Alpha Flight Fans: Gather

[Cold Water]

Was anyone else a little skeeved when Snowbird asked her boyfriend (not husband yet and I cannot recall his name as I type this) to show her how to be a woman?
That...that bothered me slightly.

[Nevets]

Was anyone else a little skeeved when Snowbird asked her boyfriend (not husband yet and I cannot recall his name as I type this) to show her how to be a woman?
That...that bothered me slightly.

Off hand, I don't remember that line so I guess it didn't bother me...who knows now though. Maybe you've ruined it for me for all time. THANKS A LOT COLD WATER!

:P

[JackalsIII]

Anyone read Wrath of the Dream Queen, a four part story starting in issue 67? Was it any good? I just finished reading Doctor Strange 2 (from 1989) and it is advertised in the back. Was it a story worth advertising?

[SJNeal]

Dream Queen was, imho, AF's best villain. So yes, I'd recommend the arc.

[Cold Water]

Off hand, I don't remember that line so I guess it didn't bother me...who knows now though. Maybe you've ruined it for me for all time. THANKS A LOT COLD WATER!

:P

Yes! It was when she went to tell (is his name Doug?? Wtf is her husband's name again??) him that she loved him. And they had sexy times for the first time. She told him to show her/teach her how to be a woman. Or some such. As a woman, it quite made me pucker. I don't need a man to teach me how to be a woman, thnkuvrymch, Snowbird. And neither does any other woman.

[JackalsIII]

Dream Queen was, imho, AF's best villain. So yes, I'd recommend the arc.

Glad it was a good one! I wonder why some arcs get promoted and others don't.

[Cold Water]

Glad it was a good one! I wonder why some arcs get promoted and others don't.

#67 officially started Hudnall's run, #66 was Mantlo's last issue. Perhaps the push was because of a new writer taking the series in another direction/better direction/different direction/non-f@8ky direction?

[Nevets]

Anyone read Wrath of the Dream Queen, a four part story starting in issue 67? Was it any good? I just finished reading Doctor Strange 2 (from 1989) and it is advertised in the back. Was it a story worth advertising?

So good!

Dream Queen was, imho, AF's best villain. So yes, I'd recommend the arc.

She was for sure one of the best, possibly the best for me.

[Nevets]

Another "From the beginning" summary, courtesy of David R on the old CBR:

Alpha Flight #19



"Turn Again, Turn Again, Time in Thy Flight"

1st appearance: Ranaq the Great Devourer

Another great cover! Another long-winded title! Another new member! TALISMAN! Elizabeth Twoyoungmen gains powers, and costumes, and joins the cast.

To deal with last issue's repercussions, Shaman decides Alpha Flight must journey to the past. Snowbird, Puck and Heather Hudson arrive on the scene. Upon introduction, Snowbird bows before Elizabeth Twoyoungmen. To Shaman's astonishment, Elizabeth must be the "promised one"! Elizabeth takes Shaman's medicine bag, looks inside (and does NOT go insane) and removes a head-band from the mysterious bag. Elizabeth places the head-band upon her forehead...and presto!! New uniform-- Talisman has arrived! (Cool title.)

Now the journey begins. Heather remains in our world, still healing from wounds. Puck, Snowbird, Shaman and Talisman enter a vortex wall (created by Shaman) and materialize in 1884 Calgary. It is the 19th Century, and Calgary is barely a shadow of what it is to be. The Old West is best way to describe it. Our Alphans don the illusion of Old West garb, and wander the quiet town. They soon come upon two gunslingers, holding an indian woman at gunpoint. (The indian woman looks like Talisman!) Before them is an elderly indian, sitting indian-style and airborne!! The 2 cowboys want Ranaq the Great Devourer conjured up, or the indian's grand-daughter will be shot. The indian complies, and the great barrier opens. Ranaq the Great Devourer appears, and handsome HE ISN'T!! A giant face appears in mid-air, with gloating bits of flesh (?) float around the face. Red, menacing eyes and large hideous teeth. The cowboys are protected against Ranaq by wearing some magical necklaces, which ward off magic. Ranaq wants to know why he's been summoned. The cowboys want riches, women and power. Ranaq supplies treasure and a beautiful woman, but they can only actually TOUCH them if they remove their magical necklaces. One horny cowboy removes the necklace, so he can kiss the woman. What a maroon!

