Issue(s): Alpha Flight #54
Cover Date: Jan 88
Title: "Goblyn!"
Credits:
Bill Mantlo - Writer
Hugh Haynes - Penciler
Whilce Portacio - Inker
Marc McLaurin - Assistant Editor
Carl Potts - Editor

Review/plot:
As you can see from the title, this issue focuses on Goblyn, the one character from Scramble and Bedlam's Derangers that survived the fight last issue.

We learn that Goblyn's seeming alter-ego, seen last issue, is actually her "twin", and they trade places, with the replaced character going to "Liveworld", while our reality is referred to as "Deadworld".

Goblyn cares enough about her twin, Laura Dean, that she won't transfer back to Liveworld because it would deposit Laura in the freezing elements of the Arctic. So Goblyn tries to sneak back into Alpha Flight's new headquarters while the team is repairing it. That sets off an alarm, so (after Purple Girl convinces Vindicator to not just let Goblyn die out in the snow!) adult members of the team go out to search for her. Vindicator leaves the group with three watch words: "Spread out. Search. Be Careful". Um.

Back in the base, Purple Girl starts to get upset over all the death she's been seeing, plus the burden of her mutant powers. Her tears come down in solid streams.

Goblyn engages in guerrilla tactics, taking out Sasquatch and Vindicator...

...and allowing Madison Jeffries to bring her into the base, where she guts him and then attacks Manikin. Purple Girl accidentally uses her powers to paralyze her boyfriend.

When Purple Girl tries to use her powers on Goblyn, they wind up in a mind-merge (i guess even more detailed than the mind-merge all of Alpha shared with the Derangers in the previous arc). The secret is that Goblyn and Laura's parents were actually anti-mutant activists...

...and they tried to abort the mutant child with radiation (i want to see this doctor's license). In the womb, Laura moved to shield her twin sister. Laura was born autistic.

The good news is that Purple Girls viscous tears have a calming effect on Goblyn.

And Purple Girl manages to stop the other Alphans from exacting their revenge.

I don't know much about Hugh Haynes except that for Marvel he did a few issues of Alpha Flight and some more issues of Punisher. The art here is at least clear, and he pulls off Sasquatch, a difficult character, fairly well. Storywise, well, you can see Mantlo continuing to work the mutant theme as well as i guess the intentional idea that Vindicator is a no-nonsense killer. It's a bit clunky but it's more straightforward than recent past issues and it's better for it.

Quality Rating: C

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: This takes place relatively soon after the end of last issue, with Goblyn out in the Arctic and Alpha Flight hastily making repairs to their new base to ward off the elements.

References:

• Alpha Flight debate taking Bedlam's headquarters for their own, and we're reminded that their old headquarters was originally the property of Gilded Lily, seen in Alpha Flight #20-21 and Alpha Flight annual #1. Also, that HQ was destroyed in the previous arc.
  
• When Purple Girl hears that the other Derangers are dead, she wonders if they are better off, and thinks about her origin story from Alpha Flight #41-42.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A