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.

Guardian appearance in X-Men Legends 2: Rise of Apocalypse

Here's a neat thing I stumbled across this past weekend; Guardian had a brief appearance in an X-Men video game in 2005. Unfortunately, he's not available as a playable character, but it's still kind of cool to see him involved.

The clip I include below was lifted from the Mikkel Frost Gaming youtube account.  Mikkel basically walks us through the game. You'll hear the occasional comment from him

You'll note that this is part 27 of the game walk-through.  Heather McNeil Hudson (in the green version of her outfit) was included in the previous part.  She explains to Wolverine and the X-Men that Guardian was sent on a mission to something called the Infinite Factory and has yet to be heard from since.  And, you know, in light of how often he dies, that's the kind of thing that you want looked into!  So she asks the team to investigate because it's not as though she'd ever been in charge of a team full of superheroes and mutants herself.

When the X-Men finally locate Guardian, he needs little convincing to get out of the way. If the video does not start in the right spot, fast forward to 3:18 or so.



Guardian provides additional instructions further along in the game but never gets directly involved in the action (that I know of). He was voiced by Jim Ward for this game.

Super-Team Family Presents...

Ah, if only...

The imaginary cover above is the creation of Ross Pearsall, who describes his work as reflecting "The greatest team-ups that never happened... but should have!"

No kidding.

Ross has a long-running blog on which Guardian and Alpha Flight has made a number of appearances. Check out another example below.

Fun stuff, eh?

Wonder what Green Arrow's problem is? ;-)

There have been a few Marvel / DC collaborations but I'm more reminded of the Justice League / Justice Society team-ups that took place fairly regularly.  Typically, members of either team would pair up, or form small groups, and each grouping would complete a task towards a common goal.  It's neat to imagine teams of Green Arrow / Aurora, Green Lantern / Northstar or Batman / Puck. But Superman / Guardian would be a geekgasm for the ages.

Guardian sketch card by Mike Thomas

This is the e-bay purchase I made brief reference to a few days ago.

The card is from the 3rd series of Upper Deck's Marvel Beginnings set, issued in 2012.  Artist Mike Thomas has signed the back of it.  Thomas has a Facebook page specific to his sketch cards.

It is identified as being "1 of 1" so I didn't incude it on the Collectibles page since the only way to collect it would be to buy it from me and that's not going to happen. ;-)

I've seen one other Guardian sketch card from the Marvel Beginnings series on e-bay but did not pull the trigger on it because, honestly, I didn't particularly care for it.  It was essentially a mug shot in front of a Canadian flag. But there are a number of sketch cards displaying Alpha Flight characters so anyone who might be interested in starting a unique little collection has the opportunity.

Finally!! My friggin' Guardian Heroclix!

In the early morning hours today, the temperature began to dip to -26 "feels like -38" in Ottawa.  Yet I almost ran to the mailbox in pajama pants when I saw that the Guardian Heroclix I ordered was showing as "delivered" on the US Postal Service website.

Getting my hands on this thing has been a chore. I first ordered it in early November (on e-bay).  The person I purchased it from shipped it in no time, so I was pleased to see that.  I was tracking the package on the US Post site.  Everything seemed to be going fine.  Until it got jammed up somewhere.  It didn't move for over a month.

While seeing if I could order it from somewhere in Canada instead, I inadvertently ordered a second one from the States.  And then noticed that I did so from the same dude I bought the first one from.  Bloody hell.

Then the morning after my second purchase, I checked on my first more out of habit than anything.  Damned thing had apparently been released from the holding facility in which it was stuck and was on its way after all.  Bah.  Oh well, I guess at least I would get both rather than have one lost somewhere.

Not yet!  I looked closer and my first purchase has apparently ended up in Brazil.  In light of the temperature here though, I can kind of understand why it would do such a thing instinctively.

But my second one did make it, as promised by US Post!  I plucked it out of the mailbox this morning and I quite like it!

Except...

The front looks pretty great, at least compared to the original version of this game piece (shown on the Collectibles page above).  Here it is, blown up significantly.

Sure, there are slight paint flaws along his right arm.  But the actual piece is only about two inches tall so it's actually not very noticeable. On the flip side, the yellow eyes don't stand out very much on the actual figurine.

The problem is on the back.

Uhm...What the hell is that?  They'd done a pretty good job with the maple leaf in the front of the piece, how could they butcher it so badly on the back?  Gack!

If my first Guardian ever comes home from Brazil, I'll compare the two.  And as far as having two in the collection, I can paint a small red stripe on the above one's mask and pretend he's Mac's clone from volume two of Alpha Flight, and that the other one is Mac returned from being blasted into space by Department H. 

There.  Problem solved.