Canadian super-heroes as fodder for a comedy book... Lobdell certainly makes a strong case here that it could work. Unfortunately, some awkward writing that embraces and even points out its own shortcomings keep things from clicking just right. The art is appropriately light, but the new characters boast rather dull designs, making the book seem rather ho-hum when it comes to the visual side of things. Perhaps what stands out as the most irksome element of the book thus far, though, is that this second issue reads more like a debut chapter of the story, highlighting just how little Lobdell accomplished with the previous issue.
Dr. Walter Langowski, AKA Sasquatch, heads out across Canada to recruit new home-grown metahumans... again. Langowski revisits all of the same prospects, but this time, he's bringing more than his awkward pitch. He's got drugs and technology that will do his convincing for him. His final plea for help, though, comes after he's gathered all of the new heroes, as he finally explains what happened to the previous members of Alpha Flight and why he needs some new Canadian blood.
Henry's cartoony style is just what this book needs to reinforce the comedic reactions of the characters to the absurdity in which they're immersed. Henry also tells the story clearly, but that's where the strength in the art ends. Yukon Jack, Major Mapleleaf and the new Puck don't make for the most eye-catching visuals. Neither does the aged Rutherford Princeton, but I appreciate the notion of an elderly everyguy forgoing the costume angle. Speaking as someone who read the first Alpha Flight series early on, I also enjoyed the tribute to the original lineup and a key moment in the John Byrne run in the latter part of this issue.
The scene featuring Yukon Jack's recruitment is the one which demonstrates the strong potential in Alpha Flight as a comedy. Lobdell pokes fun at the convention of a hero from a lost civilization of power and purple prose wonderfully, and he makes the weirdness of Nemesis -- a heroine who wants to kill her teammates -- work as a fun and light element as well. The same can't be said of Puck, whose role seems only to provide sufficient T&A levels to keep teenage boys reading the book.
By the end of the issue, Sasquatch explains that his friends' lives are on the line, but even so, his desire to save their lives by contacting experienced heroes with whom Alpha Flight has a prior working relationship is overridden by his misguided sense of patriotism. A "Canadian" problem calls for a Canadian solution. In other words, there's NO explanation as to why this new team is necessary. Lobdell's script not only points out that lack of logic, but it makes note of the clearly gratuitous nature of Puck's ensemble. I find it odd that the writer acknowledges the plot's shortcomings rather than trying to correct them.
