Alpha Flight from the Beginning

[david r]

I may be insane, but I've reached the right time to start a thread celebrating Canada's premiere mutant team---Alpha Flight!

Like my other threads, I'll start with #1 and do a review & summary of each issue. Detailing major moments and 1st appearances. All who desire to participate or who have read the issues are welcome to join in. The more the merrier.

I haven't experienced most of this series (and the issues I have read, was a long time ago!) so this will be new to me. And again, I'd like to view each adventure like a new reader, not knowing what comes next. So please refrain from posting secrets & twists that happen during the run. I appreciate it!!

I hope I haven't bitten off more than I can chew!

So it's time to join Puck, Sasquatch, Vindicator and all the others in this fan-favorite book! I'm off to read #1 and post my thoughts on-------------------Alpha Flight!!!

[timbox]

Did you just refer to Aurora and Northstar as "the others" ...??

I guess I can forgive you because I love these threads!

[david r]

Did you just refer to Aurora and Northstar as "the others" ...??

I couldn't recall their names! I'm sure they'll get lots of love!!

[escapegoat]

I couldn't recall their names! I'm sure they'll get lots of love!!

I have on occassion referred to them as " Ol' Twinkletoes" and "Miss Shine on you Crazy Diamond", so I can understand where you're coming at......Northstar and Aurora are such hard names to remember...

[Imraith Nimphais]

YAY!!!!...I do love me some Alpha Flight, quite...and I have all of those earliy vol 1issues...so it will be great to hear/see another's take on those arcs...I am so luvin' these "from the beginning" threads...I literally go back and re-read my back issues just for the fun of it all.

[david r]

Alpha Flight #1

"Tundra"

1st appearance: Puck, Marrina, Tundra, Gary Cody, Dan Smallwood

Exploding from the pages of the X-Men! Canada's very own superhero team, who first appeared in 1979 in Uncanny X-Men #120, get their own mag!! Will the Great North ever be the same?! First off, I find #1's cover very amusing. "One side, Heroes!" ?I guess the Alphans weren't too modest. I'm embarrased to admit I hadn't noticed Puck & Marrina didn't appear in AF's earlier X-MEN appearances. How could I have missed them?

The very first issue of Alpha Flight begins with Vindicator---James MacDonald Hudson---standing alone in the room that once housed Department H. The room has been cleared of equipment and hardware, and little remains but wires and an empty silence. Department H was the top secret bureau of the Ministry of Defense: Alpha Flight's home. But the Canadian government has disbanded both Alpha Flight & Department H. (This happened in UXM #140). Vindicator, wearing a gorgeous tight-fitting costume which resembles the Canadian flag, is morose and depressed. Alpha Flight is over, and James doesn't even know how he'll make ends meet. James reminisces, and we learn of the many levels of Alpha Flight. AF is the top level, and "Beta Force" is below them, a mixture of members-in-training, and still learning their powers. Below that is "Gamma"-- these are raw recruits. Gary Cody enters the room, Gary is the official "unofficial" liaison between the Canadian mutants and the government. Gary thinks what the gov't are doing is crummy. Vindicator agrees, and flies away. We learn the secret installation was beneath Parliament Hill.

Meanwhile, 2000 miles northwest, a lone man is camping in the barren vast-land of the Northwest Territories. He has a little tent, and seems very angry. He stands and begins trailing a furrow in the snowy topsoil. He traces a long time, and traces an outline of a huge, giant figure in the snow. The starving man then looks through his stuffand finds a small "crown". He puts it on his head and something...happens. We now switch to Calgary, Canada, and meet Dr. Michael Twoyoungmen, also known as Shaman. A Native American indian, he senses the call of his grandfather while in his medical office. He removes a box and opens it to reveal a skull, with ornaments around the head. "Speak, O my Grandfather," Michael says. We switch scenes again, to Quebec and Madame DuPonte's School for Girls. Enter: Jeanne-Marie Beaubier, a teacher at the school. Her brother, Jean-Paul Beaubier arrives in his sports car. They are twins, and Jean-Paul feels his sister is wasting her life away in this school. She has her hair pinned-back, wearing glasses she doesn't need. Jean-Paul questions why she hides her beauty? In her room, he removes her glasses & lets her hair down. THIS IS THE REAL AURORA! Why do you deny your true self? Aurora collapses.

