Jeffries does nothing at all to help, fans thrilled anyway

X-Men Legacy #260
Feb 2012

Mike Carey’s long-term run as writer of X-Men Legacy comes to its conclusion with the second and last part of the “Half a Step” arc. As mentioned previously, this arc was published well after the X-Men split into two parts under the Schism and Regenesis storylines, so the big mysteries about who was going to go where had already been resolved. Mister Jeffries, who we knew would be staying on Utopia with Cyclops, appears in a few panels as regular member of the X-Men Science Team, having joined up in Uncanny X-Men #508.

Picking up from last issue’s events where Rogue discovers that Ariel, a doorway teleporter, had been trapped in a fiery half-state of existence, the Science team is recruited to figure out how to get her back. While sitting around at a conference table, Mister Jeffries makes a suggestion that they use the same dimensional barrier technology used back in the four-part “Devil at the Crossroads” storyline (X-Men Legacy Annual #1 and issues #228, #229 and #230) to catch Emplate.

When Rogue shoots down the idea and fellow Science Team member Dr. Kavita Rao agrees with her, Jeffries capitulates and jokes:

That is a reference to the beast he fought with Rogue in X-Men Legacy #244, which is one of the most popular pages on Alpha Flight Collector. I wonder why. Oh yeah, boobs.

It was a nice touch for Mike Carey to insert these references, but also not unexpected in the last issue of such a run for a long-term writer to reminisce this way. Unfortunately, because Rogue decides not to pursue the technological route to rescue Ariel, that’s all we get out of Jeffries. Note that although Northstar was on hand last issue to help out, he’s not needed in the rescue and doesn’t appear.

So ends Mike Carey’s run, and since he was so good to Alpha Flight collectors, a small recap is deserved. He tended to write Jeffries as way smarter than the guy actually should be, but since it’s an error in the character’s favor, it’s easily overlooked. Carey also played a pivotal role with Northstar and Aurora’s storylines, effectively returning them to existence in his opening arc, the Supernova issues #188-#190 and 2007 Annual, and for that we are indebted to him. After a quick Northstar cameo during the Utopia arc in #227, he would end up including Jeffries in the aforementioned “Devil in the Crossroads” arc (4 issues), a cameo in issue #234, the Second Coming issue #236, the aforementioned “Rogue’s boobs” issue #244, the Age of X storyline (5 issues) and this final arc (2 issues) for a total of 20 issues. Not bad at all, and thanks, Mike Carey, for keeping the flame alive for Alpha Flight fans for so many years and so many issues!

The Mystery of the Ambiguous Mac

Wolverine, Punisher & Ghost Rider: Official Index to the Marvel Universe #5
Feb 2012

Note: Despite being clearly printed on the cover, “Official Index to the Marvel Universe: Wolverine, Punisher & Ghost Rider” is not the actual title of this series. The indicia reveals it reversed as above.

The Official Index to the Marvel Universe, or OITTMU, continues in its third incarnation by covering various Wolverine, Punisher, and Ghost Rider series. The first two incarnations covered Iron Man, Spider-Man, X-Men, Avengers, Thor, and Captain America. The index contains detailed synopses of individual comics, including all of the relevant data pertaining to the comic as well as a thumbnail of the cover art, 2 issues per page (roughly). Alpha Flight appears in this issue in reprinted art from the covers of Wolverine #142 and #143 (Sep and Oct 1999).

Click to see full-size version of the solicited cover

Originally, the solicits for this issue indicated it would start at issue #142 for the Wolverine section of the book, but the writers only got so far as issue #133 last issue. The solicits are based on estimated page counts, so it’s typical to be off by a few issues. Since the usual arrangement is for the first indexed issue of the section to be shown on the cover in thumbnail, we would have had Alpha Flight on the cover of this issue had the estimate been accurate! Instead, the cover for Wolverine #134 (not an Alpha Flight appearance) made it to the big show. It’s the second time we were robbed of this distinction, as the same situation happened with issue #3 of this index as well.

The section on the Wolverine titles covers issues #134 through #169 with a few special issues published during that portion of the run. Alpha Flight members appear in issues #142-#145 and the Wolverine & Cable special, also known as “Guts & Glory”.

