A Reason For Alpha Flight

[Legerd]

Hello. The North Guard name was used by a canadian publisher in the late 80s, i believe, for a Canadian super team.I dont think theres anything wrong with the Alpha name or basic concept....except....just one thing...it flops every time.
I would enjoy a new Alpha series with a Doom Patrol quirkiness to every story. This is a team existing in the ginormous shadow of american super heroes. Their stories need to be distinct from what we usually find at the shops. With the teams entrenched mystical background I can see he mysteries of remote mysticism wreaking havoc that only Alpha Flight can deal with.
In a way, the weirdness of Bill Mantlos ideas could have been hugely successful in a better writers hands, and, perhaps, with a touch of decompression. I would mine his chunks of bizzare ideas, revisit them and say,,"ohhhh...the twins really ARE asgardian elves?" that kind of grant morrisson weirdness would work today I think.
The best coloring for an AF series today, that would reflect the airy cleanness of john byrnes work would be digital coloring like we currently see for that awesome geoff darrows conan cover. And the art should be clean, providing detail, but with better use of panel space, ala byrne, and not crowded splash pagey nonsense with gritty coloring.
Maybe someone like jim cheung would work great.

I know about Northguard (it was just a lone hero who went by the name) which is why I suggested it (with the name split in two to try to avoid legal BS). While most of us don't think there is anything wrong with the name or concept of Alpha Flight, there are many more out there who do. Which is probably one of the reasons why the book flops.
My own opinion is AF should avoid quirkiness (not that it's a bad idea) simply because the last thing the team needs is to appear odd or weird. If anything, they need to be taken as a serious team of heroes, not hard luck losers or weirdos or outcasts. That's how they got screwed over in the first place. I liked how they could handle any threat, be it high tech, mystical or plain old bad guys with guns. Unfortunately, Marvel seems to think they've run out of "concepts" for the team. Thing is they haven't had an AF book with AF since the first series, but try telling them that.
I like your ideas about the art, and think you're right. AF lends itself to a more clean style than a dirtier, grittier one. Jim Cheung's artwork would be great, but (correct me if I'm wrong) doesn't he like doing those big, busy splash pages?