The Flight Stuff Adrianna Gober, Liam O'Donnell & Doug Tilley

Welcome to The Flight Stuff: a podcast about Canada’s premiere superhero team! In 1983, comic book writer and artist John Byrne lifted his original team, Alpha Flight, from the pages of Uncanny X-Men and dropped them into their own, eponymous series. Over the course of 11 years, the Canadian super team — Guardian, Sasquatch, Puck, Snowbird, Shaman, Aurora, Northstar, and others along the way — battled foes large and small, with adventures steeped in social commentary and uniquely Canadian issues and themes. Join comic book enthusiasts Liam, Adrianna and Doug as they make their way through the original series issue by issue, character by character, Byrnism by Byrnism, with occasional detours through Canadian cultural history. So sit back, listen up and get right with the Flight!   After a month-long hiatus, The Flight Stuff is back in business! Episode 19 opens with some minor housekeeping and a shoutout to journalist Corey Mintz, whose recent deep dive into the history and legacy of Alpha Flight for The Walrus features a quotation from show co-host Adrianna. From there, the team jumps right into the pages of Alpha Flight #35-36. These issues are notable for featuring covers and interior art by Canadian artist David Ross, much to Doug’s delight. Questions of ableism and representation arise once again, as both issues have a focus on Shaman and Snowbird, and Puck’s characterization continues to be grievously mishandled. PLUS: Doug does some dramatic dialogue readings, Dr. Strange drops in for a mystical hello, and the Canada Facts segment makes its long-awaited return! As always, thanks for listening!   If you have any questions, comments or feedback, please drop us a line at flightstuffpodcast@gmail.com. Follow us on Twitter: @flightstuffpod Apple Podcasts RSS  

Welcome to The Flight Stuff: a podcast about Canada’s premiere superhero team! In 1983, comic book writer and artist John Byrne lifted his original team, Alpha Flight, from the pages of Uncanny X-Men and dropped them into their own, eponymous series. Over the course of 11 years, the Canadian super team — Guardian, Sasquatch, Puck, Snowbird, Shaman, Aurora, Northstar, and others along the way — battled foes large and small, with adventures steeped in social commentary and uniquely Canadian issues and themes. Join comic book enthusiasts Liam, Adrianna and Doug as they make their way through the original series issue by issue, character by character, Byrnism by Byrnism, with occasional detours through Canadian cultural history. So sit back, listen up and get right with the Flight!   Greetings, Alphans! We’re back with a brand new episode of The Flight Stuff! Back in September, something truly magical happened: Marvel published a brand new Alpha Flight book! That’s right, Canada’s best returned for a special oneshot, Alpha Flight: True North,  boasting an all Canadian creative team. We all loved it here at Flight Stuff HQ, so we set aside some time to record an episode solely focused on True North and what makes it such a fantastic and moving tribute to Alpha Flight. So take a journey with us into the Great White North once again as we dive into Alpha Flight: True North! As always, thank you for listening!   If you have any questions, comments or feedback, please drop us a line at flightstuffpodcast@gmail.com. Follow us on Twitter: @flightstuffpod iTunes RSS  

Welcome to The Flight Stuff: a podcast about Canada’s premiere superhero team! In 1983, comic book writer and artist John Byrne lifted his original team, Alpha Flight, from the pages of Uncanny X-Men and dropped them into their own, eponymous series. Over the course of 11 years, the Canadian super team — Guardian, Sasquatch, Puck, Snowbird, Shaman, Aurora, Northstar, and others along the way — battled foes large and small, with adventures steeped in social commentary and uniquely Canadian issues and themes. Join comic book enthusiasts Liam, Adrianna and Doug as they make their way through the original series issue by issue, character by character, Byrnism by Byrnism, with occasional detours through Canadian cultural history. So sit back, listen up and get right with the Flight!   Greetings, Alphans! We’re back with a brand new episode of The Flight Stuff! Episode 17 focuses on two issues: #33-34. The team discusses the Alpha Flight debut of the great Sal Buscema, Bill Mantlo’s ongoing Heather and Puck problems, a very strange flashback to Heather and Wolverine’s first meeting, and much more! Next episode: ALPHA FLIGHT: TRUE NORTH!   As always, thanks for listening!   If you have any questions, comments or feedback, please drop us a line at flightstuffpodcast@gmail.com. Follow us on Twitter: @flightstuffpod iTunes RSS  

