Alpha Flight Fans: Gather

[Cold Water]

I am trying to decide if #81 and #82 redeem Purple Girl enough for me.

I haven't made up my mind yet. I'm keeping an eye on her. 0_o

[Nevets]

I am trying to decide if #81 and #82 redeem Purple Girl enough for me.

I haven't made up my mind yet. I'm keeping an eye on her. 0_o

I'm so happy that you are considering her redemption!

[Adam-X]

I'm so happy that you are considering her redemption!

A writer can save or ruin any character.

[Cold Water]

I'm so happy that you are considering her redemption!

Hahahaha, we've got a ways. I want to see how she interacts with everyone once they are a team and together again.

[Cold Water]

A writer can save or ruin any character.

This is true.
But what she did was horrible, so I'm still unsure about her.
I also do not care for how she speaks to Goblyn and Laura at times.

[Adam-X]

This is true.
But what she did was horrible, so I'm still unsure about her.
I also do not care for how she speaks to Goblyn and Laura at times.

Well what she did to Northstar is just about the same thing Snowbird did to him (by forcing/compelling him to help mentally).

Perhaps this is why so many pages ago, you didn't list Snowbird on that list of Alpha members you enjoy!

[BLACKINKARUS]

I'm fully aware that this is probably heresy, and that I'm certainly in the minority - but am I the only Alpha Flight fan that actually liked Lobdell's run on the team. The roster was not as good as the original by any means, but I was still entertained by the idea of such an eccentric and quirky team. With that said, it probably helped that I absolutely loved Clayton Henry's art style - I really wish that guy was still working on X-Men titles.

[Anduinel]

I'm fully aware that this is probably heresy, and that I'm certainly in the minority - but am I the only Alpha Flight fan that actually liked Lobdell's run on the team. The roster was not as good as the original by any means, but I was still entertained by the idea of such an eccentric and quirky team. With that said, it probably helped that I absolutely loved Clayton Henry's art style - I really wish that guy was still working on X-Men titles.

AF v.3 was Lobdell's second run on the title. Humor is a really subjective thing, and the brand of humor in that series didn't do much for me. Plus I found the last half needlessly complicated and never got too attached to the roster.

[Nevets]

Another "From the beginning" summary, courtesy of myself, lol, on the old CBR:

Alpha Flight #83 - April 1990



"TALISMAN (The Second)"

James Hudnall/James Sherman

“The barrier of time can only be breached by the soul.” We see Talisman in her astral form, traveling back ten thousand years. In a past life, Talisman was another woman, another Talisman, and she had defeated Llan, the Sorcerer. She intends to merge with her past self, and determine what happened then, so she can learn how to defeat him in the present day.
During her travel, she sees that Llan is following her.

Past Earth: Talisman finds her past self. She is Nahita of the Elk tribe. She is 17 years old and skeletons are raining down on her, knocking her unconscious. While knocked out, Nahita/Talisman sees the future. A future polluted and filled with death. Between each scene of horror, she sees a statuette, an idol of evil. As she wakes, she sees the heroes of her age, the Tribe of the Moon. They are: Firehand, Talks-to-Spirits (who uses the medicine pouch Shaman uses in present day), Willow-Dancer, and Bear Brother. Talks-to-Spirits explains to Nahita that fate has brought them together, that one shall wear the Talisman again, and it is Nahita! Talks-to-Spirits has Nahita reach into his medicine pouch, where she finds the circlet of power. Placing it on her head, she becomes…the second Talisman!

Astral dimension: Our Talisman is then yanked out of this memory by Llan. He tells her that she can’t escape in the past. Using her powers, she escapes…back into her past self.

Past Earth: As the years pass, she sees herself fighting alongside her new tribe against mysterious threats such as the Creatures of the Caves, The Sharks from Beyond Time, rogue Deviants from the lost continent of Lemuria, and the Dimension Giants. Nahita’s greatest challenge comes five years after donning the circlet of power. It tells her all that all the challenges they have faced were trials, preparing them to face their true enemy, Llan the sorcerer. As Nahita explains about Llan, they are interrupted by an injured man from Nahita’s village named Pako. Pako tell Nahita of the night before, when a star fell from the heavens. It caused the villagers to change into monsters. As Pako escaped into the woods, one monster slashed him and told him to deliver the message that “he was back” to Nahita. Pako then changes into a monster and attacks the Tribe, but they defeat him. Talks-to-Spirits teleports the tribe to Nahit’s village, where they find the entire village has been wiped out by Llan. They see Llan rise and exclaim before he disappears that he will seed mans thoughts with the uses of fossil fuels, to create a machine that breathes smoke, and how to create fires that kill everything. For a while, man will feel prosperous, but the accumulated filth and poisons of his waste will make the land barren. The air will become corrupt, the rain will become acid.

