This poll focuses on the eight heroes who first appeared in the comics as members of Alpha Flight -- not including others who joined later or others who retroactively were added as early members.

proditorcappela wrote on Feb 26^th, 2015 at 8:55am:

I'd argue the reverse: Guardian is the most cliched, lifeless,  drab character in the book and the most expendable as a result.

I voted for Northstar too. I loved the unusual personality for a super hero: prickly, aloof, not all that interested in heroics, self-serving, yet all about his sister. Plus subtly gay in the early years.

I like Puck and Northstar best, but voted for Northstar as he strikes me as more original.

Loved Guardians costume and Puck's personality.

There are allusions to Northstar being gay as early as Alpha Flight #1. So no, it's not a late addition attempting to make him more interesting.

Puck's cauliflower ear was cool.

I'm surprised so many folks like Guardian as he is a cipher with no personality.

I'm tired of good, honest, heroes being considered "cliched".

But I guess that's par for the course at Marvel. Only DC is usually allowed to have pure as the driven snow sort of characters, and they still get called cornball or cheesy.

Matt wrote on Mar 10^th, 2015 at 9:12pm:


FWIW: I always liked Guardian. He was the Christopher Pike of super-team leaders.

Guardian refers to Northstar being gay in issue 1 and clearly had no issue with it.

Matt wrote on Mar 22^nd, 2015 at 10:32pm:



Having also seen the original pilot, I would agree but there was something that inspired the loyalty we saw in "Menagerie".  At least that's what the writers said.

Still, there is a reason Pike became Kirk after NBC turned down the pilot and allowed an unprecedented second chance.

James was a much deeper character than could be realized by Byrne. Cap is a similar, and at this time in comics history at least, even shallower character, and yet, a good writer of the times like Gruenwald can make him interesting and compelling.

And this is without fast-forwarding to the last decade with Brubaker. Hudson didn't have to be boring, Byrne just sucks as a solo writer. I love the guy's art, but he's the Michael Bay of comic wriiting. If it doesn't blow up or date it's own sister, Byrne has no idea what to do with it.

This is abundantly clear if you look at his three year run on Fantastic Four (which coincides with his run on Alpha Flight).

I never liked Northstar because he was a jerk to his sister, had ties to the FLQ, and his powers were really kinda "meh". And then you add to it that Aurora have the exact same powers? Why? They aren't identical twins, why do they have identical powers?

As for the Gay aspect to Northstar, as I said, that was added on to make the character more interesting:

"Creator John Byrne was reluctant to produce an initial run of the 1983 Alpha Flight comic series for lack of developed and compelling characters, which had no back-stories and were created as nothing more than a team to face the X-Men. So in order to make the team less two-dimensional and more developed, Northstar's sexual orientation was subtly introduced into the start of the new Alpha Flight series.[2][3] Although Byrne had intended the character to be gay, he was restricted to implied hints of this fact,[4] due to Marvel editor-in-chief Jim Shooter's policy against openly homosexual characters,[5] and by the Comics Code Authority.[6] Thus, Northstar's apparent lack of interest in women was implied to be due to his obsessive drive to win as a ski champion,[7] and writer Bill Mantlo's later attempt to reveal that Northstar had AIDS was squelched.[8] In Alpha Flight #106 (1992), writer Scott Lobdell was finally given permission to have Northstar state, "I am gay.""
Source - Wikipedia

Before Alpha Flight (the series) began I already had an opinion of Northstar from his appearances in other comic books, and it wasn't great. Finding out he's a gay former terrorist just made me think - WTF? Those are bombshells... and we're just going add that to make him "edgey"? The FLQ isn't fake -  they actually killed people in real life. I don't like Northstar as a symbol for gay people. They deserve better. 
 
As for Guardian... I like his powers, his costume, and the character. You can't have Alpha Flight without Guardian - he's their leader and he's a symbol they can follow into battle. He has flaws, he has strengths, and he has history.
How many superheroes had wives and problems with their jobs and trying to make ends meet in 1983? And I think that Alpha Flight doesn't work without him, or someone a lot like him (Heather Hudson).

RAMBLE

my top favs in this group
Sasquatch
Shaman
Puck

polarboy wrote on May 22^nd, 2015 at 10:05pm:

the marvel folks also have said in older books that siblings with powers may have immunity to each others power  example being Cyclops and Havok ( Iguess it keeps them from killing each other has terrible 2's)

Or maybe Puck before they got rid of his dwarfism.

John wrote on Oct 14^th, 2015 at 2:40pm:



The series was excellent in issues #1-2, and #12-13, with some high points here and there while Byrne was there. It was one of the worst series imaginable after he left.