Even though Byrne didn't like his run on this title, as a Canadian kid who loved his run on the X-Men, I really enjoyed those first 13 issues:
"Alpha Flight was never much fun. The characters were created merely to survive a fight with the X-Men, and I never thought about them having their own title. When Marvel finally cajoled me into doing Alpha Flight, I realized how incredibly two-dimensional they were, and spend some twenty-eight issues trying to find ways to correct this fault. Nothing really sang for me. If I have any regrets, it would probably be that I did the book at all! It was not a good time for me."(from http://www.comicbookresources.com/features/byrne/)
Cover to Alpha Flight #13 (Funeral for Guardian)
Neat jam piece with Mike Mignola.
A house ad teasing with the idea that Wolverine would leave the X-Men to lead
Alpha Flight after Guardian's death.
Alpha Flight after Guardian's death.
That is a shame that Byrne feels that way. Alpha Flight was one of my favorite Marvel titles of 80's. Maybe the recollections of my 15 year old self isn't quite accurate, but I don't remember those characters as being two-dimensional at all. As invested as I was in those characters he must have been doing something right.
ReplyDeleteI always thought Alpha Flight and the New Mutants in the early 80s were TOO character- driven in the stories---such cool powers and costumes, but light on the battles and fighting.
ReplyDeleteBut I picked up both titles semi-regularly, usually if the cover was cool.
starfoxxx
If Alpha Flight was 2-dimensional, the rest of Marvel's concurrent team books were zero-dimensional!
ReplyDeleteByrne is wrong about many things and this is just another. Remember, this guy thinks he "improved" Superman.
ReplyDelete