Alpha Flight #1

Fresh off his successful run as penciller on Marvel Comics' The Uncanny X-Men, back in the late 1970s and early 1980s, John Byrne began writing and penciling Marvel's flagship title: The Fantastic Four.

While on his run on the X-Men both he, and writer Chris Claremont, introduced a Canadian superhero team that Wolverine originally belonged to until he left and joined the X-Men: Alpha Flight.

Alpha Flight caught on with Marvel Comic book readers and at the urging of Marvel John Byrne introduced the team in its own comic book of which he wrote, drew and inked.

In the book readers were introduced to the team members, among them Vindicator, Sasquatch, Aurora, Northstar, Puck, Snowbird, Marrina and Puck.

The first issue also pitted against the team against their first foe: Tundra.

It was also in this issue that each member of the team was given their due.  Backgrounds, kinships and the entire dynamic of the team were shown. 

Considering the amount of pages in the first issue, John Byrne did an excellent job covering such a broad area.

Over the following issues Byrne would guide the team through a series of adventures, even the death of one its members.


Alpha Flight continues to be a part of the Marvel Comics Universe but it has never regained its popularity that it had under Byrne's creative guidance.