Amazing X-Men 8 preview

Some anticipated good news was recently confirmed.

The solicitation for Amazing X-Men #8 indicated that Alpha Flight would appear in some capacity in the book, but the cover did not reveal which members.

This June, fan-favorite X-writers Craig Kyle and Chris Yost join blockbuster artist Ed McGuinness for an all-new arc of Marvel mutant mayhem in AMAZING X-MEN #8! 

Though Nightcrawler has returned to them, there is no rest for the X-Men. A return trip to Canada leads Wolverine to a hairy situation as the search for a missing friend brings him face to face with a horde of bloodthirsty Wendigo! 

One Wendigo is enough to stop even the strongest heroes dead in their tracks. What hope to the X-Men have against an entire army?  Even the combined strength of  the X-Men and guest stars Alpha Flight may still not be enough to stop the coming assault! 

Don’t miss both teams prepare for battle as the pulse-pounding new ‘World War Wendigo’ arc kicks off this June in AMAZING X-MEN #8!

There was no reason to doubt that Guardian would be included, really.  He was still the leader of Alpha Flight when they last appeared in Hulk's Mayan Prophecy storyline.  Still, you never know what can happen off-panel (Avengers 16 reference) but the preview art below makes it official.

Oh dear.

That almost looks like a variant cover, but I haven't been able to find confirmation either way as to whether that's the case. I also don't know how many issues the story runs for, but it may not matter.  The solicitation for #9, obviously the second part of the arc, refers to "members of Alpha Flight" being involved.  So it may be that some of the characters from the first issue do not appear in part two.  It's possible that Guardian is not among them.

We'll have to see, but for now I'll be satisfied to have Guardian on active, present-day duty in almost two years.

Wolverine / Cable: Guts and Glory

Guardian doesn't appear in the book below, but James MacDonald Hudson does.

In Guardian's early appearances, right up to his first "death" in Alpha Flight #12, he seemed like a decent guy.  Sure, he was considred the antagonist when he twice attempted to recover Wolverine for the Canadian government, but he clearly wasn't evil, he was just a good little soldier doing his job. In fact, he was doing a job he didn't really want.

But from time to time, that hasn't been enough.  Writers have, on occasion, painted Mac as being so concerned with making Department H work that he would make highly questionable decisions for any shred of success.

This is such a book.

Guts and Glory has a publishing date of October 1999, as if the exaggerated musculature and huge-ass firearms weren't enough of a clue that it came out in the 90's.  As stated on the cover above, Stephen Platt provided the pencils with seven (??!!!) credited inkers completing the art.

The story takes place prior to Alpha Flight really becoming a thing.  Wolverine appears to be the only official agent at this point.  He is in "Northern Canada" (that covers a lot of ground, doesn't it?) enjoying a cigar after getting laid (I'm serious) when Mac interrupts his afterglow.

The "disturbance" is caused by a big bastard called D'Von Kray who followed Cable through time to kick his ass. Wolverine takes him out in no time and Department H hauls him in. To what end?  Well...

Sure.  He wiped out Moose Jaw, but we'll just give him Canadian citizenship so he can be in Alpha Flight. 

But sure enough, just a week later...

That was one intense week of research!

As if you need me to tell you, D'Von Kray escapes and heads for the States to give Cable a good whuppin'. Wolverine is able to track him and the two heroes work together to take him down and...well...that's pretty much it.

As much as I dislike the notion that Mac might have done some pretty lousy things in order to keep his program going, I can't discount that it's happened a number of times in his history (always in flashback, mind you).  I suppose it's not outrageous that when the possibility of the department being dropped presented itself, Mac may have taken an "the ends justify the means" approach for the greater good, but it clashes with his personality as it was displayed by Chris Clarement in the early New X-Men books and by John Byrne in the first dozen Alpha Flight issues.

Enemy of the State II

A couple of posts back, I wrote about a cameo appearance by Guardian in the Wolverine book that was being published at the time.  In that appearance, the Hudsons announced to Wolverine that they were expecting their first child.

That same month (April 2002), Wolverine played a large role in a five-part story called Enemy of the State II in the Black Panther title.  Alpha Flight, and therefore Guardian, also popped in briefly.

Why are Wolverine and Alpha Flight involved at all?  Seems Black Panther produced old paperwork  which reveals that an island on Lake Superior actually belongs to Wakanda and he wants it back.  The following partial page is from issue 43, the third installment in the arc, and the cover to which can be seen at above left.

Alpha Flights' reaction to the above was actually displayed at the end of the previous issue:

I've seen people on social media and message boards be thrown off by the red stripe on Guardian's helmet. It seems to cause people to assume that the character being shown is the younger clone version from the second volume of Alpha Flight.

