You think I’m obsessed…? Okay, okay, a little, but this is ridiculous!

Obsessed with Marvel
Jun 2010

This fun little hardcover book from Chronicle has an incredible 2,500 trivia questions related to Marvel comics. The book itself is 8 1/4 inches square by 1 3/8 inches thick, a nice compact size. On the lower right corner is a little beepy electronic computer module (thankfully you can turn the sound off!) where you can enter your guesses to the multiple choice questions. It keeps score in 1 or 2 player mode, and it can pick numbered questions at random out of the book for you or allow you to enter a question by number. Interestingly, there is no answer key printed in the book, so if you want to know the answer, you have to use the little computer. Because the electronic module needs to be accessible for all questions, the pages are die-cut around it, a clever design.

The questions are written by arguably one of the greatest Marvel Comics experts there is: Peter Sanderson, whose expertise lends credibility to the project. There are separate sections for the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, The Avengers, X-Men, The Incredible Hulk, Marvel Knights, Horror Heroes, Cosmic Characters and Marvel Time (a catch-all category). Each 2 page spread has a central illustration on the right page and accompanying text on the left, so it’s much more than just 2500 trivia questions in a row. The illustrations are printed in a sepia tone and are either comic covers, classic panels or promo pieces.

In the Avengers section, the cover for West Coast Avengers #1 appears for question #851, featuring Puck’s head on the cover. In the X-Men section, Alpha Flight gets its own page! The cover for Alpha Flight #1 appears for question #1195, with accompanying text about John Byrne, the creation of Alpha Flight, and the following trivia question:

Who was not a member of Alpha Flight when the team first appeared?
A. Shaman
B. Snowbird
C. Sasquatch
D. Puck

There are six other questions related to Alpha Flight in the book, none of which are any harder than that one, but still very fun to read. Not surprisingly, Alpha Flight Collector got all of them right, but was infuriatingly stumped on too many of the 2,493 non-Alpha Flight related questions to admit my score.

Sasquatch with no swimsuit in a swimsuit issue!

Sorry to get your hopes up again, but if you scroll down, you’ll see he’s not wearing a swimsuit so GOTCHA again! Will you ever learn not to click on naughty post titles on FUNDay? Will this joke ever stop being funny? Will it ever start being funny? Great questions, answered in today’s FUNDay post!

Marvel Swimsuit Special #1
1992

Those of you who keep track of frivolous details like issue numbers will be surprised to read yet again about a swimsuit issue from Marvel numbered #1, but yes, they started over with a slight re-naming. The title of this issue was changed from “Marvel Illustrated: Swimsuit Issue #1“, presumably to avoid litigation from Sports Illustrated, but that’s a comic book legend, we think. Along with the name change, the issue number reverted to #1. The format of the swimsuit special changed dramatically from the previous issue to include only pin-ups and fake ads, but no articles nor interviews. The theme of the pin-ups was a photo shoot of party guests at T’Challa’s engagement party in Wakanda. Guardian (Heather), Aurora and Sasquatch appear in pin-ups wearing swimsuits, or less.

On a full-page pin-up by Terry Shoemaker and Bob Wiacek, Aurora, Guardian (Heather), Meggan and The Wasp appear, flying about among the birds.

The caption incorrectly describes the scene:

These native birds used to be the most colorful, beautiful sight in the Wakandan skies. But, when the Wasp, Guardian, Meggan and Aurora joined them for some early morning aerial antics, these feathered fantasies found themselves taking a back seat to the flying females. The Wasp sports an always trendy solid color bikini while Guardian wears a functional yet formfitting circuitry bikini. Meggan displays her fish print two-piece with Rio cut bottoms. And last but not least, Aurora boasts a rousing wrap-around one piece.

As you can see in the image, the Wasp (below) is the one wearing the fish print two-piece, not Meggan (left). Meggan is wearing the one piece and Aurora (above) is wearing the solid color bikini. The circuitry bikini explains how Heather (right) would be able to fly in that scene, assuming it’s a version of her EM suit, but I don’t want to know where the power pack is hidden.

Later, a pin-up by Mike Mignola features Logan, Sasquatch and the Beast. Sasquatch is the one with the chimp on his head. Bizarrely, Sasquatch is not drawn with a swimsuit, but rather in his natural fur. Maybe Mike didn’t get the memo. I mean, it just doesn’t make any sense to draw him that way in a swimsuit issue.

Here is another version of the same image, corrected to fit in with the rest of the book!

We’ve got Olympic fever on FUNday!