Cover to Wolverine #142

The covers for #142 and #143 feature some of the team just after Alpha Flight volume 2 ended, with Puck, Northstar, Heather (as team liaison) and one of the two James MacDonald Hudsons. At the time, there were two Macs running around; one being the original Mac who had returned at the end of volume 2 (who at this time took the codename Guardian) and the other being “Synth Mac”, his younger clone (who at this time took the codename Vindicator). Because of similarities in their costumes and the fact that neither one was costumed in those issues, we can’t tell who is who on the cover of Wolverine #142 nor #143. There is also a small flashback panel in Wolverine #145 with a similar ambiguity: an unnamed Mac is shown wearing a cowl with a red stripe but we can’t tell which Mac it is, especially since the flashback is to events in issues #142 and #143 when neither Mac was wearing a costume. The index positively identifies the Mac in that small flashback panel as Guardian but also notes the error of showing him in costume at all.

Cover to Wolverine #143

Why so confusing? For those of you who keep track of these sorts of things: as of Alpha Flight v2 #20, “Real Mac” was wearing an all-white cowl and “Synth Mac” was wearing a cowl with a red stripe down the middle. The next chronological appearance of either of them is Wolverine #142, but again, neither of them are shown in costume in that issue (except in flashback). “Synth Mac” dies in issue #143 (oh sorry, uh, spoiler alert!) and the next appearance of “Real Mac” after this arc is in Generation X #58, where he is wearing an all-white cowl. The confusion starts when we next see “Real Mac” again in Wolverine #171, where he is wearing a cowl with a red stripe, continuing to wear this through several other appearances.

The actual images printed in this index are thumbnailed so here are the insets, magnified to clearly show the red stripe on ambiguous Mac’s cowl, as well as Heather in her “Team Liaison to Department H” costume holding an awesome looking gun.

Unfortunately, the information about the issues in the index doesn’t address the mystery of ambiguous Macs on these covers; perhaps it was too subtle even for the usually insanely detailed writers of the OITTMU series. It’s not too subtle for Alpha Flight Collector to still be worrying about this 13 years later, though. My personal opinion is that “Synth Mac” is on the cover of both of those issues based on the supposition that if he were costumed at the time, he would be wearing a cowl with a red stripe.

The index also helps out with positively identifying Ghost Girl (Lilli Stephens) for the first time in a small flashback panel in Wolverine #142 showing the reorganization of the Beta Flight team after volume 2. This places Wolverine #142 as Ghost Girl’s last chronological appearance, not Alpha Flight v2 #20 as previously thought.

Two known continuity errors in Wolverine #143 are pointed out and sort of explained. The first is when Vindicator (“Synth Mac”), while not wearing his EM suit nor cybernetic helmet, blasts Weapon X (Garrison Kane), which should have been impossible. The index explains this by suggesting, “his synthoid nature may have granted him additional, previously unrevealed powers.”

The second is in the 2nd story of Wolverine #143 when Walter Langkowski tries to explain where A.I.M. could possibly have obtained Snowbird’s body to reincarnate. At the time Walter was in Snowbird’s body but he suggested they obtained the body from her grave. The index notes, “Sasquatch’s explanation here that Snowbird’s body regenerated while in its grave cannot be accurate. [Wolverine #172 (2002)] implies that the Inuit gods had a hand in resurrecting Snowbird, but the exact mechanics of her return are unexplained.”

There was a chance for these continuity errors to be resolved with the publication of this index… but if the information doesn’t exist, the writers don’t have much to give us.

Oy vey! Chinese food for Christmas?

Marvel Holiday Special 2011 #1
Feb 2012

It’s pretty much a sure thing at this point that Marvel intends to skip any sort of 2012 Holiday issue, so what better way to wrap up the season than by looking back on last season’s issue? Originally published as a series of free Digital Comics in late November and early December 2011, Marvel Holiday Special 2011 #1 came out in print on December 14, 2011. For those of you who keep track of these sorts of things, that was before both Chanukah (which started the night of the 20th in 2011) and Christmas (which falls on the 25th every year). Sasquatch appears on the last page of the fourth story of four in a single panel cameo.

While the other three stories are your usual Christmas stories, this one, titled, “Chinese Food for Christmas” is a quasi-Chanukah story featuring arguably the most famous Marvel Jewish character, Ben Grimm as The Thing. The reason it’s “quasi-Chanukah” is that the entire basis of the story is the unofficial tradition that Jews eat Chinese food on Christmas, making this a Christmas story, not a Chanukah story. The Thing, along with Kitty Pryde, Moon Knight, Songbird, Wiccan and Sasquatch (all of whom are Jewish) gather for a banquet at a Chinese restaurant and invite some kids along to celebrate.