Welcome to The Flight Stuff: a podcast about Canada’s premiere superhero team! In 1983, comic book writer and artist John Byrne lifted his original team, Alpha Flight, from the pages of Uncanny X-Men and dropped them into their own, eponymous series. Over the course of 11 years, the Canadian super team — Guardian, Sasquatch, Puck, Snowbird, Shaman, Aurora, Northstar, and others along the way — battled foes large and small, with adventures steeped in social commentary and uniquely Canadian issues and themes. Join comic book enthusiasts Liam, Adrianna and Doug as they make their way through the original series issue by issue, character by character, Byrnism by Byrnism, with occasional detours through Canadian cultural history. So sit back, listen up and get right with the Flight!   HAPPY ALPHA FLIGHT: TRUE NORTH #1 DAY! Unfortunately, this episode was recorded before we could get our hands on a copy, but rest assured, we’ll be covering it in-depth soon enough! Now, onto Episode 16. This episode is a little heavier than usual, but we open on a light note: action figures! At FanExpo Canada, Hasbro announced a new Alpha Flight 6-pack as part of their Marvel Legends line, and your hosts weigh in with their thoughts. Our main discussion starts off as any other, with a focus on the art. Liam, Doug and Adrianna give their thoughts on Mignola’s cover for issue #31 and the fact that this issue marks his departure from interior duties. The story itself heralds the return of Deadly Earnest and Nemesis, and most of the issue focuses on the conflict between them and Alpha Flight’s struggle to take him down. Shaman makes an appearance, too. We give our thoughts on the Nemesis/Deadly Earnest relationship, the way violence is depicted in this issue, and the somewhat confused theological underpinnings of Shaman’s story arc. Then, it’s on to issue #32, which, to put it mildly, was not a hit with your hosts. Though we always try to balance any criticism with something positive, it’s hard to do that with an issue that handles disability so appallingly. Puck is a favorite among all three of this show’s hosts, so we of course have a lot of thoughts about how his backstory is handled here. We discuss the Puck vs. Razer conflict and the ways it diminishes Puck as a character, as well as the idea of disability as punishment or a product of moral failure, a trope that is unfortunately common in fiction and very much present in Mantlo’s handling of Puck. We also discuss Heather’s characterization across both issues and Liam is once again thirsty, but this time, for SHAMAN! As always, thanks for listening!   If you have any questions, comments or feedback, please drop us a line at flightstuffpodcast@gmail.com. Follow us on Twitter: @flightstuffpod iTunes RSS  

Welcome to The Flight Stuff: a podcast about Canada’s premiere superhero team! In 1983, comic book writer and artist John Byrne lifted his original team, Alpha Flight, from the pages of Uncanny X-Men and dropped them into their own, eponymous series. Over the course of 11 years, the Canadian super team — Guardian, Sasquatch, Puck, Snowbird, Shaman, Aurora, Northstar, and others along the way — battled foes large and small, with adventures steeped in social commentary and uniquely Canadian issues and themes. Join comic book enthusiasts Liam, Adrianna and Doug as they make their way through the original series issue by issue, character by character, Byrnism by Byrnism, with occasional detours through Canadian cultural history. So sit back, listen up and get right with the Flight!   Welcome, Alphans, to another installment of The Flight Stuff! We kick off Episode 15 with some Alpha Flight news! Marvel released a seven page preview of Alpha Flight: True North #1, as well as a variant cover by Ramon Perez, so of course we had to share our thoughts on both. From there, we jump right into issue #29 of the main Alpha Flight title, marking our return to the book after a brief two-episode detour through Secret Wars II and some Alpha-adjacent material. Issue #29 concludes Alpha Flight’s intense run-in with the Hulk, marking the start of the Mantlo/Mignola run, and we have a lot of thoughts on this transition and how it translates to the page. Then it’s onto issue #30, which pits Alpha Flight against a figure from Madison Jeffries’ past. We touch on Mignola’s art style and the body horror and darker themes carried over from Byrne’s run, as well as Heather’s self-doubt spiral and the team’s re-established relationship with the Canadian government. PLUS: Thicc Daddy Hulk. As always, thanks for listening!   If you have any questions, comments or feedback, please drop us a line at flightstuffpodcast@gmail.com. Follow us on Twitter: @flightstuffpod iTunes RSS  

Welcome to The Flight Stuff: a podcast about Canada’s premiere superhero team! In 1983, comic book writer and artist John Byrne lifted his original team, Alpha Flight, from the pages of Uncanny X-Men and dropped them into their own, eponymous series. Over the course of 11 years, the Canadian super team — Guardian, Sasquatch, Puck, Snowbird, Shaman, Aurora, Northstar, and others along the way — battled foes large and small, with adventures steeped in social commentary and uniquely Canadian issues and themes. Join comic book enthusiasts Liam, Adrianna and Doug as they make their way through the original series issue by issue, character by character, Byrnism by Byrnism, with occasional detours through Canadian cultural history. So sit back, listen up and get right with the Flight!   Welcome, Alphans, to another installment of The Flight Stuff! This week, we open on a bit of a somber note, as we acknowledge the passing of the great character actor Rutger Hauer. He was a favorite of ours, so we thought it fitting to dedicate a few minutes to his memory at the top of the episode. From there, we jump right into the muck and mire of company-wide crossover events, specifically the notorious Secret Wars II which played out across the pages of Marvel Comics from 1985 to 1986. There were nine main issues and a whopping 33 tie-in issues, including, of course, Alpha Flight #28.  We talk the good, the bad and the ugly, and how the Flight figure into it all. We close out the episode with a discussion on The Incredible Hulk #313, which presents the events from Alpha Flight #28 from a different perspective: Bruce Banner’s! What exactly has the Hulk been up to, and how was it that Bochs was able to pull him through the dimensional nexus? PLUS: an uncomfortably lengthy discussion on Bigfoot erotica! All that and more awaits in this exciting new episode of The Flight Stuff! As always, thanks for listening!   If you have any questions, comments or feedback, please drop us a line at flightstuffpodcast@gmail.com. Follow us on Twitter: @flightstuffpod iTunes RSS