Thursday, January 5, 2012

Comic Book Focus: Alpha Flight Vol. 1



Alpha Flight Volume 1
Writers:  Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente
Pencillers: Ben Oliver(.1 issue) and Dale Eaglesham (issues 1-4)
Inker:  Andrew Hennessy
Issues Collected:  .1, 1-4
Tentative Publishing Date:  Jan. 11, 2012


During "The Chaos War" crossover, the dead members of Alpha Flight returned to life.  Alpha Flight is reunited as Canada's super team.  When the "Fear Itself" event hits Canada's shores, the people panic and turn to the newly elected Prime Minister Cody for guidance.  Cody turns the people against Alpha Flight.  One of their own betray them and label the team as traitors.  Can Alpha Flight survive when their nation is hunting them down?


Pak and Van Lente have crafted a very interesting story.  Every time it seems like Alpha Flight is making progress, they hit them with a new twist.


Eaglesham is one of my favorite pencillers in the business today.  He embraces traditional comic art and takes it to a new level.  It has been fun watching him progress from his work on Batman and Justice Society through the Fantastic Four and this title.  I look forward to his next project.


The only downside to this is that the series was cancelled with the eighth issue.  Pick up this collection and the following one.  It is a fun super hero title that deserved more attention.

2 comments:

Chimeradave said...

I don't understand how this is called Alpha Flight Vol 1 when this isn't the original Alpha Flight comics.

Jim Black said...

From what I understand, Marvel has renamed the original series "Alpha Flight Classic". I remember the excitement when Alpha Flight was first introduced in the X-Men. I liked the original series but followup series have struggled to find a market share.