Highly unlikely; that Mac died almost three years before in Wolverine #143.  The "real" Mac wore it for a while too; I believe he ceased to do so in Scott Lobdell's brutally painfully dumb third volume of Alpha Flight from 2004.  At least something good came from that atrocity.

Back to Panther #43...The Wakandan king and Wolverine do end up meeting with Alpha Flight.  Showing a little consistency and continuity, Wolverine even takes the time to ask Heather how she is and she updates us on her pregnancy.  Nice touch.  Then they get down to business.

Can't get nothin' past our boy.

Unfortunately, that's about the extent of Guardian and Alpha Flight's involvement.  They do appear in one poorly drawn panel later in the story to interfere with Iron Man's plan to stop Panther's plan, but that's it.

Still, it's nice to see the team's existence acknowledged when something major happens in Canada (and not show up to be jobbed out), even if a blurb in issue #42 makes reference to "Sault Saint Marie".

Origin Recap in Marvel Saga #1

My folks were cleaning out their basement during the holidays and stumbled into boxes full of some of my old comics.  Many are filled with crap, but one box did include some Alpha Flight issues from late in volume one and the book below, which I'd forgotten I'd ever owned.

If you're unfamiliar with Marvel Saga, published in December 1985, its goal was to tie the various aspects of the Marvel Universe history chronologically.

A significant portion of the first issue was devoted to the origins of the Fantastic Four, and since the FF were the in-story inspiration for Alpha Flight, their segment leads to Guardian's own origin.  It is told by patching together panels from the back-up stories in the early issues of Alpha Flight that provided background details about each team member.  The installments in issues two and three focused on Mac and Marvel Saga summarizes them in three pages.

This Saga ran for 25 issues then spawned more character-specific series, such as Spider-Man Saga and Wolverine Saga. Since they figure prominently in his history, it's no surprise to see Mac and Heather show up in the first issue of the Wolverine book as well.

We'll just assume that Expos line is an attempt at humour by Mac...

The second issue of Wolverine Saga covers Guardian's (Weapon Alpha at the time) first attempt at recovering Wolverine for the Canadian government (originally depicted in X-Men 109), as well as the scrap between the X-Men and Alpha Flight in Calgary from X-Men 120 and 121.

The first few pages of the third issue recap Wolverine and Nightcrawler teaming with Guardian (still known as Vindicator), Shaman and Snowbird from Alpha Flight to stop the Wendigo (X-Men 139 and 140) in northern Ontario.

So no new material to speak of, just old panels/pages reorganized to abbreviate a little convoluted history.  Still, in light of how poorly treated Alpha Flight and Guardian have been in the past, it's nice to see their place in Marvel history recognized.

Guardian cameo in Wolverine: The Logan Files

Alpha Flight fans are likely aware of the team's appearance in Wolverine (volume 2) #172 in 2002.

The cover to the next issue (at right) does not display it quite so bluntly, but the book also has some decent Alpha Flight content.  It mostly takes the form of a heart-to-heart between Wolverine and Shaman, but there is also a significant cameo appearance by Guardian.

Quick back-story; the story opens with Wolverine's X-Man partner and friend Nightcrawler being attacked by two of Logan's long-time villains in Omega Red and Lady Deathstrike.  The villains get the best of him.

We flip to Shaman attempting to determine mystically who might have it in for Wolverine (this time) but failing.  As they discuss the issue, they receive a transmission from Mac and his wife Heather.

If the dialogue is difficult to read, you can view a larger version of the page by opening it in a new tab (right-click option).

So Heather announces she's carrying a l'il Guardian as an engine goes dead.  Turns out that Red and Deathstrike are disabling the jet from underneath.  It is next seen exploding in the mountains.

Lest you think this might be one of Guardian's many, many deaths, fear not!  It is revealed in the following issue (we're now at #174, if you were losing track) that Mac and Heather were able to bail.

Well done, James, you heroic bastard!

That's about all we see of Mac.  But we see plenty of the suit!  Wolverine has discovered that his healing factor is no longer working properly.  So he needs to give himself an edge if he's going to survive trying to save his friends and family from Omega Red and Lady Deathstrike.  And he gives himself the coolest edge of all. :-)

All right, I really don't like Wolverine, but I admit that I marked out at that (to use a wrestling term). That's pretty neat.  And it fits him perfectly, even though Mac is approximately 11 inches taller!  Wolverine still gets kicked around, but at least he looks sharp while having it done to him.

So not a lengthy appearance by any stretch, but nonetheless significant if only for the announcement of Heather's pregnancy.  Mac and Heather's daughter would be born 14 months later in X-Men Unlimited #45 (June 2003 cover date).  That must have been one difficult labour.