Alpha Flight by Jean Frisano

Shaman by Joyce Chin

1985: Alpha's Beta Flight part II: Shaman's Talisman

By Jef Willemsen (clarmindcontrol.blogspot.com)

In the second entry of Alpha's Beta Flight we continue our review of John Byrne's second year on the book. After killing the team's leader Guardian back in #12, Alpha was in need of a new leader... so, let's get to it, eh?

Well, ain't that a fine how do you do? It's hard to imagine the average readers' response when they bought the December 1984 issue of Alpha Flight only to find out about half of it was actually a reprint of X-Men I#109, cover dated February, 1978. Well folks, at least Byrne sort of warned you on the cover.

Nowadays, the idea of reprinting about 10 pages of material half a decade old and selling it at premium prices would be unheard of. And yes, sixty cents is still money, especially by 1984 standards but consider this: 30+ years ago, the average, young comics fan only had the far from complete back issue bins to get the complete story. There weren't that many comic book stores around and the internet, where the entire backstory of anyone is but a mouse click away, was still very much a pipedream. In those days Marvel didn't really collect or reprint material. If you came to the party late, you simpy missed the boat. Reprinting X-Men I#109 must have been a more than welcome treat to most mutant fans who came in after the 1980 Dark Phoenix saga that really put the mutants on the map.

And Alpha Flight I#17 was the indirect template for the hugely succesful Classic X-Men, which debuted in September of 1986. The formula was deceptively simple: take an old issue and expand on it by adding pages and subplots to it based on current continuity. John Byrne did exactly that when he used Alpha Flihgt I#17 to tell Guardian's part of the story featured in that old 1978 X-Men issue. Byrne cleverly framed it as a shared memory between Wolverine and Heather, the widow of James Hudson who fought the X-Men in order to get Wolverine back.

We learn quite a few things about Heather and Mac...

                                       "If I'm lucky I won't be fighting anybody (...)
                          Canada's just not the kind of country that breeds world-conquering types"

Well James, that's just dandy. Do try and tell that to the Great Beasts, not to mention the Master of the friggin' World. Still, this early piece of dialogue shows how naive Hudson was. And, as Heather and Wolverine continue their talk, the subject inadvertently turns to the incident that killed Guardian... and Heather's unexpected breakdown.

                         "I killed him, Logan. I killed him as surely as I'd put a gun to his head"

And here's where we get to the true gist of Heather's emotional distress. Five months after her husband's death, she's finally ready to let go of the grief, pain and guilt she'd been carrying around. Moments after Heather has her emotional catharsis with Logan, Puck happens to enter her hospital room and the three of them have a heart to heart about Alpha Flight's future. The widow Hudson wasn't too optimistic...

                                                           "Last rites for Alpha Flight."

However, two midgets pushing the centennial mark were ultimately successful in convincing Heather her husband's dream was still worth fighting for. After carefully considering all the possible candidates for leadership, Heather finally settled on the one, obvious candidate... despite the fact she didn't have any powers, skills or leadership experiences to speak of. 

"I WILL BE THAT LEADER!"

And while Heather's promotion as a non super powered leader of a superhero team should be at least noteworthy and unique in the anals of Marveldom... In the exact same month New Defenders writer Peter B. Gillis promoted Angel's girlfriend Candy Southern in #138, making her the non-team's leader and chief executive officer. Talk about timing.

But while Candy was content to parade around in Jane Fonda style hotpants, Heather was considering far more serious attire, as we found out in the opening pages of Alpha Flight I#18. Is she ready to become an active Alphan and jump into the fray using her late husband's combat gear?

"No... No to both questions, Judd"

Thanks for answering Heather, though that's not my name. Also... Guess nobody bothered to tell Bill Mantlo, because he'll have you in that armor within 6 months of taking over the book. Still, for now, Heather's only trying on the empty suit on for nostalgia's sake. Probably in much the same way she's still wearing her wedding ring. But fair's fair: as leader she was far more concerned with the nuts and bolts of the superhero business. Acting on her background as an executive secretary Heather was determined to reorganize the Flight into a more structured organization.

