Alpha Flight
Alpha Flight is a Canadian team of super heroes, created for Marvel Comics by Chris Claremont and John Byrne (Byrne is himself 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.
Volume One
Though reluctant to take the job, 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:
- Guardian, a scientist from Ottawa who wore a suit of battle-armor that lets him fly and have an energy field around him. 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 Vindicator.
- Marrina, an amphibious woman from Newfoundland.
- Northstar and Aurora, super-speed flying twins from Quebec.
- Puck, a dwarf bouncer from Saskatoon who said "eh" at the end of every sentence.
- Sasquatch, a scientist from British Columbia who could transform into a giant furry creature.
- Shaman, a native Canadian medicine man from Calgary.
- Snowbird, an Inuit demi-goddess who could transform into animals of the north.
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.
Volume Two
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. The new additions to the roster included:
- Flex, half-brother to Radius.
- Manbot
- Murmur, a young woman from Quebec City with mind-control powers.
- Radius, half-brother to Flex able to create a forcefield.
Volume Three - "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 series is slated to be cancelled at issue #12 due to low sales.
The new team recruited by Sasquatch includes:
- Centennial, a 97 year old man whose Supermanesque mutant powers manifested after being awoken from a coma by Sasquatch.
- 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).
- Nemesis, an old Alpha Flight ally.
- Puck, the daughter of the Alpha Flight member of the same name.
- Yukon Jack, a mysterious man from a primitive tribe, bought from his father by Sasquatch.