Issue(s): Alpha Flight #52, Alpha Flight #53
Cover Date: Nov-Dec 87
Title: "Specters!" / "A blast from the past!"
Credits:
Bill Mantlo - Writer
June Brigman / Jim Lee - Penciler
Whilce Portacio - Inker
Joanne Spaldo - Assistant Editor
Carl Potts - Editor

Review/plot:
After some teases and preludes in earlier Mantlo issues, these issues introduce a new theme to Alpha Flight. It's a government conspiracy angle, where Gary Cody is bridging a gap between Alpha Flight and "a government that is beginning to fear them". Along with that is the idea that the long dead James "Guardian" Hudson had conspiratorial machinations of his own. To me, this is a weird angle for Alpha Flight - perhaps in part due to a bias on my side that finds it hard to believe that Canada is the right setting for any of this - but this will become an important theme to later Alpha Flight runs (both the Steve Seagle and Pak/Van Lente runs will pick up on these types of topics), so Mantlo is definitely introducing a longstanding new idea into a series. And that's arguably necessary. I've talked before about the idea that Alpha Flight and other second-tier super-teams - the Defenders, the Champions - are criticized for not having a reason for existing beyond being "yet another group of super-heroes that aren't the Avengers". Both the Defenders and Alpha Flight have a lot in common in that they've focused more on the mystical side of the spectrum and both have played with the idea of being "non-team" teams. But on this latter point Mantlo has done away with that and really formalized the team, giving them a headquarters and fancy computer equipment and kept the group together for group missions, unlike the way Byrne would break the team down into individuals or smaller groups except on significant occasions. So it makes sense that Mantlo is looking for something new to do with the team now that they really are just Canada's Avengers.

Issue #52 has Cody searching a computer disc that he pulled off of Alpha Flight's Alphanex computer last issue, and he thinks to himself that James Hudson may have already created the means by which the Canadian government could use to control Alpha. As Cody runs through the files, we see a number of scenes from Department H's formative past, including what i think is new information: the H in Department H stands for Hudson.

We also learn that Hudson, when he was having trouble finding super-heroes to recruit into Alpha Flight, decided to make them. Wolverine was aware of this.

The files don't go further than that, but provide the location of Hudson's secret lab, where Cody finds something in a creepy cocoon.

Cody figures it's a good idea to go ahead and open that.

After a jump away to look in on the current Alpha Flight team (the big news is that Heather and Madison Jeffries formally begin their relationship), we come back to find a comatose Cody and then we see Wolverine getting a call from "Hudson" telling him that "Bedlam is free".

Wolverine shows up at Alpha's headquarters to find it in ruins. Only Madison Jeffries is around, and he's a mess.

He tells Wolverine that they were attacked by "Bedlam the Brain Beast" while they were all in a training session.

We learn that Bedlam has taken the rest of Alpha Flight up to a new complex in the "Artic".

There are a few new faces among the captives. Bedlam introduces everybody with a brain meld of some kind.

Bedlam reveals that after Hudson activated him, he turned on him, and Wolverine and Guardian forced him back into the cocoon. Bedlam now takes the four new characters, calls them Derangers, and tells Alpha Flight that they have to fight.

Heather helpfully spells out their powers and origins for us.

Wolverine and Box show up during the fight...

...and we learn in a really dumb way that James Hudson actually wasn't responsible for the creation of Wolverine.

Heather takes down Bedlam.

Most of the Derangers are also killed, but Goblyn gets away, and Alpha Flight decide to make the Arctic base their new home.

Wolverine is teleported home by Manikin's future self.

The most interesting thing about these issues is seeing Jim Lee's early Marvel art.

I said above that the government conspiracy angle had merit. The problem with these issues is that they're terrible. The idea that James Hudson was some kind of manipulative guy flies in the face of his early appearances. Bedlam is ridiculous. And it's just amazing how Mantlo is completely tearing down the status quo - after some decent horror stories in the beginning, he's been tearing down the characters one by one and totally revamping the team, and he's now at the point where he's tearing down his own previously established ideas (Alpha's headquarters and association with the government). There's nothing wrong with keeping things fresh, but the speed at which things are moving, and the degree of destruction left in its wake, smacks of desperation, and the stories read accordingly.

Quality Rating: D+

Historical Significance Rating: 3 - first Goblyn (and Pathway) after cameo in issue #48

Chronological Placement Considerations: The MCP has Wolverine here between Uncanny X-Men #220-221, same as his appearance in Daredevil #248-249. Kind of funny that right after Storm makes him leader he goes off on a bunch of solo missions.

References:

• Some of the flashback scenes from Uncanny X-Men #109 are replayed or expanded upon here.
  
• Mantlo earlier teased the idea that Hudson was a Machiavellian jerk by suggesting in Alpha Flight #33-34 that he was behind the program that forced the adamantium skeleton into Wolverine. Turns out that wasn't the case, but he was still a Machiavellian jerk. But the revelation that he wasn't responsible for Heather puts her mind at ease. And she's moved on to Madison Jeffries anyway.
  
• Sasquatch came back as a woman in Alpha Flight #45. The footnote also references Alpha Flight #46 which went further into people's reactions to that.
  
• Heather notes that the Derangers were first seen in Alpha Flight #48. They were mental patients brought to Scramble's New Life clinic.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

I didn't like the way Heather found out Mac had nothing to do with Logan's adamantium. Bedlam encountered Mac briefly years ago- why would he have taken the time to read Mac's mind to see if he had anything to do with Logan's adamantium and then remembered that years later? I was half-expecting him to add "Oh, and Mac always hated it when you cooked roast beef."

It's not noted in the review, but the Derangers are the New Life patients Aurora encountered being held by Scramble in AF 48.

Yes, the seventh scan from this review:
http://www.supermegamonkey.net/chronocomic/entries/alpha_flight_48-49.shtml

Thanks guys. Heather does say that in one of the scans i've included. But i've now added a Reference for that. I was also on the fence about tracking the Derangers as Characters Appearing but i've now added them here and in #48.

The Derangers were actually first announced as getting their own Marvel/Epic comic in 1985. Mantlo was the writer, and Butch Guice(and later Ken Steacy) was the artist. For whatever reason, the book didn't happen and Mantlo apparently decided to give his creations to Marvel and immediately kill most of them off. Considering how Mantlo's been criticized for depicting mentally ill people in previous stories, it's probably best we didn't see him handle an entire bookful.

Since the book's identity is heavily based on the team's association to Canada, the obvious theme is that of "government conspiracy." Might as well include the Mounted Canadian Death Squads as well.

Mantlo's earlier work was serviceable. Usually acceptable with the occasional mediocore issue, but just as frequently an above average one. I find his run in AF to be just awful, and we are reaching the nadir here.

June Brigman penciled #52.

Updated the credits. Thanks Vin.