On Canada’s comic book hero team

A brief history of the Unlikely Alpha Flight – born of US indifference. Huh.

Unlike most team-based comic books, in which the characters work together, Alpha Flight is written as an ensemble, a collection of short stories with no main protagonist. (This was probably not intended as commentary on the Canadian psyche.) Perhaps because he cared so little about the characters, Byrne took huge conceptual swings with the series, telling stories that never would have been allowed with more canonical Marvel characters like the Avengers or the Fantastic Four (both of which he also wrote and drew over the course of his career). Issue six features multiple pages with no art at all, a battle in a snowstorm* told only through sound-effect bubbles and dialogue.

*Probably not intended as commentary on the Canadian weather…