True North, Strong, and Free! Alpha Flight Fans/From the Beginning 2024

[Shadowcat]

The thread to end all Alpha Flight threads…until next year. I’ve decided to read all things Alpha Flight over the course of the rest of this year, and give us some reviews on the issues/stories, and why they’ve become my favourite X-book spin off. Feel free to join me in this thread created to celebrate the Alphans, and hopefully have fun and pick up new fans along the way. I’d love to hear others thoughts while we’re all on this journey, so feel free to jump in as we go!

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[danielsan52]

I love AF! Bring back an ongoing!

[Shadowcat]

I love AF! Bring back an ongoing!

Same! I’ve got so many ideas that I’d kill for Marvel to take me up on!

[Nyssane]

Love this idea! I just reread Byrne's AF last year, and I'm slowly reading post-Byrne now. I wish the stuff after Byrne would get reprinted/collected in trade, cuz there are some legit good stories. I really liked Purple Girl's intro.

[Anduinel]

Sounds like fun!

[Shadowcat]

Love this idea! I just reread Byrne's AF last year, and I'm slowly reading post-Byrne now. I wish the stuff after Byrne would get reprinted/collected in trade, cuz there are some legit good stories. I really liked Purple Girl's intro.

Purple Girl/Persuasion should be Alpha’s Kitty Pryde. So much potential, lost to the years of neglect.

[Uncanny X-Man]

Love this idea! I just reread Byrne's AF last year, and I'm slowly reading post-Byrne now. I wish the stuff after Byrne would get reprinted/collected in trade, cuz there are some legit good stories. I really liked Purple Girl's intro.

I think there's some underrated gems in that Bill Mantlo run, especially the issues with David Ross and June Brigman. Purple Girl's intro and the sequel to Claremont/Smith's X-Men/Alpha Flight story are particular highlights for me.

[mugiwara]

For a long time, Jeffries was to me the coolest Alphan ever, with his ability to shapeshift his armor.
Then Weapon X happened, he was turned into a Kapo, had a breakdown and never recovered.

Persuasion, Manikin, Goblyn, Pathway... I liked them all.
I wish they made Goblyn way more dangerous, so she could be on the same level as the other claw/feral mutants. Maybe give her super speed.
Van Lente did dirty to Kara, turning her into a villain for no reason beyond the fact he didn't care about post-Byrne Alpha Flight.

Kinda liked Lobdell's Alpha Flight too. Major Mapleleaf was deliciously corny.
It would have been cool to see a de-aged Centennial popping out of an egg. Maybe a young version of him could be up there with Hyperion or Blue Marvel.

I never had the opportunity to read and know about some other members like Witchfire, Windshear, Ghost Girl, or Auric and Silver.

[MythicalChicken]

For a long time, Jeffries was to me the coolest Alphan ever, with his ability to shapeshift his armor.
Then Weapon X happened, he was turned into a Kapo, had a breakdown and never recovered.

Persuasion, Manikin, Goblyn, Pathway... I liked them all.
I wish they made Goblyn way more dangerous, so she could be on the same level as the other claw/feral mutants. Maybe give her super speed.
Van Lente did dirty to Kara, turning her into a villain for no reason beyond the fact he didn't care about post-Byrne Alpha Flight.

Kinda liked Lobdell's Alpha Flight too. Major Mapleleaf was deliciously corny.
It would have been cool to see a de-aged Centennial popping out of an egg. Maybe a young version of him could be up there with Hyperion or Blue Marvel.

I never had the opportunity to read and know about some other members like Witchfire, Windshear, Ghost Girl, or Auric and Silver.

I always say Alpha Flight had some of the coolest and best designed characters set in stories to make them seem as boring as possible, at its worst. I thought all the characters you mentioned as awesome, as well as the journey they sent Wild Child on, the Twins, Nemesis.

But Windshear's always had my heart. I think Windshear had the coolest look and coolest powerset or showing what you could do with just air (Wind Dancer hadn't come close, and Storm is too OP just to use wind to its full potential), illustrated beautifully.

[OBrianTallent]

Alpha Flight could easily be it's own sub-verse of titles similar to the X family of titles. Alpha Flight, Beta Flight, Omega Flight...Vindicator being their Captain America, Northstar their Wolverine...
Ghost Girl, Silver, Auric, Goblyn Pathway, Purple Girl, Radius, Flex...they could have their own New Mutants style team.
I was also a big fan of the Omega Flight series by Oeming and Kollins with Julia Carpenter, Beta Ray Bill, USAgent alongside of Talisman and Sasquatch. I seem to recall an interview where Oeming wanted to take Omega into more paranormal territory had they gotten the extension to a regular series.