Well, it’s another Monday FUNday post and we’ve got Olympic fever! Although we can’t come close to the thrill of victory in Vancouver, we can sure try with this week’s item! If “Tiniest Alpha Flight Appearances” were an Olympic Sport, this book would win the gold medal.

Marvel Heroes Amazing Powers
2007

Published in both hardback and paperback by Dorling Kindersley, this book by Catherine Saunders is a 48pg early reading book for kids, featuring the amazing superpowers of various mainstream Marvel Heroes. The actual dimensions of the paperback book are just under nine by six inches, notably smaller than a regular comic. The “Introduction” page includes a reprint of a Marvel poster containing just about every single character in the Marvel Universe and several extremely tiny appearance of Alpha Flight characters.

The original image appeared as a banner on top of the official Marvel Universe website, thus the aspect ratio is typical of a banner: extreme from width to height. This image became available as a poster-sized print with a red Marvel logo in the foreground and a blue sky behind it and was once available for purchase, though you still needed a magnifying glass to recognize some characters way in the back and some are simply unrecognizable at all.

This image is actually a composite of existing character images overlapped on top of each other to create an expansive panorama. Clearly an attempt was made to put the more popular characters in the front and lesser-known characters in the back, but since its debut, popularity has shifted around, so the image dates itself in a subtle way for sophisticated fans who track the ups and downs of characters.

It’s difficult to show the actual image from the book because the image of the poster was greatly reduced to a 2pg spread (appx 10 inches wide) while the original poster was 36 inches. Instead, here are portions of the poster itself. Unfortunately, characters near the back are very, very tiny so I’ve highlighted the Alphans in red.

Aurora can be seen on the extreme left side, just behind Sandman and above the foreground image of Rogue.

Snowbird and Northstar can be see in flight just in front of Fin Fang Foom and above the foreground image of The Hulk. Guardian can also be seen in the scrum just behind Dazzler.

On the far right, the volume 3 team can be seen, from left to right: Major Mapleleaf Jr, Puck (Zuzha), Yukon Jack, Nemesis, Centennial and Sasquatch behind them all. They are just below Galactus and above the foreground image of Iron Fist.

So if you don’t know how to read, go get this item for your collection, use it to learn how to read, and then come on back here to read all about it on FUNday!

Sasquatch cameo in Silver Surfer Annual #1

Silver Surfer Annual #1
1988

Back when Annuals were 64 page extravaganzas and before trade paperbacks made square-bound issues nearly extinct, this fun issue was the first annual chugged out of the Silver Surfer’s 1987 series. It was all over the place, containing a 30pg feature story, two five-page vignettes, eight one-page pinups and a two-page Galactus poster. They just don’t make comics like this anymore, folks. The feature story, “Adam”, was part of a company-wide event, “The Evolutionary War” that ran across many of the Summer Annuals, of which this was the third episode. Sasquatch appears in two panels in flashback to the events of Alpha Flight #10.

The Silver Surfer approaches Earth and notices a disturbance in the van Allen belts. Suddenly, the Super Skrull materializes, and gives “his side” of the story. He quickly recounts the events of Alpha Flight #9-10 in his own words:

…I was transformed into primal energy! And when, long after-ward I was drawn back to Earth, I was told I had become part of the radiation belts circling your world! My reformed body was subject to spasms of great pain–I realize now I had contracted the Betrayal–what do you call it on Earth?– — Cancer! But rather than help me–cure me, or send me home to be cured– –the monster called Sasquatch sent me back to the radiation!

Of course, he leaves out the fact that he brutally killed four men and one woman, all scientists at the Mount Logan Cosmic Ray Research Station, and was in the middle of trying to kill Walter when Sasquatch turned the tables on him. Minor detail, eh?  Well, I guess there are always two sides to every story, but this is just so twisted.  Readers unfamiliar with the original story would be in for quite a shock should they follow the editor’s footnotes referring them to the corresponding Alpha Flight issues!

space space space

Joe Staton (left images) did an excellent job re-creating Byrne’s pencils (right images), copying the panels nearly perfectly.

 space space

Puck and Sasquatch appear in What If? Secret Wars #1

What If? Secret Wars #1
Feb 2009

This ought to be issue #2 since there already was a “What If? Secret Wars” issue in the second series (#114) but far be it from THIS blog to pick nits, eh? “What If… Doctor Doom kept the Beyonder’s Power” brings us back to the classic 1984 mini-series in which Doctor Doom temporarily had the power of the Beyonder. Puck and Sasquatch appear in single panel cameos.

