Some of that tells me it was doomed from the start. He didn't understand the characters because he didn't read it at once?
Not a problem for me.

He wanted to take away from the 'Solo Alpha Flight' feel? That was one of the things I loved, one of the things that made the book unique (though I know Mantlo wasn't alone in disliking that aspect).

I think if I'd read that before the change-over, I would've been filled with a sense of oncoming doom.
Now I shall sing the Doom Song... doom-doom, doomy doom doom...

~ Le Messor
"I went to school with a kid who was so smart, the only time he got an answer wrong, they had to go back and change the question."
~ Gene Perret