Wait, Sasquatch is Jewish? What? Yes, Walter Langkowski’s religion was never addressed in any of the Alpha Flight issues, and John Byrne probably never intended for him to be Jewish, but sure enough, Jim Starlin popped this little gem on us, seemingly out of nowhere:

Panel from Infinity Crusade #1 (Jun 1993)

When various heroes around the world visualize their religious icons, Sasquatch is shown witnessing the Star of David, and just like that, he’s Jewish. Langkowski isn’t a Jewish surname but must have sounded plausibly Jewish to Starlin when he needed an international character to be Jewish. Why he didn’t pick Sabra is beyond me, and Alpha Flight Collector has always been just as confuzzled as anyone else about that Star of David panel, but it doesn’t contradict anything else and Sasquatch wouldn’t have made it into this issue otherwise, so no complaint.

The only part of the story that is related to Chanukah at all is an image of Wiccan lighting the candles in the lower right corner of the last page, but it’s completely wrong. After you get past the whole concept of someone named “Wiccan” lighting them, note that Jews don’t light Chanukah candles after the holiday is over (earlier in the story, one of the children notes that Chanukah had ended, placing the actual story in 2010 because in 2011 the eight-day holiday ended “late” on the 28th and in 2009, The Thing wouldn’t be wearing his FF costume). Additionally, only new candles are used, not the half-melted ones shown, as they are supposed to be burned down to completion each night. Also, the central candle should be higher than the others, not even in height. Wiccan should be using that central candle to light the others, not his powers. Finally, there should be a gathering around while prayers are uttered, as lighting the candles is a religious event, not a decorative action. I’ll go ahead and guess writer Jamie Rich (who is Jewish) wasn’t so explicit in his script on these details, and that both penciller Paco Diaz and editor Daniel Ketchum (neither of whom are Jewish) did the best they could, but in the days when Marvel Comics was Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Joe Simon, this shanda would never have happened.

Note: the part about Jews eating Chinese food on Christmas is completely accurate.

Note: the Digital Comics version’s cover was based on an interior panel and not used as a section separator in the print version:

Marvel Holiday Special 2011 #1 – Digital Comic cover for the fourth story

A Mighty Thor followeth a tiny Puck

Back Issue #53
Dec 2011

Published by TwoMorrows Publishing eight times per year, Back Issue “celebrates comic books of the 1970s, 1980s, and today through a variety of recurring (and rotating) departments.” That unassuming description from the TwoMorrows website hardly comes close to the level of awesome of this magazine. Recently changed at issue #52 to 84 pages of full color in a nice square-bound format, Back Issue is filled with lengthy articles about comic book characters, creators and events, not to mention tons of original art, unpublished pencil sketches and the occasional commission piece. In this issue, we have one of the tiniest Alpha Flight appearances ever. Puck appears on a reprinted cover of Thor #373 (Nov 1986).

The entire issue isn’t about Thor, but he dominates most of the page count. Sharp-eyed readers already recognize the cover artist as Walt Simonson – an original Thor image so awesome that Back Issue moved its title block to the lower left corner so as not to detract from it in any way! An insanely long twenty-page (!!) article by Westfield Comics’ Roger Ash, “Flashback: The Tapestry of Walter Simonson’s Thor”, about Simonson’s legendary run on Thor (which spanned from issue #337 to #382) covers almost every major and minor plot point from each issue, along with dozens of cover thumbnails, interior panels and original sketches. Included is the cover to Thor #373, which was one of twenty-nine Marvel 25th Anniversary covers released in November, 1986 with a border drawn by John Romita, Sr.

Alpha Flight fans already have at least one of those 29 issues, as Alpha Flight #40 was part of that set, and if you squint down very close and look in the very lower left corner just beneath the UPC box, you’ll see Puck’s eyes just poking out. Unfortunately, due to poor quality control, many covers printed from that massive print run are offset slightly in the vertical and one can barely see Puck at all on many copies, but some are printed and cut more proper to show him better. This highly magnified image shows what one would see if the bottom edge the cover were shown all the way to the bleed, brought back to glory from 1986 by the wonder of Marvel’s digital comics app:

One can see from the large image above that either the issue used for that reprint had a shifted cover or the image was cropped to remove a ragged bottom edge. One can see from the size of the text to its left that the cover is just a thumbnail to begin with. In actuality the height of the reprinted cover is only two and a half inches (that’s 6.35cm for you metric folks), so Puck’s little corner is barely visible at all. This is just about the tiniest Alpha Flight appearance ever. But, there’s no such thing as an Alpha Flight appearance too tiny to collect, as far as I’m concerned.

