The Marvel Universe usually focuses on the good’ol American origins with most of its characters, so when the idea of creating and all-Canadian team came up, audiences questioned the decision. Alpha Flight hasn’t exactly been a winning franchise for the comic juggernauts, but their stories intertwine and infiltrate one of the biggest in comic history. Interested in the Canadian comic way? Want to know more about Alpha Flight and what they mean to the Marvel Universe? Read on.
Alpha Flight was originally created in 1979 by John Byrne for an Uncanny X-Men storyline that included parts of Wolverine’s origin.
The all-Canadian team originally consisted of the following members: Guardian, Vindicator, Marrina, Northstar, Aurora, Puck, Sasquatch, Shamen and Snowbird.
After some mild success because of their involvement in the Wolverine storyline, Marvel decided to publish a series that focused on Alpha Flight.
Alpha Flight worked for Department H, a fictitious Canadian equivalent to the Department of National Defense.
Each team member had very distinct Canadian backgrounds such as an amphibious woman from Newfoundland, a dwarf bouncer from Saskatoon and a Sasquatch from British Columbia among others.
Alpha Flight also included one of the first openly homosexual comic characters in Northstar.
The comic series continued for about a decade when it was put to rest in 1994.
Alpha Flight was resurrected in 1997 with brand new team members, but the series lasted on 20 issues and was stopped in 1999.
The second installment of the series focused on Alpha Flight’s efforts to leave the ruling hand of Department H.
The third, and so far final, Alpha Flight series began in 2004, but after only 12 issues, the series was again canceled.
Alpha Flight was resurrected by Sasquatch as he scoured Canada recruiting for the newest rendition of the team.
Omega Flight was created in 2007 but only after most of the members of the original Alpha Flight looked to have been murdered by the Collective.
Alpha Flight could be back. Marvel has recreated them twice already which means they are not opposed to doing something of the sort. The all-Canadian team was very unique for its time because to Americans they were an foreign super hero team. As interesting as that sounds, it has just never really taken off. X-Men Origins: Wolverine really should have included something about Alpha Flight, if not only to stay true to the storyline, but also to please some of the Alpha Flight fans out there. But like I mentioned above, we probably haven’t seen the last of Alpha Flight.
According to John Byrne, Alpha Flight was surprisingly popular in its day, which is why he was compelled to write and draw the series for two years even though he didn’t particularly enjoy doing so.
I respect the fact that Alpha Flight included a British Columbian. Normally BC gets left out of cross-Canada stories. (Latest example I ran across: the 1992 Batman pro-literacy comic “A Word to the Wise,” which starts in the East and seems to be making its way from coast to coast, but stops in Calgary.)