The story is presented in a non-linear sequence that brings us to various points in this alternate time line that show Doctor Doom doing his Doomy thing – conquering entire races, defeating the good guys, putting the mack on Susan Storm, you know, the usual. The order of presentation of the story is so jumbled up that it would be impossible to piece all of it together without numerous tag lines from Karl Boller to frame nearly every panel. It gets out of hand on one page, which is a direct panel-by-panel homage to The Watchmen (see Chapter IV page 1 of that series), but Doom eventually sacrifices all of his power to save the entire Earth and he reverses Global Warming.

During the portion of the story where Doom is defeating all the good guys, a super insurgency group of heroes assemble at the Baxter Building to oppose his conquering ways, led by a very pregnant Invisible Woman. In the foreground, just behind Luke Cage and in front of Hercules, you can see Puck, but since he’s facing the podium, away from the reader, you can only see the back of his head. A blue-ish figure in the lower left might be Sasquatch, but is more likely The Beast.

A sequence of panels showing the insurgency follows and in one of the battle panels, as the heroes engage simultaneous incarnations of Doom, Sasquatch can be seen charging ahead in a desert environment. The particular assemblage of heroes in the charge is a random assortment: Scarlet Witch, Black Knight, Havok, Doc Samson and the Black Widow, so it appears as if the Invisible Woman teamed Sasquatch with some fairly heavy hitters.

Karl Bollers does an excellent job writing a story that successfully matches in scale the one thing in the Marvel Universe that is as conceptually immense as the Beyonder’s power: Doom’s ambition! Much thanks to him as well for including Alpha Flight members among the insurgency. They likely are completely wiped out by Doom, but at least it’s done in a heroic and meaningful way.

Alpha Flight panel in X-Men Forever #15

X-Men Forever #15
Mar 2010

Chris Claremont’s reimagining of the X-Men, which continues after X-Men #3 in 1991, takes place in a universe that happened so long ago that readers need a guide to refresh their memories of that era. Luckily, at the end of the main story, there’s an 8pp roundup of what was going on in the Marvel Universe at the time. On the page, “Meanwhile…”, a panel taken from Alpha Flight #101 (Oct 1991) shows the team assembled at Mac’s grave, again, along with accompanying text.

The page following the 8pp roundup is a full page advertisement for trade paperbacks that contain many of the highlighted stories. Notably absent from the advertisement is a trade paperback containing the Alpha Flight series, which, at the time of this post, has not been collected in a tpb past the 8th issue. The advertisement sours the roundup from an interesting educational segment (or a trip down memory lane for us old guys) into a blatant shill for your tpb dollars. The same 8pp could have been a new 2nd story or even a preview of the next story arc instead of re-printing old material as a giant advertisement, but Alpha Flight got into the roundup, so it’s more sweet than sour.

The accompanying text to the right of the panel reads:

Canada’s premier heroes in Alpha Flight had newly reaffirmed ties to their government; they were briefly rejoined by the long-dead Vindicator (James Hudson), only to lose him again during a confrontation with Galactus. Still led by Guardian, the team included Puck, Sasquatch, Northstar, Aurora, Windshear, Diamond Lil and the mystery man Weapon Omega.

Note that Aurora was listed as a member, but at the time, she had resigned from Alpha Flight (issue #95), reassigned to Gamma Flight as a counselor in the psychiatric unit. In issue #98, she had seemingly been teleported away by Laura Dean (Pathway), which explains why she’s not in the panel above. The Weapon Omega listed above is not Michael Pointer, but Kyle Gibney, a.k.a. Wild Child. He wouldn’t resurface until issue #102, which explains why he’s listed as a member of that era but not in the panel. Finally, Box (Jeffries) appears in the panel, but wasn’t listed as a member for an unknown reason.

To the far right are two other Alpha Flight associates: the bald General Jeremy Clarke and Department H’s Liaison Kerry Patrick, who is very much not bald at all. It isn’t exactly clear why the team showed up to the memorial service in costume. The most puzzling was Walter, who seems to prefer Sasquatch form for funerals.

Sasquatch and Northstar in What If? Spider-Man: House of M #1

What If? Spider-Man: House of M #1
Feb 2010

The What If…? line of comics continues its tradition of offering up alternate versions of events in the Marvel Universe with this issue, based on Spider-Man’s experiences in the House of M reality, where his dead girlfriend Gwen Stacy was alive and well, along with their son, Richie Parker. This issue deals with two scenarios based on her continued existence post-House of M and the problems it causes. There’s also a very funny section of cartoon foolery at the end that would belong in a FUNday post if this were a “Spider-Man Collector” blog. In the first story, Sasquatch appears in one panel as a member of Magneto’s Red Guard. Northstar also appears very tiny in a panel reprinted from House of M #7.

