Alpha Flight
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Alpha Flight is a Marvel Comics superhero team, noteworthy for being one of the few Canadian superhero teams. Created by John Byrne the team first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #120 (April 1979).
Throughout most of its history, the team has worked for Department H, a fictitious branch of Canada’s Department of National Defence that deals with super-powered persons. Most team members have distinctly Canadian attributes, such as Inuit or First Nations heritage.
The team was originally merely a part of the back story of the X-Men’s Wolverine but, in 1983, Byrne launched an eponymous series featuring the group, which continued until 1994. Two short-lived revivals have been attempted since, with a third recently announced, called Omega Flight, despite most of the team's apparent demise.
Many of Alpha Flight's story-lines are heavily influenced by Native-American lore. In issue #1 Tundra the team battles the re-animated evil spirit named Tundra. Snowbird is the child of a Native-American female spirit -- Goddess -- and a human.
Contents |
[edit] Volume 1
Though reluctant to take the job, Byrne wrote and drew the series for 28 issues before handing it off to another creative team. During that time, the series attracted fans with storylines that dealt with one or two characters at a time, seldom bringing all the members together. This unusual approach contrasted with other Marvel team series like the X-Men, the Avengers, or the Fantastic Four.
The initial makeup of Alpha Flight was pan-Canadian, including:
- Guardian: Originally Weapon Alpha, then Vindicator, James MacDonald Hudson is a scientist from Ottawa who wears a suit of battle-armor allowing him to fly and manipulate Earth's magnetic field. Guardian is sometimes the team leader, and wears a stylized maple leaf flag on his costume.
- Vindicator: Heather MacNeil is the wife of James Hudson. After Guardian's apparent death in Alpha Flight (vol. 1) #12, she takes his costume and becomes field leader of the team.
- Marrina: An amphibious woman from Newfoundland, she was a former member of Beta Flight before joining Alpha Flight. She is actually part of an extraterrestrial invading force known as the Plodex.
- Northstar: Jean-Paul Beaubier is a mutant with powers of super-speed and light generation. He eventually becomes a member of the X-Men.
- Aurora: Jeanne-Marie Beaubier is Northstar's twin sister. She is also a mutant with powers of super-speed, flight, light generation, and molecular acceleration..
- Puck: Eugene Judd is a dwarf bouncer from Saskatoon with enhanced strength and extraordinary acrobatic abilities.
- Sasquatch: Walter Langowski is a scientist from British Columbia who can transform into a giant fur-covered beast resembling a Sasquatch. This character originally developed his powers from a Hulk-inspired gamma radiation experiment that was affected by a solar-flare. Eventually it is explained that Sasquatch is actually a mystical monster.
- Shaman: Michael Twoyoungmen is a First Nations medicine man from Calgary. He is both a skilled doctor and sorcerer.
- Snowbird: Also known as Narya, she is an Inuit demi-goddess from Yellowknife who can transform into animals of the north.
After Byrne left, the series was written by many others, including Bill Mantlo, James Hudnall, Fabian Nicieza, Scott Lobdell & Simon Furman. It continued for 130 issues, introduced dozens of characters and villains (the most prominent of which were Talisman, Madison Jeffries, Box, Diamond Lil, Manikin, Persuasion, and Goblyn), and featured cross-overs with other characters in the Marvel universe. The series ended in 1994.
[edit] Volume 2
In 1997, Marvel restarted the series as a Volume 2, with largely different characters. The series was written by Steven Seagle, then known mainly for his work for DC Comics' Vertigo line, with art mostly by Scott Clark and Duncan Rouleau. One issue, #13, featured guest art by Ashley Wood in an unusually conventional style for him, but still very distinctive for a Marvel superhero comic. This series ended in 1999 after only twenty issues and an annual. The new additions to the roster included:
- Flex: Adrian Corbo is a mutant with the ability to transform his limbs into sharp weapons. He is the half-brother to Radius.
- Manbot: Bernie Lechenay is a human/Box robot cyborg.
- Murmur: Arlette Truffaut is a young mutant from Quebec City with powers of mind-control and teleportation.
- Radius: Jared Carbo is a mutant with the ability to create a force field.
- General Clarke: Sinister new director of Department H, responsible for many of the dark plots surrounding the team. Gains some measure of redemption with his sacrifice in issue 12.
Returning members were Vindicator (Heather Hudson, with a new costume and new geothermal powers), a de-aged Guardian (who turned out to be a clone of the original James Hudson, set at age 19), and Puck. Sunfire was also briefly a member while looking for a cure to a crippling illness.
