But who is it? Whose silhouette (negative silhouette?) is that on the cover? Can you guess? As I have a look at my database, I see that we're coming up to the last few issues of John Byrne's run on Alpha Flight, so the stops are being pulled out, and the horrible events of a year previous seem to have been reversed. Seem to have been, that is. It's Guardian, for those who aren't in the Alpha Flight loop. He famously returns from the dead in this issue with a strange story of having been thrust into the past and to the moon Ganymede, there to befriend some strange creatures who help him get back to his own time and place. It's moments like this that I kind of wish I had the rest of the story. I'm missing the next issue, and then number 28, which may is Byrne's final issue and a Secret Wars II tie-in, which means it's already on the list. Now that I think on it, that means I'm only missing 4 issues of Byrne's run on the title. Incoming writer Bill Mantlo is credited in this issue with "Creative Kibitzing," which I think may be the first time I've seen acknowledgment of the an incoming writer laying groundwork for their run on the series. I imagine it must happen a fair bit (I seem to recall something about Grant Morrison and his desire to kill off most of Paul Kupperberg's Doom Patrol), but it doesn't get credited that often. Nice to see.
What else? The team starts to get into Northstar's potentially terrorist past, though that's interrupted by their departed leader's return. Talisman manages to take out a supervillain all by herself, proving that she really is as powerful as everyone seems to think.
So, next issue is apparently a rematch with Omega Flight. Let's hope that the 80s Marvel tradition of having at least two pages of recap per issue is being upheld, so that I can read #27 without too much trouble.
To be continued!
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