She set out to contact Alphans left and right, but only managed to get a hold of Northstar who was at his home in Quebec enjoying some downtime. And no, there's no gay subtext to this scene at all. No, really... There's a girl there too, right?

                                "Since my sister Aurora has chosen to terminate our partnership,
                             I have no further motivation for continuing my association with Alpha..."

Ah yeah, Northstar and Aurora had a rather severe falling out. Not only was the over protective Jean-Paul concerned about his sister's mental health, he also didn't approve of her dating their teammate Sasquatch. Which is more than a little preposterous: after all there's no one more responsible than doctor Walter Langkowski...

                                                        "You said it might hurt a little..."

Guess I spoke too soon, eh? In between issues, Byrne turned Langkowski into a typical Marvel scientist, whose field of expertise magically happens to suit whatever the story calls for. In much the same way Hank Pym started out as an expert on ants but eventually wound up inventing Ultron, the unstoppable adamantium killing machine. In Langkowski's case, the former radiation expert added molecular physicist/mad scientist to his resume. 

Upon Aurora's request, he used an experimental technique to rearrange her molecules making her distinctly different from her monozygotic brother Northstar while still retaining her powers. Why anyone would want to go through with this is beyond insane... But hey, that's Aurora for ya.

Langkowski's reasons for going through with this are far more sinister. He wanted to break up the tight bond between Northstar and Aurora, figuring he'd have her all to himself then. A pretty twisted, manipulative move, though he rationalizes it by figuring he actually did her a favor. Mutants are a persecuted minority after all, so by altering her genetic structure she's technically not a mutant anymore and should be safe... You're welcome. Yeah, and Aurora's supposed to be the nutty one.

Speaking of terrible doctors, Heather couldn't reach Shaman either. Michael Twoyoungmen was contacted by his daughter Elizabeth to help her investigate the mysterious entity that popped out of the skull she'd dug up an issue or two earlier.

"Well, Shaman, is it yea or nay?"

As soon as the inspector left, Shaman told his daughter the mystical energy trail belonged to one of the Great Beasts, Ranaq the Devourer to be exact. He was determined to follow the deadly demon's trail to the source, immediately teleporting away. But he also decided to take his unarmed, untrained daughter along because... well, because she insisted on it. They found themselves near the home of 117 year old millionaire recluse Lucas Sprang and what happens next truly is too ludicrous for words. So let's have Elizabeth tell it in #19's opening recap...

"It can be done!"

The "weird monster" she mentions was actually a plate of scrambled eggs gone mad. Yes, while his American counterpart Doctor Strange regularly faces down cosmic entities and outerdimensional hordes, Shaman's main claim to fame was fighting off a handful of unfertilized embryos. And what's worse, he only won because his daughter suddenly developed mystical powers of her own. Yes, once again Michael Twoyoungmen puts the 'shame' in Shaman.

At any rate, shoving the Ranaq possessed breakfast food down his medicine bag didn't completely defeat the Devourer. In fact, Shaman concluded that Alpha Flight needed to return to the past to deal with Ranaq once and for all. That's why he summoned Puck and Heather to Calgary... because when you're attempting time travel all you need for backup are a midget and a powerless woman still recuperating from crippling leg injuries.

"Not so fast, my old friend."

Luckily for all of them, Snowbird decided to involve herself as well despite not having been summoned for some unknown reason... Narya was acting her usual, semi-snooty way and then she spotted Elizabeth...

"Hail to thee, o promised one.
Thy unworthy servants bids thee welcome and awaits thy least command!"

Having Snowbird bow down in awe of Elizabeth was all the proof Shaman needed that his daughter was destined for greatness. Of course, you'd assume all parents think of their children that way. But then again, if your last name is "Twoyoungmen" and all you get is a girl, all bets are off. Still, without even taking a minute to explain to her what's at stake, Shaman insisted his daughter reached into his pouch to search for something called the coronet of enchantment. Elizabeth complies, even looks into the bag (which is supposed to drive everyone but Shaman insane) to find the headpiece and puts it on.

"Presto Change-o Instant Superhero!"

