Welcome to AlphaFlight.net's monthly column "Flights of Fancy." This title is either catchy or trite, I haven’t decided which, so you may be reading this under a title chosen by AlphaFlight.net's graciously diplomatic host Ben Wells.
Two reservations with the title of "Flights of Fancy:" I ain’t no fancy guy, more of a heavy handed bull in a china shop. Second, the title may be misleading. You won’t find explorations in a the truly fanciful, fantastic fantasy sense.
Instead, this column will address the Alpha Flight appearances that you never read because they never happened. They should have happened. These stories should have been dictated either by geographic location, or by plots of the original stories and continuity.
Who am I to write this? A writer with a pretty good imagination, as my site
www.kozzi.us attests. My name’s not in the credits of published books, but I did have submissions "held" by Marvel for consideration "in the future." (E-mail me, guys!)
My first exposure to Alpha Flight was in the pages of Crystar #11. At the time, I pretty much only read science fiction comics, mostly Marvel’s Star Wars and Micronauts and avoided super-heroes. The characters on that Crystar cover looked cool, even if the blonde chick wasn’t in it, and a flying speedster was. I liked the appearance enough to pick up Alpha Flight #20 and 21, even though those issues featured none of the characters I’d met in Crystar. Imagine my surprise when that passive looking blonde from the cover of Crystar appeared in #23 and tore out her teammate’s heart! Next month’s double-sized #24 saw the team assembled for the first time. Their leader didn’t even have powers. Some of the members were assembled inadvertently and against their will. During their mission to save Sasquatch, it was revealed that one of them doesn’t like Walter, and another hated him! John Byrne had me hooked! Other super-hero purchases followed. At least in theory, Alpha Flight has remained my favorite, even as other collections grew larger and maintained more staying power.
Alpha’s my favorite. I root for them in any confrontation. That said, there’s some warning ahead. Don’t expect a projected win for the Alpha/s every time. In a one-on-one battle, I don’t think there’s any Alpha who could achieve a decisive solo victory over Captain America. Cap’s not one of my favorite characters, but you have to respect the guy’s experience, tactical ability and tenacity. He’d win hands down over acrobatic Puck or powerhouse Sasquatch. He’d weasel out of Shaman’s conjurings, outmaneuver the Guardian battlesuit, neutralize any threat a polar bear or arctic owl poses and he’d slap down either Beaubier with a single shield throw. Most Alphas could win over Cap, but they’d have to use stealth and take him completely by surprise.
To (1) start the column in earnest, (2) emphasize the point that the Alphas don’t always win and (3) foreshadow next month’s Flight of Fancy, let’s take a fight between Iron Man and Vindicator: James MacDonald Hudson.
We have to consider the men behind the masks. Hudson’s intelligence is logical and scientific, but isn’t all that creative outside the invention of cybernetic helmets and convincing various people with varying degrees of mental defect and needs for atonement to join his team. He isn’t a great tactician either. He has yet to win (to this day!) a decisive solo victory. Iron Man, on the other hand, possesses tactical ability, thinks on his feet during combat much better, and has experience beyond anything Hudson can even comprehend. Another very important yet easily overlooked factor is that Stark started as a munitions dealer while Hudson had enough of an aversion to weaponry that he quit his development job because his cybernetics were going to be used as weaponry.
We’ll set the fight publication circa 1982. Iron Man has not yet relinquished the armor to James Rhodes. Alpha Flight Volume 1 #1 has not yet hit the stands, so the battle occurs in Alpha’s side of Marvel’s continuity between AF #1 and AF #2. The heroes need a reason to fight. The best solution to bring the two together is obvious: a technology convention with cybernetic interfaces. That brings Stark and Hudson to the scene. The actual fight is instigated by Hudson’s former employers, who enlist the aide of respectable Avenger Iron Man to recover their stolen property.
Iron Man’s approach is quiet and civil. Recognizing agents of his former employers, Hudson runs, changes into Vindicator and takes flight. Iron Man pursues. With the combatants clear of the convention center, the battle becomes airborne.
Vindicator fares badly. He nails Iron Man once, and Stark is stunned. He plummets. Vindicator, of course, abandons his escape for the rescue, but by the time he closes in on Iron Man, the armor’s systems have recovered. Stark sees the conscience and perhaps some nobility in Vindicator, but keeps his current bounty hunt in mind and nails Vindicator with a close range repulsor. It is Vindicator’s turn to be stunned, and he doesn’t have the experience to recover as quickly. Iron Man grabs him.
Vindicator holds advantage contrary to Marvel Zombie gospel that claims Iron Man as the technological top dog. The Vindicator battlesuit is more sophisticated than the clunky tin suit. Even as Iron Man’s flies Vindicator back to the convention center for arrest, an electric jolt surprises Iron Man into letting go. A reverse-polarity magnetic field shoots Iron Man away. Free of his captor, Vindicator puts himself to rest with Earth’s motion, disappearing from Iron Man’s scopes.
In this tale we didn’t see, Iron Man gets a new and interesting opponent. Alpha had been disbanded by their government, so this tale would build towards the issues behind Hudson’s purpose now that Alpha lost their relationship with the Canadian government.
Or it would have, if it had happened.
Jeff Kozzi is a Providence writer and property manager. He can be reached at kozzi24@hotmail.com
