The more I think about it, the more I realize that the Plodex really are just the aliens from John Carpenter’s The Thing. They’re shape-shifters who want to infiltrate and copy us, and they have a wrecked spaceship in the frozen polar wasteland of the Earth. This issue brings us a little closer to understanding the Master of the World’s ultimate plan: To use the Plodex technology that kept him alive to create a master race of humans and conquer the universe. This issue succeeds for a few of the same reasons that The Thing did: Sowing distrust between characters, creating tension and giving a large cast their own individual chances to shine. There’s a lot more Star Wars than John Carpenter going on here (“We could crush their rebellion!” “Patience, my young apprentice …”) but comparisons aside, this book is just a fun, fast-paced story with great art to back it up. Most importantly, it has great villains, which has been one of the weaknesses of Alpha Flight since the beginning. The team has some good villains, but they don’t stick around for very long. Here, they’ve cherry-picked the best of them and given a strong reason why they’re fighting on the same side, and the best of these is the Master. My favourite part of the issue by far is the childrens’-cartoon version of the Master’s origin, a fresh one-and-a-half-page take on a story John Byrne told in four pages. That’s great cartooning and a really clever way of introducing the Master to newer readers. With Wolverine coming into the fray, this series looks as if it’ll really sizzle soon. Snikt. Bring it on. Random observations: 1. The Kyle/Northstar mind-restoring kiss was fantastic, and made more fantastic by the fact that it didn’t actually restore Kyle to his senses. Cliche subverted. 2. I want to read a whole issue about Marrina bringing that squid to the Edmonton sewers. I don’t think the North Saskatchewan River would be very healthy for it. I would say that it’s too unbelievable to be true, but once you see this video of an octopus walking on land, you won’t know what to believe about cephalopods any more. 3. This could very well be the first Tim Hortons cameo in Alpha Flight history. (Oh, I’m sorry, “Tom Hortons.”)