Note: The reprinted cover above is the DM (Direct Market) cover with Thor’s hammer Mjölnir occupying the box where you’d normally find the UPC bar code on the Newsstand cover.

Note: My apologies to Dante for the title of the post. I couldn’t resist.

Madison Jeffries in X-Club #1

X-Club #1
Feb 2012

It’s no surprise Simon Spurrier got behind the writer’s desk for this 5 issue mini-series, seeing as how he’s come to “own” the X-Club from the two one-shot spinoffs: X-Men: Blind Science #1 from the Second Coming event and X-Men: Curse of the Mutants – Smoke and Blood #1. Set just at the start of the Regenesis story arc, the X-Men Science team finally get a monthly series all to themselves. Madison Jeffries appears as a regular member of the X-Club, having joined up in Uncanny X-Men #505.

Simon Spurrier properly includes science in the science fiction of this series, having the X-Club launch a space elevator platform. Wait, what? Guffaw! No, this is actually a real scientific effort dating back decades from its popularization and effective legitimization by Arthur C. Clarke in his 1978 novel Fountains of Paradise. Even NASA has a web page about space elevators and there’s an International Space Elevator Consortium who sponsor annual meetings to address the technology. So already, the premise of the series is just perfect – that kind of “hardcore yet wacky” science you’d expect for an X-Club series.

While X-Club members Drs. Nemesis and Kavita Rao stay behind at a goofball press conference at the equatorial base of the elevator, Madison Jeffries and Danger ride the space elevator platform straight up, manufacturing a carbon tether along the way. He’s shown wearing an environment suit, surrounded by hovering workbots similar to the Matilda coffeebot from the Age of X series.

Unfortunately, Spurrier decided to pick up on a meme that I was hoping would drop forever: Jeffries’ attraction to Danger, which was bizarre and inappropriate when first mentioned in New Mutants #9, seeing as how Diamond Lil, his wife, had been killed just a few hours before. It was also bizarre and unnecessary when Fantomex brainwashed Jeffries into asking Danger out on a picnic lunch date (she doesn’t eat) in Uncanny X-Men #529. If this issue were the first instance of Jeffries’ attraction to Danger, it would be a lot easier to swallow. Enough time would have passed since Lil’s death and Spurrier’s distracted version of Madison Jeffries would fit well with the quirky nature of mechaphiliacs. It’s unfair to blame Spurrier for the other two issues, but still, I prefer the version of Madison engaged to Heather and married to Lil over this version.

One thing this issue gets right with Madison Jeffries is his technomorph powers. In nearly every scene, artist Paul Davidson has Jeffries holding a gizmo or finagling with some floating bits of metal and gadget parts, drawing perfectly iconic imagery for the character panel after panel. Notice the magnetic anchor clipped to his suit that allows him to move freely about the deck while staying tethered, a clever and useful gadget for a zero gravity environment up on the platform.

Then, Danger jumps off the platform (no parachute, of course), an Atlantean grows tentacles before exploding into a pile of eyeball brain goop and a seagull shoots laserblasts out of his beak at an adamantium-encased sea turtle. Did I mention Simon Spurrier wrote this issue?

All that glitters isn’t Auric

Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z TPB #2
2012

Note: no month of publication is indicated, with the exception of manufacturing date range of 10/27/11 to 11/15/11. The issue was released on 11/30/11. Other issues released on that date carry a publication date of Jan 2012.

The second volume of the amazing fourteen volume Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z Premiere Hardcover series is reprinted in trade paperback with all 240 original pages reproduced and, true to the principle of releasing timely information, sixteen additional pages of updates for selected entries. Some minor corrections and additions are found, but for the most part the original 240 pages are reprinted in their entirety. In the entries, Alt. Sasquatch appears in Blink’s entry and Sasquatch appears in the Contest of Champions entry. In the updates, Hodiak appears in the Council of Godheads update and both Auric and Silver appear in the China Force update.

