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Welcome back to The Only Opinion That Matters. I
have a lot of people I have to piss off by proving
them wrong, including myself, so lets get right down
to the whole messy business.
Prior to existence of 'The Only Opinion That
Matters' I wrote a soft fluff piece for Valentine's
Day about the best romances in comics. The number one
spot went to Clark Kent and Lois Lane. However,
thanks to DC: Decisions I have to print a retroactive
retraction. It seems DC issued their worst retcon
ever. They turned liberal journalism icon Lois Lane
into a complete and total Bush/Cheney a hardline
Republican. Normally I would limited my 'anyone who
gets in bed with the Republican party is corrupt'
rants to traitors to freedom like Joe Lieberman. I
hold Superman to a higher standard than I hold
politicians. A politician's job is to kiss up to me
to win my vote, not live up to 50% of their promises
and then kiss up again in four to six years.
Superman's job to stand up for Truth, Justice and the
American Way. Last time I checked the American way
had a lot of things to say about unjustifiable illegal
wars, torture and the civil rights of its own
citizens. If you believe Mark Twain, the modern
Republican is the ultimate patriot. 'The person who
can holler the loudest without know what he is
hollering about.' For those reasons alone Superman
can not sleep with one. Thus I issue my own
retroactive continuity: The best couple in comics goes
to Howard the Duck and Beverly.
Now onto a reader response to my response to other
people. This one comes from Jamie Coville. He had
this to say:
Crisis on Infinite Earths: I was a Marvel
Zombie growing up and the first DC title I bought
regularly was JLE. I only followed that title for a
couple of years. So can't speak with any great
knowledge about the quality of stories before/after
Crisis. But I will disagree with one thing. Prez is an
awesome comic. Everything about it is so bad it all
fits together and becomes great as a result. The 4
issues are a perfect batch of comic book crack. Even
Neil Gaiman made a love letter to the series in comic
book format within Sandman.
I was a long time, die hard Avengers reader
from 1986 (#276 was the first comic I bought) until
the end of Busiek's run. After that switched to
reading trades and I've only bought one trade of the
title since (World Trust). I haven't read any of
Bendis' run. Regarding Spider-Man being on the team.
As a kid I always thought Spider-Man would make a fun
Avenger. There had been at least a couple of stories
showing why Spider-Man doesn't belong on the team. One
was done by Byrne in the 90s, which was a high point
for the series between Roger Sterns' and Busiek's run.
I can't say I'm that bothered about him being on the
team.
During my monthly years I was a fan of
Wolverine. He doesn't really fit on the Avengers but
as I don't read the title anymore I don't really care
about him being there. As a Canadian I'm really
disappointed in the fate of Alpha Flight. It was a
good title that had it's ups and downs quality wise
over a very long run. I suspect like Marvel editorial,
I think the title can be good again, you just need a
really good creative team on it with a entertaining
take on the series. Whenever Marvel people come to
conventions in Toronto Alpha Flight always gets asked
about. What fans usually ask is why the hell don't
they get a Canadian writer on the title. I suspect
this is because the titles creator, John Byrne grew up
in Canada and not only understood our country but made
references to it in ways that we can directly relate
too (especially in politics). Marvel always respond
that they're looking for "the best" talent and oh
yeah, we'll make references to Canadian Bacon and all
that stuff in a very offhanded, dismissive way. It
sinks the heart of every Canadian in the room and I'm
pretty sure it leads to Canadians not buying the book.
I'm especially disappointed in the fate of Northstar
as I thought he was probably one of the better
characters of the team. I was happy when I read he was
becoming a member of the X-men. I personally always
wanted to see him in Avengers. Sadly he HAS become the
"Kenny" of the MU and it's a waste of a really great
character.
I have to point out the many, many places where you
are wrong.
I like the works of Neil Gaiman. I spent 3 and a
half hours (partly in the rain) to get his signature
on my copy of Good Omens at the National Book Festivel
this year. (I got Pratchett's signature last year.)
The book festival is, by the way, the only good part
of Bush's legacy but only not Dubya's legacy. We only
have proof he's read one book- 'My Pet Goat'. Just
because I'm a fan of Gaiman's work doesn't mean I
think he's right all the time. Prez is complete and
total $%@!. No- it isn't just the bad writing.
