John Byrne would be given the title as artist and writer. It did make sense as he co-created the team. Byrne was reluctant to do the series, but he would do the first 28 issues of the series before leaving the title. During Byrne's time on the book, he'd primarily focus on the team members' personal lives, storylines focusing on a couple characters at a time. On the plus side, all the team members were guaranteed to get spotlight and character development, but on the minus side, the team was rarely seen fighting all together.
1994 would not spell the end of Alpha Flight, though. The group would become Marvel's most famous non-America-based super team. The title would be relaunched in 1997 under the pen of Steven Seagle, with art by Scott Clark and Duncan Rouleau. This series, with new characters was a bit darker, focusing on conspiracies surrounding Department H, the bureau of the Canadian Ministry of Defense that housed the team. This series would last 20 issues, and it would get an annual.
2004 saw a third ongoing series, called the "All-New All-Different Alpha Flight". This series focused on a another new team formed by original Alpha Flight member Sasquatch. It lasted 12 issues, and saw them visiting the original team in the past, as well as temporal copies from the past. Confused? Don't worry, I am too.
In 2008, an eight-issue series was launched that tied into the crossover Fear Itself. This version was essentially a reunion of the "Classic" Alpha Flight roster. In more recent years, Alpha Flight has become a space program that is meant as the first line of defense against alien invasion led by Carol "Captain Marvel" Danvers. Alpha Flight mainstays Aurora, Puck, and Sasquatch are members of this version. Sasquatch has also been appearing in the Immortal Hulk title.
And that's a basic history of the team. They've been an important part of the Marvel Universe for over thirty years, and I doubt they'll be going away any time soon. But let's take a look at how the team got their major start, by looking at the first issue of their first series. This is Alpha Flight #1!
The cover is pretty neat, a John Byrne and Terry Austin piece. You got the Alpha Flight team rushing into action amongst a crowd of superheroes, saying this job is only one they can handle. I think it has become a bit of an iconic cover. It's certainly exciting, shows off the team, and gives off the "cocky new group on the block" vibe. But considering what they're going to face in this comic, maybe having all those superheroes around to help is not such a bad idea...
"Tundra!"
Writer: John Byrne
Penciler: John Byrne
Inker: John Byrne
Colorist: Andy Yachus
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Editors: Denny O'Neil, Linda Grant
Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter
The story begins with James MacDonald Hudson, the Vindicator, standing around a room. A room that is empty, dark, and rundown. Like it was abandoned long ago, and time has had some fun with it.
So, it looks like Alpha Flight is already out of business, eh? Well, not to worry! Recap time! This room used to be Department H, a top secret bureau of Canada's Ministry of Defense. It was the home of Alpha Flight, Canada's Greatest Heroes. It was only a couple of weeks earlier that the team had joined forces with Nightcrawler and Wolverine of the X-Men to battle the murderous monster known as the Wendigo [In Uncanny X-Men #139-140 N(ovember-December 1980)]. The battle was hard, but the heroes were triumphant.
However, the Canadian government had suddenly decided "Yeah, you guys did save us from a monster that would have slaughtered people, but we're gonna disband you anyway. Have a good day, hosers!" Hudson is able to keep his security clearances and his status as an auxiliary of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. And before you ask, as for as I know, he's never encountered any crossdressing lumberjacks.
James Hudson is now in a bit of a dilemma. He's poured his life into creating Alpha Flight, and with it gone...he doesn't have much outside of it. Despite this, he's not too worried. He's still got his marriage to Heather. And the rest of Alpha Flight have lives of their own...but there were other recruits.
You see, Department H is essentially a superhero training program with three levels: Gamma Flight, Beta Flight, and Alpha Flight. Gamma is for the raw recruits. Beta is for those at the intermediary level, needing a bit more refinement. But when they're truly ready to defend the Great White North, they go up to Alpha. It's actually a really clever idea, the "tiers" of superhero readiness. Something like that would make sense for a superhero team organized by a nation's government. It's also a great way to foreshadow future members of the team. Quite a few of those characters you see in those panels become future Alpha Flight members themselves.
With the power about to be shut off, Vindicator flies off. He worries about his now being unemployed. Heather Hudson is still employed, but her salary will only go so far in this economy. He asks himself if Captain America has problems like this. Heh.
The scene then shifts to the Northwest Territories. Summer is here, and the tough grasses are poking through the melting snow. There is a man camping there. He is cold. He is hungry. He's not a very good camper because he has no food or warm blanket. He also forgot to bring something to amuse himself. But none of that bothers him as he is quite insane.
Driven by his delirium, he decides to take a walk. While walking, he drags his foot in the ground. As time goes by, it's revealed that he's forming a pattern in the ground, a giant outline of a man-like shape. I've heard of making snow angels, but this is ridiculous. He heads back to his camp, and searches for something. He finds a metal headband. The band is making his fingers tingle with the ancient magic within it. It has waited many a eon to be unleashed again. The man puts the headband on his maddened brow, and it. Has. Begun.
Just outside Calgary, Alberta, Canada...
