Review: ‘Alpha Flight’ #1
In ALPHA FLIGHT #1 featuring the Great White North’s premiere team of superheroes, Ed Brisson re-frames political and societal concepts that have shown up in past Alpha Flight titles for the current reality in a post-Hellfire world. Throughout the book, Brisson’s story hits on notes of xenophobia, prejudices, fascism, and self-identity that feel all too similar to our own world. It was bound to happen — we finally hit a small bump in the Fall of X road. That’s not to say that this issue was bad by means, it was actually a good comic on it’s own! It’s problem lies in just how consequential other X-titles have been so far in this new arc. The scale and stakes of this issue didn’t match what we’ve seen in X-MEN #25, IMMORTAL X-MEN #14, or X-MEN RED #14 yet this might be exactly what we need in order to keep those stories feeling so important.
The mutant-less lineup of Guardian, Snowbird, Shaman, and Puck are introduced as Canada’s strategic response to keeping the country safe from the mutant threat hysteria fueled by Orchis. It’s revealed that Canada actually has a program to create their own army of sentinels with the help of Roger Bochs Jr. and the Alpha Flight team is merely the face of the program to create a sense of goodwill with the nation’s population. However, the team “fails” their first mission when a team mutant former members of Alpha Flight, Northstar, Aurora, and Nemesis, along with Daken (who now goes by Fang), show up and “save” the rogue mutant. You’ll notice I’m using quotations here as I’m trying to avoid spoiling the surprise twist at the end — you’ll need to read the issue to find out!
Brisson’s story also includes a meta-analysis of personal redemption for the core four Alpha Flight members. Throughout the team’s history, Alpha Flight has oscillated between a semi-serious and flat-out farcical group of superheroes depending on what Marvel has needed them to be. The issue sees this foursome making decisions with the goal of redeeming their reputation and it’s all written in a very sincere way. There’s also a touching storyline realized through the side-plot involving Albert Louis/Feedback dealing with the consequences of trying to hid his mutantdom from himself and how it affects his family and job.
Scott Godlewski’s designs, Matt Milla’s colors, and Travis Lanham’s lettering offer a vintage take on the art throughout the book while keeping things modern for the time. In a lot of ways, the costumes and scenery make it appear as though it’s all taking place during the team’s hay-days of the 1980s, but there’s enough technology and context to keep things centered in today’s timeline. Feedback’s display of power and the fight sequence between the two Alpha Flight factions are particularly memorable.
While ALPHA FLIGHT #1 may not have been the most revelatory or tense book in recent weeks, it serves a purpose to remind readers that there are problems Orchis for mutants stuck on Earth and that governments have become even more complicit. This is additional world-building for the dire state mutants find themselves in and though it might not be a necessary piece of the puzzle that gets us to the conclusion of Fall of X, the series appears primed to explore topics that are relevant beyond comic book pages.
Rating: 7.5/10