The focus of this series was on Department H's consistently hidden agenda and Alpha Flight's reluctance to comply thereto. One example was their sub-human treatment of Sasquatch, which turned out not to be Walter Langkowski but an actual bigfoot-type monster. From issues 14 through 20, it took a slightly more conventional tone but was still cancelled due to lagging sales[citation needed]. The series ended with this Alpha Flight working with the original lineup (minus Marrina) on a mission.
[edit] Volume 3 - "All-New, All-Different" Alpha Flight
In 2004, Marvel started a new volume of Alpha Flight, with the "All-New, All-Different" prefix.
The first six-issue story arc, which shows Sasquatch attempting to construct the new team, is called "You Gotta Be Kiddin' Me."
The new team recruited by Sasquatch includes:
- Centennial: Rutherford B Princeton III is a 97-year-old man whose mutant powers of superhuman strength and flight manifested after being awoken from a coma by Sasquatch.
- Major Mapleleaf: Lou Sadler is the son of a World War II super-hero of the same name. He is secretly a normal human who rides a superpowered horse.
- Nemesis: Amelia Weatherly is both an adversary and ally of the old Alpha Flight. She has the power of flight and is skilled with a magical blade.
- Puck: Zuzha Yu is the daughter of the original Puck. She has superhuman strength, speed, and agility.
- Yukon Jack: Also known as Yukotujakzurjimozoata, he is a mysterious man from a primitive tribe, bought from his father by Sasquatch. He can create bone-like weapons and emit powerful beams of light.
The second six-issue story arc, entitled "Waxing Poetic," saw the return of original team members, including Guardian, Vindicator, Puck, and Shaman.
The series was cancelled again at issue #12 due to low sales.
[edit] Omega Flight
- Main article: Omega Flight
Alpha Flight (the team consisting of Sasquatch, Guardian, Vindicator, Shaman, Major Mapleleaf II and both Pucks) are brutally attacked by a new villain, "The Collective", in Marvel's New Avengers #16. With Sasquatch apparently the only survivor, their bodies are left in the Yukon Territory as The Collective (inhabiting the body of U.S. postal worker Michael Pointer) continues on to the United States.
The Alpha Flight title will be relaunched as Omega Flight in April, 2007 as a five-issue mini-series [1]. The new series will be written by Michael Avon Oeming and drawn by Scott Kolins. The current roster includes Beta Ray Bill [2], U.S. Agent, Arachne, Talisman, and Michael Pointer in a suit that resembles that of Guardian. Sasquatch appears as well, but it is unconfirmed if he'll be an official part of the team. Oeming has said other members of Alpha Flight may eventually appear in the book as well.
[edit] Villains
Alpha Flight has fought many criminals and malevolent entities. Many were unique to them as they were based in Canada. Notable examples include:
- Great Beasts
- Master of the World
- The Plodex
- Deadly Ernest
- Jerry Jaxon and Omega Flight
- The Derangers
- Gilded Lily
- Dreamqueen
- Pestilence
- Pink Pearl
- Wendigo
[edit] Collections
- Alpha Flight Classic Vol. 1, collecting Alpha Flight (volume 1) #1-8
- Alpha Flight Vol. 1: You Gotta Be Kiddin' Me, collecting Alpha Flight (volume 3) #1-6
- Alpha Flight Vol. 2: Waxing Poetic, collecting Alpha Flight (volume 3) #7-12
[edit] Appearances in other media
[edit] X-Men The Animated Series
Alpha Flight was seen on the X-men animated episode "Repo Man." Vindicator (Mac Hudson, who had renamed himself Guardian in the comics) and the Canadian Alpha Flight capture Wolverine. The Canadian government demand their project back. Either he joins their team as originally planned or they repossess his indestructible, adamantium skeleton. The story is similar to Guardian's first comics appearance (as Weapon Alpha) in Uncanny X-Men #109, though in the comics story, Weapon Alpha went after Wolverine solo.
[edit] The Incredible Hulk
Bruce Banner travels to Canada, hoping to find his old friend, Dr. Walter Lankowski. He does manage to find him, and the two of them attempt to rid Banner of the Hulk forever. However, Bruce discovers a horrifying secret about his friend, one which may cost him his life.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
| The Flight Program | |
| Teams | The Flight • Alpha Flight • Beta Flight • Gamma Flight • Omega Flight |
| Characters | List of Flight members |
| Locations | Department H |
