I guess this means they must have enough faith in McCann now due to Hawkeye and Mockingbird.
Which is amazing considering that HAWKEYE & MOCKINGBIRD #1, while it may be critically acclaimed, didn't have the best debut. In June it sold 27,552 copies (or rather, that many copies were ordered by retailers in the direct market). There were two variant covers and most debut issues are ordered at whatever shops think they can sell, which is at best an educated guess. Second issues usually are lower, and either the title's sales get steady or slip into oblivion. This was enough to sell in the Top 75 (at #73), with a caveat that June 1010 was actually a good month for the Top 300 sellers; in some prior months, 27.5k would have looked better, and placed higher on the Top 100 list.
For a bit of comparison, BLACK WIDOW #1 in April sold at over 32k (or 5,000 copies more, at least), but by issue three it is down to below 20k, which is right around cancellation range. Marvel's giving the next creative team an arc, but it may not last 12 issues. Still, HAWKEYE & MOCKINGBIRD had a better debut than YOUNG ALLIES, which also launched in June. Once July's sales are known, the title's future may be easier to predict. Note that ATLAS #1 had a low debut, and was canceled by issue five. Both DOCTOR VOODOO and SWORD had lousy debuts and both were canceled by issue six. Usually as a "golden rule", any new comic that can't debut within the Top 50 or Top 60 usually is dead in a year or less, at least from Marvel. But that's my personal observation.
There are many reasons why new titles fail to make a splash. A popular creative team on a well known franchise that fans & retailers want them on help, and both are key. Mark Millar & Bryan Hitch are normally an A-List creative team, but not even they could boost sales on FANTASTIC FOUR for very long, because readers & retailers just aren't jazzed by the Four anymore. The other aspect is a title has to be seen as "important". Marvel acts like all their titles are important, but retailers usually can tell the difference on the scale between NEW AVENGERS and AGENTS OF ATLAS. Finally, more $3.99 means higher wholesale costs, which combined with the worst economy in twenty plus years (with many shops nationwide closing), this has led to retailers being very conservative with things they aren't sure will sell well, or last long. Marvel rarely has faith in new books or characters, and release too many to show that they care about each individual one. Marvel, incredibly, believes these signals are impossible for any layperson to figure out, much less retailers. If I can, for free, then certainly someone whose salary depends on it can, too. Or should.
At any rate, though, the last stab at Alpha Flight proper was 2004, the "all new" comedy series. In 2007, there was OMEGA FLIGHT, which was essentially Alpha Flight with a new (old) name (that their enemies used to use). It was a series originally intended to be an ongoing, and then Marvel got nervous and made it a mini. Which proved to be a misstep; the sales for the mini were very consistent, and had it been an ongoing, it might have seen 18 issues. But, shifting the format led the creative team to split up and move onto DC, so there was little chance of a sequel. Beyond an arc in MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS, the property has been resting for two years. A month or two ago, some director expressed interest in an ALPHA FLIGHT movie, which probably helped. But, on average, Marvel has usually given the team a chance every 2-6 years, so they're about due. The riddle will be making it work besides simply hammering home the fact that they're Canadian, which usually has failed to work.
The question may be what line-up is used, considering while Bendis wanted all of ALPHA FLIGHT to have been killed by the Collective, subsequent writers have back peddled on that. Several of the "long term" Flighters like Northstar, Aurora, and Madison Jefferies/Box have popped up in the X-Books. Sasquatch and Talisman (Shaman's daughter) were in Omega Flight (and may be the only members of that team left), and Snowbird has popped up in INCREDIBLE HERCULES material. Past versions of many of the older characters were also supposedly in the present, but that continuity hiccup will either be exploited to explain why, say, Puck is back, or ignored. At any rate, at least 5 members of the long term AF cast are alive, and finding or creating 2-3 others to join them if that is the intention shouldn't be too difficult.
Which ones?
All you need to know is that it's in Canada I guess.
