Why Not?! Read Alpha Flight with Chris & Tom

Episode 57: “Vesuvius, We Hardly Knew Thee”

Two strong issues this episode, as we take a breather before a 4-issue arc brings us to the 100th issue of Alpha Flight (we all know it’s issue 96 that matters, but that’s discussed in today’s podcast). We get a focus on four characters across these two issues (Aurora, Windshear, Diamond Lil, and the Master of the World) as well as the new structure of the Flights: a rather impressive feat, honestly, covering that much ground in just two issues. We also discuss the Oulipo and we meet the coolest raptor ever…and lose him before we ever get to learn more about him.

Issues discussed:
Alpha Flight #95 - “Life Lines” - cover date April 1991
Written by Fabian Nicieza
Penciled by Michael Bair
Inked by Mike Manley
Lettered by Janice Chiang
Colored by Bob Sharen
Edited by Danny Fingeroth
and Tom DeFalco is a boring Editor in Chief

Alpha Flight #96 - “Slave to the World” - cover date May 1991
Same creative team as the previous issue

Why Not?! Read Alpha Flight w/ Chris & Tom is brought to you by listeners like you, who subscribe to our Patreon.  And by the Excelsior Embroidery Company, this week somehow owned by the Sears brand.  Beat the Christmas rush and get all your nerdy gift giving taken care of at excelsiorembroidery.etsy.com.  All inventories are up to date but supplies are limited so if you see something you like, grab it or it might be gone.  And remember, any design that catches your eye can be put onto a kitchen towel, a framed wall hanger, a hoodie, an apron, a tote bag, just email [email protected] and Chris will take something you like and make it into something you love.

This week Excelsior is featuring a whole bunch of new Pride designs, one’s a silly goose wearing a rainbow cape, another is two pairs of scissors, there’s a lot of fun to be had with this new line.  See these and hundreds more designs at excelsiorembroidery.etsy.com, where listeners of Why Not?! can use the coupon code WN503 to get 50 percent off any 3 items in the store.

Written, produced, and edited by Chris Baker and Tom Flynn
Music:"Oh, Canada" by Five Iron Frenzy

Follow us on these platforms:
Instagram
TikTok
Imgur
YouTube
Patreon

Episode 56: “Requiem Flight”

…in which we cover another crossover, this time in the pages of Avengers as Alpha teams up with that little-known team and the genuinely little-know People’s Protectorate to stop the Peace Corpse (we know) from blowing up the whole world! And as insane as that description sounds, it’s a pretty fun arc. We also touch on Requiem for a Dream (hence the title), the political/economic situation in the Soviet Union as it careened towards its end, Tom Clancy (more on that on the Patreon soon), and more!

Issues covered:
Avengers #319 - “The Waterwind Interdiction “ - cover date late July 1990
Written by Fabian Nicieza
Pencils by Rik Levins
Inks by Chris Ivy
Letters by Bill Oakley
Colors by Christie Sheele
Edited by Howard Mackie 
and Tom Defalco is credited as Chief

(All of the following issues are written by Nicieza and edited by Mackie and Defalco, so we’re not going to keep typing that…)

Avengers #320 - “Underlying Currents” - cover date early August 1990
Pencils by Paul Ryan
Embellished by Tom Palmer  
Letters by Jack Morelli
Colors by Renee Witterstaetter

Avengers #321 - “Missing Links” - cover date late August 1990
Pencils by Rik Levins
Inks by Chris Ivy
Letters by Bill Oakley
Colors by Christie Sheele

Avengers #322 - “Bombs Away” - cover date early September 1990
Pencils by Paul Ryan
Inks by Chris Ivy
Letters by Jack Morelli
Colors by Renee Witterstaetter

Avengers #323 - “One World’s Not Enough for All of Us” - cover date late September 1990
Breakdowns by Rik Levins
Finishes by Tom Palmer
Letters by Bill Oakley
Colors by Nel Yomtov

Avengers #324 - “Imaginary Borders” - cover date early October 1990
Pencils by Paul Ryan
Inks by Tom Palmer
Letters by Bill Oakley
Colors by Max Sheele

Written, produced, and edited by Chris Baker and Tom Flynn
Music:"Oh, Canada" by Five Iron Frenzy

Follow us on these platforms:
Instagram
TikTok
Imgur
YouTube
Patreon

Episode 55: “Fantastic Flight!”

We continue Nicieza’s run this episode with a really solid-to-excellent two issue arc featuring possibly one of the worst (as in creepy/evil/bad-in-so-many-ways) villains Alpha has encountered…so far. Headlok is…unpleasant and we dig into the content warning we offered last issue right from jump. Thankfully there are adults in the room, courtesy of the Fantastic Four!