In Ottawa, Heather Hudson is watering her plants in the apartment she shares with her husband, James Hudson. Vindicator flies in thru the window, and Heather helps James get over his unhappiness over his team's dissolution. Soon on the TV, news of strange lights appearing in the Northwest appears, and Vindicator dons his uniform, and takes off to investigate. Heather sneaks into the hidden office, behind a bookcase. Heather finds Vindicator's AF discs strewn about, unkempt. What is this? She finds two discs she's not seen before. And places them in the computer's drive. We now are introduced to Eugene Milton Judd--Puck, who is a bald midget, with moustache & goutee. Eugene is hanging out in a Toronto bar, and starts a fight with a troublesome drinker. Eugene punches the man right out the door. But then Puck receives a PING! in his ear, the distress call for Alpha Flight. "The Call! At last!" Puck says joyfully, and runs out of the tavern. Soon, a green-skinned woman named Marrina, is alerted as well. She looks very exotic, almost like a fish-woman. She stands on a wind-washed beach, as a red-headed man named Dan Smallwood arrives and gives Marrina her brooch, which carries the AF signal on it. Marrina dives into the waiting ocean. Dan strongly hints he has feelings for Marrina.

The final two members are soon alerted as well: Walter Langkowski--Sasquatch, who is back-packing in the forest of British Columbia. And Anna McKenzie--Snowbird, who is in the shape of a ookpik, an owl. Snowbird apparently is not human. She is the first to arrive at the strange spot where mysterious lights are flowing. She witnesses the birth of Tundra!! A huge hand rises from the barren wasteland, and soon a massive form, using the grass, earth and tundra of the existing lands to form a monstrous body. Tundra replies "I am the death fo all that lives!" Out in the seas, Marrina is swimming at an incredible speed. Marrina changes course and leaps from the water, carrying a spout of water for miles. Soon most of the Alpha Flight members arrive at the scene, and all have difficulty battling Tundra. And each blow against Tundra, impacts the land around for miles. How do they destroy him if it means destroying the land itself?? After several awesome pages of fighting, the solution comes that water can "dissolve" the form of Tundra. As Marrina arrives in her spout of water, Shaman uses his mystical powers to use that spout of water to envelope Tundra. The water dissolves the gigantic form, and the earth and rocks and grass collapse back to the earth. The threat of Tundra erased.

#1 ends with the team members assembled in the Hudson's apartment. They all agree that Alpha Flight should continue, even without government clearance. Each member agrees to join, even Northstar who doesn't particulaly like the group. But they feel they should change their name to something more....cool. A knock at the door introduces Puck to the team. Eugene seems a bit arrogant and is unhappy to learn they are going to change their name. Puck grabs Mac's shirt and says "I wanna be in ALPHA FLIGHT!" Walter Langkowksi grabs "shorty" from behind....and the 2 start fighting and rough-housing, in a funny bit. Heather rolls her eyes and says "Oh lord....suddenly I don't know if this is such a great idea..." The Beginning.

My thoughts: One thing I like about this roster is how exotic & unique they all are. It reminds me of the second X-Men team, as each member is REALLY different and colorful, and the whole seem more exciting than the individual members. Puck definitely has a "Wolverine" feel about him. And he likes to say "Eh?" a lot. After one issue, I'm very curious about the back-history of each member. I hope this gets explored. As for the villain Tundra, he totally reminded me of Krakoa, the living island from Giant-Size X-Men #1. His using the earth around him to create his monstrous body, and using the surrounding animals, was way too similiar to Krakoa. Perhaps this was an homage. John Byrne writes and draws the whole issue, and this is when Byrne rocked!! I especially like Byrne's attention to detail when depicting city streets and landscapes. This is on par with his stellar X-MEN artwork. This is an excellent first issue.

[Stephane Garrelie]

A cool series. starring one of my favorite characters James Mc Donald Hudson alias Vindicator, sadly renaming him "Guardian". First false note. overall a good serie. By the best artist of the time.decent writing, by someone who was still a beginer at it.
I liked this first issue.

[Imraith Nimphais]

What I loved about this first issue was the fact that it was a "from the biginning" story that pretty much started in the middle (somewhere) of the main characters' lives. We got bare snippets of our players' lives moments before they are thrown together as a team which left the character-exploration doors wide open for future developement. Brilliant story telling, action and character interest all in one (double-sized) issue. Personally, I loved loved LOVED all the characters (on first sight) and it was very hard to choose a very favourite one as they were all so very unique (apart from being Canadian) in terms of their appearance and personal character traits and history, from the rest of the heroes in the MU att....but if I really had to choose one (on pain of death) it would have to be Snowbird.

[Nevets F]

...I think I love you David R.

You know I enjoy reading the X-Men and New Mutants (and the extra treat of the Wolverine mini) threads but now you have added Alpha Flight...my all time favorite series!!! Thank you so much! This is so exciting!

