Surprise Omega Flight appearance (maybe)

I can't imagine anyone saw even a mention of Omega Flight coming, let alone a potential appearance.  Here is the solicitations for Avengers #10, scheduled for release at the end of April.

AVENGERS #10
(W) Jonathan Hickman (A) Mike Deodato (CA) Dustin Weaver
50th Anniversary Variant by Daniel ACUÑA
“VALIDATOR”

• We learn that the Canadian super team Omega Flight got lost in a Garden Origin Site.
• Discover what happens when the Avengers go in to rescue them.
• Learn why ADAPTATION is the scariest word in the Marvel Universe.

How about that?

Now if the book is focused on the search for Omega Flight, there's a chance that the team itself will not be seen, of if they are, that it will be a brief appearance.  Nonetheless, the possibility that the group still exists in some form is pretty interesting.

That said, I'm a little surprised to see them referred to as a Canadian group.  Of the six members, only two were Canadian (for those just joining us, they were Sasquatch and Talisman, seen at right).  It may be that Marvel means to say a Canada-based super-team.

But maybe not.

Sasquatch, of course, was in the recent Alpha Flight mini-series but Talisman does not appear to have had many significant appearances since the Omega Flight book was being published.  Assuming that this is not some alternate reality gimmick (and I suspect that it's exactly that, especially since that looks like a re-imagined version of Aurora on the cover), she seems like a good candidate for inclusion in the storyline.

It would be a pleasant (if unlikely) surprise to find out that Talisman continued the group in some capacity, perhaps as an underground team while Alpha Flight is more visible.  It's fun to speculate as to which obscure Canadian Marvel character, whether a hero or a villain-turned-good-guy, could be a candidate for membership.

Did Alpha Flight fans bother reading this?

I'm sure that following the end of the Omega Flight book, Alpha Flight fans were aware that Michael Pointer's story would be continued in Marvel Comics Presents issues one through 12 in eight-page installment. But were any of them actually interested in reading it?

Never mind the American-in-the-Guardian suit controversy for a while. Oh, and that to the best of our knowledge at the time, Pointer killed Alpha Flight, making them look foolish in the process, for no better reason than shock value.

The problem with Pointer is that he's quite lame. Even knowing that he inadvertently destroyed his Alaskan town, including his mother (I beleive, and can't be bothered to look it up) it's still hard to feel sorry for the guy because he's such a drip.

Still, I grabbed the trade a while after it came out. I don't know how long after, because I didn't even know it WAS coming out.

So if you haven't bothered with the continued adventures of Michael Pointer to this point, should you, now that most of Alpha has gone dark again?

The compilation includes the Omega Flight chapter of Civil War: The Initiative. So again, if you didn't pick that up because it was only a small part of the comic, it's available here.

In terms of appearances by Alpha favourites...Not much to report. Sasquatch appears most prominently in chapters three, nine and 12, if my memory is sound but very little in the other ones. Talisman, who was in the Omega Flight book, is a notable no-show, yet USAgent and Arachne (or whatever the hell her name is) are all over the book.

The story defines Pointer's abilities far better and provides what could have been a satisfying conclusion to his tale of sorrow (I understand he has resurfaced in Dark X-Men, at least briefly). It's a good enough read, but if you avoided it because you thought it would have too little to do with Alpha Flight, I see little cause for you to question your decision. This one is for extreme completists only.