Byrned and it felt so good - Alpha Flight #1

The time they appeared in the X-Men was really my only exposure to Alpha Flight for a long time. The team just didn't click with me. I had a vague idea about the characters and stories from seeing covers and reading tidbits here and there. Now that I've picked up and read the first ten issues I've really enjoyed it so far.

              The cover says it all,
"Exploding from the pages of the X-Men!" 

 

Love the cameos by Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, Captain America, Thor, Daredevil and of course two of the X-Men on the cover. 

The first issue says it picks up two weeks after Alpha Flights appearance in Uncanny X-Men #139-140,1979. The rest of the series takes place in normal Marvel continuity of the 1980's.

I have these X-Men issues some where in my collection. I hope to get the chance to re-read and post my thoughts about them too.

Department H has now broken up and disbanded Alpha Flight along with the other two Flight teams, Beta and Gamma.

 I didn't realize there were other teams. It makes sense there would be a back up/training team, I just never really thought about that.

Vindicator, now calling himself Guardian, learns of a new potential threat and sends out an alert to all Alpha members and two members from Beta Flight.

Sasquatch and Snowbird have the most visually interesting reactions and transformations. 

Marinna and Puck, from Beta Flight, both respond to the alert in their own unique ways too.

Is Marinna an Atlantean like Namor? Does Puck have super powers or is he a normal human? Have to wait till future issues to find out.

Snowbird is the first Alpha to encounter the threat and boy is it a biggie, pun intended. Tundra towers above Snowbird as she stands in the lower right corner.

Sasquatch also arrives, but he too is no more than a flea compared to Tundra's size.

As the rest of the team arrives, Sasquatch's attack has given Shaman an idea. He uses his magicks to summon a fierce storm. Letting nature and the awesome combined forces of wind and rain corrode Tundra back into the earth. 

John Byrne really showed the size and scale of Tundra by contrasting against the size of Alpha Flight.

 

With the threat defeated Alpha Flight returns to Jim MacDonald Hudson's (Guardian) home to discuss the future of the team. It is decided that even though Department H has disbanded, Alpha Flight will go on. 

This first issue has set up the team as independent from the Canadian government. The next several issues spotlight individual characters and the whole team, we also get second feature origin stories. 

I've always been a fan of John Byrne, have most of the comics he's worked on from Fantastic Four and X-Men at Marvel to Next Men and Babe at Dark Horse. Not sure why its taken me so long to connect with Alpha Flight but I'm glad I have and look forward to reading more.