Chris Claremont's and John Byrne's Uncanny X-Men 109, 120-121, 139-140

Uncanny X-Men 109, 120-121, 139-140

Alpha Flight : The Early Years

The five issues scattered throughout the Claremont-Byrne run in Uncanny X-Men can be considered the introduction of the Canadian super-team Alpha Flight. Let's look at the team one by one.

Vindicator's power derives from his steel mesh suit. The battlesuit is able to manipulate the Earth's electromagnetic field giving Vindicator a variety of powers: flight, the projection of concussive force and force field generation.

Just like Dr. Bruce Banner, Dr. Walter Langkowski experimented with gamma rays. As a consequence, he is able to transform himself at will to the ten foot tall, two thousand pound Sasquatch. The Sasquatch is not as strong as the Hulk who is rated at strength class 100. Sasquatch is strength class 70, same as Colossus.

Both Aurora and Northstar have super speed (potentially light speed if only there were no atmosphere). When they come into physical contact with each other, they can generate a powerful strobe light.

Shaman is the Canadian Dr. Strange, the heir to lore so ancient it was old before Canada was Canada. Par for the course are magical feats of different kinds. He also has a bottomless "medicine pouch" from which he can draw different magical artifacts.

Snowbird is a half-human half-god. She can take the form of any arctic animal.

Issue 109 is about Vindicator's attempt to capture Wolverine. Issues 120-121 has the whole team going up against the X-Men to get to Wolverine. By issue 139-140 we have peace between Alpha Flight and the X-Men at last, as Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Vindicator, Snowbird and Shaman team up to hunt down the Wendigo - a creature so powerful it can fight toe-to-toe with the Hulk. In particular, I like this panel very much.