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Topic: JBF Reading Club: Alpha Flight #11 (Topic Closed Topic Closed) Post ReplyPost New Topic
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Ryan Maxwell
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Posted: 13 December 2007 at 10:06am | IP Logged | 1  

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Ryan Maxwell
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Posted: 13 December 2007 at 10:06am | IP Logged | 2  

I spent a lot of time, back then, pouring over this pin-up, gauging each character that I just met, and evaluating those I was seeing for the first time, trying to figure out who was the most likely to die.  I came up with the guy in black and white or the green girl.  The guy seemed plausible as his apparent sister would still be around.  The green girl just looked weak and meek.  My powers of deduction have remained strong to this day…

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Al Cook
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Posted: 13 December 2007 at 10:10am | IP Logged | 3  

How long before you'd backtracked and read the first ten issues, Ryan? And
what was it like when you did?
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Stephen Robinson
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Posted: 13 December 2007 at 10:15am | IP Logged | 4  

Nowadays, we'd know who was going to die months in advance. I don't think comics has benefitted as a result.

I am glad that I can remember comics the way Ryan and others do.

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Joe Smith
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Posted: 13 December 2007 at 10:15am | IP Logged | 5  

just re-read these a month ago.

gripping.

at the least.
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Ryan Maxwell
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Posted: 13 December 2007 at 10:22am | IP Logged | 6  

I didn't get 12 or 13, missed them completely for several months.  I picked up 14 (and was completely floored and sad when I found out what had happened) when it came out and bought the series monthly after that.  I started getting the back issues the following month, #1 and 15 together, picking up what I could find when I could find them.  My first purchases at a real comic shop, actually.  I finally found #13 about 2 months before JB left for good. 

My feelings with each issue?  That this was something special.  Not long after buying this one, I discovered Secret Wars, then JB's Fantastic Four, Romita Jr's X-Men, Stern's Avengers...Good stuff, and it all spiraled out of buying AF, but nothing compared to this group of Canadians.

 

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Gil Dowling
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Posted: 13 December 2007 at 10:23am | IP Logged | 7  

Oh thanks for the posting the Sasquatch pages. Here's the only Byrne page I own:

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Ryan Maxwell
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Posted: 13 December 2007 at 10:24am | IP Logged | 8  

I had you in mind when I was scanning these, Gil!
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Sterling Brown
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Posted: 13 December 2007 at 10:34am | IP Logged | 9  

That first page in a lot of ways defines why I love JB's work so much.  The detail of the room and the incredibly well rendered "lived in" look just makes me want to get out some pens and paper and draw.  His backgrounds always look like someplace you could actually visit and move around in. 

The first transformation of Walter into Sasquatch is probably still one of my most favorite series of panels.

When I break it all down I think one of the coolest side-effects of reading JB's work is that it always inspires me to draw on my own.
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Greg Woronchak
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Posted: 13 December 2007 at 10:39am | IP Logged | 10  

That cliffhanger page... man, I simply had to pick up the next issue!

Definitely a lost art these days: exciting (and economical) writing <g>

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Andrew Paul Leyland
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Posted: 13 December 2007 at 10:49am | IP Logged | 11  

I loved Alpha Flight.  The characters seemed real in a way others maybe hadn't - even Spider-Man - and such a lack of traditional comics melodrama.  And Roger Bochs was such a brilliant character.  I started re reading AF when you started these reading clubs but couldn't wait and finished reading them a while ago.  Brilliant stuff.  I really hope this is rediscovered as an example of "real-world" super heroics with fantasy overtones as it really is worthy. 

Andy



Edited by Andrew Paul Leyland on 13 December 2007 at 10:49am
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Flavio Sapha
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Posted: 13 December 2007 at 11:06am | IP Logged | 12  

I was bit thrown by the introduction of Bochs...had a feeling I had missed something... (a lot about AF had happened before the camera started rolling, huh?)

Anyway, AF always gave me a sense that its cast was more "real" than other Marvel books (and Bochs was no exception) no models or actors playing roles in AF. 

Sometimes, I thought: "maybe it´s because they´re CANADIAN..."
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