But! It’s a really effective arc and, frankly, really nice to just have a contained two-parter that tells its story while pushing the larger narratives forward. Who knew competence could feel this good?!

Issues discussed:
Alpha Flight #93 - “Playgrounds of the Mind” - cover date February 1991
Written by Fabian Nicieza
Penciled by Michael Bair
Inked by Mike Manley
Lettered by Rick Parker
Colored by Bob Sharen
Edited by Danny Fingeroth
and Tom DeFalco is Editor-in-Chief

Alpha Flight #94 - “Mind Over Matter” - cover date March 1991
Written by Fabian Nicieza
Penciled by Michael Bair
Inked by Mike Manley
Lettered by Janice Chiang
Colored by Bob Sharen
Edited by Danny Fingeroth
and Tom DeFalco is Editor-in-Chief

Why Not?! Read Alpha Flight w/ Chris & Tom is brought to you by listeners like you, who subscribe to our Patreon. And by the Excelsior Embroidery Company, part of the Roxxon family of corporations. This week Excelsior is featuring a neat hat design with the classic Bishop style X-Men icon. If you missed it before it sold out at Uncanny Experience, now’s the time to grab it before the Christmas rush. See this and hundreds more designs at excelsiorembroidery.etsy.com, where listeners of Why Not?! can use the coupon code WN503 to get 50 percent off any 3 items in the store.

Written, produced, and edited by Chris Baker and Tom Flynn
Music:"Oh, Canada" by Five Iron Frenzy

Follow us on these platforms:
Instagram
TikTok
Imgur
YouTube
Patreon

Episode 54: “Sex, Lies, and Dept H”

We’re in the thick of it now with Fabian & Co (mayhaps “Fabs and the Crew” as a band name?) as the re-formed Alpha Flight gets assigned to a protection detail for…Dr. Doom?! Maybe?! It’s possible Doom’s storyline at this moment is more convoluted than Alpha’s, which feels impossible but here we are!

We also go a bit backwards in time so JMH and Heather can move forward… Honestly, the soap operatic elements haven’t been this bubbly in a minute and we couldn’t be happier.

Issues discussed:
Alpha Flight #91 - “A Thirst For Power” - cover date December 1990
Written by Fabian Nicieza
Penciled by Michael Bair
Inked by Mike Manley
Lettered by Janice Chiang
Colored by Bob Sharen
Edited by Danny Fingeroth
and Tom DeFalco is credited as A Thirst For Beer

Alpha Flight #92 - “Compromising Positions” - cover date January 1991
Written by Fabian Nicieza
Penciled by Dan Reed
Inked by Richard Bennet
Colored by Bob Sharen
Lettered by Rick Parker
Cover by Jackson Guice
and edited by Danny Fingeroth and Tom DeFalco

Why Not?! Read Alpha Flight with Chris & Tom is brought to you by listeners like you, who subscribe to our Patreon and by the Excelsior Embroidery Company. This week Excelsior is pleased to announce a whole slew of Gambit and Rogue themed patches.  They seem to be the hot thing lately [Tom’s note: LATELY?!?!] so Excelsior is proud to jump on the bandwagon and offer patches in their faces, logos and icons in their colors, and all sorts of other goodies. See this and hundreds more designs at excelsiorembroidery.etsy.com, where listeners of Why Not?! can use the coupon code WN503 to get 50 percent off any 3 items in the store.

Written, produced, and edited by Chris Baker and Tom Flynn
Music:"Oh, Canada" by Five Iron Frenzy

Follow us on these platforms:
Instagram
TikTok
Imgur
YouTube
Patreon

Episode 53: “Nicieza To Meet Ya!!!”

We’re not going to apologize for the episode title. We’re in too good of a mood.

Fabian Nicieza is here and he ain’t playing around. Or, rather, he’s playing around in exactly the right way. By the end of this 4 issue arc we have the Original 6 (sans Marrina) back, along with a lot of the new characters we’ve picked up along the way. But, perhaps most importantly, we get Walt (not, Walter) and Northstar bickering again. Tears of joy, our friends, tears of joy.