That's Lance Storm. He's a pro wrestler. I like pro wrestling. He was billed from Calgary. That's the joke. Outside of Calgary, there's a First Nations reservation, particularly one occupied by the Tsuut'ina Nation. The comic refers to them as the "Sarcee", as I think they may have been known as that at the time. You see, the term is derived from a word in the Blackfoot tongue meaning "stubborn". The two tribes often fought over territory, and as such, the term is considered offensive by members of the Tsuut'ina. I'm not quite certain if that is true (I got it from Wikipedia, after all), but I'm going to err on the safe side and refer to the tribe as the Tsuut'ina.
In the reservation, there's an office belonging to Dr. Michael Twoyoungmen, M.D. It's rather quiet day for the good doctor today, but that is not going to last. He has an odd feeling, like a subtle pressure on his mind. It's a signal. A magical signal from his late grandfather. A signal that only comes at a time of great peril. Dr. Twoyoungmen reaches up, and grabs a box from the top of a medicine cabinet. And what is in the box?
This just got real creepy real quick. Let's go somewhere that is hopefully less creepy. Let's go to La Valle, Quebec. Which I think may be a typo, and is actually supposed to be LaSalle, Quebec. It's a borough of Montreal. There, we go to Madame DuPont's School for Girls. One of those fancy private schools. One of the teachers, a Jeanne-Marie Beaubier, is being mobbed by a group of schoolgirls. They heard her famous brother is coming to visit, and they want some confirmation. She herself only learned of it an hour ago. News spreads fast. A white car drives up, and Jean-Paul himself arrives. He proves to be quite popular.
Ahh, the innocence of youth. The Beaubier twins do some catching up over tea and biscuits. It has been a couple weeks since Alpha Flight disbanded, and Jean-Paul has been wanting Jeanne-Marie to come and live with him. They are family, after all. Jeanne-Marie refuses, as she feels her place is at the school, with the nuns who raised her. Yeah, the Beaubier twins grew up separately, and Jeanne-Marie's upbringing would cause many more problems for her in the future.
Jean-Paul says the school is a prison, not a home. It makes her hide who she is. However, Jeanne-Marie sees Aurora as a blasphemy. Again, the nuns broke her brain. Jean-Paul believes that there is no shame in being a mutant. To him, a mutant using their powers is no different to a genius using their mind, or an athlete using their physical skills. It's part of who they are, so why should they hide that? I can imagine that for Northstar, hiding who he is is very repellent to him for another reason. Remember, Northstar is also gay. So, for him, I can imagine that may inform his thinking on the matter.
On another note, he also just admitted he did use his powers to be a champion skier. In Alpha Flight #41, Northstar is forced to use his powers to save someone's life in public, and it led to people accusing him of using his powers to cheat at skiing...which caused him to relinquish his skiing championships. Karma, Jean-Paul.
Back to the story. Jean-Paul tries to get his sister to see that she and Aurora are one and the same. This causes her to faint, unable to take the mental strain. Northstar puts her on her bed, cursing out Vindicator for reuniting the twins only for them to be in conflict again, and cursing out the Canadian government for shutting down Alpha Flight, which may have been Jeanne-Marie's only hope for a happy life. You know, because they have had a therapist on staff.
We next go to Ottawa, where we meet Heather McNeil Hudson, future Vindicator herself. She's happily watering her plants when Mac comes home.
The two have a little romantic moment, and Heather goes to make some tea. Hey, I'll have a cup too, Heather. I like a nice cup of tea. She gets a phone call. Mac needs to turn on the TV. There's a big story on CBC news. The broadcaster reports that there's a strange phenomenon erupting in Resolute Bay. Mac grabs his helmet and puts it on. Heather tells him to contact the rest of Alpha Flight, particularly Shaman and Snowbird. This seems right up their alley. Mac flies away, pointing out that there is no Alpha Flight anymore.
Heather heads to a hidden control center. It contains a computer used to contact the Alphas. She notices there are two extra contact cards there, likely for two Beta Flight members that managed to graduate to Alpha Flight. Heather figures that Mac could use their help, too. Alpha Flight, you are officially activated. So, let's meet those two new members, shall we?
First, we go to a seedier part of Toronto, to a tavern. Even though it's only noon, this tavern is already bustling with activity and business. Two drunks are bothering a waitress. The bartender asks one regular patron, a Mr. Eugene Milton Judd, to take care of it.
The term "pint-size powerhouse" does apply to this man. Mr. Judd asks the drunks to leave. They mock his height. He gives them pain, and literally throws one of them right out of the bar. He gets the Alpha Flight summons thanks to a special implant in his skull, and he cartwheels out in joy. Judd is awesome.
Next, Newfoundland. A teenage girl with a rather unusual appearance is gazing out at the ocean. Marrina Smallwood is given a brooch by her adopted brother Dan. The call is out. Alpha Flight is needed. She is needed. And so, she must go.
In the forests of British Columbia, one Walter Langkowski is enjoying a nice walk among the trees. Get some exercise in, reconnect with nature, that good stuff. He picks up the signal, and the ex-gridiron star-turned-scientist undergoes an incredible transformation.
