ICYMI Art: Alpha Flight by Marcelo Mueller

I particularly like the way Guardian came out on this:

It's been up on deviantart since August 20th, but only has a little over 100 views at this point.  Criminal. ;-)

ICYMI Art: Alpha Flight by Paul Pelletier

Still stalling while I catch up on my reading.  :-)

The image below was tweeted by the Alphaflight.net's Twitter account and originates from this tumblr page.

Guardian / Captain Britain by Toni Solanes

There's your dream Marvel team-up book.

This picture has been floating around for a while, but the comicartfan version had only 17 views when I came across it.  Can't have that. ;-)

All I know about artists Toni and Javi Solanes is that they are from Spain (and that is based on their deviantart profiles).  Guardian shows up in other artwork pieces from Toni, though unfortunately that does not include the "all-time favourites" folder.  It does, however, include the Alpha Flight pinup below...

...and an interesting one of a number of heroes teaming to take down Namor and Cyclops.

But then, as you can see, Toni uses Guardian as his avatar so perhaps we have more Guardian / Alpha Flight art coming.

The Official Tigerstryke Appreciation Post!

If you've been reading comics for a while, you probably have a character that you enjoy that no one else seems to, and you can't understand why others don't see the potential that you do.

I didn't get the Northstar mini series as it came out in 1994.  In terms of my Alpha Flight appreciation, he's about middle of the pack.  I figured I would get around to picking it up some day, and it was true; I bought it earlier this year, a mere 18 years after its release.

Throughout the four-part series, Northstar is chased by Alpha Flight's would-be replacement team, Weapon P.R.I.M.E., led by our titular character.

P.R.I.M.E. apparently stands for "PRototype Induced Mutation Echelon".  Sure.  Purple monkey dishwasher.

So why do I dig this guy?  Well...I don't know. He was co-created by Rob Liefeld, which in and of itself is usually reason enough for me to detest him (his other creator is Mark Pacella). He has not been particularly successful, either.  His five-person team is unable to collar an exhausted Northstar throughout that book, often looking inept in the process, such as the little gem below when 'Strike and another member named Yeti attempt to physically restrain him.

Prior to showing up in Northstar's book, he has also been in a few issues of the original X-Force book; issues 11-14 and 22-23 (I believe he only appears in one panel of issue #10).

His suit is an inferior knock-off of Guardian's armour.  I don't know the cause of the discrepancy, but in 'stryke's X-Force 22 appearance, his suit's colours are completely different.  They appear more, well, tiger-like, appropriately enough.

The feline look reminds me of another loser character that became a bigger deal once used differently by a quality writer; DC's Catman.  Both were seldom-used and usually written as increasingly large failures.

Now in the Northstar book, Tigerstryke is portrayed as a good little soldier who follows orders but also wants to do the right thing and prove himself capable.  However, he is not a "natural"; he gets confused and indecisive when not responding to a direct order from his superior(s).

In hindsight, I would have preferred to see Tigerstryke "promoted" to the Guardian role when Omega Flight was formed than have that drip Michael Pointer wear the leaf uniform.  His clashes with USAgent could have been a lot of fun as would Mitchell's growth into the position.

A Can-Con look at Astonishing X-Men #49

Every attempt will be made to keep this a spoiler-free zone.

This book is similar in almost every way to the previous issue.  The only difference is that the action takes place in the middle pages rather than at the end.  Northstar again appears in a near-future scene over the first four pages and we spend the rest of the issue still catching up to that point (but we're not there yet).  Not every one likes that but personally I have no objection to that kind of story-telling.

I'm still not crazy about this book overall though.

I buy it for Northstar specifically and he feels out of character to me.  I have no idea what he's doing with this bunch.  For that matter, I have no idea what the team is together for.  They feel like random characters thrown together.  Maybe all will be made clear later but there's no real indication of that.

They were attacked at Gambit's place after which Northstar apparently agrees to help some of the others track down who did it.

Why?  He has no reason to think that he (or Kyle) was specifically a target.  He didn't even want to be there, he was dragged by Wolverine.  He has no problem telling Alpha Flight to go to hell.  But his relationship with the X-Men is so much better that he'd look into who blew up Gambit's condo?  Hasn't he been trying to avoid this lifestyle for years?

