Alpha: Big Time #1

First new review of the week is a comic I've been looking forward to for months now!  Literally months!  Yep, it's Alpha time!! (And JT Time!)  For those of you not in the know, Alpha is basically what Peter Parker would be if he were more realistic.  I mean, I love Peter as much as the next guy, (Not if the next guy's me!) but come on, nobody is THAT altruistic! (I am...)  No, Alpha is what most of us would be if we were to get powers.  Not a saint like Peter, not a crazed murderer like the Punisher, but a flawed person who wants to do what's right.  Enough talk, I have SO been waiting to get my hands on this one...  Let's dig in!!

Alpha: Big Time #1: 

Summary: We get things started here by finding out that Alpha's parents ended up splitting up, which led to Alpha and his mom moving to Pittsburgh.  Basically Alpha's life at school is even worse now than it had been, as instead of being ignored by his fellow students, he's being bullied. (Who wouldn't bully an Ex-Hero?)  So yeah, losing his powers has ramped up the sucktitude (nice vocabulary, buddy...) in his life tenfold.  However, Alpha is met by Dr Peter Parker, (picker of peppered pickled peppers) who tells him he wanted to give him his powers back, provided Alpha acted more responsibly with them.  In actuality Doc Parker (who is now Dr. Octopus, for those of you living under rocks) wants to harness the power of the Parker Particles like the real Peter never could. (Somewhere, Hank Pym is so jealous.) So now Alpha has 10% of his awesome powers back!  Huzzah!  Alpha celebrates by taking a flight around the city where he assists some firemen in putting out a fire. He then hears a woman cry out for help and interrupts a mugging in process.  Alpha (After hilariously calling himself Beta...) warns the mugger to back off, but being a criminal, the mugger isn't exactly bright (although he is surprisingly up on current events...) and decides to shoot a gun at Alpha.  Alpha easily deflects the bullet and punches the mugger in the face.  End of problem, no? (Yes?) Well, unfortunately for Alpha, he uses too much power in that blow and apparently kills the mugger! (Bet you're regretting that Punisher line from earlier now...)

Thoughts: Oh, you KNOW what I thought about this one! (Bet he tells us anyway...) Of course I loved it!  Come on, it's an Alpha story!!  Even though Dan Slott isn't writing this mini, I never had any doubt that this comic would be good, as Joshua Hale Fialkov has proven himself to be a good writer in his own right with DC's "I, Vampire". (And the new writer of Green Lantern Corps and Red Lantern)  And he proved here that he knows what he's doing by crafting a good, strong, engaging tale.  We see how Alpha is doing, learn that his life sucks, he gets his powers back, we find out why he gets his powers back, he tries to do good with them, and naturally, because he's Alpha, screws up.  I seriously couldn't ask for much more.  So yes Alpha fans, this was a very good comic, and I am eagerly anticipating the second issue. (You're not the only one!)

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.

Alpha is the greatest super-hero ever.  There, I said it.