The Alt. Sasquatch appearance, as it was in the HC version from 2008, is only her hand in a cropped illustration taken from the cover of Exiles #55 (Feb 2005).

The entry for Contest of Champions is identical to the HC version, with the exception of the coloring of the illustration, where Sasquatch appears. It has been nicely updated to remove 1980s-era dithering and replaced with a flatter modern style, while still retaining the simplicity of the original.

The China Force entry is unchanged, but in the update section, new headshots of previously mentioned trainees Auric and Silver are shown. Back when Auric was a trainee in China Force, he was known as “Gold”, and he’s properly identified as such. As I mentioned already in a previous post, Auric still has never had an entry, but at least the writers went out of their way to show the proper name in the proper entry, a detail not unnoticed by Auric fans.

They are the same images from the extensive Alpha Flight team update from issue #1 of the TPB series. However, the best headshots to have used would have been those taken directly from the only issue where they appeared as trainees in China Force, which was the Rick Mason: The Agent Graphic Novel. Had the writers done that, the headshots would have looked like this instead:

Likely because the original images were in black and white, they weren’t used.

Also in the update section, which is only 16 pages long, the Council of Godheads have about a full page worth of update including two large illustrations and a new grid of headshots of gods not already identified in the entry. Hodiak appears in one of the illustrations, which was taken from Greg Pak and Fred van Lente’s Incredible Hercules #116 (Jun 2008) with art by Rafa Sandoval; an image repeated in the preview page of Incredible Hercules #117 (Jul 2008). This is the first positive identification of Hodiak among the ghosty gaggle of Native American-looking gods in those issues.

Hodiak among the Council of Godheads (Image from Incredible Hercules #116)

In the new grid of headshots, an image taken from the Encyclopedia Mythologica #1 (Sep 2009) entry for the Inua identifies Hodiak, with his correct 1st appearance noted below as Alpha Flight #7, not Thor #300 as some websites maintain. That image is by Kevin Sharpe, one of many new illustrations for that issue, but sadly, the characters were not clearly identified at the time. The image was later tagged nicely over at The Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe site, but this is the first time Hodiak was officially identified in that image in print.

Jeffries and Northstar still refuse to speak to each other

X-Men Legacy #259
Jan 2012

The schedule of events among the X-titles fouled up a bit with the timing of this issue. Fans who were expecting a Regenesis story (the cover of this issue does have the Regenesis banner logo on the cover) were happily surprised to read yet one more pre-Regenesis story arc from Mike Carey, the long-term writer of X-Men Legacy since issue #188. The Schism event, in which the X-Men divided into two camps: one staying at Utopia with Cyclops and the other returning to Westchester with Wolverine, had ended in October 2011. Regenesis had begun four weeks previously in November 2011 with the release of Uncanny X-Men #1 on 11/2/2011. So by the time this issue was released on 11/30/2011, the hub-bub of who would stay on Utopia and who would leave for Westchester had settled down, already hashed over on countless websites, and even listed by Marvel with in-house ads in various X-books. Both Madison Jeffries and Northstar appear as regular members of the post-Schism, pre-Regenesis X-Men, having joined up in Uncanny X-Men #505 and #508.

Ultimately, Mister Jeffries would stay on Utopia with Cyclops as a member of the X-Men Science Team, and Northstar would leave for New York, later taking a prominent role in the Astonishing X-Men title. In this issue, Jeffries and Northstar assist in a rescue attempt organized by Rogue of… someone… from another dimension. Jeffries can be seen standing around with the X-Men on Utopia while the rescue attempt is discussed and organized, during which the Science Team is tasked by Cyclops to build a barrier to contain the rescued entity.

One interesting scene shows a wide-angle of the containment chamber assembly. Jeffries can be seen off to the left, apparently levitating or otherwise guiding a very large piece of equipment into place. What’s interesting about it is the tremendous size of the thingamabob that he’s levitating. We know he can manipulate fine machinery and small pieces of equipment but it’s rare to see him handling something so large. It calls into question a bit of overlap between his powers and Magneto’s powers. We know Magneto would easily be able to lift such a large metallic object, but can Jeffries do this?

Northstar appears in two panels, one without a face, and one holding a failsafe switch. Dr. Nemesis has quite a high opinion of Northstar’s fast reflexes

His super-speed gives him the quickest reaction time of us, and pico-seconds may count.