In the first story by Frank Tieri, “What if… Gwen Stacy Survived the House of M?” Gwen (Parker) discovers the heroes’ plan to battle the House of M in Genosha, as depicted in the main series House of M, issues #6-7. She travels to Genosha with her little roller bag to find Peter, and stumbles across the major battle where the heroes encounter Magneto’s Red Guard. Sasquatch is painted by Tom Fleming, resplendent in his Red Guard uniform and helmet, getting socked in the jaw by Luke Cage in one panel, recreating a scene from House of M #6.

An introductory page to this story briefly describes the general House of M reality and includes several panels taken from various issues of the storyline, one of which is a greatly reduced inset from a 2pg splash panel from House of M #7. You can see Northstar in that spread, identified by the starburst on his leg.

Can’t find him? Don’t worry, he’s hard to see. He can be found just to the left of Spidey and to the right of She-Hulk, inverted. Here is an inset from the original panel to aid in identifying this very tiny appearance:

Sasquatch on the cover of G.L.A. #2

A new year is upon us, and FUNday continues with our 15th post spotlighting the lighter side of Alpha Flight collecting. Sorry, no “Top 10 List” for the end of the year. But, we will take a look at an issue that (arguably) belongs on the “Top 15 FUNday posts… so far List!”

Great Lakes Avengers #2
Jul 2005

Exploding from the pages of the West Coast Avengers, which exploded from the pages of the Avengers, the Great Lakes Avengers was a brilliant four issue mini-series in 2005 by Dan Slott and Paul Pelletier. Created by none other than John Byrne in West Coast Avengers #46 in 1989, the G.L.A. consisted of Z-list heroes with dubious superpowers, an ever-changing roster due to frequent deaths, an ever-changing team name and general ineptitude all around. Sasquatch appears on the cover of this issue, rejecting Flatman’s offer to join.

Due to a recent death, the group needed to go on a membership drive, but were rejected by everyone they ask over a 6-page stretch including the Swordsman, Moon Knight, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Daredevil, Energizer (from Power Pack), Living Lightning, The Punisher, Justice, Firestar, Captain Marvel, Falcon, Hercules, Cloak, Dagger, Nightcrawler, Tigra, Shang-Chi, Black Bolt (who just sort of waved it off), Paladin, Sleepwalker, Prodigy, Captain Ultra, Ursa Major, Brother Voodoo, El Aguila, Andy the Awesome Android, Araña, Marvel (Kal-AOL), Iron First, and Luke Cage. Shown on the cover rejecting them but not appearing inside are: Thor, the Black Cat, Wonder Man, Rogue, the Silver Surfer, the Wasp and Sasquatch.

It’s harder than you’d think to write a full issue of truly comic material, and Dan Slott was able to pull it off for all four issues. When interviewed about this title on Toon Zone, he admitted:

Is it a comedy? Yeah. A sick, twisted, ethically impaired, DARK comedy. Very dark. This is one that I’m definitely not letting my nephews look at.

What better endorsement can you give your own work than restricting your own family members from reading it??!?! He continued in another interview on comicsbulletin.com:

In fact, when I turned in the first issue, I think my note to the office went something like this: “Here’s the plot for GLA #1, the most morally reprehensible thing I’ve ever written. Sorry.”

Note: For those of you who keep track of these sorts of things, the G.L.A. did recruit Squirrel Girl and Grasshopper in this issue. Unfortunately, Grasshopper, after performing the incredible feat of out-leaping Batroc the Leaper, died 5.8 seconds later by getting himself skewered in the head with a thrown sai dagger as it went through a doorway in Doorman’s head. Too bad Doorman’s power is to allow objects to pass through a doorway created by his body. Oh, well, not the best guy to stand next to during a battle with sai daggers flying around, I suppose.

Sasquatch killed by flesh-eating insects in Mighty Avengers #21

Mighty Avengers #21
Mar 2009

The Mighty Avengers was the official Avengers group formed during the 50 state initiative following Civil War, but in the era of Dark Reign, things have changed. This issue starts a new story arc with a new writer and a new roster, and as such, is mostly a recruitment-oriented story. Sasquatch appears as a regular member of Omega Flight in one panel.

During a series of worldwide catastrophic events dubbed “The Chaos Cascade”, The Scarlet Witch (really Loki) recruits several members to join the new Mighty Avengers, one of which was supposed to be Captain America (Bucky Barnes). Unfortunately, he got himself killed by evil spikey eye-poking vines that manifested as a result of the Chaos Cascade. Her second choice is USAgent, naturally, recruited right out from an attack of evil flesh-eating insects in downtown Toronto, where quondam Omega Flight teammates Arachne, Weapon Omega and Sasquatch are killed.