There is one member of Alpha Flight already at the crisis zone: One Anne McKenzie, aka Narya, aka Snowbird. In the form of an arctic owl. She transforms into her human form, recognizing the mystic energies that are swirling around: A great monster known as Tundra. Tundra was an ancient enemy of Snowbird's mother Nelvanna, an Inuit goddess. I don't think that's an actual goddess of Inuit mythology, though. Funny enough, back during the Golden Age, there was a Canadian superheroine that went by a similar name. John Byrne had created Snowbird years before he started working in comics, so I would not be surprised if he was inspired by Nelvana of the Northern Lights (Byrne was British by birth, but grew up in Canada).
Anyway, Snowbird fears that she may not be able to stop the monster. After all, her mother was a full-blown goddess, and Tundra was the one who sealed her and the other Inuit gods away. Snowbird is half-human. What chance would she have? The body of the man that summoned Tundra twitches, raising a hand. A giant hand erupts from the ground...followed by the rest of him.
...forget Alpha Flight! Forget the Avengers! CALL IN GODZILLA!
A ship five miles away detects Marrina racing through the water, at 800 knots (around 920 mph, but I have no idea if I calculated that right). Basically, Marrina is fast when she is in the water. The crew of the ship witness her bursting out of the ocean in a giant waterspout. Northstar and Aurora speed through the air. Eugene Milton Judd, suited up in his Puck outfit, tries to get into an airbase, but can't get in thanks to a guard not recognizing him as an Alpha Flight member.
Back in the Northwest Territories, Snowbird engages Tundra. She gets a swarm of mosquitoes to the face. Vindicator arrives and rescues Snowbird. He gets rocks to the face. Shaman arrives, and tries to contact the soul of the man who summoned the monster. But it's gone and only Tundra remains. Vindicator is able to hurt Tundra with his suit's ability to fire electro-magnetic blasts, but there's a problem. The monster is connected to the lands of Canada, and Tundra's pained screams are making the land go nuts. Yup, we got a pickle here. Tundra can be hurt, but they might end up turning Canada into rubble. Lovely.
A helicopter flies by, and drops Sasquatch like a bomb. Tundra barely acknowledges the large orange-furred gamma-powered man-monster's impact. But then Sasquatch starts literally ripping chunks out of the soil and rock that compose the kaiju-sized Great Beast's body. The monster slaps Sasquatch away like he was a mere orange-furred flea. He is sent flying past Aurora and Northstar. Northstar's mentality towards catching Sasquatch?
Yeah, did I mention Northstar is a bit of a jerk? Because he's a bit of a jerk. The Beaubier twins race around and around Tundra's body, causing it to break up a bit. Vindicator notes that Tundra is so freakin' big that the Beaubiers can't wear him down like that. Shaman thinks they have the right idea. They need to use the natural force of erosion to stop Tundra. The doctor takes some powder from his hand and tosses it into the air. The powders create a mighty rainstorm, wearing further on Tundra's body.
It seems to be working, but Tundra is recovering from it, and there's not enough moisture in the air to create a second rainstorm. Hey Mike, you need water? Marrina's getting you some! Northstar and Aurora clap hands, creating a giant burst of light that blinds the Great Beast. Shaman takes the water and uses it to create a second deluge, which manages to finish Tundra off.
12 hours later, our heroes are hanging out at the MacDonalds' apartment. The group has decided that despite the government's disbanding, the group are going to stay together and continue as a team. However, they're considering changing the team's name. After all, with the "flight" system gone, there's no need to be called "Alpha Flight" anymore.
Puck finally arrives at the apartment. Hudson tells him they're thinking of changing the team name. Judd is like, "Screw that! I worked to join Alpha Flight, so I'm joining Alpha Flight!" Because Puck is awesome and James is not stupid, the issue is settled. The name "Alpha Flight" is sticking. Walter Langowski agrees the name is great, and Puck would also make a great mascot. Get it? Beause Puck is a dwarf.
The comic ends with an angry Puck brawling with Walter, and Heather Hudson thinking that maybe this isn't such a good idea...
This comic is awesome. It's a great first issue that does everything a first issue of a team is supposed to do. We meet the characters and learn a little bit about them. We also get seeds for future storylines: The team trying to work without government support, Aurora's mental issues, and I doubt that Tundra was the last giant monster the Alphas face off against. The fight with Tundra was exciting, and it allowed the Alphas to show off what they can do. And of course, it ends on a funny note. Poor Puck, he never got to help fight Tundra.
Byrne does some pretty good art, but it doesn't feel quite as clean as his X-Men art. I think it's because he's inking his own work and not Terry Austin. It's still good, though.
If you want to read this for yourself, I recommend hunting down the 2007 trade paperback Alpha Flight Classic Vol. 1. Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you enjoyed it, please spread it around! I also have to look into future funding options for the blog, so stay tuned! Next time, since July is the birthday of America, I'm going to look at a Captain America adventure. See you then!
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