There have been many scenes over the years where Northstar has been shown with phenomenal reflexes, and some scenes where he’s easily taken out by a clearly slower opponent. Even the record is muddled on this point because Byrne’s footnote from Alpha Flight #12 indicates he doesn’t have proportionately fast reflexes but the OHOTMU Master Edition #13 entry disagrees, saying he has superhuman reflexes. Mike Carey, like he did with Jeffries’ intelligence level, errs on the side of awesome when it comes to Northstar’s power set and and chooses to show them at their finest.

This book is yet another X-book that has both Jeffries and Northstar yet doesn’t show them interacting in the way we’d expect. They were, after all, teammates in Alpha Flight and presumably knew each other even from Jeffries’ time in Gamma Flight. Although Northstar did show up at Diamond Lil’s funeral (we think), the two haven’t made any reference to serving in Alpha Flight together. With the two mutants on opposite coasts now and the X-editors sequestering Jeffries even from Fred van Lente and Greg Pak, it’s unlikely there will be any future issues of this type where we’ll get the chance to see it happen at all.

Note: this issue has a Marvel 50th Anniversary cover by David Yardin and a Regenesis Gold variant by Nick Bradshaw and Morry Jay Hollowell

	X-Men Legacy #259 – 50th Anniversary variant
	X-Men Legacy #259 – Regenesis Gold variant

It’s about TIME

TIME Magazine Vol. 179 No. 23
June 11, 2012

Note: The actual publication date precedes the cover date by a week. I do not own a time travel machine to go into the future to purchase magazines.

Published weekly since 1923, TIME (The International Magazine of Events) is the world’s largest circulation weekly news magazine, ranked 10th overall with a current (latest data from 2011) circulation of approximately 3.2 million subscribers, making this one of the most widespread appearances of Alpha Flight, ever. It even outranks the paltry 2 million subscribers for the ESPN The Magazine. TIME ran a blurb today about Northstar and Kyle’s wedding, featuring a cameo appearance of the lucky couple.

If you can put the morbid and depressing cover page behind you, flip to the section titled, “The Culture”, to find a small blurb in the article “Pop Chart” on page 56, along with a thumbnailed reproduction of the now famous proposal splash page by Mike Perkins.

The accompanying text is rather short, and disappointingly diminished from the full article, “X-Man Northstar to Get Marvel-ous Gay Wedding” published on their website a few weeks ago when the engagement was announced. But, since this magazine has a circulation larger than the population of 6 Canadian Provinces and 21 American States, a little blurb goes a long way.

Alpha Flight in History of the Marvel Universe #1

History of the Marvel Universe #1
Jan 2012

There’s just no way to condense the entire history of the Marvel Universe into a single 48pg book, but this attempt is actually a pretty good try. Narrated by The Watcher, events from the Golden Age (1940s) up to Spider Island (2011) are summarized into short descriptive paragraphs, approximately three per page, accompanied by iconic images to bring life to just about every corner of the Marvel Universe that can fit into a single volume. Despite the movie-centric characters depicted on the cover which hints at a fairly mainstream theme, the writers made some unusual choices in this book, as noted in this good review of the issue. The inside back cover of the book has an useful and extensive reference guide to link the narrative paragraphs to trade paperbacks and hardcover collections so readers can find the full story. In reprinted artwork from various issues, several Alpha Flight members appear.

Because there’s so much information to fit in to such little space, the writers just didn’t have the luxury of including everything. The most notable omission is that which was so notably included in Marvel Saga #1 (Dec 1985) – the origin of Alpha Flight as an idea germinated in Mac’s head after reading about the Fantastic Four in the newspaper. It really would have been nice to include that but Alpha Flight Collector can’t complain – we got a full reproduction of the first on-panel appearance of Alpha Flight in Uncanny X-Men #121!

Founded by the Canadian government’s Department H and led by Vindicator (later Guardian), Alpha Flight included the massive Sasquatch, mystic Shaman, Inuit goddess Snowbird, and super-speedster twins Aurora and Northstar. The team’s first contact with the X-Men occurred when Alpha Flight was ordered to bring Wolverine back to Canada; after hostilities ended, the two squads became allies. Despite soon being disbanded, Alpha Flight continued as an independent group and became allies of other worldwide heroes.