Without the necklace, Ranaq possesses the lone cowboy. The man's face gains a monstrous look (ever seen the possessed people in The Evil Dead?) Snowbird & Talisman battle Ranaq in this new human form. But only the gunshot by the other cowboy, a young Lucas Stang, blows a bullet into his head, and sends Ranaq back into the netherworld. Is Ranaq actually killed? AlphaFlight don't know, but his threat has been stopped. They prepare to return to present-day Canada, and Snowbird christens Elizabeth with the name....Talisman!

[JackalsIII]

#67 officially started Hudnall's run, #66 was Mantlo's last issue. Perhaps the push was because of a new writer taking the series in another direction/better direction/different direction/non-f@8ky direction?

Thanks for the insight, that probably would make sense. Especially with the tarnishment that is Mantlo's run, so they would have wanted to get the word out there of the new change.

[Nevets]

SPOILER ALERT FOR TOMORROW's Amazing X-Men. (please don't report and/or ban me! I just want to prepare my fellow fans).

EDITED...I don't want to get in trouble! Feel free to PM me if you want to know.

[Nevets]

Another "From the beginning" summary, courtesy of David R on the old CBR:

Alpha Flight #20



"Gold and Love Affairs"

1st appearance: Gilded Lily

First of all, this issue introduces a new paper stock, much higher in quality than Marvel was using up till now. No longer can you see the artwork on the opposite side of the page, which marred Marvel's books during the 1980s. The coloring is brighter and clearer, and it has a MUCH IMPROVED look for John Byrne's art. His Sasquatch never looked better till now!

#20 begins with aforementioned Sasquatch ripping a tree out of a forest ( in a panel reminiscent of Colosuss ripping out a tree from Uncanny X-Men #140, by Mr. Byrne himself. Kudos, JB.) Walter is tearing apart a forest to make way for development; but he is also seeing if he becomes angry and loses control of himself again. He does not. In a beautiful page by Byrne, Sasquatch unearths a spring of water and it flows down the mountainside to the valley below. Truly, Byrne's Sasquatch is gorgeous here. Aurora flies into the scene, wearing a new, very revealing yellow-black-white uniform. Aurora has cut her hair very short. However, the construction workers are NOT goggling at her hair. They've seen virtually no women in a month. And Aurora is more woman than they can handle!

Meanwhile, the rest of Alpha Flight are meeting after #19's events. Elizabeth Twoyoungmen is less-than-happy over becoming Talisman. She attempts to remove the "coronet of enchantment" on her forehead, but a shot of stinging pain stops her. Her father, Shaman announces she cannot remove it, ever! Puck and Heather Hudson enter the kitchen of Heather's parents home. There are continual hints of Puck's past life. He's lived twice the time of Heather herself. And seen parts of the world few men even dream of. The two seem to be flirting together. Heather leaves and Shaman enters. Shaman warns Puck about this current developments with Heather. Heather is highly vulnerable after Guardian's death, and susceptible to falling into a friend's arms for moral support. Puck replies he know, and that he cannot "give" what Heather needs in a man. In a stunning surprise, Shaman says Puck misunderstands him. When Heather reaches out to Puck, the dwarf must give all of himself he can possibly give to her!!

The final act of #20 begins off the tip of Vancouver Island, as Aurora and Walter Langkowski ride a motor-boat along the gorgeous lake. Lovingly drawn by John Byrne. They dock, and walk through the woods. Coming across an old Victorian styled home, we learn the home is in Walter's family. He hopes for it to become Alpha Flight's headquarters and base. The 2 lovers enter the house, which is strangely devoid of cobwebs or dust. Odd as no one is supposed to be there. Walt rests against a wall as he's worried about Aurora's changing personality. More aspects of Jeanne-Marie, her alter ego, are seeping through. Suddenly, a hidden hatch opens and Walter falls through. Aurora looks around in surprise, as the lights go out. She is plunged into darkness!! Aurora stumbles thru the dark, frightened enough that her Jeanne-Marie personality begins to fight to regain control of her body! Finally, she sees light and enters a long hallway. On each side of the hallway, stand gold statues of eight men. Again, another gorgeous drawing by Byrne. The men are decked out in 19th century/early 20th Century garb, and Aurora looks at each. Until an eye opens on one of the men! They are ALIVE! Aurora turns to run and behind her is a tall, woman with a very 1920s-style look of hair and makeup (see cover). Her skin looks pure gold! The woman says to follow her, and Aurora does. As she enters another room and finds Walter Langkowski turned into pure GOLD!

