Alpha Flight in Marvel Adventures

While writing about the recently-released Guardian Heroclix from the Invincible Iron Man set, I questioned how Alpha Flight came to be considered among Iron Man's allies.  No doubt they've met but they've never had any significant ongoing interaction.

I was reminded of an Alpha Flight appearance in an issue of Marvel Adventures Iron Man (#11, published in March of 2008), however.  It's not in continuity; Marvel Adventures was geared towards a younger crowd.  But Alpha Flight and Iron Man do meet briefly in a story that takes place during a training session in Nunavut.

Writer: Fred Van lente

The Living Laser is back, and having merged with the aurora borealis, he's laying waste to the Great White North. Iron Man had better call in the cavalry! Wait, no--the Mounties! No, better yet--Canada's greatest super heroes, ALPHA FLIGHT!

Here's a page that features Guardian in particular.  You can read the first few page of the book here.

Alpha shows up later in the book as well to provide an assist to Iron Man in defeating the Living Laser (and continue to bicker).  And Guardian didn't die, so that's always a plus.

I've said before that I'm not usually into alternate versions of the character but that one is kind of fun and pretty consistent with the original.  Guardian has a history of being a little starstruck around some of the bigger names in the Marvel universe.  We saw it earlier in a brief appearance in a Fantastic Four book when he unexpectedly met Reed Richards and the next post, up in a day or two, will display another such occurrence.

Pre-Alpha Flight look at Guardian

Courtesy of the "John Byrne Draws" tumblr account.

It's probably fairly obvious, but the second character from left was referred to as an early version of Guardian (quite early, since the sketch is said to be from roughly 1971) when I first came across this piece.  Viewing the page now, I see an asterisk next to "Guardian" but with no explanation as to what it signifies so I suppose there's a possibility that it is not the case, or at least not confirmed.

If you're a John Byrne fan, you need to follow that account, or the similar Twitter account "John Byrne says".  They display tons of rare art and quotes from the controversial writer/artist.

No Alternatives

Continuing to build on the Appearances page above, I want to lay out the (self-imposed) rules in regards to what qualifies and what doesn't.

Ultimately, I want to record significant appearances by the James MacDonald Hudson of the "main" Marvel Universe. In other words I have no interest in...

• What If? appearances.  I've never really understood the appeal of this book.  If it isn't in continuity, I couldn't care less.
• The Ultimate Universe version (or whatever other alternate realities Marvel has).  I think that's them on the right.  To quote from among the worst periods in Alpha Flight history, You Gotta Be Kiddin' Me.
• Speaking of the 3rd volume, the various alternate future versions of the character in the later issues will also be ignored (as should the book itself) for a reason similar to the What If? books.
• Repetitive flashbacks.  There are only so many times one can reference Mac's first meeting with Wolverine, when he (actually, Heather) shot him in the woods.  However, if said appearance adds something to the that event, then it would be included.
• Fact sheets.  The point is to record the character's adventures.  An entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe doesn't really fit that description.  Neither does an article in Marvel Age or some such.  It needs to be in a storyline.

On the flip side, though it's hardly a shining moment in the character's history, I can't help but feel that the young clone version from Volume Two should be in there.  I didn't like him much, frankly, but it was still intended to be Mac and is in continuity, so his appearances will be listed.

That's all I can think of at the moment.  So when the list is done, I will welcome anyone's feedback as to what might be missing from it so that I can make it as complete as possible.