Other appearances in this book include:

• A splash page from Contest of Champions #1 featuring Sasquatch as a member of The Grandmaster’s team
• A cropped version of the trifold cover of Infinity War #4, featuring Sasquatch’s doppelgänger and Sasquatch, who is unfortunately obscured by an overlapping semi-transparent text box
• A splash page from Infinity Crusade #1 featuring Windshear, Sasquatch, Puck and Talisman answering The Goddess’ call to service, without the word “YES!”, a bizarre omission
• Art taken from the cover of X-Men: Alpha (Note: the original cover for X-Men: Alpha is foil stamped; the artwork reproduced in this issue is flat like the 2nd printing cover) featuring Age of Apocalypse Wild Child
• A panel taken from Avengers Forever #12 featuring Sasquatch from an alternate timeline in which he was a member of the Avengers

Overall, a fairly good showing for Alpha Flight and just about what was expected, but for fans who really want to learn about the history of the Marvel Universe, consider the Blockbusters of the Marvel Universe #1 handbook instead, which has full pages of extensively detailed text instead of quick blurby descriptions.

Shaman in Wolverine, Punisher & Ghost Rider: Official Index to the Marvel Universe #4

Wolverine, Punisher & Ghost Rider: Official Index to the Marvel Universe #4
Jan 2012

Note: Despite being clearly printed on the cover, “Official Index to the Marvel Universe: Wolverine, Punisher & Ghost Rider” is not the actual title of this series. The indicia reveals it reversed as above.

The Official Index to the Marvel Universe, or OITTMU, continues in its third incarnation by covering various Wolverine, Punisher, and Ghost Rider series. The first two incarnations covered Iron Man, Spider-Man, X-Men, Avengers, Thor, and Captain America. The index contains detailed synopses of individual comics, including all of the relevant data pertaining to the comic as well as a thumbnail of the cover art, 2 issues per page (roughly). Shaman appears in this issue in reprinted art from the cover of Wolverine #110 (Feb 1997).

Originally, the solicits for this issue indicated it would start at issue #104 for the Wolverine section of the book, but the writers only got so far as issue #100 last issue. The solicits are based on estimated page counts, so it’s typical to be off by a few issues. The section on the Wolverine titles continues from issues #101 to #133 and also includes a few special issues published during that portion of the run. Alpha Flight members appear in issues 102.5, 104, 110, 114 and 129, with Shaman on the cover of issue #110 with art by Adam Kubert.

Cover of Wolverine #110
click for big image

The notes identify the various Alpha Flight appearances in these issues as well as the little volume 2 preview at the end of issue #114. Invaluable information from these index issues notes the chronology of the character’s appearances, but out of all the issues listed above, only issues #110 and #129 were in continuity, and #129 only had flashback scenes.

Of all the indexed issues mentioned above, the only Alpha Flight image appearing in this book is the cover for Wolverine #110. The actual image shown inside is a tiny thumbnailed image, so here is an inset from the actual cover to that issue featuring Shaman as he weaves a spell to trap the Great Beast back into its vessel.

Unfortunately, a long-running question about this issue remains unresolved: the Great Beast in this issue had never been identified properly as one of the Seven Great Beasts (Somon, Kariooq, Kolomaq, Ranaq, Tanaraq, Tolomaq and Tundra), and fans were puzzled at the time if this were one of them. Hints had been dropped over the years that there were other Beasts (as mentioned in Alpha Flight #6, #23 and Wolverine #172) and in Over the Edge #2, Shaman referred to a snow creature as a Great Beast. In more recent times, more Great Beasts have surfaced, including Neooqtoq in Incredible Hercules #119 and two others, Tiamaq and Herateq, in Marvel Heartbreakers #1.

In the “Villians” section of the text for this issue, the Great Beast is simply called “Great Beast” and in the “Notes” section:

It is unclear which Great Beast appears here. Aside from this issue, only Seven Great Beasts have ever appeared on-panel – but Snowbird transforms into a previously unknown eighth Beast in Herc #119, ’08, so others may exist, and this may be another Beast. However, it vaguely resembles Ranaq the Great Devourer; if this is Ranaq, he appears here following AFlt #18, ’85.

So, the mystery of the Great Beast from Wolverine #110 stands, but Ranaq does seem to be an excellent suggestion.

Note: Tiamaq and Herateq should have been mentioned in the quoted text above, a minor omission that doesn’t matter for the purpose of identifying the Great Beast in issue #110, but still a bit disappointing as fans expect the info in these indexes to be comprehensive.