In many ways, they hold the same relative position in their universes: Fan and creator-beloved super-team, filled with unusual and unlikely heroes, never quite first-tier material but always heroic just the same, with multiple relaunches since their salad days. Born of the 1960s, the heroes of the Doom Patrol prefigured the X-Men’s “freaks trapped in a world they never made” gimmick, and introduced many key figures in the DC Universe: Beast Boy of the Teen Titans, Robotman, and the wonderfully absurd Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man. Alpha Flight’s heyday came two decades later in the 1980s, thanks to superstar artist John Byrne, giving us the uber-cool Eugene “Puck” Judd, the ever-adversarial Northstar and the villainous Master Of The World. Heck, if all you’re looking for is visual balance, both teams even feature a strongman who is bright orange (though a debt is probably owed to the Fantastic Four in both cases), which leads us to today’s often-rebooted query…
The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, ‘misquoted”) consider an amalgamated version of the teams, but it came out either “ALF Patrol” or “Doofus Flight”, neither of which really works, asking: Which super-team would you rather belong to – Alpha Flight or Doom Patrol?
10 Comments
Alpha Flight is the only one that I have read. It was pretty good. So I will vote for them.
I’m a J.Byrne fan and he did a great job with both teams . But I prefer Alpha Flight ;)
Probably Alpha Flight. I’d have better chance of coming out alive from adventures at least.
Doom Patrol, solely because I lean a little more towards wanting to live in the DCU rather than the Marvel U (but only by a small amount). That isn’t to say I wouldn’t want to be a part of Alpha Flight, but since the one object I want more than anything in the multiverse exists** in the DCU (a working Lantern ring with stored power battery), I’ll take my chances with Doom Patrol.
** NOTE: Technically, there is another object I want just as equally as a Lantern ring, but the Super Sentai universe/multiverse wasn’t on the list.
Alpha Flight. Especially early on, there was a real positive team vibe, and they seemed so plucky. And they had some pretty cool women on the team. That’s the team I want to be part of. Plus maybe, what with being in Canada and all, I’d be able to wrangle a trip to Nova Scotia and Cape Breton again.
Doom Patrol, deaths and evil Chiefs and all.
Alpha Flight is much too often utterly insane, plagued by boring characters, and it even has to deal with both USAgent (serious contender for worst character idea along with Kyle Rayner) and government interference.
Oh, and all things told Alpha Flight is rarely well written, while Doom Patrol is usually at least readable.
Alpha Flight, because they’re Canadian and get Tim Horton’s.
Alpha Flight. They are like one of those kid’s punching toys. Every time you knock them down, they come back.
Though, I am a DC person, Alpha Flight is one of my favorite comics.
Alpha flight, it’s less likely retconned every few years.
Alpha flight hands down