[Nevets F]

Alpha Flight #1

"Tundra"

1st appearance: Puck, Marrina, Tundra, Gary Cody, Dan Smallwood

Exploding from the pages of the X-Men! Canada's very own superhero team, who first appeared in 1979 in Uncanny X-Men #120, get their own mag!! Will the Great North ever be the same?! First off, I find #1's cover very amusing. "One side, Heroes!" ?I guess the Alphans weren't too modest. I'm embarrased to admit I hadn't noticed Puck & Marrina didn't appear in AF's earlier X-MEN appearances. How could I have missed them?

The very first issue of Alpha Flight begins with Vindicator---James MacDonald Hudson---standing alone in the room that once housed Department H. The room has been cleared of equipment and hardware, and little remains but wires and an empty silence. Department H was the top secret bureau of the Ministry of Defense: Alpha Flight's home. But the Canadian government has disbanded both Alpha Flight & Department H. (This happened in UXM #140). Vindicator, wearing a gorgeous tight-fitting costume which resembles the Canadian flag, is morose and depressed. Alpha Flight is over, and James doesn't even know how he'll make ends meet. James reminisces, and we learn of the many levels of Alpha Flight. AF is the top level, and "Beta Force" is below them, a mixture of members-in-training, and still learning their powers. Below that is "Gamma"-- these are raw recruits. Gary Cody enters the room, Gary is the official "unofficial" liaison between the Canadian mutants and the government. Gary thinks what the gov't are doing is crummy. Vindicator agrees, and flies away. We learn the secret installation was beneath Parliament Hill.

Meanwhile, 2000 miles northwest, a lone man is camping in the barren vast-land of the Northwest Territories. He has a little tent, and seems very angry. He stands and begins trailing a furrow in the snowy topsoil. He traces a long time, and traces an outline of a huge, giant figure in the snow. The starving man then looks through his stuffand finds a small "crown". He puts it on his head and something...happens. We now switch to Calgary, Canada, and meet Dr. Michael Twoyoungmen, also known as Shaman. A Native American indian, he senses the call of his grandfather while in his medical office. He removes a box and opens it to reveal a skull, with ornaments around the head. "Speak, O my Grandfather," Michael says. We switch scenes again, to Quebec and Madame DuPonte's School for Girls. Enter: Jeanne-Marie Beaubier, a teacher at the school. Her brother, Jean-Paul Beaubier arrives in his sports car. They are twins, and Jean-Paul feels his sister is wasting her life away in this school. She has her hair pinned-back, wearing glasses she doesn't need. Jean-Paul questions why she hides her beauty? In her room, he removes her glasses & lets her hair down. THIS IS THE REAL AURORA! Why do you deny your true self? Aurora collapses.

In Ottawa, Heather Hudson is watering her plants in the apartment she shares with her husband, James Hudson. Vindicator flies in thru the window, and Heather helps James get over his unhappiness over his team's dissolution. Soon on the TV, news of strange lights appearing in the Northwest appears, and Vindicator dons his uniform, and takes off to investigate. Heather sneaks into the hidden office, behind a bookcase. Heather finds Vindicator's AF discs strewn about, unkempt. What is this? She finds two discs she's not seen before. And places them in the computer's drive. We now are introduced to Eugene Milton Judd--Puck, who is a bald midget, with moustache & goutee. Eugene is hanging out in a Toronto bar, and starts a fight with a troublesome drinker. Eugene punches the man right out the door. But then Puck receives a PING! in his ear, the distress call for Alpha Flight. "The Call! At last!" Puck says joyfully, and runs out of the tavern. Soon, a green-skinned woman named Marrina, is alerted as well. She looks very exotic, almost like a fish-woman. She stands on a wind-washed beach, as a red-headed man named Dan Smallwood arrives and gives Marrina her brooch, which carries the AF signal on it. Marrina dives into the waiting ocean. Dan strongly hints he has feelings for Marrina.

The final two members are soon alerted as well: Walter Langkowski--Sasquatch, who is back-packing in the forest of British Columbia. And Anna McKenzie--Snowbird, who is in the shape of a ookpik, an owl. Snowbird apparently is not human. She is the first to arrive at the strange spot where mysterious lights are flowing. She witnesses the birth of Tundra!! A huge hand rises from the barren wasteland, and soon a massive form, using the grass, earth and tundra of the existing lands to form a monstrous body. Tundra replies "I am the death fo all that lives!" Out in the seas, Marrina is swimming at an incredible speed. Marrina changes course and leaps from the water, carrying a spout of water for miles. Soon most of the Alpha Flight members arrive at the scene, and all have difficulty battling Tundra. And each blow against Tundra, impacts the land around for miles. How do they destroy him if it means destroying the land itself?? After several awesome pages of fighting, the solution comes that water can "dissolve" the form of Tundra. As Marrina arrives in her spout of water, Shaman uses his mystical powers to use that spout of water to envelope Tundra. The water dissolves the gigantic form, and the earth and rocks and grass collapse back to the earth. The threat of Tundra erased.