Issues discussed (same creative team for all four issues):
Alpha Flight #87 - “Building Blocks, Part 1: Loyalty” - cover date August 1990
Written by Fabian Nicieza
Pencils by Michael Bair
Inks by Mike Manley
Cover by Jim Lee
Colors by Bob Sharen
Letters by Janice Chiang
Edited by Danny Fingeroth
and Tom DeFalco Editor in Chief

Alpha Flight #88 - “Building Blocks, Part 2: Trust” - cover date September 1990

Alpha Flight #89 - “Building Blocks, Part 3: Faith” - cover date October 1990

Alpha Flight #90 - “Building Blocks, Part 4: Strength” - cover date November 1990

Why Not?! Read Alpha Flight w/ Chris & Tom is brought to you by listeners like you, who subscribe to our Patreon.  And by the Excelsior Ebbroidery Company, part of the Roxxon family of corporations. This week, Excelsior is proud to announce a new patch of Snowbird’s tiara, Snowbird’s head-dress, whatever you want to call it.  Check out this and hundreds more comic-inspired designs at  excelsiorembroidery.etsy.com, where listeners of Why Not?! can use the coupon code WN503 to get 50 percent off any 3 items in the store.

Written, produced, and edited by Chris Baker and Tom Flynn
Music:"Oh, Canada" by Five Iron Frenzy

Follow us on these platforms:
Instagram
TikTok
Imgur
YouTube
Patreon

Episode 52: "AlphLiefeld Flight"

Well, folks, we're kicking off (sort of: more on that in a sec) the Nicieza era and it feels like a Brand New...sorry, we make that joke in the episode.

Before we get to Nicieza's first arc, "Building Blocks", we cover a Marvel Comics Presents story featuring Wolverine, Wild child, and Heather from...Rob Liefeld(?!). We'd planned to also get to the "Building Blocks" arc (and have it recorded) but our, ah, exuberance got the best of us and we recorded for over two hours.

So! Today's episode is just on MCP (yeah, you know me). Next episode you'll hear our (very) positive thoughts on Nicieza's first four issues.

Oh, and Chris's audio isn't great here. Definitely listenable, but not our normal standard. We hope our pure, uncut charm will make up for it!

Issues covered:
Marvel Comics Presents Issues #51-53 -  "Wolverine" - June 1990 & July 1990
Plot by Rob Liefeld (that came out of nowhere!)
Script by Fabian Nicieza
Art by Rob Liefeld and inks on #53 by Chris Ivy and Joe Rubinstein
Letters by Jade Moede
Colors by Brad Vancata

Why Not?! Read Alpha Flight is brought to you by listeners like you, who subscribe to our Patreon.  And from the Excelsior Embroidery Company. This week, Excelsior is proud to announce a new patch of Snowbird’s tiara, Snowbird’s head-dress, whatever you want to call it.  Check out this and hundreds more comic-inspired designs at  excelsiorembroidery.etsy.com, where listeners of Why Not can use the coupon code WN503 to get 50 percent off any 3 items in the store.

Written, produced, and edited by Chris Baker and Tom Flynn
Music:"Oh, Canada" by Five Iron Frenzy

Follow us on these platforms:
Instagram
TikTok
Imgur
YouTube
Patreon

Episode 51: "Hudnall (and Calimee), Adieu"

We made it folks: herewith, the end of the James D. Hudnall run on Alpha Flight. We cover issues 83-86 today to bring it all to a close. It’s been…something.

We’ve said a lot about this run already and say a bit more in the episode, so probably no need to belabor it here (plus, Tom just generally is a bit shellshocked still from what will henceforth be called “The Naming”). We do shout out our pals over at “The Forgotten Five / Best Issue Ever” and The Uncanny Experience, so if they’re new to you, do give them a look.

Next time, we check out what Fabian Nicieza has in store for our favorite Canadian superheroes. But first, I need a Gatorade. And a cigarette…

Issues covered:
Alpha Flight #83 - “Talisman, The Second” - cover date April 1990
Writer is James D. Hudnall
Artist is James Sherman
Letterer is Janice Chiang
Colorist is Bob Sharen
Editor is Danny Fingeroth
and Tom Defalco is simply “Chief”

Alpha Flight #84 - “Earth War, Part One, the Big Picture” - cover date May 1990,
Same creative team as last time but with:
John Calimee on Pencils
Mike Manley on Inks

Alpha Flight #85 - “Marching to Doom” - cover date June 1990
Same creative team as last time, but with the cover by Jackson Guice

Alpha Flight #86 - “The End of All Things” - cover date July 1990
Same creative team as before, but with Mark Bagley on pencils

Why Not?! Read Alpha Flight is brought to you by listeners like you, who subscribe to our Patreon, and by the Excelsior Embroidery Company, proud sponsor of Rudefest 3 in St. Louis this October.  If you’re one of the vanishingly small number of people who both enjoy ska and live in the greater STL area, come on out and hear some truly fantastic bands and maybe buy a few things from Chris. In the meantime, check out the hundreds of designs including a dozen Alpha Flight patches more designs at excelsiorembroidery.etsy.com, where listeners of Why Not can use the coupon code WN503 to get 50 percent off any 3 items in the store.  

