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Brad Brickley
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 29 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 8290
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| Posted: 13 April 2007 at 9:21am | IP Logged | 1
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I think the nice thing about having those old stories is that we can just ignore what happened after and enjoy what we did the first time again!
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 133555
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| Posted: 13 April 2007 at 9:21am | IP Logged | 2
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Working on this piece, I was reminded of the very first "review" I read of ALPHA FLIGHT. This was in a 'zine, by a fan writer who was pretty well known for his degree of pomposity and pseudo-intellectualism. (Yes! Worse than me!)He dismissed Puck outright, saying that when he had "heard the name, (he) assumed this would be some reference to Robin Goodfellow." Because, you know, that would be the first place anybody would go hearing "Puck" as a Canadian reference! Anyway -- this was the first time I encountered a mentality that I have seen become all too prevalent in fandom over the decades since. That "I guessed wrong, so it's the book/character/story that's wrong" attitude.
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Brian Hunt
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 5178
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| Posted: 13 April 2007 at 9:22am | IP Logged | 3
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Wow! I love Alpha Flight!
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Matt Hawes
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
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| Posted: 13 April 2007 at 9:22am | IP Logged | 4
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Wade wrote:
| ...I don't have an image, but believe me it was very disturbing to me as a young teen.... |
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I was a teen, but a later-teen, and I was very unhappy with the change. I am not a short or little person, but I think I would have been positively pissed if I was and read the story where Puck was made out to have never been a little person to begin with.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
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| Posted: 13 April 2007 at 9:24am | IP Logged | 5
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When Bill took over writing ALPHA he vry quickly got rid of the "handicaps" I had given the characters. I wanted Puck and Box to be men with the odds stacked against them, who had nevertheless prevailed. There's a rather cruel irony in this, of course.
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Ryan Maxwell
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
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| Posted: 13 April 2007 at 9:25am | IP Logged | 6
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I went a-Googling for an image of the tall Puck, but what I found made me sad, like "Puck II". Best to just imagine the series ended with issue 28.
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Aaron Smith
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Joined: 06 September 2006
Location: United States
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| Posted: 13 April 2007 at 9:27am | IP Logged | 7
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This is ridiculous. I just looked at Puck's entry on Marvel's official site. Here are the first two sentences:
"Born in 1914, Eugene Milton Judd grew to be a swashbuckling soldier of fortune. There seemed to be no adventure too big for the TALL, handsome, powerfully built adventurer."
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Michael Connell
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 13 January 2006
Posts: 4026
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| Posted: 13 April 2007 at 9:31am | IP Logged | 8
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Kareem Abjul DePuck. (YUCK!)
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Aaron Smith
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 06 September 2006
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| Posted: 13 April 2007 at 9:34am | IP Logged | 9
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Ack! It's horrible! Now I have to look at JB's commission again to cleanse my poor eyeballs!
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Wade Duvall
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Joined: 06 November 2006
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| Posted: 13 April 2007 at 9:36am | IP Logged | 10
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I tell you this commission reminds me of all the things I loved about comics when I was younger. Those were good times. Before I got jaded with the collectors value of comics in the OSPG and disgusted by the multiple covers and gimmick covers that were put out in the late 80s and early 90s.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
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| Posted: 13 April 2007 at 9:37am | IP Logged | 11
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Of all the odd choices Bill made, how he dealt with Puck was oddest of all. After all, I had already established -- via Judd himself -- the disorder with which Puck was aflicted. Achondroplasty is a congenital shortening in the long bones, and is a common form of dwarfism. Puck cited this in his solo story in issue 5.I did quite a bit of reading on the condition, before characterizing Puck. I was surprised to learn that for many who suffer from it, "suffer" is indeed the correct word. The condition is painful. I had Judd reference this, and Bill -- who had apparently not done the homework -- "explained" this with demonic possession. It was part of a cascade of stuff that made Alpha Flight, from a comic book viewpoint, very ordinary.
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Sterling Brown
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Joined: 22 June 2006
Location: United States
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| Posted: 13 April 2007 at 9:37am | IP Logged | 12
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Best to imagine the series ended with issue 28.
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Agreed!!
I picked up a lot of Alpha Flight books off eBay a while back that included JB's run (yay!) as well as every issue up to #60 I think. Pretty much total crap in my view. I know JB has written that Alpha was one of his least favorite projects but without him those characters had no soul.
Still...we did get 6 incredible issues of the HULK as a result of his departure.
Awesome commission piece! I look forward to the Alpha Flight bookclub discussions!
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