User blog comment:Johnnybravo44/Alpha Flight becomes an ongoing!!!/@comment-61022-20110903153621

I think the best run of Alpha Flight was the original run that John Byrne did in the 80's. I mean he created the characters so of course he knew how to write them. But it was also a different series as John pretty much had free reign to do pretty much whatever he wanted. He came up with some pretty awesome stories. It was an unconventional hero book for sure. He was also one of the first creators to create a gay character in comics -- although Marvel editors tried to mute it as much as possible because it wasn't as socially acceptable.

The original run was also very well written because it was written by a Canadian, someone who could put in a great deal of Canadian history and native mythology that had some authenticity to it. He took Alpha Flight to many different places across Canada instead of the few places that Americans know about. I guess I felt a bigger connection to his writing because I've been to the places he has (Hey, I used to live on Resolute Bay where Tundra, the first Alpha Flight baddy was dug out, how cool was that for me as a kid?)

When Byrne switched from doing Alpha Flight to doing the Hulk the series tanked in my opinion. How it managed to last as long as it did is anyones guess, the last bunch of issues before the first series was cancelled were so much drek. People pan how often more popular Marvel characters are killed and brought back from the dead, they got nothing on how often Mac Hudson was killed and brought back from the dead. That guy was a resurrection whore.

The other series... Well I didn't really read much of the second volume, but my assessment of it was that it was trying to be like every other book from that era: Full of mysteries and conspiracies, clandestine government agencies -- The type of crap that was cool at the time because the X-Files were popular.

The third series that Scott Lobdelle did had its moments because it was a humorous look at Alpha Flight. Plus Clayton Henry did the art, he was doing Exiles at the same time and I liked his artwork. But it didn't have the same chutzpah that Byrne's original run had.

Omega Flight -- I feel doesn't really count, because it was just one of those short lived "Event" series that Marvel cranks out (That one being for Civil War) that don't have a long shelf life, they're made to be short.

I haven't had a chance to check out the new series, I'll be interested in checking it out though.