144. Alpha Flight vol 1 #12 ... Marvel ... John Byrne ...

Every once in a while, a cover becomes iconic beyond the strength of its own story and in this issue of Alpha Flight, even though the artwork is average and so is the colouring (heck I think it's horrendous sorry), it has become iconic in its own right with many others using it as a direct tribute in years to come ...

As for the tale, well, John took a unique way to tell the adventures of the Alphans with most of the first year's issues split into one main tale and one shorter back-up story of each featured Alphan's history which lets us relate to the characters in greater depth. And inspite of the short time available, John moves the tale of the Alphan's at a fast pace with a proper subplot propelling the characters until it reaches this issue, until we are confronted with the question of which Alphan is going to bite the dust ... literally ... not a fake death! Or at least I believe that was what John had in mind before other writers kept on bringing back the person who was killed in this issue

And yes there is a death

And no I will not SPOIL it by telling you who except that it is an important character and not just a fan favorite or some weaker less liked character ...

So now that you know there is a death, do we need to continue? What else can we tell you to entice you to read this book? The villains? And how they have connection back to the origins of Alpha? And that this is a well-planned vengeance scheme?

Nah! Just buy the book and read it already!

Ratings: 8/10