Alpha Flight #4 Variant Cover
Talk about playing to the local crowd. Today in Toronto, Canada, Marvel Comics announced that Alpha Flight, the current series written by Greg Pak & Fred Van Lente with art by Canadian Dale Eaglesham, would graduate from mini-series status to an ongoing title. This comes after the initial launch of Alpha Flight during the Fear Itself event as a mini-series.
Alpha Flight has a long, rich history of telling the stories of Canada’s premiere super-team, after spinning off out of Uncanny X-Men in the 1980s. After many failed attempts to bring the series back with new characters and new takes, Pak, Van Lente and Eaglesham went back to basics by focusing on the original line up of characters made popular by John Byrne. When the series was announced, many of us asked if it would become an ongoing, and all Marvel would say is, “We’ll see how it does…” I guess it did pretty well.
Coming out of the Fear Itself tie in, the announcement at FanExpo ’11 by Marvel Comics on the Pint O’ C.B. panel, hosted by Marvel VP (and A Taste of Comics co-host here on iFanboy) C.B. Cebulski,with writer Fred Van Lente on the panel, promised to answer Alpha Flight fans burning questions like:
- Who will win in the clash between Guardian and Vindicator?
- How did Puck get back from Hell?
- How will Wolverine react to the events in Canada with Alpha Flight?
- How is Captain Britain and the MI:13 involved with the future of Alpha Flight and all the super hero teams of the Marvel Universe?
Alpha Flight #6 Cover
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This is awesome
As a Canadian, I thank you.
Well, this is a nice round of Saturday announcements. It’s unusual that I’m excited about all of them.
Huzzah!
I will confess that I have never followed Alpha Flight much, but have been pleasantly surprised by this series so far, and am curious to see where it goes. And it ties into M13? Cool. Now, if only Paul Cornell could write M13 again . . .
Yes
I’ve heard nothing but iffy things about this mini. It sounds like the idea of an Alpha Flight title is better then the actual execution. Am I wrong with that assumption?
I think it’s been pretty good…the blurb above got it right that they went back to the basics of what John Byrne set up…except for Marrina, who they rebooted to be a grrl. People shouldn’t get hung up on the Canada part, it’s really just a colorful superhero team that feels one part XMen and one part Avengers.
Sounds good.
In other Canadian news at Fan Expo this weekend, DC announced that it turns out that Booster Gold is, in fact, a Canadian.
I loved the 0 issue but stopped buying when I found out it was just a mini. However, after this announcement I went ahead and got the rest. What a nice round of weekend surprises!
As a Canadian I gotta say I’m not a big fan of Alpha Flight. Theyve always just seemed way too stereotypical. I mean Puck comeon!
I think the characters are inspired by Canada, not sterotypical. Puck is a great example, he’s not a stereotype at all. He’s actually the most unique character in the book, in that I’d be hard pressed to name another super hero that has his look and power set (maybe that karate guy from the inhumans?). Northstar is another great character.
I always liked Alpha Flight but didn’t get this mini. The last thing I read was the Omega Flight mini a few years back, with the new line-up. I thought that was a pretty fun book, and I almost got this one, but budget restraints made me pass.
Great news but will the same team be staying on it?
Yes.
Are they going to relaunch with a new #1 for the ongoing, or just have the numbering from the mini series continue, like they did with transformers back in the 80s?
The numbering from the mini series will continue.
Does Namor know that Marrina is alive?
Van Lente sort of addressed that in his Fan Expo panel on Friday (in that he said he’s not ready to address that). They’ve basically rebooted Marrina from scratch, and figuring out how she’s going to deal with her relationship baggage is beyond the scope of the mini.
Alpha Flight was my gateway into Marvel in the 80’s and I couldn’t be more happier! The story and art have been fantastic. And I agree, don’t get hung up that its set in Canada. Great book and I will be continuing to buy!