And of course, we get what appears to be a mandatory four-page declaration of love between Kyle and Northstar.  I don't mind romance in a book but this one is so over-played that it's nauseating.

Also, whether you consider it a plus or a minus, Wolverine is still not particularly prominent and in fact, when you do see him in a fight scene and are actually able to determine what he's doing, he's getting punked by a couple of d-list'ers.

I'm going to make my way through the first storyline regardless but will not make an effort to keep up beyond that if the book remains little more than an advertisement for Marvel's new-found tolerance and if the book exists just to have another X-book out there.  It may be that the team's purpose was defined earlier and I just missed it because I don't buy 20 x-books a month, but that doesn't help me enjoy this one any more.

A Can-Con look at Astonishing X-Men #48

Even if this blog were not specific to Canadian characters, this would be a Can-Con look regardless for the simple reason that I don't even slightly care for anyone else in it but the Canadian characters.  In fact, even that is stretching it because I find Northstar's boyfriend Kyle to be a one-trick pain in the ass.

A very good sign early on is that Northstar has the first page all to himself.  He's joined by Wolverine on page two, so in terms of Canuck-goodness, we're off to a fast start.  Gambit is there too, but since he's a character I detest only slightly less than Michael Pointer, I shall ignore him.

Pages 4-7 continue to include Northstar, now with Kyle, unpacking.  That's right, four pages of unpacking in their new place.  And being gay.  Lots and lots of gayness.  It's like Marvel REALLY wants us to notice that however homophobic they were in the past, they're totally not now.  See how gay these two are being? SO gay!!  And that's okay!

The next three pages are Gambit and some chick, ALSO chatting in an apartment.  After checking the cover again to make sure they haven't brought back Friends in comic book form, I forge ahead hoping that the next four pages aren't just Gambit making gumbo.

They're not.  Northstar and Wolverine show up on Gambit's doorstep.  Not sure at first that it's actually Northstar because writer Marjorie Liu got his name wrong.  He's referred to as Jean-Claude instead of Jean-Paul.  The pointy ears give him away though.  At least they got that right.

Though it's a head-shaker, I'm sort of appreciative of the timing since I referred to Alpha Flight as a Marvel afterthought in the previous post.  Way to prove my point, Marvel.  But in fairness, only one writer and three editors would have looked at it.  And the mistake only appears three times in total.

Speaking of goofs, the usually arrogantly proud Northstar reminded me of another comic character during that scene.

Even after some warrior chick shows up and tosses a severed head on Gambit's floor, Northstar's reaction is to ask if he can go home.  Dude is totally bummed.  Must have a been a tiring night of gayness, because Marvel is totally pro-gay now, if you haven't heard.

Then the team gets attacked by a chopper, and a few pages later six super bad guys, for no reason I could determine (maybe it's hinted at in the previous issue?).  And on the last page, Kyle appears to get abducted in a nearby alley.  To be continued.

So the Canadian Content is actually quite high, and the pleasant surprise is that it isn't 80% Wolverine.  Northstar is actually the most prominent character in the book.

Unfortunately, it isn't a very good book.  But it's too early to judge the overall story, so we'll get #49.  At the very least, we're pretty well guaranteed a gay old time, because Marvel loves gays now.  They really, really do.

Alpha Flight Eaglemoss figurines

Comics are not my life. They're not even my primary interest/hobby. So with every post I wonder if I'm not stating the obvious to people who know far more than I do about the subject matter. But I have found very little mention of this collectible so I'm forging ahead.

The Eaglemoss Classic Marvel Figurine Collection (there's a DC version as well) is a combination of a lead figurine, about 3 inches in height, and 16-page (at least in this case) magazine. Eaglemoss is based in the UK and do not ship to Canada, making the acquisition of their product a little more tricky.

It is, however, worthwhile in my opinion. I purchased the Snowbird one on e-bay and am very pleased with it.


Now truthfully, the figurine doesn't fully stand up to extreme scrutiny. For instance, here's the paint job around the top part of the boots on the one I bought.


