Review: Alpha Flight (vol. 1) Issues 1-6
Written by: John Byrne
Art by: John Byrne
Everything you know and love by: John Byrne
So, this review is a little late... By about 30 years.
Alpha Flight is often touted as one of those hidden gems in Marvel Comcis history. John Byrne's grudging pet project (rumor has it he didn't like the characters despite creating them), Alpha Flight collections are hard to come by. I was lucky enough to be able to get my hands on the first six issues for about twelve bucks, though, so why not go for it?
First off, it's odd to read a comic from 1983. This is before Watchmen, before Dark Knight Returns, when superheroes didn't have to always be edgy or dark. Byrne shows us here, though, that just because it's not edgy, doesn't mean it has to be boring. The members of Alpha Flight are all really interesting characters with their own problems and backgrounds, whether it's Snowbird trying to relate to humanity or Puck just catching shit for being small, these characters aren't just superheroes, they're well-rounded people.
The other thing is, comics weren't trying as hard to be "realistic." Nobody ever has or ever will talk like they do in older comics. Everything's bombastic. Everyone talks about themselves like they're reading an encyclopedia entry. If they have a funny quirk, they'll work it in somehow, regardless of context. Nobody behaves the way older superheroes do, and it's sort of wonderful. Comics have, in recent decades past, attempted to emulate the styles of cinema, with "wide-lens" panels and huge splash pages. But for a long time comics were trying harder to emulate books than movies, and Alpha Flight is evidence of that. We have a third-person omniscient narrator describing the beauty of the tundra, or the thoughts our heroes must be having as they witness something horrible. It's just a style I think has gone extinct in contemporary comic books. It really is a pleasure to read.
And the art! You know, I've never been much of a John Byrne fan, but I totally get it now. Yes, I will admit, Byrne draws most folks with a similar body type, and his faces are a little... odd. But my goodness! The settings! He pays so much attention to detail. Much of issues three and four are spent on board an abandoned space ship, and where most artists would be content to have sleek metal walls, Byrne draws these beautiful labyrinths of circuitry that are so full of minute detail, even in small throwaway panels. That sort of attention to detail is again something you don't see as often in today's comics (in fact, I lament that very issue in my recent review of Fantomex Max (http://demandfuncomics.tumblr.com/post/66859598850/review-fantomex-max-2).
As a piece of superhero comics history, gee whiz this was fun to read. As a superhero comic, it's pretty good on its own merits, too. Also, and perhaps most importantly, it's fun. Track these golden oldies down if you can.
Grade: A