As we close up the Lake Ontario "ripper" story arc, I think we'll bid adieu to Alpha Flight for just a little while. As I mentioned yesterday, I haven't grown cranky with it, so let's leave off on a high note for now.
I'm pretty happy to see that Byrne hasn't totally succumbed on this series to the inevitable guest star (hero or villain) ploy that seems to be de rigeur in comics. We haven't seen Spider-Man, or Captain America, and when Wolverine has shown up (once in a dream, once in reality), he's uncostumed, there as a visitor to a friend, rather than a hero averting disaster. He's also given the Alphans, in the form of The Master of the World, their own arch-nemesis, and aside from the Sub-Mariner's presence in the last couple of issues, the Canadian super-team seems to be somewhat isolated from its southern neighbours. This offers an interesting perspective on the internationality of this shared universe. We often see superheroes simply drop into a country, solely on the basis of the threat being one that only superheroes (and, um, only American superheroes?) can stop. But the lack of crossover into Canada from the US heroes here demonstrates that, though these characters may occasionally see themselves as being above, or outside, of the law, that some international laws do appear to be respected in the Marvel U of the 1980s. Sadly, this highlights the very North American-centric perspective of superhero comics that persists even to this day, but it also demonstrates an era of superhero comics in which the heroes weren't deities that could traverse the globe willy-nilly, but instead people, citizens of a country, who still respected the laws of their land.
Mostly.
Okay. I think tomorrow we'll delve into the weird and miscellaneous depths of the collection. Stay tuned!
No comments:
Post a Comment