A little sloppy. If you're anal about that sort of thing, then you might want to take that into consideration. And it may be that I got a lower quality one. Whatever.

I love the magazine though. Both facets of her history (creation by John Byrne and adventures since) are explained thoroughly. The tone is light but it is still done respectfully which, as any Alpha Flight fan knows, has not always been the case for our team.

The magazine also provides an overview of enemies and allies and a checklist of key and/or prominent appearances including, but not limited to, Wolverine First Class #5 and the Astonishing Tales digital comic.

Overall, it's a quality package. Besides, anyone who can untangle the continuity of any Alpha Flight member in a mere 16 pages deserves major respect on that basis alone!

There is a Guardian figurine available, a very hairy Sasquatch / Puck combo (see below), which I believe was only released last fall and Northstar and Aurora are apparently now available (I had read about an April in-store date)!


I think it won't be long until these decorate my nerd den.

Save the Date

Well, this pretty much puts previous concerns about the extent of Northstar's role in Astonishing X-Men to rest!

It appears that he and his partner Kyle are getting married. Considering the lengths taken to mask Northstar's homosexuality in the past, this is quite the leap for Marvel.

It's also not quite the sort of thing that I tend to buy comics for, but what the hell. Marvel has an opportunity to do something memorable here, either good or bad. Let's hope they don't drop the ball. And if nothing else, I look forward to seeing the guest list!

OK, so maybe we'll talk about Wolverine a little...

I don't remember precisely when I started hating the X-Men so much.

It wasn't long after the Claremont/Byrne run, that much is certain. There was a spell there where even existing characters were suddenly said to be mutants (Cloak and Dagger come to mind) and Wolverine was in just about every Marvel book being publi...come to think of it, that spell is still ongoing. And it seemed that for a while they would throw out dozens of characters at a time with any power that the creative team could pull out of its collective ass. The whole mutant phenomenom became tiresome real quick.

That said, I would still get the X-Men or Wolverine books which featured significant appearances by Alpha Flight, whether it was the if the whole team or only one two members, if I happened to hear about them. That includes #414, when Northstar is offered a teaching position at Xavier's school.

Because it didn't seem as though Northstar was a significant part of the book, I generally ignored it beyond that one issue. But with Alpha Flight having come to an end, Northstar will return to the mutant team with Astonishing X-Men #48 (though technically he never left; he made it quite clear that he didn't consider himself a member of Alpha Flight in the 8-issue mini-turned-ongoing-turned-mini-again series).

Northstar's X-Men "return" isn't breaking news; his appearance in the book was first announced in mid-December.

What seems to have changed is his degree of involvement within. Here are the solicitations for issues 49 (April) and 50 (May):

• The Marauders Are Back! • Something From Northstar’s Past Has Resurfaced And Is Looking For Revenge. • Kyle Goes Missing – How Is He Connected To The Person Behind Everything?

• Karma is losing control of her mind, and taking control of the other X-Men! • When Kyle is put in danger, will Northstar choose him or his team? • Don’t miss the end of this issue – it’ll be the most talked about moment of the year!

And for what it's worth, he's rather prominent on the cover for the latter.


So we'll give the first story arc a try and see where things go. I've heard nothing but good things about writer Marjorie Liu so perhaps this will be a pleasant surprise. I just hope I can make sense of it being that I don't read any of the other dozens of mutant-based books that Marvel publishes.

Register Now - It's The Law!

Closing gaps in my Alpha Flight collection recently, I got my hands on the bagged #120 from the original series, which included the poster below. I could care less about potential future value; I buy comics to read them. So I tore into that sumbitch like Wolverine on Christmas morning.


If you're one of these people that don't open bagged books, click on the picture to see a larger version of what you bought two decades ago. ;-) There was some cropping required down the right side.

I like a flag-wearer, and I like a consistent look within a team...but I'm not sure I like the two together, at least in this case.

Puck should look like one; that was the point of his original uniform. And I doubt an in-character separatist Northstar would have worn that outfit with a gun to his head (perhaps he justified it within the book. If he did, I either am not aware of it or have forgotten it entirely).