Alpha Flight #7

A ver character driven issue.

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We find Alpha Flight back in the Plodex ship, ready to destroy it.
But Nemesis disagrees, pointing out the value of keeping the Plodex
transportation technology. 4 of the AFers try it out and head 'home'.
Things aren't so good at home for 2 of them.

Centenniel finds his home run down and taken over by, well, bad guys.
They may meet his fists soon. Yukon Jack finds his people celebrating
with gusto because... Yukon Jack is gone. A rude awakening. Plodex
boy/girl watches him.

Major Mapleleaf and Puck go to Montreal where they have some fun (at
least Puck does). She teases Sadler quite a bit and comes on to him
more. Is it the alcohol talking? These two are the two who run into
AF's next opponent, wax statues come to life of Marvel heroes.

Meanwhile Nemesis stays back with Sasquatch in the ship, begging him
to remove her inhibitor so she can a) stay in Alpha Flight and not go
back to prison and b) do something important that she won't elaborate
on. She tells Sasquatch that she will not kill ANYONE and that she
needs to do... something. She is so insistent that we finally get to
see her face. This may convince Sasquatch to agree with her.

This issue is clearly set up to give each character a reason to stay
in Alpha Flight. For Nemesis it's better than the alternative. For
Yukon Jack it's to get away from home. For Centenniel it's somewhat
the same but more that he wants to stay, he's always been a guy to do
his duty. For Puck and Major Mapleleaf it's the fact that trouble
doesn't come along every few months, problems that need AF can occur
daily. And Sasquatch, while torn, will want to be part of this.

The writing is consistent and we learn more about each character. If
Puck would just show off her non-acrobatic powers the issue would have
been a bigger hit. Unfortunately the artwork hits some X-Men fans
close to home, it's uneven and not neat. Dave Ross and Mark McKenna
have a real problem with mouths (at times lips look like they're glued
on), Sasquatch, and making the characters look good sometimes.
Clayton Henry clearly has done a much better job, Ross' art is fairly
good but would fit in more nicely on Uncanny X-Men or Excalibur.

As usual there is some humour but it comes from the storyline and does
not interfere. Issue #8 will bring the squad back together (and
hopefully we'll see Zuzha's powers) to save Montreal and fight the
statues before they do any real harm and likely it will be another
character development tale, at least partly. It should be interesting
and well read before the much-anticipated Flashback storyline kicks
off in issue #9.