For now and forever, Elizabeth Twoyoungmen is Talisman, named after the talisman of power she wears on her forehead... And will be for the rest of her life because the headband doesn't come off. Shaman already knew this, but neglected to tell her. It's like beating the proverbial dead horse by now, but Shaman really is terrible at everything remotely close to doing the right thing. 

"There is no time for explanations now, my daughter.
You have just received a great gift, it must be put quickly to use."

Yup, ten seconds after changing his daughter into a mystical being, Shaman is ordering her to go back a hundred years to face a demonic menace. Now thát's fast... Heck, even Professor Xavier allowed Jean Grey at least a chance to say hi to the other X-Men before he shoved her into a uniform to go fight Magneto back in X-Men I#1. 

So off they went, back in time to discover the origins of the Ranaq possessed skull that wound up buried in Calgary. In a dazzling display of competency, Shaman manages to disguise the Alphans as they search the newly founded fronteer town for clues. They soon hit paydirt when they spot two cowboys, Zeb and Lucas, threatening an old Native mystic. Zeb wants the man to summon Ranaq, who he believes to be a wish granting genie of sorts... and they're even protected from the demon's powers thanks to some convenient magic charms.

"Since Ranaq cannot destroy you, Ranaq is forced to serve you.
What is your desire?"

Much like the genie he's unfavorably compared to, Ranaq is a shifty one. He happily complies with Zeb's very predictable wishes, conjuring up gold, jewels and even a gorgeous woman from thin air. However, when Zeke goes to claim his prizes they might as well be thin air... The amulet that protects him from Ranaq's wrath also prevents him from actually touching any of his prizes.

You can guess what happens next...

"Zeb... I don't think this is such a good idea..."

Famous last words, but the damage was already done. Ranaq had managed to trick Zeb into getting himself possessed by the Devourer's essence. Now, with a human host, Ranaq could really do some damage. Luckily, Alpha Flight was on hand.

"I am Narya, who men call Snowbird,
daughter of Nelvanna."

Despite that actually pretty intimidating introduction, Snowbird and the other Alphans were having an exceptionally hard time fighting him. Not even literal wunderkind Talisman was able to assure victory. That is, until Puck caught up with the old Native and the scared out of his wits cowboy Luke. Together, they came up with a plan: by putting a piece of Luke's magic negating necklace inside a bullet, Ranaq might be stopped. And Luke, as a self proclaimed sharpshooter is tasked to deliver this mystical projectile...

                                  "Truly, there is more to this than I had even begun to guess!!"

Ow Michael, at this point you should have that on your business cards. Following Ranaq's rather rigorous exorcism, the body of Zeb is buried in the exact same spot Elizabeth Twoyoungmen would unearth it a 100 years later. A time paradox prevented (though this reads more like a time loop), the Alphans prepare to return to their own time... but not before learning that even in victory there sometimes really aren't any winners.

For instance, young Luke (or rather Lucas Stang) was in for a hundred years of miserable loneliness. He wasn't allowed to experience any kind of joy or know love, or else Ranaq might return. Of course it's too graphic for a Comics Code approved book, but wouldn't you have put a bullet in your head if you knew you were in for a century of misery?

"... Onward..."

Also... Elizabeth Twoyoungmen is stuck with that outfit and the equally clunky codename Talisman. But more on that plus a bevvy of female villainy in part III of Alpha's Beta Flight: I Sing Of Pink Pearls and Lillies Gilded. 

1983 - Marvel Age #2 - Alpha Flight Interview with John Byrne

1984: Alpha's Initial Outing Part II: The I In Team

By Jef Willemsen (clarmindcontrol.blogspot.com)

The year is 1984 and John Byrne is bravely soldiering on with Alpha Flight, a series he writes and draws but really doesn't care for. Still, Byrne didn't let on and even came up with some remarkably innovative ideas as we'll see in part II of Alpha's Initial Outing.

Before we get to the often discussed sixth issue, let's briefly cover issue 5 which was the first of a series of standalone tales. Byrne figured that since Alpha Flight was still effectively disbanded as far as the government was concerned, there was no team to speak of.

In a way, that makes sense. The book opened with Alpha Flight's funding getting cut and even though the team decided to stay together after defeating Tundra in their debut issue, they still had no money, no charter, not even a headquarters or place to gather. Is it any wonder they drifted apart?