Tastes like chicken.

The events of the Chaos Cascade were too globally destructive and overwhelmingly mischievous for the reader to believe that its effects would last: Spidey, Cap, Ms. Marvel and Ronin die; New York, San Francisco and Atlantis are destroyed; the reader just knows these effects are temporary. Meanwhile, the very presence of the Scarlet Witch lends itself to a general feel of “alternate reality”, and sure enough, by issue #23, the effects are reversed.

Note the roster change for Omega Flight: USAgent is removed, but not before Dan Slott took two pages to have the Scarlet Witch insult him as being a B-list replacement for Captain America.

The Amazing Hudson issue

Wolverine Origins #33
Apr 2009

This early Dark Reign tie-in attempts to connect many dots in Wolverine’s history but leaves readers with more questions than answers. Most of the issue is flashbacks and exposition while the usually trustworthy Nick Fury and Logan share a couple of drinks at a bar and discuss the Weapon X program, Romulus and the Hudson family. Yes, the entire Hudson family, including James MacDonald Hudson and Heather Hudson, who appear in one panel. Alpha Flight also appears in flashback in one panel and Wild Child appears later as well.

Nick Fury asks Logan about the name “Hudson”, setting off a series of mental flashbacks, one of which is to the “honeymoon in the woods” scene from Alpha Flight #33 where James and Heather Hudson rescue Wolverine.

Another flashback is the original six member Alpha Flight team of Guardian, Sasquatch, Shaman, Snowbird, Northstar and Aurora, as Logan remembers, “One o’ my first missions for Alpha Flight was to take down the Hulk…”, a reference to his debut in Incredible Hulk #180-182. It’s not clear that Alpha Flight was a fully formed team named “Alpha Flight” at that time, but it’s possible that Logan’s chronically scrambled memory is jumbling things up a bit. It’s a nice Alpha Flight appearance nevertheless, reminiscent of a very similar panel also by Doug Braithwaite in Paradise X #4, in a very similar context, where the original team is shown in flashback to the early days when Wolverine was associated with Dept H.

The biggest revelation in this story is Wolverine’s family tree, as told by Nick Fury: Logan’s mother, Elizabeth Hudson, had two brothers, Elias and Frederick. Frederick Hudson was the guy running the paramilitary camp in Wolverine Origins #15, shown again in issue #27 callously abandoning his pregnant secretary, Caitlin MacDonald. Caitlin and Frederick’s son, Frederick Hudson II is James MacDonald Hudson’s dad, making Logan and Mac first cousins, once removed. Well, that’s nice, so Logan and Mac worked together for years and formed a close friendship, never knew they were distantly related, then Mac died, not knowing of the relationship. Oh, and Fury’s point? “I believe the Hudsons have been the pawns of Romulus for over a century–he uses them like puppets so he doesn’t have to expose himself. But as soon as one of them serves his or her purpose, they’re taken off the board.”

This revelation is problematic because, according to what we know from Wolverine Origins #27, Mac’s father, Frederick Hudson II was born in 1960. It’s a rather difficult scenario: he would have to grow up and have a kid (Mac) who would himself grow up, get a job at Am-Can, spend 5 years creating Dept H and the E-M suit, form Alpha Flight and have it disbanded by Trudeau, who served from 1980 to 1984. Comic book time sure gets silly sometimes but really, that’s just inexplicable.

Note: Mac’s own memories of his parents as shown in X-Men Unlimited #45 indicates that he was named after his grandfather on his mother’s side. Feel free to speculate exactly where the “MacDonald” comes from, unless it’s just a coincidence that his paternal grandmother and his maternal grandfather both were named MacDonald.

If the entire Romulus retcon wasn’t straining credibility enough for readers of this series, the Hudson family tree revelation really jumps the shark. Especially troubling is the assertion by Fury that Romulus is a shady controller of James MacDonald Hudson’s entire life, leading to his untimely death. This would imply that Romulus was behind the formation of the Collective, which was the result of the depowerment on M-Day and therefore Romulus was behind the Scarlet Witch’s insanity… I can’t even finish this train of thought, it just can’t be possible.

Nick Fury also reveals more information about Romulus, mentioning that anything that came after the Weapon X program “was an unsuccessful attempt to create the next-generation Wolverine”, along with an illustration showing Daken, Sabretooth, Deadpool and Wild Child. Assuming that the illustration goes along with Nick Fury’s speech, not just what’s popping into Wolverine’s head as he hears the words, it would imply that Romulus re-powered Wild Child after M-Day, a notion consistent with other Wild Child appearances around that time and up until his death in issue #39 of this series.