Issue(s): Alpha Flight #125, Alpha Flight #126
Cover Date: Oct-Nov 93
Title: "Heart and soul (A prologue) / Dead Reckoning!" / "Dead Reckoning! part 2 / Trial and error!"
Credits:
Simon Furman - Writer
James Reddington / Darrio Carrasco / Manny Galan - Penciler
James Reddington / Frank Turner / Bruce D. Patterson / Mark Stegbauer - Inker
Paula Foye - Assistant Editor
Rob Tokar - Editor

Review/plot:
But wait! Alpha Flight isn't done with Infinity Crusade! After the past three official tie-ins, we have three more issues that are definitely part of Infinity Crusade but aren't labeled as such on the covers (and the images depicted on #125-126 don't provide any indication, either). This entry covers issues #125-126, and there's a separate additional tie-in for issue #127. The stories are so bad, even by the bottom-of-the-barrel standards of this series, that i can't help wonder if they were rejected and replaced with what we saw in the previous three issues and then they decided to run these stories anyway since the book was cancelled (after these issues, there is just the final three issue "No Future" storyline). If that's not the case (and my idle speculation aside, there's no reason to think so), i really question the decision to have six Infinity Crusade tie-ins, especially since the lack of promotion as such for the latter three probably meant that anyone collecting all the tie-ins didn't even know to continue with this series after the conclusion of the arc from the previous three. As i've noted before, Simon Furman did have the Superhero Registration storyline, which at least seemed like it could have had some promise. To put that story on hold for half a year to do meaningless water treading Crusade tie-ins is mind-boggling. For what it's worth (and it may not be much) the lettercol in issue #125 says that the book had a big response to the registration post cards in Alpha Flight #120. Too bad the people who sent those in had to wait forever for anything to come of that storyline.

As with the previous issues, the format continues to include a main story and a shorter story. Issue #125 begins with a 6 page story, billed as a prologue, which is illustrated by James Reddington and features Talisman and Shaman. Both are (supposedly) on the side of the Goddess, Talisman confronts Shaman over his lack of belief. Note we have the weird/interesting idea that Shaman has a "greater sense of awareness" but doesn't actually have "personal belief" and therefore isn't really in the Goddess' thrall.

Shaman knocks Talisman out, saying that he'll continue to work for the Goddess, but really for her and on "one particular matter".

The main story in issue #125-126 (with pencils by Dario Carrasco, inks by Frank Turner in #125 and Bruce D. Patterson in #126) then has Shaman gathering a group of Alphans who are not under the influence of the Goddess and convincing them to go after a demonic threat called Carcass.

The Alphans that are recruited include Madison Jeffries and Diamond Lil, who have been away from the team since leaving to get married. They have apparently been fighting over the fact that Jeffries continues to use the Box armor.

That gets interrupted by Shaman's arrival, but Jeffries' supposed addiction to the Box armor continues to be a point of concern in this story.

Also recruited are Nemesis and Wyre. We learn right away that Shaman is deceiving them and the Goddess as well, but the nature of the deception isn't revealed yet.

Shaman takes the Alpahans to Carcass' dimension. Carcass is said to be an agent of "Khaos" (presumably not the one from Excalibur annual #1; i feel like there ought to have been some checks and balances in place, like "Hey, i'm going with this dumb alternate spelling of "chaos"; is anyone else using that this year?"). They fight their way through the gross dimension and find Khaos, whose dialogue i refuse to read.

It comes out during the fight that Shaman had to kill the Alphan's physical bodies to get to Carcass' dimension, and that causes some in-fighting. Between that and Carcass using a simulation of Shaman's dead wife, the team is thrown into confusion.

Considering where we are in this series, this probably won't turn out to be an important development, but the turning point in the fight is the revelation that Shaman was able to absorb his pouch into himself (when it looked like Carcass was eliminating it) and that allows him to continue using his powers.

I suppose if this ability is never referenced again, it's not just because it happened at the very end of a series that no one was reading. They're also in a spirit world, so different rules would apply.

The group manage to defeat Carcass and get back to their bodies after all.

We already know that Shaman was lying to the Goddess about the need to stop Carcass to help her plans, but it's not clear even how he convinced her of this. Maybe she didn't really care. But aside from some references to the Goddess, the story doesn't even pretend to be relevant to Infinity Crusade, which just makes me wonder why they bothered to set the story during that event.

A back-up story in issue #126 (with art by Manny Galan and Mark Stegbauer - credited in the lettercol of issue #128) has the new mutant that we met in Alpha Flight #118-120 using the name Feedback and engaged in a training session run by Manikin.

To the degree that i can muster any interest in this at all, i'm surprised that Feedback is so enthusiastic about training to become a super-hero. The whole point of the Registration story is that he's been forced into this role thanks to the new law; he was just an ordinary guy before this. So you'd think the story would be about him being reluctant or even unwilling to suddenly have to train to use his powers to fight for the government.

We do see the bitterness later in the story, though, after he's recorded a PSA urging other super-powered people to register.

We also see more of the machinations of Joshua Lord, who ensures that the Hardliners that attacked Feedback in his first appearance are freed (although he's not happy with them). He also hints that he's immortal.

I guess i should give some credit for trying to further the Registration plot during these tie-ins, although cramming a 6 page back-up behind the main story isn't really the way to do it. The art, as with all of the art in these issues, is horrible and the story really just serves to keep the plot alive rather than develop anything. And certainly Feedback and Manikin aren't the characters that are going to keep people coming back (if the story had actually provided the upcoming revelation about Joshua Lord, it might have been a different story). But at least it's something.

Quality Rating: D

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: It seems like these issues can take place any time after Shaman and Talisman are recruited by the Goddess. Since i have the previous Alpha Flight issues between Infinity Crusade #2-3, i'm placing this after #3 (more accurately, it would take place during #3, before Pip attempts to steal the Goddess' cosmic egg.

References:

• Talisman is upset at Shaman for giving up on searching for the members of Beta Flight that went missing in Alpha Flight #98 (all of whom are back by now). Shaman says that he had been searching for them but got summoned back to Earth by "the Elders" to confront the Magus in (per the footnote) Alpha Flight #110. This is covering for Shaman's sudden return to the team for the Infinity War crossover.
  
• Talisman has longstanding grudges against her father for failing to live up to the promise to save her mother, from the back-up in Alpha Flight #5, and for allowing her to become the Talisman without telling her all the details, from Alpha Flight #19.
  
• We met Feedback and the Hardliners in Alpha Flight #118-120.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A