That's why the fifth issue deals with Puck, one of Alpha's newest members who almost died when fellow recruit Marrina went nuts and nearly disembowelled him back in issue 2. Now we find out how Eugene Milton Judd, the dimunitive dare all's real name, is doing.

"You chicks must think I'm about the dirtiest guy in the hospital, eh?"

Truth be told, it was a bold choice on Byrne's part to focus pretty much an entire issue on a virtually unknown character who only had a handful of lines in the two issues he ever appeared in. Still, to his credit, John Byrne figured the best way to introduce readers to his latest creation was by showing just how awesome a hairy, pint-sized Canadian adventurer could be... Even without claws or a healing factor.

Judd accidentally uncovered a drug ring operating out of the hospital, after catching one of the nurses shooting up one night. Rightfully suspicious, the still gravely injured hero decided to don his duds and investigate the matter. He was able to covertly snoop and sneak, eventually hitching a ride on top of the van that delivered the latest supply to the hospital. One back at the supply depot, he fought and defeated the dealers, only to realize he was nowhere near healed.

                                       "Urrg... must be... losing... lot... blood..."

One really has to admire Byrne's visualization choices. Puck's impending black out is slowly hinted at. From the obvious trail of blood in the first panel, to the subtle whiting out in the second shot, followed by the bottom sequence that really tells the complete tale without any necessary dialogue. 

In the end, Puck is saved and the issue ends with him unmasking the ringleader of the drug cartel: the doctor Shaman entrusted Judd's care to. The physician tried to subtly kill Puck with a fatal insulin injection but Puck was ready for that and smacked the syringe right out of his hand.

"You create junkies, doc. That makes you about the lowest slime I can think of, eh?"

Just look at Puck without his mask. It's obvious this is the face of man who's been to hell and back. He's known suffering, hurt and loss but still he soldiers on, even if he's about to literally spill his guts. With him properly established, the issue closes out and that brings us to Alpha Flight I#6, the infamous white issue. 

It all started with a bunch of miners who accidentally set the Great Beast Kolomaq free. He's the second member of this feared band of evil deities that managed to return to our plane of existence in a relatively short while... and he couldn't be more happy about it.

"Free! Free! After a thousand years!"

Since this is still the Alpha Flight era in which the actual team doesn't appear, Byrne left it up to Snowbird to deal with Kolomaq. The issue was actually loaded with information about the Beasts, Narya, her ancestory and many other tidbits that would prove essential down the road. And it all led to a monumental fight that no one would see because Kolomaq whipped up a blizzard.

For about six pages, this was all we got. Blank panels, sound effects and dialogue that told all we needed to know about a mostly white heroine fighting an equally white villain in the heart of a snowstorm. Pretty ingenious as far as gimmicks go, though most consider this the ultimate in Byrne's shameless attempts to cut down on his workload.

Fair's fair: this story took place during 1984's Assistant Editor's Month, a line-wide event that had all the books' regular editors taking a break to attend the San Diego Comic Con. They left their assisants in charge, which allowed them to go a little crazy and experiment with the format. In

And if you still feel this was a poor excuse for Byrne to phone it in... Remember he was also writing and drawing Fantastic Four at the time... And that month's issue, #262 to be precise, featured the trial of Reed Richards who was facing galactic judgement after saving the life of Galactus. Not exactly a quick and easy topic to cover, especially when the Big G himself showed up during the proceedings. In a memorable moment, we learn that the cosmic devourer is so sense shattering every alien race processes his presence differently.

                      "A million and more alien eyes look upon him who is Galactus...
                                             And for each race the vision differs" 

For my money, inventive and memorably pages like that allow you some leeway. One can forgive Byrne for extending the white-out "gag" a page or two more if you consider he compensated by taking the time to come up with over 25 alternate Galactus lookalikes in the same month. In the end, as the captions assure us, Snowbird emerges injured but victorious after burying Kolomaq beneath an avalanche she caused right in the middle of the blinding snowstorm.

