: 18 December 2017 at 1:01pm | IP Logged | 4
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There's almost nothing post-JB's run worth salvaging or remembering._____________________________
I consider the late 80's and the 90's a big black hole in mainstream comics. My favorite artists had moved on to independent or specialty projects and my favorite writers just started getting pushed out of the industry (though some found success in TV or novels). They were replaced by amateurish and/or Image-ish artists and the new writers were mostly people I still avoid to this day. It's just unfortunate that ALPHA FLIGHT was still building its mythology during a very shallow time.
I happened to quit AF just after JB left, but, looking things up, I see that Bill Mantlo stuck with it for a very long time with talented artists like Mike Mignola at the beginning and Jim Lee (yes, there are good Image artists) towards the end. I find that Mantlo can be good when he gets rolling and his title is sort of left off to the side by itself (ROM and MICRONAUTS), which his AF seems to be. Are these issues worth exploring?
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
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| Posted: 18 December 2017 at 1:24pm | IP Logged | 5
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Bill seemed to take on ALPHA FLIGHT with the assumption that this was the book where characters died.
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Shane Matlock
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 12 August 2012
Location: United States
Posts: 1760
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| Posted: 18 December 2017 at 1:32pm | IP Logged | 6
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Eric, Mantlo's take on Puck was that his dwarfism was actually a mystical curse and he restored Puck to normal size. So, short answer: no. He did not get Alpha Flight, at all.
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Shane Matlock
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| Posted: 18 December 2017 at 1:43pm | IP Logged | 7
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Shane Matlock
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| Posted: 18 December 2017 at 1:46pm | IP Logged | 8
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Forgot to mention that he does restore Puck back to dwarf form at the end of said issue after he takes the demon/curse back into him, but the whole thing was just wrong and seemed to remove a hero for little people that had never really had one prior to Puck.
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Ronald Joseph
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 18 April 2011
Location: United States
Posts: 1784
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| Posted: 18 December 2017 at 1:54pm | IP Logged | 9
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Ugh. Painful.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
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| Posted: 18 December 2017 at 2:01pm | IP Logged | 10
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Bill's version of Puck was the point at which I stopped looking. I'd actually NAMED the condition that produced Judd's dwarfism. Had Judd himself name it, in fact. Where all that demonic possession claptrap came from, I do not know. And, yes, it did take away a hero intended for a specific group of people. As did Bill's "fix" of Roger Bochs.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
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| Posted: 18 December 2017 at 2:03pm | IP Logged | 11
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JB's AF was one of those perfect (yes, perfect) books that I can't find any fault with. At all. The only complaint I have is that it ended before I was ready to let it go. ••• ALPHA FLIGHT under my hand was very well written -- there, I said it!! -- but the art left much to be desired. My personal demons were working overtime on that book!
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Shane Matlock
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| Posted: 18 December 2017 at 2:16pm | IP Logged | 12
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The nostalgia level I have for your run on Alpha Flight is extremely high, but I have to say for all the times I've gone back to it as an adult and reread those 28 issues (every five years or so) they hold up incredibly well. Your Heather Hudson was one of the best written women in comics, then and now. Another thing Mantlo screwed up by making her a superhero (Vindicator) very quickly into his run. I read a quote by Mantlo where he talks about how the series wasn't really a team book until he took over, just a series of extremely well-written vignettes, that JB built the foundation and he tried to build the house. Not to knock Mantlo for his other work, much of which I enjoyed, but I preferred Alpha Flight when it was just a foundation. No other writer or artist has really done the book justice or seemed to have even a decent grasp on what made the book or characters work.
Edited by Shane Matlock on 18 December 2017 at 2:20pm
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