Mutants are being hunted around the world, Arakko is in pieces, and life for the X-Men has never been worse. While X-Men is dedicated to the struggle on Arakko and in America, Alpha Flight is much more interested in protecting the mutants of Canada. In Alpha Flight #3, Ed Brisson, Scott Godlewski, Matt Milla, and VC’s Travis Lanham finally begin to reveal the secrets behind these newest iterations of the team.
As always, the art in Alpha Flight is one of its best elements. The bright and warm atmosphere of the Department H headquarters is a nice contradiction to the done-toned Krakoa North and the dark and dreary forest in which the mutant rebels are trapped. The fluidity of the fight scenes also begs for attention to every detail. A single sentinel could be key to an upcoming panel and requires some extra focus from readers.
The characters also continue to shine. While characters like Argent could easily be abandoned after their initial rescue, Brisson takes time and care to show the heavy pressure that every mutant is currently under. Everyone is fleshed out and three-dimensional, and it really helps to build the stakes of this era.
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Many of the other Fall of X books focus on the traumatic experiences of superheroes. Shadowkat, Sage, and Storm are all getting their moments in the sun, but what about the regular mutants? Since Alpha Flight #1, Alpha Flight has been offering their much-needed perspective, and it’s a great way to really build the stakes.
It’s easy to make readers care about superheroes. It’s a lot harder to get them to care about newly-introduced civilians. That is where this book excels. Hell, even Northstar’s husband gets a data page to shine in.
Unfortunately, the team itself struggles to stay in the spotlight with so much going on. Next issue seems to hint at a more significant role for the Alphans, but this issue continues to focus more on past members and civilians and less on the official team and the rebels. It is refreshing to see the rebels actually get a moment in the sun, however, even if it’s somewhat fleeting. The end does imply that the next issue should reveal a little more about them, at least.
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That said, it’s impossible to say how. Without giving anything away, it’s hard to discuss anything about the final few pages of the issue. As the cover teases, the book finally reveals the secret identity of the mysterious Nemesis. It’s presented as a mind-breaking twist, yet it’s hard to see who the twist is really for.
Any classic fan will have figured out Nemesis’ identity from the moment this book was announced, and newcomers to the franchise won’t care enough to even know who she is in the first place. Many readers will likely be taking to fan wiki pages at the end of the issue.
Still, setting aside the predictability and uncertain viability of the twist, it’s a brilliant move. This is a character who has spent years in limbo, and Brisson is finally setting her up to resolve a hanging arc. It remains to be seen how this will impact her going forward, but it’s hard not to be excited about this new direction for a classic character.
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Where the Nemesis reveal is predictable, Feedback’s is anything but. It would have been easy to assume that the conflicting fate of Feedback between Marauders and Alpha Flight #1 is little more than a continuity error. Instead, Brisson delves deep into Alpha Flight lore to show just how closely he has been paying attention to this series. It’s a great touch that helps to make Feedback a more complicated character — and a more interesting one at that. It’s also nice to see that these books aren’t too out of sync.
Of course, there is one other major flaw. The Box sentinels, which showed serious promise, fail to evolve into anything significant. There is still a chance that future issues will make them more threatening — as one data page hints — but it’s hard to see how that can be done with only two issues left.
Alpha Flight #3 continues to show some major promise. This book fills a necessary role within Fall of X. Other books gloss over the day-to-day horrors of civilians, but the Alphans deal with them directly. The issue also reintroduces a classic character and promises to raise the stakes as the penultimate issue approaches. It will be interesting to see where Alpha Flight goes from here, especially as the Krakoan era begins to wind down.
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