Issues 7 & 8 still don't feature Alpha Flight in, well, Alpha Flight. Taking so much time to focus on individual members was positively unprecedented and left a fair number of fans to wonder what the point of having a team book was when the actual team was nowhere to be seen. Still, this is all part of Byrne's devil-may-care approach to the title... Wildly experimenting just to see what will stick. In this case, he put the spotlight on the super speedy twins Jean-Paul and Jeanne-Marie Beaubier.

Back in issue #2, Jeanne-Marie acted a tad flakey when her schizophrenia took over during the fight against the Master. No wonder her slightly protective brother wanted her to get help. In this case, by taking her to meet with one of Montreal's finest psychiatrists.

                                  "There is nothing "the matter" with me, Jean-Paul (...)
                                      Doctor Bosson has simply confirmed that fact"

Considering Aurora/Jeanne-Marie would actually prove to be a semi-functional schizophrenic, the dear doctor is indeed a bit of a quack. But with the matter of his sister's mental health left (un)resolved for the moment, Jean-Paul is confronted by another ghost from the past, his old gay lover Raymonde Belmonde.

"A-hem!"

Now, despite the fact the late, great Tallulah Bankhead was famous for claiming there was "a touch of the homosexual in all of us", what caused John Byrne to make Northstar of the same sex persuasion? Well, back in 2004 he had the following to say about the subject:

"One of the things that popped immediately into my head was to make one of them Gay. I had recently read an article in SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN on what was then (the early 80s) fairly radical new thinking on just what processes caused a person to be homosexual, and the evidence was pointing increasingly to it being genetic and not environmental factors. So, I thought, it seemed like it was time for a Gay superhero, and since I was being "forced" to make ALPHA FLIGHT a real series, I might as well make one of them Gay.

From there, it was a process of elimination. I didn't want the homosexual character to be one of the girls, since that was something people tended to associate (rightly or wrongly) with Claremont books. Mac Hudson and Heather were happily married and I did not want to mess with that. Michael was widowed with a daughter, and that way lay what I considered too much of a cliche, if he turned out to be Gay. Besides, as a Native Canadian he was already the resident "minority". The new guy, Puck, had his own set of problems. Sasquatch would be just too damn scary!! So I settled on Jean-Paul, and the moment I did I realized it was already there. Somewhere in the back of my mind I must have been considering making him Gay before I "decided" to so so.

Of course, the temper of the times, the Powers That Were and, naturally, the Comics Code would not let me come right out and state that Jean-Paul was homosexual, but I managed to "get the word out" even with those barriers."

And so he did, even though Mr. Belmonde wasn't too long for this world. He was the next victim of a gangster known as Deadly Ernest, a World War I veteran who was unable to die after he spurned Mistress Death back during the Great War. Properly annoyed, Death granted St. Ives' wish to survive and made him immortal. She did add a vengeful twist by making sure his touch instantly killed all living things. This curse first manifested itself when he returned home after the war and hugged his wife and infant daughter, inadvertently murdering them. 

In the end, "Deadly Ernest" was killed by his supposedly deceased daughter Isabelle who returned from the grave as the enigmatic Nemesis and ended up dismembering her dear old dad.

"The silver blade glimmers, ghostlike, invisible when seen on edge.
A shining white scythe flat on.
And in less than a second... it is all over."

Now, while all these solo tales of the individual Alphans were perfectly fine and serviceable, it didn't exactly tell any kind of cohesive story about the actual group. That's why the issues started to include short backup stories that briefly told the team's origins. The first few issues revealed how James McDonald Hudson went from being a bookish scientist who designed a mechanized mining suit to becoming Vindicator, Canada's premiere superhero. 

Byrne then recounted the history of the other Alphans, starting with Shaman. Born Michael Twoyoungmen, this Canadian Aborigine refused the teachings of his people, prefering to study the white man's medicine. He became a physician who married, had a daughter Elizabeth, and moved in next door to Heather McNeil's family.

All was right in the world, until Michael's wife got cancer and he ultimately proved incapable of healing her. Thereby breaking a promise he made to his daughter who did not respond too well to this double betrayal.

                                                 "Don't touch me! Liar! LIAR!"