#1 ends with the team members assembled in the Hudson's apartment. They all agree that Alpha Flight should continue, even without government clearance. Each member agrees to join, even Northstar who doesn't particulaly like the group. But they feel they should change their name to something more....cool. A knock at the door introduces Puck to the team. Eugene seems a bit arrogant and is unhappy to learn they are going to change their name. Puck grabs Mac's shirt and says "I wanna be in ALPHA FLIGHT!" Walter Langkowksi grabs "shorty" from behind....and the 2 start fighting and rough-housing, in a funny bit. Heather rolls her eyes and says "Oh lord....suddenly I don't know if this is such a great idea..." The Beginning.

My thoughts: One thing I like about this roster is how exotic & unique they all are. It reminds me of the second X-Men team, as each member is REALLY different and colorful, and the whole seem more exciting than the individual members. Puck definitely has a "Wolverine" feel about him. And he likes to say "Eh?" a lot. After one issue, I'm very curious about the back-history of each member. I hope this gets explored. As for the villain Tundra, he totally reminded me of Krakoa, the living island from Giant-Size X-Men #1. His using the earth around him to create his monstrous body, and using the surrounding animals, was way too similiar to Krakoa. Perhaps this was an homage. John Byrne writes and draws the whole issue, and this is when Byrne rocked!! I especially like Byrne's attention to detail when depicting city streets and landscapes. This is on par with his stellar X-MEN artwork. This is an excellent first issue.

I love the way Heather plays a major part in this series already. I wonder if readers at the time knew how big a role she was going to play?

[Imraith Nimphais]

I love the way Heather plays a major part in this series already. I wonder if readers at the time knew how big a role she was going to play?

speaking for myself...no, I did not...David, now that you mention it...I can totally see the Tundra/Krakoa parallelism...although truth to tell, I read the Krakoa story-line way after AF...though, att, I did notice how diverse the team was and compared it to the UX-men 2nd generation...it seemed sort of obvious that Byrne was building off of his X-men run... and the wonderful thing was that it felt/read distinctly separate and unique.

[Babylon23]

I love the way Heather plays a major part in this series already. I wonder if readers at the time knew how big a role she was going to play?

Not in the first issue. It became pretty apparent pretty quickly though that Heather was becoming an integral part of the team. Even before Mac's demise, Heather was being shown as the heart of the team.

[david r]

Stephane Garrellie, good to hear from you, my friend. I agree that John Byrne gives us a good 1st issue, and in establishing these characters.

Imraith Nimphais, I also liked Alpha Flight immediately. The characters are special; there definitely is a certain chemistry to this team. I think you have something that John Byrne was building off his X-MEN run. I'd even say this book feels like if Byrne had written X-MEN himself. But yet it has it's own distinct voice and doesn't feel like an X-Men ripoff.

Steven Faulkner, you say Alpha Flight is your favorite series. Why is that?

[worstblogever]

Ah, the first appearance of Puck. He's an important character in the Marvel Universe, since he was all that was keeping Wolverine from being the shortest, swarthiest Canadian superhero. (Sorry, Logan, thanks to the Collective, it's now you by default...)

My other big thought on issue #1 is on Aurora... it looks like they're already teasing the existence of her having another personality, one the introverted shy teacher... the other the vain, extroverted Aurora personality... I think this is the first time it's teased. And the irony is, her own brother unknowingly seems to be pushing her towards Aurora, and away from Jean-Marie...

[david r]

My other big thought on issue #1 is on Aurora... it looks like they're already teasing the existence of her having another personality, one the introverted shy teacher... the other the vain, extroverted Aurora personality... I think this is the first time it's teased. And the irony is, her own brother unknowingly seems to be pushing her towards Aurora, and away from Jean-Marie...

Aurora seems to have a double personality. I did not know this about her. As that teacher, she seemed very reserved. But in her superhero guise, Aurora seems reckless and flirtatious. Making "goo-goo eyes" at James, for instance. Her brother believes she's "quite mad."

More thoughts on #1:

-I recall Snowbird making a connection with Wolverine in Uncanny X-Men #140. She becomes a feral wolf to stop the Wendigo, and Wolverine calms her back to a normal human state. Snowbird is intrigued by Logan after this, and I wonder if their relationship is ever explored?
-#1 mentions that Walt Langkowski's transformation into Sasquatch is painful. That isn't good for him, or the group.
-I liked the image of Shaman flying around in an indian-style pose. Never seen anything quite like it.
-I wonder why they colored Tundra black & white? Wouldn't his form include grass and trees and give him some green color? Perhaps they wanted to distance Tundra from the Krakoa image.