Marvel has unveiled the variant cover to Alpha Flight #1 from artist Dale Eaglesham.
“I’ve always wanted to do Alpha Flight, but didn’t think I’d ever get the opportunity, so I’m very excited about this,” said Eaglesham. “This is the ideal team book – the characters have such depth and are so unique, so colorful. We have the heroic and iconic in Guardian, Snowbird and Northstar, for example, along with some quirkier heroes like Sasquatch and Marrina. As an artist, this is something I can really sink my teeth into and I’m loving every minute! With Greg and Fred writing, we also have some very topical, gripping and moving stories. I think the fans are going to fall in love with this book. I know I am.”
Alpha Flight #1 arrives June 08, 2011.
21 Comments
I’m hoping he intended to have the Canadian flag upside down.
Yikes – that’d be a bit of a graphic snaffu.
Digging punk Marrina.
It’s a sign of distress if the American flag is flown upside down, I wonder if it’s a similar statement in Canada.
If Marrina’s alive, wouldn’t that make her still Namor’s wife?
It also made me miss John Byrne’s art on the series.
I hope Marvel has a good reason for the flag being upside down. It could mean ‘distress’ but if it’s a graphic issue, they aren’t endearing themselves to Canadian fans.
I believe the government is going to turn against the team, making them outlaws in this series?
Or maybe they need to turn that flag over.
Well…. Now i remember why I switched to DC
Id rather have my country not at all acknowledged rather then having an offensive hamfisted team of heros -_-
Iam not familiar with the comic (and now probably never will be) but from first look I see a Sasquatch, a native American stereotype, 2 people wearing 1 half of the flag (I bet there called MR and MIS Canada or some thing stupid like that) and the upside down flag. With the current cast i don’t think its upside down for any reason except they dident know which way it gos.
Nice one Marvel! Now go reprint girl comics this way you can alienate more customers…
This will be canceld by issue 12. Alpha flight is the Aquaman of Marvel.
I really hope now, I loved the old Alpha Flight runs back in the day. There were some really great stories with cool character interactions.
I think they intended the flag to be upside down, you notice the red in the flag is much darker than the proper Red for it. I’d say the flag is supposed to be foreshadowing for what goes on in the comic. Either that or the editor and artist are both idiots that don’t know how to use the internet.
I haven’t read Alpha Flight in quite a while but why is a Shaman and healer carrying a freaking tomahawk? Is this something he does now or are they just racist b####’s?
And technically, IIRC, the two in the center (James and Heather Hudson) are each wearing a “Whole” Canadian flag since it wraps around to the back. Oddly, everyone on the cover was created by John Byrne (A Canadian) and they are either wearing their original costumes he designed or variations of them. Except Marrina who apparently went Punk sometime..
When did Marrina start channeling the Creeper?
Dude naw! *facepalm* So, we’re going to see Apache Chief back on Justice League too, right? Comic gods in heaven, you’d think with all the fan fall-out marketshare that Marvel’s capturing from DC’s current misogynist white-washing, they’d think a little harder before alienating more people.
Well at least they don’t have Puck as part of the line up, somehow that’s the one I find really insulting…
It’s like saying:
“humm what says American? I know! A fat guy eating hotdogs at a baseball game with a beer hat! We’ll call him Bat-man and he’ll use the magical baseball bat of the Bambino!” Yes, most Canadian live and bleed hockey but please!
What, no love for Eugene Judd? Puck was an interesting character to me, especially when it was revealed that he was not born a dwarf but was that size due to him “trapping” a malevolent entity within him.
A friend of mine knows Dale (yeah…sounds strange…), and from what I know of him, I cannot believe he would put the Canadian flag upside down by mistake or to offend anyone…he’s too nice a guy…so it’s gotta have some sort of meaning…
…and there’s also the fact that I like Dale too Eaglesham much to believe he’d want to insult his country…
…Mokin’s 2 cents…
I love how Liefeldian the cover is in a ‘I can’t draw feet so here’s some random smoke and assorted rocks’ kind of way.
The flag is upside down on purpose. Based on interviews with the creative team, events in Fear Itself result in a fascist state taking over Canada, which proceeds to outlaw Alpha Flight. I guess the symbology of the Guardian’s and Vindicator’s costumes making a right side up flag implies they are trying to set things right.
I was a big fan of the old Alpha Flight series, so I’m really excited about this. :)
The flag upside down offends me.
As for the rest, Shaman may be something of a stereotype, but shamans did and do exist. Should we stop having female characters because they stereotype women?
I became disillusioned with Marvel years ago. I’m just waiting for them to put Wolverine on the team (though, it might actually be appropriate in this case), he’s their answer to everything.
Beyond that, I’d be pleased to see the original team back together, as long as the explanation of how some of them aren’t dead is plausible.
I don’t get why the flag being upside down is so offensive to people, at least at this point where nobody knew exactly what was going on in the comic. It could be a rare comic cover that actually shows some kind of image that reflects the interior. To fly the flag upside down is a non-verbal symbol of distress, it’s a short-hand way of getting a message across instantly. Most frequently used by sailors in the past, but yeah, that’s what it means. It could just as easily have been used by Marvel for the United States flag during or after Civil War once Cap died and the Registration Act had been enacted.
Also, Wolverine wouldn’t be that odd of a choice for the team really, considering he’s Canadian and that Alpha Flight originally came out of a bit of Wolverine’s backstory.
I don’t really think the team is comprised of poorly developed characters. There’s one of the first openly gay superheroes, an Indian medicine man/surgeon/sorcerer (much like Dr. Strange), an alien (Plodex) fish lady, a girl with dissociative identity disorder, a gamma irradiated behemoth/mystical creature, Inuit demi-goddess, a man modeled as a Canadian Captain America (and his wife). That seems like a pretty cool team-up of characters to me. Although I am a big fan of Puck too and wish he were on the team as well, I mean come on the guy had been 7′ tall until the entity he trapped consumed some of his life force thus shrinking him but granting him immortality. He’s a pretty good bullfighter too, I’m sure that can come in handy sometimes.
Don’t be offended by the upside down flag. Canadians all over are doing that lately. I’m serious.
Recently, the Harper conservatives gained a majority government for the first time and lots of Canadians have been doing this (mostly on facebook profiles) as a show of frustration or protest.
Given that the storyline is about a new right wing gov’t coming to power, it’s obvious that this is a jab of sorts at the recent election and is playing off many Canadians own feelings about their country right now. It actually shows some sensitivity to issues facing Canada at the moment. Of course it might be taking too big a potshot at the conservatives but that’s a different issue. At any rate I (as a Canadian) don’t find it offensive at all — and I don’t even particularly mind the conservatives.