Logan Legacy #2 hits where Amazing X-Men #12 misses

Amazing X-Men #12, the final chapter of the World War Wendigo storyline which guest-starred Alpha Flight, finally came out yesterday.

I say "finally" not out of eagerness, but because I couldn't wait for it to end. I hated the story.  I found several of the Alpha Flight members to be out of character, references to their recent history to be completely inaccurate, and the silly dialogue from some of the X-Men completely irritating. I didn't know Rockslide before this story and I could live a great life without ever coming across him again. I also have no idea when Iceman became such a tool. At least Guardian had an extremely impactful, though completely predictable, moment.

Thankfully, reading Death of Wolverine: The Logan Legacy #2 afterwards offset a lot of that crap very nicely.

I'm not Wolverine's biggest fan (not even close), and I didn't at all follow the story leading to his "death", the reports of which are no doubt greatly exaggerated.

However, X-23, Logan Legacy's leading lady for this issue, is a character I've been curious about for some time. As the clone of Canada's most famous superhero, does she qualify as Canadian herself? The lady who carried this clone is an American, from what I can gather from internet research, so I'm not entirely sure. I was looking forward to finding out a bit more about her.

I'd also seen a few comments in social media about a pleasant surprise for Alpha Flight fans in this book. Of course, I assumed this meant that a current team member would appear, perhaps more than one. That was enough to provide the extra motivation I needed to make the purchase.

And I'm so glad I did.

I won't "spoil" it, even if the book came out yesterday.  A new(ish) character, referred to as The Chinook, appears and it is indeed a sweet treat, in my opinion.

If you look for it you can figure out from this post who our mysterious character is. But I can easily explain, without giving anything away, why I was so pleased at this story by making reference to the Amazing X-Men books.

World War Wendigo was sloppy in handling Alpha Flight's history, even a very recent, high-profile event like Northstar's wedding. In Legacy, writer Tim Seeley makes reference to characters we have either not seen in years, and had no reason to expect to, or whose most prominent appearance came way back during John Byrne's Alpha Flight run.

Said simply, it's a matter of respect. Amazing X-Men did not display much of it, Logan Legacy does.

As for The Chinook, it's unlikely (but not impossible) that we'll see much more of him, but I welcome any future appearances.  He and X-23 make a pretty sharp team, don't they?

Canada: Where the Good Whiskey Comes From

The above is from the Night Raven: House of Cards graphic novel, first published by Marvel UK in 1991.

I read the character's first graphic novel two years ago and if I hadn't read on another website that he is Canadian, I would never have known. There is little, if any, reference to his background in Night Raven: The Collected Stories.

Night Raven is the driver in the above partial scan of a page from House of Cards, however I still found myself questioning whether claims that he was Canadian were accurate. In the scene, he's trying to avoid being recognized and drawing attention to himself. It seemed very likely then that he was making up a background story for that purpose.There is one flashback vision later in the book that effectively confirms his half-native ancestry, but it does not specify that he was born and/or raised in Canada.

However, I failed to realize earlier that the two graphic novels can nearly be considered book ends to the character's adventures. The Collected Stories reprint his first 20 appearances in the UK's Hulk Comic. I believed that House of Cards did something similar with subsequent comic book short stories, but it does not. Night Raven's adventures following those in Hulk are actually text stories starting in a book called "Marvel Superheroes" (issue 382). I suspect that much of his background is actually detailed in those, and that is why a few resources are able to confidently state that Night Raven was born in southern Alberta in the early 1900's.

The unfortunate thing about the text stories is that they have not been collected or reprinted in any way since (that I could determine, anyway) and it seems rather unlikely that they every will be. That's too bad, because a few were written by Alan Moore prior to Watchmen being published by DC Comics.  I would love to see Moore's take on the character and may just have to find a way to track those down.

HOTN: New Beginnings available for pre-order.

I haven't been very lucky with my Heroes of the North news lately.  I always seem to miss it by a few days.

The HOTN crew announced on Facebook this past weekend that their next trade paperback will be available soon. It mostly focuses on the new characters that will be fully introduced during the second season of episodes.  Here's a content breakdown.  Pour yourself a coffee first, it's a long one (the book weighs in at 200 pages).

- See the aftermath of the Jackpot Minisode and the rise of Wild Card! 

- What happens when 8 Ball and Jackpot meet for the first time? 

- The Islander has first world problems in Prince Edward Island. 

- Lighthouse must fight a former sidekick turned to the dark side. 