They left the Fall of X mini in an extremely interesting position with most of Alpha Flight arrested, Heather in a coma possibly dying...did we ever get a reason for her putting on the Nemesis uniform, I can't remember. I did like the twist of Heather being Nemesis as it separated her from Mac. There's also the resolution to the storyline of Mac turning against Heather that needs some fleshing out as they seemed to be on better terms here. Would Alpha Flight still operate in Canada with the political climate they have at the end of the mini series?

There's so much potential for story beats and drama. I do wish Marvel would give them another chance.

As for my favorite member...there's so many to love, but I picked Heather. Her character arc from housewife to widow to hero was exemplary. She's not always been given the best storylines, but her character always comes through, even to the point of potentially sacrificing her life as Nemesis to protect mutants.
Snowbird was my other option. A goddess who chose to live as a human and protect them.

[Shadowcat]

The review for the 1992 Alpha Flight special will be posted here shortly.

[Shadowcat]

Alpha Flight Special #1 hit in the late spring of 1992, and it gave the team its behind the scenes origin, and it’s all wrapped around this central figure of officer Sean Bernard, who upon the opening of the issue has caught some bad cops who were in the middle of a drug peddling ring. As they had Bernard cornered, it looks like this could be the end of the good officer, when Wolverine, then known as Weapon X, saved his hide by stabbing the officers trying to kill the beleaguered officer.

Convincing the officer to follow him to get to safety, since it’d look like the officer killed the drug dealing officers, he joins the burgeoning superteam, in an undisclosed location (aren’t they always undisclosed?) Bernard tries to go to sleep with his new roommate, one Alexander Thorne, who would go on to become Smart Alec, the smartest man in the world. Thorne can’t seem to stop talking in his sleep, so he heads out to sleep on the couch, and he walks into a nude Snowbird. Narya, the Inuit demigoddess shapeshifter, spooks Bernard, but he’s getting to the weirdness. The next day Weapon X, Bernard, Thorne, a mute girl named Stitch, and Saint Elmo, a self-proclaimed god of the Northern Lights, are sent after Egghead, and his motley crew of US bad guys, attempt to launch a nuclear bomb off on Canadian soil, and the neophyte team, but they’re in way over their heads. The team barely survives, with Saint Elmo
sacrificing himself to stop the bomb from going off!

So let’s begin from the beginning: this story was alright. From Alpha Flight alums Scott Lobdell and Simon Furman wrote this story, and while not awful, just didn’t hit its mark. Officer Bernard is your average prototypical white guy in 90’s comics. Full of emotional outbursts, with a loner mentality, mirroring the 90’s tough guys, like Wolverine, the Punisher, Ghost Rider, etc. that were taking the comic buying public by storm in 1992. We also got to see Wolverine in his pre-X-Men era that wasn’t bogged down in stories that didn’t involve mindwipes, and secret bureaucrats who are hell bent on doing anything and everything to create the perfect weapon. The problem is the same issue I had with Scott Lobdell’s other two runs on the book; he just doesn’t understand the team, or its members. It’s something that he also had with his run on Excalibur before Warren Ellis took over. I’m not sure if it’s because he doesn’t understand the cultural changes, but it’s pretty apparent here. Another issue was the use of Egghead, and a couple other B list villains with no ties to the team that took the reader out of the story.

Luckily not everything involved with this issue was bland or boring. Yes, I’m talking about the art. Pat Broderick is one of those under the radar artists who has had some pretty exemplary performances over the years. He’s been attached to series like the Micronauts, the Legion of Superheroes, Batman, Green Lantern, and so many more, and he’s a proven talent. His work here has crisp, clear lines, and his storytelling skills are exemplary. He’s not one of the big, flashy artists, like Lee, Silvestri, and the rest of the Image crew, where there’s more style than substance, but he’s a solid artist. His work here highlights his craftsmanship, and elevated this book to be more than just mediocre.

[Devaishwarya]

I know it's wishful thinking but...Just based off of the really good but only marginally relevant Fall of X mini (imo) I would love a relaunch of the original AF team and the supporting members of the post Byrne runs, in the new X-era. I hope at the very least they do show up in story from time to time as they did back in the day.

My faves have always been Snowbird and Talisman.

[Shadowcat]

I know it's wishful thinking but...Just based off of the really good but only marginally relevant Fall of X mini (imo) I would love a relaunch of the original AF team and the supporting members of the post Byrne runs, in the new X-era. I hope at the very least they do show up in story from time to time as they did back in the day.

My faves have always been Snowbird and Talisman.

Talisman was my username before the big CBR reboot.

[Uncanny X-Man]

Honestly, it's high time we got another Alpha Flight ongoing book. Their Fall of X mini was very good, they have an amazing cast of characters with lots to explore still and enough of an "X" connection to lump it together with the mutant books and increase its chances of survival. I really hope AF is a part of the From the Ashes era with a kick-ass creative team.