Following the loss of his wife and his daughter turning against him Michael grew ever more despondent until one day a woman arrived with a package. Turns out it was the skull of his recently deceased grandfather who had served as his tribe's shaman. And despite the fact he lacked a mouth, let alone any inclination to scream, ol' grampa Twoyoungmen had quite a few things to say.

"Now, place my skull to one side, and take up the medicine bag on which it rests.
Open the bag grandson... Open it, and take out a handful of pine needles"

Spoiler alert: when he tried, he failed. Over the next two issues (5&6), Byrne showed how Shaman slowly embraced his legacy. A Native American (or, Aborigine) well versed in the western ways, who all but renounced his roots following an intense, personal tragedy... Only to realize his ultimate salvation lies in embracing his inescapabe legacy?

Why yes, that *does* sound a lot like Forge, the Cheyenne sorceror/mutant turned corporate mogul/inventor who Chris Claremont would introduce a few months later in August 1984's Uncanny X-Men I#184. A total coincidence to be sure, and at any rate, Shaman was still first ánd best.

Just look at these inspired panels.

                           "Do not think of pine needles. Know them. Touch them.
                                                 Feel them. Smell them (...)
                                                       Let them be real."

With Michael Twoyoungmen in place as Shaman, the next two issues (7 & 8) focused on telling the origins of Snowbird. Turns out the shapeshifting Alphan was actually an Inuit demi-goddess tasked to fight the gods' ancient enemies: the Great Beasts. But how she came to be is a tad ironic, if you consider who the gods chose to be the father...

"Now, mortal, will you grant yourself one night of pleasures... as the price for saving the world?"

Eagle eyed fans at the time realized Nelvanna's blonde sperm donor with the fancy headband was actually Richard Lawrence Easton, the weird little hermit responsible for raising the Ancient Beast Tundra back in Alpha Flight I#1. For, y'see, Easton was an archeology enthusiast contacted by Nelvanna and Hodiak just after he discovered Tundra's headpiece on a dig. 

He agreed to a one nighter with Nelvanna, but no one told him the gods have a slightly different concept of time.

"Thus does Richard Lawrence Easton flee the lands of men, into the realms of madness."

If nothing else, it's obvious Byrne used Alpha Flight to indulge his love for the spooky and the macabre. This particular sequence with Easton alone feels like something out of Rod Serling's Twilight Zone, especially with the knowledge Easton would eventually be the one to raise Tundra.

Talk about an ironic twist. Still, he delivered the goods or so to speak: Nelvanna was pregnant with child and in time, needed a physician to guide her during birth...

So, who you gonna call?

 "TWO-YOUNG-MEN!"

As one of his first real acts as Shaman, doctor Michael Twoyoungmen assisted Nelvanna. Unfortunately, to bind the otherworldly baby to Earth, he used a spell that literally bound her to Canadian soil, which would prove a horrible mistake down the road. Shaman brought Snowbird into the world and took it upon himself to raise the rapidly growing faerie child, assisted by his old neighbor Heather McNeil and her husband James Hudson who considered both viable recruits for Department H's Alpha Flight initiative.

Speaking of recruits... John Byrne introduced yet another subplot in these issues. A mystery woman who began visiting some of the former Flight recruits... like the extremely smart and thoroughly unpleasant Alec Thorne. 

                                           "My name is Delphine Courtney.
                              My employer and I are involved in a project you may find of interest."

More on that in the third part of Alpha's Initial Outing: Oh My, Omega!

Alpha Flight Commission by John Byrne

http://www.byrnerobotics.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=30646

X-Men Versus Alpha Flight commission by John Byrne

http://www.artofjohnbyrne.com/gallery/commissions/

1985 - Anatomy of a cover - Alpha Flight #35

Shaman was one of those character in Alpha Flight that they had real difficulty defining. I liked the idea of his daughter becoming the mystic Talisman, but she seemed to have twice the personality that Shaman did. Unfortunately, Shaman's development never really moved beyond the stereotype and his appearance became less and less frequent.

(http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=455175&GSub=71479)

1984 - Jae Lee's early Alpha Flight sketch

http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=196136&GSub=30926