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Topic: Why I liked John Byrne’s Alpha Flight Post ReplyPost New Topic
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Philippe Negrin
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Joined: 01 August 2007
Location: France
Posts: 2644
Posted: 15 April 2020 at 2:24pm | IP Logged | 1 post reply

Seriously I tried to read AF after JB left. The only good things were the Mignola covers. That wasn’t enough. I tried because I liked June Brigman and then even later because of Pat Broderick but it had no longer anything to do with the AF I loved. 
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John Young
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Joined: 22 August 2004
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Posted: 15 April 2020 at 2:39pm | IP Logged | 2 post reply

Thinking back on AF I liked it becasue the team was different then just about any team book at the time.  I also loved/love JB's art.  The third thing was that stories original and the world was populated with a great cast of villains and beings.  
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Martinho Correia
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Joined: 24 June 2009
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Posted: 19 April 2020 at 1:01pm | IP Logged | 3 post reply

I was a huge John Byrne fan, Canadian and a Calgarian so having a Canadian supergroup was a dream. The issues in Calgary made the 16 y/o me proud.
JB's admission about the reason's that he never really felt like the characters were real is understandable but how did he create such a widely loved book? Because like Stan, Jack and Steve before him, he was the consummate professional. Like those greats, JB was creating a new universe from nothing and for many of us he was the Stan and Jack of our comic experience. 
Alpha Flight was never the same without him unfortunately. 
JB did inspire me and my high school pals to create a Canadian super team 'eh, based in Calgary and called the Suppressors.

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Martinho Correia
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Posted: 19 April 2020 at 3:07pm | IP Logged | 4 post reply

On a related note Mr. Byrne, you said some of the characters were created in your fan days. Are there any illustrations and/or stories of Canadian Shield?
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Thomas Moudry
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Joined: 16 April 2004
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Posted: 19 April 2020 at 7:16pm | IP Logged | 5 post reply

I though Alpha Flight was terrific as I read it on a monthly basis in the '80s--
definitely different in tone and structure than pretty much every other super-
team book I was reading. I recently re-read it for the first time, and I had an
even greater appreciation for it. The character development was just fantastic.
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Ben Herman
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Joined: 01 March 2020
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Posted: 19 April 2020 at 8:40pm | IP Logged | 6 post reply

John Byrne: I’m sorry you had to search! If I’d been allowed to be more bold about Northstar’s sexuality, the whole world might be a better place.

.....

Do you think that you were more successful with Maggie Sawyer?

I never picked up on Northstar's sexuality the first time I read Alpha Flight.  However, it was fairly obvious to me that Maggie Sawyer was supposed to be a lesbian.  I don't know if this is because you were allowed more latitude at indicating Sawyer's sexuality than you had been, or because those stories were published a few years later, meaning I was older when I read them and more likely to pick up on subtext.  Perhaps a combination of both?

In any case, I have always liked the back-up story "Games People Play" from Action Comics #600 where Luthor threatens to blackmail Sawyer.  When she has the opportunity to make off with his evidence she passes on doing it, later explaining to Dan Turpin that after giving up her daughter she's through running away from fights, and that if Luthor wants to try to take her down than he's more than welcome to try.  Good stuff.
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