- Meet Yellow Knife and his first encounter with the deadly Crimson! 

- Discover the wonders of the infinitely small with Nano! 

- Meet Lily Ryder, former eco terrorist and soon to be Saskana, protector of Saskatchewan! 

- Who is the mysterious Yukon Jack? What is his connection to Medusa? 

- Nordik finds a young woman unconscious in the white plains of the Arctic. Who is she and where does she come from? 

- Wild Rose is a rookie at fighting crime in Alberta but her heart is in the right place. 

- A mining accident will bring the hero inside Iron Ore! 

- Discover the origins of Voda, Manitoba's own superheroine! 

- Terra Nova reminisces about her past while fighting her nemesis, Spring Heeled Jack. 

- Mantis and Hornet involve themselves in North Korea's politics! 

- Borealis feels the weight of being a bridge between two cultures.

I quite like HOTN's graphic novel format, especially since their cast continues to grow at a rapid rate. And there's one thing you can always count on with these: variety.  There will be different art styles.  There will be humour, there will be drama and there will be horror.  A story will be as long (or short) as it needs to be, whether that is two pages or 12 or 20.

For this book, since my knowledge of most of the new characters does not extend beyond their design, I'm looking forward to seeing how they are woven in to the backgrounds of the existing characters.  For example, Yellow Knife's history with Crimson was hinted at some time ago.  I'm eager to see what went down between the two of them and what it might lead to down the road.  The same applies to Yukon Jack and the Medusa organization.

Speaking of background material, a story about Nordik is a pleasant surprise since the character was killed off in the Legacies book.  Why let a good character go to waste if you can still tell stories about her past which may have an impact in the future?  I'm curious as to who has art duty on that one.

So quite a bit to like there.  And it seems as though a copy of the second omnibus (Missions) will be included as well.  If you don't already own that book, all told you're looking at nearly 300 pages of material for $30 plus shipping.  Pre-order here.

Steele Vs The Ghost Walker

Upon my return from TSOG Secret HQ on Monday, following a delightful thanksgiving dinner with Mrs TSOG, I was pleased to find I had received a contributor-only e-mail message from Steele Vs creator Scott R. Schmidt.

I supported Mr. Schmidt's fundraising campaign to bring his mountie character to life this past spring and was eagerly looking forward to seeing what would come of it (even though the estimated delivery date is only next month).  Mr Schmidt provided a very thorough update about his project this weekend and in doing so included a pdf version of the zero issue.

Nice timing; Good Hallowe'en vibe going on there...Here's a look at the first page.

Lovely book. Nice touch: Among the extras is a brief historical overview of the actual Sam Steele, the man on whom this character is based.

I don't know when the print versions will be available for purchase, but issue #0 is available for just a buck on Comixology if you want to get a fuller preview of the series.  The Kickstarter campaign was actually for the first issue, entitled Steele Vs Dead Horse Trail and there are plans for an additional two issues which will combine to tell the "Road to The Yukon" miniseries.

The Legion, Book 3: Broken Arrows

For those of you just joining us, (Canadian) Legion Unleashed was a comic book project by one Richard Evans which unfortunately only lasted two issues. Speaking in broad terms (to avoid putting words in anyone's mouth) it wasn't a matter of lacking for ideas for the superhero team, but rather disenchantment with the comic book industry which caused the series to end prematurely.

The Legion's stories are being told in novella (under 100 pages) format now, two of which have been released.  The first, entitled Magic, is a retelling of the two comic book issues, with additional material to flesh both the stories and the characters out a bit.  The second is called War Machines and...well, I don't know much about it because it's sitting on my dining room table and I have yet to read it!  But I do know that it's a continuation of the story begun in book one.

Though I have yet to start book two, I was quite pleased to see the cover to #3 on display on the writer's blog (or a rough draft of it, in any case).

The title rings a little ominous for cover boy The Arrow, an archer/speedster combo of Irish ancestry.  The various Legion characters have apparently all been redesigned, but the only one I've seen so far is Black Flag (on the cover to the first book) so it's cool to finally see how Arrow turned out, assuming his current "look" is largely finished.  I'm also quite eager to be able to continue a story that I first began to read roughly 18 months ago, regardless of format.

I bought the books through amazon.ca, though a specific search is required as there is another writer named Richard Evans (Richard J. Evans specifically) who writes about totally unrelated matters.  Best to refer to Evans' blog to get a feel of his other literary offerings.