Alpha Flight issue 1. John Byrne's Biggest Seller at Marvel?

[@kerry-j4m]

Byrne said in an interview the first issue of AF sold 500,000 copies. That's-HUGE-numbers,no gimmick covers,no variant covers either,trading cards,etc,etc,..

[@NathanRLees]

My first, and only, comic book subscription by mail. 1983. My sweet and cool grandmother, Dorothy, bought it for me. I was done with superheroes by the time the one year subscription ended, and into D&D and heavy metal, but I loved Alpha Flight. Especially, Aurora, Snowbird and Marrina.

[@justinandrews520]

The Trudeau in this issue is Justin Trudeaus dad. He was PM when issue 1 came out

[@qtheband751]

Good old Pierre.

[@chucklesshirt4104]

I always thought Puck was so cool as a kid

[@johncolitti8009]

The Trudeau in the comic is Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Prime Minister at the time and Justin’s father.

[@aglcomics]

Byrne went from Uncanny to writing and drawing the FF, early 1981 I think. So, AF was a few years after...My favorite comics artist next to BWS, Big John and of course, Stan, Jack and Steve. Excellent video, dudes! AGL

[@JohnDCochise]

Great vid. Byrne was already doing his FF run for awhile before he started Alpha Flight, and then he did them both at the same time for awhile. X-Men went from Byrne, Cockrum returned, then Paul Smith.

[@kyung_park]

SO glad you did this first issue~ issue #6 the White issue, as we called it, is also worth checking out if only for the innovative storytelling! It was assistant editor's month~

[@johndavis48076]

Growing up in Detroit we got the Canadian tv network and when this issue came out the national news did a story about it. So they were psyched up north when this came out. For whatever reason they used the Star Wars theme as the background music.

[@cameoxvilb3174]

Byrne was doing FF for awhile when this came out. There were references and a cross over with Sue Storm/Submariner/Marrina a few issues later.

[@drawingdownthestars]

As a Canadian, this is so nostalgic 😅. Every dollar bin had issues of Alpha flight. All Hail Puck!

[@cookieDaXapper]

....me and my friend were FASCINATED by how Byrne drew Marrina's hands with the webbing and kept them feminine. We practiced those 'till we got them down!!! The man is 1980's comic book King.....the pinnacle of what comics are as a medium, SOLID. PEACE and God bless.

[@srpyle]

Byrne did FF for two years before doing this. He left X-Men around 1980 - 1981, and did FF for as couple years, then did AF in 1983.

[@literallyunderrated]

He was on FF for around five years, doing Alpha Flight at the same time

[@jedijape]

Alpha Flight by John Byrne was the first series that I felt was mine and that I discovered. “My super hero team” 100% Jim!

[@justamannn8674]

Same

[@RonDale-jy8et]

Merrina and Puck were Byrne originals. In and interview he said he created them so he could get residuals on the series.

[@RonDale-jy8et]

"Dweeby Humunculus" I love it!! Thanks for all of the tips and background stuff!! Loving the old WIZARD retrospectives!!

[@ericbrant6309]

Byrne ended his X-Men run one issue after Days of Future Past #143 that Terry Austin did finishes and the cover for in February of 1981. His Fantastic Four run started with issue 232 which came out in July of 1981 and he was writing, pencilling and inking. So he basically did that for a year and a half before he launched writing, penciling and inking Alpha Flight. I used to talk to him at little conventions in Chicago at that time and see the pages for when he was doing both and he put in 10 hour days at the board and could generate 6 pages a day

[@hsatin20]

I loved this early run of Alpha Flight as a kid. Thanks for doing this issue.

[@justamannn8674]

Ah man, I loved this book. So much I collected the entire run from the beginning. Ty for posting.

[@danielbedrosian8869]

I believe Byrne's famous Uncanny X-Men run is 1977-1981, 4 years. His FF run is 1979-1986, 7 years

[@dngillikin]

Byrne has two runs on Fantastic Four. FF# 209-221 (cover date August 1979-August 1980) and FF #232 - 293 (cover date July 1981-August 1986). Bill Sinkiewicz did the art chores on the run between Byrne's two stints on the book.

[@danielbedrosian8869]

@@dngillikin that's right! How can I forget the Sienkiewicz run? Although not my favorite work of his, that almost year he did FF had some great moments and most notably some iconic covers

[@Randomcomicsfrommyspinne-xt5kq]

I feel like the panel where Sasquach drops from the sky should have some badass music like Kickstart my Heart by Motley Crue!

[@DocCivil]

I hope you gents can do an episode about Paul Neary since he recently passed.

[@toddblackwood129]

Great subject choice, guys!!! I always wondered if Byrne made any attempts to steal Wolverine away from the XMen fro this book? And when he couldn’t, decided instead to create Puck as a stand in? I’ve always been baffled as to why Puck didn’t take off more as a character, but to be fair I have no idea what exactly his powers were, beyond being a great acrobat, which probably made him hard to write for. On a side note, one of Byrne’s secret weapons that made his art so great was he had what’s called a drafting arm or drafting machine on his drawing table. Don’t get me wrong, Byrne’s art is still the GOAT but anybody who still draws analog might consider looking into one of these. Until I went digital (via procreate) the one I had was a god send and I don’t know how anybody lived without one back in the old days! He also said that he had ZERO distractions in his studio: no tv, no radio. Just him concentrating purely on making comics. What a legend…

[@jcandram]

The cool thing about this series is that is was and is obtainable. You can find it affordable anywhere and it and over all good story with great art. I was happy to be able to get the first 24 issues as a kid.