Written, produced, and edited by Chris Baker and Tom Flynn
Music:"Oh, Canada" by Five Iron Frenzy

Follow us on these platforms:
Instagram
TikTok
Imgur
YouTube
Patreon

Episode 50: “Heidegger’s Ghost”

Feels like it’s been a minute, yeah?! Well, we missed talking to y’all about Alpha Flight as much as you missed hearing us talk to you about Alpha Flight. We didn’t miss talking about this Hudnall run, but such is the cross WE ALL bear. Still, we have a pretty good time chatting across these two issues, what with some celebrity casting (even an avante garde take on such), some conversation around 20th Century German philosophy, and the way kids don’t sit properly in chairs. Maybe it’s more us chatting AROUND these two issues…

Alpha Flight #81 - “Prisoners” - cover date February 1990
James D. Hudnall writing
John Calimee penciling
Mike Manley on inks
Janice Chiang on letters
Bob Sharen on colors
Marc McLaurin as associate editor
Carl Potts as the Editor
And Tom DeFalco as simply Chief

Alpha Flight #82 - “The Under Kingdom: Part 2 of the Quest for Northstar” - cover date March 1990
Same creative team as last issue

Why Not?! Read Alpha Flight is brought to you by listeners like you, who subscribe to our Patreon.  And by the Excelsior Embroidery Company. This week Excelsior is featuring a patch of the familiar X-Men icon but in a color scheme that evokes Magneto’s costume, because after all, he made some valid points.  See this and hundreds more designs at excelsiorembroidery.etsy.com, where listeners of Why Not?! can use the coupon code WN503 to get 50 percent off any 3 items in the store.

Written, produced, and edited by Chris Baker and Tom Flynn
Music:"Oh, Canada" by Five Iron Frenzy

Follow us on these platforms:
Instagram
TikTok
Imgur
YouTube
Patreon

We'll be back with more Alpha Flight chat in July, but in anticipation of the big blockbuster season we have in front of us (that seemingly will extend to December so buckle up, folks!), we're releasing our episode on Fantastic Four: First Steps. This went up last summer on the Patreon, but it seemed a good time to release it into the wild.

Let us know if you'd like our takes on any of the movies soon-to-release (I mean, we'll cover Spider-Man, don't you worry): I, Tom, kinda think we'll have to do The Odyssey, but I'm just writing this now and haven't mentioned it to Chris, so please let us know you want us to do that one such that he'll have no choice...

Written, produced, and edited by Chris Baker and Tom Flynn
Music:"Oh, Canada" by Five Iron Frenzy

Follow us on these platforms:
Instagram
TikTok
Imgur
YouTube
Patreon

Episode 49: “Mein Flight”

Tom is stuck on the train for a while so Chris has seized control of the means of production and is posting this week’s episode.  No more will you be subjected to witty and clever show notes, no my comrades, we shall democratize the show notes!  No more will there be highbrow phrasing!  Or references to books in languages other than English!  It shall be Walt’s dick and “I’ve seen that movie” jokes into the glorious future of the podcast!  

We continue our struggle through the Hudnall era this episode.  We’re getting through it as fast as we can, folks.  Here's the link to the article about the Great Date Change in November of 1989 we mentioned.  

Viva la lowbrow!
Viva la revolucion!

Issues Covered:

Alpha Flight #76, titled Bad News, cover date November 1989
Our familiar crew brought us this one, James D Hudnall writing
John Calimee penciling
Mike Manley on inks
Janice Chiang on letters
Bob Sharen on colors
Marc McLaurin as associate editor
Carl Potts as the Editor
And Tom DeFalco as Chief Prosecutor

Alpha Flight #77 titled Shattered Design, cover date mid-november 1989
Credits are the same as last issue except Mac McLaurin is now Managing Editor

Alpha Flight #78, titled Omens, cover date December 1989.  
Back to our regular creative team

And I guess technically #79-80.  

Why Not Read Alpha Flight is brought to you by listeners like you, who subscribe to our Patreon.  And from the Excelsior Embroidery Company, proud supporter of the Eugene Judd Home For Wayward Youth, whose mission is to ensure the next generation of street smart toughs gets put through hell to properly prepare them for the future.  This week excelsior is featuring a patch of the familiar X-Men icon but in the brown and orange tones of Wolverine's classic John Byrne costume.  See this and hundreds more designs at excelsiorembroidery.etsy.com, where listeners of Why Not can use the coupon code WN503 to get 50 percent off any 3 items in the store.  

Written, produced, and edited by Chris Baker and Tom Flynn
Music:"Oh, Canada" by Five Iron Frenzy

Follow us on these platforms:
Instagram
TikTok
Imgur
YouTube
Patreon