Alpha Flight - Definition and Overview

Alpha Flight is a Canadian team of super heroes, created for Marvel Comics by artist and writer John Byrne (who is himself a Canadian).

Their first appearance was in Uncanny X-Men, #120-#121, and their popularity with fans ultimately led, in 1983, to the creation of their own series. John Byrne wrote and drew the series for 29 issues before handing it off to another creative team. During that time, the series attracted fans by doing something different than many Marvel team-based comics series. The storylines dealt with one or two characters at a time, only occasionally bringing all the members of the team together. This was a contrast to other team series like the X-Men, the Avengers, or the Fantastic Four.

The initial makeup of Alpha Flight was deliberately pan-Canadian, including:

• super-speed flying twins from Quebec (Northstar and Aurora)
• a scientist from British Columbia who could transform into a giant furry creature (Sasquatch)
• a dwarf bouncer from Toronto who said "eh" at the end of every sentence (Puck)
• an amphibious woman from Newfoundland (Marrina)
• a native Canadian medicine man from Calgary (Shaman)
• an Inuit demi-goddess who could transform into animals of the north (Snowbird)
• a scientist from Ottawa who wore a suit of 'battle-armor' that lets him fly and have an energy field around him (Guardian). Guardian was the leader, and wore a stylized maple leaf flag on his costume in order to assume the role of the Canadian version of Captain America. After his death in issue #12, his wife took the costume and became leader of the team as the Vindicator.

After Byrne left, the series was written by many others, including Bill Mantlo, Fabian Nicieza, and Scott Lobdell. It continued for 130 issues, before ending in 1994. During this run, dozens of characters and villains were introduced, including cross-overs with other characters in the Marvel universe. In 1997, Marvel started the series up again as a Volume 2, with largely different characters. This series ended in 1999 after only twenty issues and an annual. This series included several new additions to the roster including;

• Murmur
• Radius (Jared Corbo)
• Flex (Adrian Corbo)
• Manbot

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 series is slated to be cancelled at issue #12 due to low sales.

The new team recruited by Sasquatch includes:

• Nemesis, an old Alpha Flight ally.
• Yukon Jack, a mysterious man from a primitive tribe, bought from his father by Sasquatch.
• Centennial, a 97 year old man whose mutant power of strength manifested after being awoken from a coma by Sasquatch.
• Puck, the supposed daughter of the Alpha Flight member of the same name.
• Major Mapleleaf, the son of a WW2 super-hero of the same name and a stereotypical goody-two shoes (secretly a normal human who rides a superpowered horse).