| Department H and the Flight Tier system. | |
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| Topic Started: Jun 30 2009, 12:39 PM (1,582 Views) | |
| Templedog | Jun 30 2009, 12:39 PM Post #1 |
X-Men Chronologist
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I was rereading my Alpha Flight Classic vol.1 tpb and I noticed something. I do not think that the Flight Tier team-system was put into affect untill after the events of Wolverine: First Class #5 and Wolverine left Department H, even though the possibility was refered to in Alpha Flight Special #1. Here are the clues that I base this theory on: 1) In Wolverine: First Class #5 the team or anyone else never refers to itself as Alpha Flight or by any name at all. 2) In Alpha Flight (1st series) #2 James Hudson is explaining Marina's history to the rest of the team and tells them that she was the first recruit to ever be in Gamma Flight, before rising quickly to Beta Flight. To my reasoning that means that the primary Alpha Flight members were either never required to go through the Gamma Flight tier or up until that point that stage did not exsist. I think that the Gamma tier was created for raw recruits and those Flight trainees that needed extensive retraining like Smart Alec and Wildchild, who never progressed beyond that stage. This would lead a reader to believe that until Marina graduated out of the Gamma tier that Beta Flight was an empty middle-level tier. 3) It would also raise the question as to why the primary members of Alpha Flight were not required to go through the Beta and Gamma stages of the Flight program? I think it was because those Department H. members with the most operational experience were "grand-fathered" into the Alpha Tier. Snowbird was operational in the mission against Egghead in Alpha Flight Special #1 and Citidal in Wolverine: First Class #5. Shaman and Aurora were both operational in Wolverine: First Class #5. I cannot see James Hudson convincing an arrogant Northstar into being a member of a lower-level team while his sister was a member of the Alpha tier. I cannot begin to theorize how or why Sasquatch would have been placed on the Alpha level-tier rather than on the lower level teams. 4) Also it is noted in Alpha Flight (1st series) #2 that the Alpha tier members know very little about Marina and it shows that they had had very little interaction with the lower-level tiers, much in the way that Wolverine had only limited interactions with the other Department H. members. One would think that James Hudson would have encouraged more interaction between the groups. But then again James Hudson says himself in Alpha Flight (1st series) #1 that he barely knows the Gamma Flight members. I also noticed another error that James Hudson committed as a head of department H and Alpha Flight (another one of so many). In Alpha Flight (1st series) #3 when Aurora is trapped and she slips back into her Jeanna-Marie personality and Sasquatch is surprised and James Hudson has to explain Aurora's split-personality. I think as a team-member and a doctor no-less Walter Langkowski should have been informed of Aurora's mental health long before this point. Perhaps that is one of the reasons why the Canadian government shut down Department H. They were just tired of the half-assed way the James Hudson was running his programs? Don't get me wrong I still adore Alpha Flight.  Edited by Templedog, Sep 5 2009, 11:09 AM.
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| jrpbsp | Jun 30 2009, 12:50 PM Post #2 |
Undisputed Ruler of Comicdom
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I always looked at it as a work in progress. Here is what I mean. Canada decided they needed a super hero team of their own but they really did not have a true plan in place for it. I also always got the feeling that they were never sure what to do with the heroes they found or even how many they were going to get. At the start it seemed like it was Wolverine and Hudson in his suit, that was it. Sure they likely knew of some of the others but I expect a lot of their powered people were a complete surprise. As they built a team they started to get a better idea on the how and the why. All the early folks seem to have gotten put into Alpha Flight but as they discover more and more people they were forced into the tiered system. IE if they had only had 6 or 7 heroes I doubt Beta or Gamma would have existed. The people would have been trained as they went. Once they knew there were going to be enough to field a team then they started to do the three level system with Alpha being the most experienced members and Gamma being the raw recruits. Beta was the middle or junior team but they did get some field experience. I doubt Gamma ever did, they were just trained. |
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| Templedog | Jun 30 2009, 01:12 PM Post #3 |
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X-Men Chronologist
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oh, I agree. I hope I did not sound too harsh I was just being critical for the sake of being critical. Like you pointed out there really was no plan in place and Department H. kind of made things up as they went along. I am sure if the Flight program would have continued to expand it would have had further tiers added, like Delta, Epsilon, Zeta, etc. In addition as i have pointed out in other posts James McDonald Hudson really had no idea of where to find recruits. He recruited Bedlam and Puck from Prison, and he found Roger Bochs and Madison Jefferies in a mental hospital. I think Val Cooper dropped Wildchild off on Hudson's doorstep in a basket. Shaman was a recluse doctor living in the deep woods with a naked half goddess. Stitch was a near catatonic. I think at one point Hudson was just scrambling to grab ahold of any super-powered person that he could find. Basically throw them all into the program and "weed-out" the undesirables as they went along.