Astral dimension: Again, our Talisman is yanked away by the present day Llan, this time she appears to be trapped in a test tube. Llan says that she will find no truth in the past, only the lies he has spun to trap her. He then pours acid on Talisman, burning her flesh away! We discover though that Talisman lets that “reality” burn away, so that she may return to the past.

Past Earth: Talisman again sees herself/Nahita, and the tribe, as they travel north. Llan sends trouble their way, even the weather has turned against them, as they encounter a blizzard in the middle of summer. Eventually, they reach the Gateway of Night, a giant crater staring into the sky. Nahita sees something approaching, and her talisman tells her she must fight the Sorcerer alone. It also tells her that the one true weapon can be found in the medicine pouch of Talks-to-Spirits. When Nahita reaches into the pouch, she pulls out the idol she had seen years before in her unconscious vision. As Nahita leaves her tribe to find Llan, the Tribe is attacked by Llan’s forces. Nahita finds Llan in the center of the crater, in the form of a dragon. Llan continues to taunt Nahita, as she tells him that in the previous cycle, Llan had people worship him, which was against the rules of engagement. Nahita’s predecessor won because of that, and she cursed Llan with a curse that is still binding. The curse makes Llan take the form of the idol to do battle. When Llan changes into the idol, he finds he is trapped in a circle. As he was taunting and bragging earlier, Nahita had walked in a circle around him, concentrating on a binding spell to lock him into the form of the idol, costing him this battle. He will not be able to return for ten thousand years.

Astral dimension: We see Llan looking in his test tube, knowing he had killed our Talisman too easily. Talisman then appears behind him, telling him she knows his weakness now. Vanity and arrogance prevent him from seeing the truth. Talisman also tells him, she knows he can’t hurt her in this astral place; he was just trying to make her fail in her quest. She says he has failed, as she has gained the knowledge she went after, and that although man learned to pollute the world on its own, it can also stop. She tells Llan that the Talisman was created to stop him, and that she is coming for him, that he needs to prepare for battle!

Present day Earth: Talisman awakes. She acknowledges that everything she has done so far has only helped Llan. That she has failed in so many ways. She also says that she will go to the Gateway of Night and face him, as her predecessor did…alone!

In a Winnipeg prison: We see Vindicator, Box, Diamond Lil, and Sasquatch, being attacked by a creature telling them to prepare to die…

[McFarlane's Green Hulk]

Glad to see this thread got resurrected/rebooted from the old forum. (I'm paying homage to Limerick by posting Hulk summaries like this.)
I'm just about finished with reading the series, hitting issue #122 now.
Man, that Hudnall run was a chore to get thru...

[Adam-X]

Another "From the beginning" summary, courtesy of myself, lol, on the old CBR:
Alpha Flight #83 - April 1990

"TALISMAN (The Second)"

The last few (or so) have been missing Limerick's thoughts?

[juan678]

Snowbird by Mark Klettner

[berserkerclaw]

Very nice pic of snowbird

[Cold Water]

Glad to see this thread got resurrected/rebooted from the old forum. (I'm paying homage to Limerick by posting Hulk summaries like this.)
I'm just about finished with reading the series, hitting issue #122 now.
Man, that Hudnall run was a chore to get thru...

*twitch*
Mantlo's run was the chore.
Hudnall's has been a breeze so far, and far more enjoyable than Mantlo's run.

[Cold Water]

Well what she did to Northstar is just about the same thing Snowbird did to him (by forcing/compelling him to help mentally).

Perhaps this is why so many pages ago, you didn't list Snowbird on that list of Alpha members you enjoy!

I didn't list Snowbird because I forgot.
I like Snowbird. She's not my absolute favorite Alphan, but I like her. Snowbird, though what she did to Northstar was still WRONG, she did it to get him to help.
Purple Girl did what she did to Northstar because she felt like it. Because she could. Because she liked it.
THAT'S the main difference.