[Adam-X]

I am also torn on this issue, but for other reasons. When I am reading through a series, which I've done multiple times for Alpha, I actually start pre-series. All X-Men, Machine Man, Marvel Team-Up, etc appearances, so then I get to this and feel like I'm reading the same thing over that I just recently read. I actually do like future Heather (which seems to be an uncommon opinion here! Haha) so that part doesn't bother me. I understand the Aurora thing though.

Well, my problem with Heather is she went from someone who was VERY gentle and VERY loving and VERY tender (look at how she reacted to Wolverine when they first found him), and she goes to, "Pestilence is about to go into Snowbird, who is a demigoddess and might be able to fight him off? Well I don't want to risk it! BLAM! Hole through her chest and kill her!"

What happened to the compassion and caring she showed Wolverine? The idea that anyone could be saved?

Of course, Snowbird is one of my favorites, so it might be quite personal to me...

Yeah, I'm a big fan of Snowbird, Shaman and Talisman *long sigh about her appearance in Amazing*, so this is a good one to me.

Hoping for the best. I could see Talisman moving to the X-Men successfully, like Northstar did (if they ever get rid of Illyanna)...

[Adam-X]

Was anyone else a little skeeved when Snowbird asked her boyfriend (not husband yet and I cannot recall his name as I type this) to show her how to be a woman?
That...that bothered me slightly.

and

Yes! It was when she went to tell (is his name Doug?? Wtf is her husband's name again??) him that she loved him. And they had sexy times for the first time. She told him to show her/teach her how to be a woman. Or some such. As a woman, it quite made me pucker. I don't need a man to teach me how to be a woman, thnkuvrymch, Snowbird. And neither does any other woman.

Why? Snowbird was not a normal woman. She had to be born into this world in a very special way - and if I recall correctly, aged from infant to young woman in a very, very, very short time. She never had human emotions, really. She was always very distant, thanks to being a demigod. She was raised in the wilderness. No real interaction with people at all, other than Shaman. So it's not like she asked, because she thought that her boyfriend/would-be-husband, was some kind of sex god or anything - but she probably honestly had NO idea what it was to be like a (mortal) woman.

This is one of the reasons, when Snowbird uses her "telepathy" to "suggest" to Northstar to remain; it never bothered me. Because she technically knows no better, really. She did, what to her, seemed like a natural, normal choice.

Anyone read Wrath of the Dream Queen, a four part story starting in issue 67? Was it any good? I just finished reading Doctor Strange 2 (from 1989) and it is advertised in the back. Was it a story worth advertising?

DreamQueen story is great!

Dream Queen was, imho, AF's best villain. So yes, I'd recommend the arc.

She is awesome - but it's a toss up between her and Master for best AF villain, for me.

Another "From the beginning" summary, courtesy of David R on the old CBR:
Alpha Flight #19

"Turn Again, Turn Again, Time in Thy Flight"
1st appearance: Ranaq the Great Devourer

Talisman and another Great Beast to add to the gallery of villains against Snowbird? Sign me up. This issue was great! I absolutely love Talisman as a character (though I strongly hated when Shaman took the mantle)...

Another "From the beginning" summary, courtesy of David R on the old CBR:
Alpha Flight #20

"Gold and Love Affairs"
1st appearance: Gilded Lily

As I said in a previous post; I like that Alpha Flight did some strange stories from time to time... but this one fell short for me, for some reason.

[JackalsIII]

SPOILER ALERT FOR TOMORROW's Amazing X-Men. (please don't report and/or ban me! I just want to prepare my fellow fans).

EDITED...I don't want to get in trouble! Feel free to PM me if you want to know.

Coward! I would never turn you in but I understand you can never know with lurkers. Thanks for the information!