The Life and Death and Life and Death and Life and Death and Life and Death and Life and Death and Life of James MacDonald Hudson

The panel below is from issue #2 of the most recent volume of Alpha Flight.

Mac is in court, with Heather at his side, asking to have custody of their daughter Claire restored to them.  Claire was placed in the care of distant relatives when Mac and Heather were believed to be dead.

I must have just glossed over it the first time I read the book because I almost had a spit take when I read if again the other day.  Mac has given his life for his country only twice??

Hasn't it felt like about a half dozen?  But then going over each apparent occasion, it was actually difficult to pinpoint which two occurrences Mac referred to in his outburst.

Mac didn't die in volume 1, issue 12.  He went through some space/time continuum thing and ended up being rescued by aliens.  Still a shitty day, granted, but not a death per se.

He didn't die in the second volume, when Department H fired him off into space (that's one way to hide a body...) because his suit kept him alive.  He thinks (literally) that he dies in X-Men Unlimited #45 but Shaman convinced the air to keep him alive (It's...hard to explain...)

The one time that seems concrete is New Avengers 16.  In the Chaos War special that followed some time after that issue wiped out the entire team, Shaman confirms that Alpha Flight did not survive, but the outcome of that event restored the team.  So that's an actual resurrection, I guess.

So what other "death" is Mac referring to?  Volume 1, issue 100?  I'm not certain how The Master brought him back in the "No Future" storyline in issues 128 to 130, so perhaps that's it.

Or maybe he's referring to his young clone from volume two, who clearly did not share his "source material's" ability to cheat death when he was blown up in an exploding battle suit (Hey, just like "dad"!) in Wolverine #143.  Not entirely sure.  Mac has appeared to die so often that I can't help but wonder if I'm forgetting (or unaware) about a story in which it happened.

Guardian's Sweet Ride!

I shared this picture on Twitter some time back, prior to creating this Guardian-specific blog.  That doesn't seem like a good reason to avoid including it here, too.

Ain't it great?  It was an entry in a livery contest based around the Forza Motorsport 4 driving simulation game.  There's another picture of it, as well as several other comic-based designs on this thread in the official forum.

Boulevard of Broken Teams

I had a little cottage time this past weekend and brought a few comics to read for chilly mornings and evenings.  Among my batch, three involved appearances by Guardian and they were all issues from Wolverine's book from the mid-90's; numbers 83, 84 and 95.

I've owned these for a while and I dig them up from time to time when I get on a Guardian and/or Alpha Flight kick.  They take place between that team's volumes one and two.  Heather also guest-stars in all three issues.

All are written by Larry Hama.  What is peculiar is that while Mac is written as the standard "ordinary guy" in the first two issues, he's actually quite the jackass in #95.

He and Heather are in Manhattan to keep an eye on Wolverine for fear that he might have lapses in self-control and become violent.  Mac is irritating throughout most of the book as he feels responsible for whatever damage Wolverine may cause by flipping out.  He seems entirely out of character, but at least this is acknowledged in how Heather is constantly telling him to calm down and trust Logan.

Personality discrepancies aside, I always get a kick out of this panel:

An apparent reference to Boulevard of Broken Dreams, I always forget it's coming and it cracks me up to see Mac and Heather in full gear in a coffee shop. Maybe Logan could have gotten the java "to go", eh?

No real sign of Mac's Antiguard persona, though Mac feeling slighted at being described as "distant" might be residue from that story.  I believe the next time we saw Mac, he had been de-evolved into a 19-year old at the beginning of the Alpha Flight, volume two, number one.

Guardian was most interesting...

...when writers weren't killing themselves trying to make him interesting.

In an effort to accurately fill the "Appearances" page, I've been marathon-reading Guardian's various incarnations.  While I don't hold John Byrne in quite the same high regard as many fellow Alpha Flight fans, it's easy to recognize that the team was at its best in his hands, Guardian included (Well...Killing him aside, of course...).  It's even more glaring when you read the material in quick succession.

Subsequent writers seemed to bend over backwards to give Guardian some quirk to make him more interesting, or unique.  Fabian Nicieza brought him back as a cyborg, only to have him "die" again less than two years later.  Simon Furman has him brought back as the Antiguard...

Whatever an Antiguard is, it's pretty chatty.

...then next thing we know, Steven Seagle has de-evolved him to a 19-year old as the second volume begins.

So note to future writers: There's no need for all crap. It might seem cool on the surface, but Guardian is not that type of character.  From his early X-Men appearances to his apparent death in #12, he progressed from a reluctant government agent to a more confidant leader who grew to enjoy his position as defender of the country.  This page from issue #6 underscores that very well.

Of course, in hindsight, he sounds like the "perfect partner" in the cop movies who is two days away from  retirement and gets blown away on his last assignment.

Still, it was far easier for the reader to relate to Guardian as someone out of his element growing into the role than it was to relate to whatever the hell an Antiguard was supposed to be.  Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente got that in the most recent mini-series.  Hopefully the next person to handle the character does too.