[@jrascoe514]

You can tell this is either after Byrne's FF run, or simultaneous, because he draws the "new" black and white FF costumes on the cover, which he created during his FF run

[@justinandrews520]

Growing up in Northern Montana, I felt a natural connection to all things Canadian 😂😂😂 I definitely loved reading Byrne's Alpha Flight as a kid. Luckily back issues are cheap; might have to revisit the early Alpha Flight issues

[@heathhaynes990]

Eddie P cutting a promo on those 80s ladies glasses 😂😂😂

[@royorbit]

Snowbirds design is so dope

[@auradjinns]

Marrina and Puck were created especially for the Alpha Flight series so that Byrne would have creator rights. But it would’ve been cool to see Marrina drawn by Everett!

[@SupremeGreatGrandmaster]

She'd have a triangular head!

[@Cerebus92]

-I've always been really fascinated with Sasquatches design. Very ape like, but there's a strange relationship between the head, shoulders and neck. His body language is unique to him and not like the other big bruisers of the Marvel Universe like the Thing or Hulk. From a lot of my artist friends, they say that he's really hard to draw right. -Snowbird is the daughter of the Golden Age super-heroine "Nelvana of the Northern Lights" and Bryne had created her years before he started working professionally in his fan publications. -There has been debate for years about the relationship between Vindicator and the creator owned character of Captain Canuck who was self published by Richard Comely three years before Vindicators appearance in X-Men 109. Richard is still active in the comics scene here in Southern Ontario and it would be really cool to hear you guys do an interview with him to get his take on the matter. -Bryne did the first thirty or so issues before Bill Mantlo came in and did a long stint as writer on the book. Mantlo's run is really interesting because he really developed the characters of Heather Hudson and Puck and at a certain point it it stops being a straight superhero book and becomes a horror book (specifically body horror).

[@shred6]

Bought this off the spinner rack when it came out and went through it SO many times. Young as I was, I knew it had something different over the other comics, Byrne's art style really grabbing onto my brain. I remember being in awe of that splash where Tundra stands to life, admiring the size-contrast. I'm just wondering if the creators of Captain Canuck ever had a beef with Byrne...

[@robertambrose6864]

Was a huge X-men FF Byrne fan so this was pure awesomeness when it came out!!! Still got my two copies signed by Byrne at a local con!!! What a time to be a kid reading comics!!!

[@eternaut9729]

1983 was when I started collecting, and my first four that I got into were Alpha Flight, Ronin, Crystar the Crystal Warrior, and U.S. 1, lol! Definitely felt like AF was "my" superhero team, both of us starting at the same time.

[@RonDale-jy8et]

"PUT THE CANDLE BACK!!"

[@jingaijigokumoto6119]

Jim's gotta play "Shadow of the Colossus".

[@Kingcomics2021]

Hey Ed, I live in French Canada, specifically Quebec, and none of this exists here. As an English Canadian (Born in England), Byrne knows as much about French-Canadian culture as you do...

[@geoffyuendesign]

Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau is the father of current Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Infamous womanizer and dated Margot Kidder (Lois Lane in the Chris Reeves Superman movie). Interesting that there's no X-men on the cover.

[@lorcannagle]

Cyclops and Nightcrawler are on the left, but they're obscured - Cyclops is between Marrina and Spider-Man, and Nightcrawler is mostly covered by the barcode

[@montagethemovie5947]

Seeing that Heroes Aren’t Hard to Find ad was cool

[@ftrez1040]

There's a later issue, 7 I think, that, in retrospect, makes Northstar's orientation clear. Not when I originally read it as a kid but it's pretty clear today. Likewise with other dialogue references here and there throughout Byrne's run. Also, Marina is a Byrne creation, specifically for this series.

[@Wurmzilla]

Trudeau in this comic would be the current Trudeau’ s father, he was prime minister during (and prior to) the publication of this comic.

[@JonnyCannon-m2f]

Issue 12 of Alpha Flight is particularly amazing. I think Byrne's best-drawn issues are Captain America 249 and Namor the Submariner 12. On the latter he really capitalises on the duotone he's been using since issue 2. I've never seen him do better inks. On Captain America, Joseph Rubinstein absolutely nailed the inks.

[@CartoonistKayfabe]

Will dig up a copy and check it out

[@pjbrown4736]

I have the AF omnibus on my shelf currently. I need to read them.

[@Comics-u3z]

lmao Ed's rant about the boner killer glasses from the 80s hahaha 🤣🤣🤣

[@JohnSmith-lp1kd]

Loved Alpha Flight, they had a great series on the late 90s by Steven Seagle & Scott Clark. I still think guardian had one of the best costumes in all of comics

[@spiderphil]

🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@ronwilliams9985]

Byrne was doing FF and Jim Shooter told him they were going to do Alpha Flight no matter what with or without him. So Byrne decided to do it while doing FF

[@abh623]

My bro and i's first exposure to John Byrne and we thought it was amazing! I always loved how Byrne would draw sexy defined calves on the legs of his female characters, like Mike W. Kaluta.

[@keomgranger695]

Pretty sure Paul Smith never drew Alpha Flight.

[@joegravel9435]

He did in the X-Men/Alpha Flight mini series.

[@keomgranger695]

@@joegravel9435 I have to check that out! THANKS!

[@awabooks9886]

I can't describe how infuriating it is to come upon these videos now that Ed is gone. America is losing its effing mind. Extra reinforcement of my 5-year plan: Sell everything, buy a boat, sail to the Med, settle in Sardinia. RiP, Ed 😢