It's not the horribly flawed concept. It was DC's
commercialization of racism against Native Americans,
hatred of hippies, love of zombie hunters and crapping
on the grave of Superman's Pal-- John F. Kennedy.
You can defend Free Eagle all you want as not being
racist but he's a stereotype. I feel the same way
about Gateway (from the X-Men), Hadji (from Johnny
Quest) and Manitou Raven (from Justice League) all of
which treat the indigenous people of their various
countries as second rate hedge mystics who can't
understand 'City people' things. They should all join
their own super team- International Legion of Jed
Clampetts. Don't even get me started on all the
'politically correct' characters from Superfriends.
Even catching reruns on syndicated TV as a kid made me
cringe. And the Lieutenant Marvels? The horror- the
horror.
As for Alpha Flight - the series seemed like a good
enough concept. Only the first six issues seemed like
it was really trying to hard to be The Avengers. Then
Byrne tried to find his own voice but that never quite
worked out. Was it an Avengers riff? Was it an
X-Book? A wannabe Marvel Team-Up? I liked the
characters well enough in their early appearances as
X-Men villains but they just couldn't carry their own
book. John Byrne wasn't the weakness. I liked his
Superman and Fantastic Four a great deal. Everything
else he's actually tried to write himself has had
problems with me.
That being said there is one person who agrees with
my views on Alpha Flight: John Byrne. If a book's
creator say it is crap, it is time to admit that the
book is crap. The problem is that ever since Alpha
Flight #106 if you try to point out that the series
was blatantly awful people call you a homophobe. Even
if you try to point that a) wasn't the first time
someone has wanted to make that revelation about
Northstar. Every writer had wanted to. Sales were
really down so Marvel allowed it and b) in the 80s and
early 90s people thought there was a fortune to be
made in comics. In those days almost anything could
last 25 issues, most stuff could go 50 issues and
anything that spun off from the X-Book could probably
go 130 issues. Which Alpha Flight failed to do. It
came really close but it ultimately failed.
I can see where you get your ideas that these
things might actually be good. You're Canadian. You
like Prez because you are culturally biased (quite
unconsciously) to anything that makes your neighbors
to the south look like morons who don't know what
they're doing. (Why else would Canadian teams join
the NHL other than to make us look stupid.
Unfortunately we caught on and recruited Canadian
players.) Neil Gaiman's reasons are similar though
since he's a citizen now he would never admit it. His
Prez story (and the special done by others) were good.
The original should be locked away in a vault and
never seen again.
As for your love of Alpha Flight, you are patriot.
Anything you that brings honor to your native land
brings you joy. Me- I'm not a patriot. I think my
country is a good place to live. (Aside from
Baltimore. I hate smegging Baltimore.) I think I'd
feel that way regardless of where I came from. I
spent a week in Canada as a teen and I liked it there
a lot too. If I ever moved countries, I'd probably be
there. Though probably farther north than Tourist
Trap Falls. One of those towns where the snowmen out
number human beings 3 to 1.
I think the main reason Canadian fans go nuts for
Alpha Flight is that it is the only mainstream book
the features Canadian characters that aren't
Wolverine. Americans have many super heroes
jockeying for top spot. If this were true why has
every solo Captain Britain series been a sales flop?
Why not market a solo series (or mini) for lesser
known Marvel hero Sabra for an Israeli and/or Jewish
audience? Or Dust for an Arab/Muslim audience? Or
how about- umm is it okay for a white guy to make a
Luke Cage joke? Yeah- didn't think so. Also-- can
someone name one Australian comic book character who
has not spent at least some time as a villain? (Even
Gateway did.) That's even worse stereotyping than
Free Eagle, by far, because it goes all the way back
to Australia's use a prison colony.
In closing, I'm an American. If were like you,
Jamie, I'd have to obsessively follow Captain America.
I've picked it up in cheap boxes from time to time.
There are some runs I might actually get in trades or
Essentials. I don't follow it blindly. I find some
eras interesting (particularly the Engleheart stories)
because they explore what patriotism means to me: 'The
strength to say no to ones country'.
Thank you for writing - but remember - this is The
Only Opinion That Matters.
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