Punch Up: “To Me My ❌-Men”
Chapter Nine:
1983
July + September, 1983 Alpha Flight by Byrne, Yanchus, Orzechowski + Denny
October, 1983, Alpha Flight No. 6 by Higgins, Byrne, Yanchus + Grant
Mixtape track: Borderline by Madonna & Everything Counts by Depeche Mode; Sugar Hiccup by Cocteau Twins
of “to me my ❌-Men,” where we dip our toes into Canada, celebrating Letterers and 🌨️.
Previously on “to me my ❌-Men,” where monsters, mutants, devils, ninjas, sorcerers, pop music; Great Caesars ghost! Oh my!
And so another title jump; this time into already in progress Alpha Flight, who debuted in a Claremont/Byrne Uncanny ❌-Men issue at the beginning of 1979. The primary connection is, these are Logan’s people, government organisation, and countrymen; fellow Canadians.
This iconic Byrne cover (Aurora) is paired here with another iconic Byrne cover (Puck). Byrne raised from age eight in Canada…this is his passion project.
Snowbird who is connected to the spirit of the place and is referencing a naturalistic view point that seems to align with her team mate Shaman, who spiritual calling brought her to the artic landscape. She has the ability to see the impressions of what came before through a psychic connection and can see the impact of a technological event. One originating with Alpha Flight crash landing their ship. She transforms into a polar bear and follows her teammates into a technological cave she senses is alive.
Her teammates are in various forms of battle with the place and its inhabitant. We get our villainous soliloquy from him in a back story of indigenous encounter with alien technology that has transformed them into this situation. And now Sub-Mariner and The Invisible Women are there.
We get a snip-it of back story regarding the couple which leaders the team and their close connection with Logan in part.
Skipping an issue, we are now with Shaman who is providing medical care to Puck.
Puck is recovering well and the nurses are flirting with the pint size hero.
He is restless and this leads to a sequence of events of him finding a mystery to bring him to escape the hospital and end up in a barn with suspicious strangers. We awakes back in the hospital under new care. We get a flashback to Shaman.
To me the connection with Canada is deep and real. The role of Byrne is to be respected. And as we have been doing, the randomness works for the moment. This is about vibes.
I am a sucker for a cover with a design choice to utilize negative space. I am partial to Bauhaus.
And so, Canadian military overcompensating misogyny…Snowbird in her military role is placed in a military holding cell….an explosion…and Kolomaq is free…and so is Snowbird who simply bust through a cell wall.
Guardian is flying around, over thinking and looking Canadian. 🇨🇦
Oh a letter from Roxxon!
Snowbird v Kolomaq…not sure who I am supposed to…oh right…I’m neutral here.
And now there is so much snow the comic is all Byrne’s writing and Michael Higgins lettering!
The entire reason for this comic in my collection and in this story is to showcase what a Letter does in storytelling.
It just happens that the team debuted in the ❌-Men, Wolverine is closely associated, and we have and will see issue of Alpha Flight along the way. This has zero to do with Morlocks and Kitty.
These pages are RAD! And Snowbird solves the snow issue, with rocks.
Back up pages is a nice check in with Michael Twoyoungmen. We get a bit of his journey…and he is being magic stocked by Doc Strange.
Next: Uncanny X-Men Vol. 1 No. 176
