Ultimate Alpha Flight?

I'm not making this up, merely relaying the rumour...
http://www.silverbulletcomicbooks.com/rage/index1.htm under 'Flight Plan'

You know, I think Alpha could work well in the so-called NuMarvel system. It's a book that could be almost totally focused on story arcs rather than long, ongoing sagas. There is a solid core of characters, plus a large supporting cast, some better than others. And let's face it, Alpha has a lot of territory to cover (all of Canada), so it would make a lot of sense to have a decentralized team, and each sub-group could be handled by a different creative team. That still woudn't rule out large-team adventures every couple years, and it could really help curb deadline problems. Speaking for myself, even if I loved half the arcs, and only moderately liked the other half, that book would still be on my pull list. Even Uncanny is still on my list, and it's batting lower than that.

However, I don't think the series as I've outlined it should be an Ultimate title. I think Alpha Flight has a pretty good presence in the MU, but I don't know what they'd have to offer the UU. I guess I'll have to wait and see.

Scott

P.S. Hmmm... change the setting from Canada to Europe and suddenly it's a proposal for a new Excalibur-type series.

Ooh, and they can work Ultimate Wolverine in as a guest star. Because, you know, he's Canadian!

Actually, I really enjoyed Steven Seagle's run on the title. It had a nice 'horror movie' vibe to it at times. Come to think of it, what is Seagle up to nowadays?

Steven Segal is enjoying a much deserved rest after the making of Under Siege 3

Scott McAllister whipped out his/her/its Personal Electronic Thing,

and proceeded to say: <SNIP>

I'm still waiting for Marvel to respond to my request for 'Ultimate Power

I liked Seagle's work too... particularly issues 12-20. He's currently writing one of the Superman books for DC.

Cheers,

Hardy-har-har!

But I too actually liked Seagle's work on Alpha Flight. He really made the stories conspiratorial and edgy, and I was seriously sad to see that it ended so abruptly.

An Ultimate Alpha Flight would probably be a great home for our superheroes from Canada. With the success of Ellis' and Millar's The Authority and Ellis' Planetary, a writer wouldn't have to pull punches with this comics idea. With some heroes dabbling with magic, some with espionage, some with high-technology, and some with standard-fare, four-colored superheroism, all the characters would be fun to explore.

I would really like to see what Seagle wanted to do with Alpha Flight if he had his way. Heck, I even liked Scott Lobdell's short-lived stint on Wildcats, so I'm sure he could translate those 'wish list' stories into an Ultimate Alpha Flight series. Both writers brought a similar flavor to their comics.

Ooo, Ultimate Excalibur. Now, I could see that being a good series.

Actually, I've always thought some of these different team books that don't last as long as anything with X in the title could be published like some of the anthology titles from the sixties. Say the first half is Alpha Flight and then the second half is Excalibur (those are the two I would pick, being British by birth but living in Canada at the moment). Surely with the fan base for two differing groups, Marvel would be able to sell enough copies to make it viable..... Now that I think of it, aren't Cable and Deadpool being combined into one title.

But Alpha, done properly, could _be_ a Fanfare-type book. Lots of characters - old and new - spread out over a large area. Different arcs can happen in different locations, feature different cast members, and most importantly, be handled by different creative teams. The 'old guys' on the team are so well-established within the MU that any writer can do a decent job on them. I don't even have major issues (nitpicks, yes) with the way they've been handled by Tieri or Austen. Keep flashback tales to a minimum, setting as much as possible in the present. All you need is a good story bible and a decent editor to make sure it doesn't get messed up.

I covered most of this in this thread already, but I'll elaborate a bit, since it's an extremely workable concept. If you can check out the classic Byrne issues, take a look at how much of this was already being done by a single creator. Alpha was the ultimate multi-purpose team, even more so than the Avengers. Mutant, myth, magic and machines. They were never tops in any one department, but competent in all, and Seagle gave them the potential for a serious tech boost. Another great feature was that they were decentralized, so you could have plenty of solo (or small-cast) stories, and still get them together as a team once a year. With the number of past-and-present Alphans to draw from, I don't expect to ever see them _all_ together again. That would be a little forced. Still, if you match the proper characters with story-genre, there are a lot of tales to be told.

Alpha Flight could be half-a-dozen different books in one. And they could all be pretty good.

Scott