Edited by Templedog, Sep 5 2009, 10:58 AM.
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| jrpbsp | Jun 30 2009, 01:18 PM Post #4 |
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Undisputed Ruler of Comicdom
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Wolverine picked Aurora off the street during an attempted mugging and her mind was so fragmented she needed to be in a hospital and not on a super hero team. This whole thing reminds me of a bad farce. Some general or high level government flunk sees the Avengers and says 'Hey we need one of those and tells Hudson to make it happen no matter what.' Then he spend the next few months/years trying to find people, anyone that fits the bill no matter how undesirable they may be. And thus the Flight program is born. No wonder it was so dysfunctional. Though I really did like persuasion by the end. I wish we'd see more of her. Oh and no it was not too critical. I was just giving my quickie take on the setup. Edited by jrpbsp, Jun 30 2009, 01:19 PM.
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| Templedog | Jun 30 2009, 01:34 PM Post #5 |
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X-Men Chronologist
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The dysfuctional nature of the whole thing is I think part of the attraction for me. I mean let's even look at Wolvie, who was not really too keen on the idea of leading a super-team anyway. He barely had gotten his own head straight when Hudson springs the idea of being team leader on him. And in the end James Hudson was probably the last guy that should have been leading a super-team, he was no Mr. Fantastic or Captain America. In addition Northstar pretty much had no desire to be in Alpha Flight if it was not for his sister. |
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| jrpbsp | Jun 30 2009, 01:39 PM Post #6 |
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Undisputed Ruler of Comicdom
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I don't think any of them really wanted to be in the team. Hudson would have rather been an inventor and liaison. Wolverine really needed time alone. Etc. But for many of them they did not have much of a choice. The team or jail, mental institution, unemployment etc. The fact that they did as much as they did is pretty much a miracle. |
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| Templedog | Jun 30 2009, 01:50 PM Post #7 |
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X-Men Chronologist
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On this subject you think pretty much the same way that I do. I like you so much.
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| Templedog | Jun 30 2009, 01:54 PM Post #8 |
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X-Men Chronologist
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No matter what incarnation in the Marvel Universe the Alpha Flight team will always be that dysfuctional family that lives down the block. i do not think it is any coincidence that one of their tpbs is entitled "You Gotta Be Kidding me!" |
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| jrpbsp | Jun 30 2009, 01:55 PM Post #9 |
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Undisputed Ruler of Comicdom
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Well thank you, it's always nice to be appreciated. There are some pretty good stories in Alpha Flight too and the first volume at least is one of the more under appreciated comics. I had really hoped their Junior team (Beta Flight) would get their own series or limited. So of those characters were really unique. |
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| Templedog | Jun 30 2009, 02:00 PM Post #10 |
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X-Men Chronologist
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yeah Goblyn, Persuasion, Manakin and the rest just kind of dropped off the map didn't they. Marvel needs to relaunch Alpha/Beta/Gamma Flight and get a really good "hook" and a writer that will give them the respect they deserve. |
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