Obsessively putting our comics in chronological order since 1985.
| 1991-04-01 00:02:30 |
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Alpha Flight #96
Issue(s): Alpha Flight #96
Cover Date: May 91
Title: "Slave to the world"
Credits:
Fabian Nicieza - Writer
Michael Adams - Penciler
Mike Manley - Inker
Eric Fein - Assistant Editor
Danny Fingeroth - Editor
Review/plot:
Michael Bair takes a break (or we get a break from him) in this story that is told from the perspective of the Master of the World. Actually he's writing in his diary, trying to decide if he even wants to be the Master of the World any more.
And why would he? He's already got a hawk and a space station. What more could anyone want?
Think about it. You're up in space, chilling, no one to tell you not to walk around naked. You can flash the whole Earth and no one can stop you.
But instead he clones a new body for himself and now wants us to call him the Forever Man.
And he kills his bird!
What the hell, dude?
Alpha Flight, meanwhile, is trying to do something about an oil tanker that is leaking. Master Forever Man of the World sends down some clones to act as tanker workers to screw things up. But Alpha manages to stop the oil spill anyway. Actually i don't know what the point of the clones was.
An interlude, basically. Remember when John Byrne did an interlude issue focusing on Dr. Doom and it was awesome? This isn't like that.
Quality Rating: D
Historical Significance Rating: 1
Chronological Placement Considerations: Pushed back in publication time to allow for Her/Kismet's appearance in Damage Control #4 (vs. Alpha Flight #97).
References:
- Flashback panels show scenes from Alpha Flight #2-4 (also where we learned the Master's origin) and Alpha Flight #15-16.
Crossover: N/A
Continuity Insert? N
My Reprint: N/A
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Comments
This comic was actually intended to be used by the military to replace hope and joy with despair and sorrow. But it was rejected by the Pentagon because there was no way to protect American troops from it.*
*Interestingly enough, it is also the only known physical artifact that can make Donald Trump cry.
Oh, come on, guys, is that issue really that bad?
If anything, the Master needs some more love from Marvel. He's could be, potentially, an interesting character...
Plus, I do love the name, even though Jules Verne came up with it first.
The Master can't be shown any love from Marvel, as he was killed off during the events of the "Kang Dynasty" storyline back in 2001/02ish.
Piotr, I completely agree that the Master is a great concept and that he needed more love from Marvel... but this comic is not love, not in the way that most consensual adults use that word.
When someone in a comic starts standing around nude, alone, yelling "I am your master!", that's when it's time to close that comic book and use stainless steel pads to scrub that image out of your mind. A Professor X mind wipe might not even do the job properly.
I really think that one star is too high a rating for this issue. Is there anyway to award negative stars? When Fnord gets to "CapWolf," we'll start to need them on a regular basis.
Fnord says on one of the pages on the sidebar that if he gives a comic an F, he throws it out and it doesn't appear on the site. I don't know if that's happened yet, though I suspect he's going to need it as the 90s progress and possibly into the 2000s, how bad a comic would have to be to hit that mark, or how it would affect the chronology if it did.
I'm beginning to wonder if there was anything Nicieza wasn't writing by the end of 1991. He wrote a million books, and none of them good.
This issue is so awful that could be reprinted in a special edition with Joel, Tom Servo and Crow silhouettes in the corner of every panel adding commentary.
To be fair, his work did improve later, when he was limited to 1 or 2 books at a time.
It's a good thing The Master keeps his space station window pointed directly at Canada in that next-to-last panel, or else his yelling at Alpha Flight from up there might seem a little silly.
Morgan, then that means we'll never see a review for The Crossing on this site. I can't see how it would get anything higher than a "F."
Bob, everything you said is too true!
***************************************************
To explain to my significant other why I was so disturbed by this comic, I had to summarize this issue to her:
"It's essentially about a nude man who stands alone in his home, admiring his body, telling himself he is the master, and that he says he has control in his two hands while choking his hawk."
See how wrong that sounds?
@Bill, although The Master WAS killed off in that storyline he has since returned.
When you're dealing with a villain with advanced alien technology that can clone new bodies for himself, chances are any death will be fairly temporary.
Well, I think we know one particular creator more likely to produce F's than any other...
Morgan, the link you posted doesn't work. Are you trying to keep us in suspense? :)
I fixed the link (although i'm not sure why it didn't work initially).
