Alpha Flight: Divided We Stand

Alpha Flight (2023) #1-5

by Ed Brisson, Scott Godlewski (Artist), David Cutler (Artist)

Canada’s premier super team returns in their own series!

Guardian, Puck, Snowbird and Shaman reunite, as a terrestrial Alpha Flight bursts back onto the scene! But what schism will pit these heroes against their former teammates Aurora, Northstar and Nemesis, as well as Aurora’s beau, Fang? Can it be they’re fighting to protect Canada from the mutant menace? The FALL OF X has changed the game, and Alpha Flight must soar to new heights…or be crushed under the weight of an impossible mission!

Alpha Flight (2023) 1-5

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, X Men, Superheroes, Comic Book, Graphic Novels Comics

136 pages, Paperback

Published June 4, 2024

About the author

Comic book writer.

Credits include: COMEBACK, SHELTERED, THE FIELD (Image Comics), SECRET AVENGERS (Marvel), ROBOCOP, SONS OF ANARCHY, HELLRAISER (BOOM!) and X-FILES/TMNT: CONSPIRACY (IDW). Plus, you know, a bunch of stuff I can’t talk about yet.

Reviews

[Baba · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Fall of X seeps over to Canada where Department H stands with ORCHIS against mutants, allying themselves with Box Sentinels and the human members of... Alpha Flight! A simple enough concept with the Canadian superhero mutants endeavouring to extract the few remaining mutants out of Canada; the big plus is seeing Alpha Flight come back down to Earth and be about the Canadian heroes. A pretty banal tale, but nice to see old faces including Northstar and Aurora back in the North. A Two Star, 4 out of 12 Fall of X filler read.

2025 read

[Tyler Jenkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alpha Flight is a team I’m not super familiar with. I’ve known of them but have only read about them in one Captain Marvel comic from years ago. And I’ve seen some of the members here and there in various other series and most prominently in the Voices one shots. It’s a solid team that I’m happy to see is allied with the mutants. Each issue was more or less kind of the same thing but it had a good ending with stakes and consequences and I’m excited to see who we see next and when and where.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good little comic book there, eh? Too bad Alpha Flight are such a bunch of goody-two shoes rule followers. Canadians, amirite?


Yep, definitely passes Canadian Content Standards...

Don't worry, Alpha Flight aren't sellouts, they actually help their Mutant teammates and others to aid and abet Krakoan escapees get to Sh'iar Space because, sure, why not?

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

4
I'm not sure why, but I've always liked Alpha Flight. This was a solid story.

[Mohan Vemulapalli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alpha Flight: Divided We Stand" is a highly kinetic book with lots of high powered super hero action in The True North as the titular team, now divided by Canada's reactionary policies towards mutants, struggles with a batch of new and more deadly sentinels while trying to protect the innocent and serve their country.

4.5 stars rounded to 4.

[Matt Sautman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alpha Flight: Divided We Fall builds upon the fallout of the third Krakoan era Hellfire Gala and the widespread influence of Orchis to explore how prejudice infiltrates and undermines governmental structures through its focus on the Canadian Alpha Flight team.

[Adam Fisher · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars.
Alpha Flight has always been a Marvel team on the edges. Not quite Avengers or X-Men level, but adjacent to both, this Canadian team packs a punch both emotionally as well as physically.
In this Volume, we have Dept H controlling a new Alpha Flight team (after pulling out of all the space stuff it was doing with Captain Marvel) consisting of Guardian, Puck, Snowbird, and Shaman. The rest of the team: Northstar, Aurora, Fang, and Nemesis; are primarily on the run because Canada decided to side against the mutants after the Hellfire Gala. This book is all about bringing the two teams together to not only take a stand, but also to save a group of mutants hiding in a refuge known as Krakoa North.
Overall, a nice way to use an underused team to keep the "Fall of X" event going, but not necessary. Still a good read. Recommend.

[Sarospice · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 Why can't anyone do Alpha Flight justice? Byrne set up such great characters and plots it's sad for Canada that no one could keep it going. Heck, it could be an MCU movie if done right. This volume peeks in on the team and shows how Canada is dealing with all the new MUTANT standards like immortality, drug trade, and populating Mars
In a nutshell, they are opting out, which doesn't help Canadian mutants.... Alpha Flight does try to help but the bureaucracy tied them down....

[Omar Gómez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alpha Flight: Divided We Stand, Libro de Ed Brisson.

ALPHA FLIGHT: DIVIDED WE STAND TPB (Trade Paperback), Alpha Flight (2023) #1-5. Calificación 3/5 estrellas.

Alpha Flight #1, calificación 3/5 estrellas
Alpha Flight #2, calificación 3/5 estrellas
Alpha Flight #3, calificación 2.5/5 estrellas
Alpha Flight # 4, calificación 3/5 estrellas
Alpha Flight #5, calificación 3/5 estrellas

En mi segunda lectura, siento demasiados diálogos o notas de información, como epistolas aburridas como en los cómics de Alan Moore. Solo cinco números pero se sintió pesado.

Siguen con esa tontería donde los héroes se hacen pasar por caza mutantes, esto lo saco el escritor de los cómics de X-Factor de los 80s.

Era obvio que Heather Hudson era Nemesis, no había sorpresa, cuyo disfraz se parece al de The Prowler. También Nemesis es un Deus ex Machina para teletransportar a los personajes como en los 80s Chris Claremont uso mágicamente la teletraportacion con Magik o Gateway. Todos los seres con poderes son un Deus Ex Machina.

Esta directora del Departamento H, Erika Doiron es como Henry Peter Gyrich. John Byrne creo a Guardian, Shaman y Snowbird en su juventud como un fanfic, luego para su carrera en The Uncanny X-Men creo el grupo canadiense para la historia de Wolverine, como si fueran The Avengers, Guardian es como Reed Richards, Capitán América e Iron Man, Shaman es como Doctor Strange, Snowbird es como The Wasp, Sasquatch era como Bruce Banner /Hulk, Aurora y North Star son como Scarlet Witch y Quicksilver o Jayna y Zan The Wonder Twins. Chis Claremont solo se le ocurrió ponerle los nombres de Vindicator y Alpha Flight.

En este Alpha Flight Daken ocupa el lugar de Wolverine. Me gustó como Snowbird se convirtió en un Wendigo, en su carrera de Avengers Jonathan Hickman introdujo un cameo a Alpha Flight con un Wendigo en el grupo. En 1981 the Uncanny X-Men #140 John Byrne debió haber reclutado al Wendigo para Alpha Flight, pero Byrne ante su próxima salida del libro de X-Men decidió disolver a Alpha Flight y después matar a Guardian en el libro de Alpha Flight. No me agrada la versión de Shaman escrito por John Byrne porque lo hace demasiado poderoso y sin defentos en X-Men Elsewhen.

[Alex Sarll]

The original Alpha Flight run, as a back-up in Secret Wars, was one of my first Marvel comics, and for better and worse that's left me inclined to give any subsequent go at the concept a try. Some of what made it so special was always going to be hard to recapture: it was the work of a writer-artist at the peak of his powers, with enough juice from previous projects to ensure a decent run, and enough freedom that in a surprisingly short space of time he could more or less drop the superteam framework in favour of a loose ensemble drama. But the bit you'd think would be easier to replicate was just letting Marvel's one Canadian book stand separately from the many US titles, do separate stories, offer an alternative. Whereas this, just like the Omega Flight mini from the Initiative era, just folds itself into a status quo where the US government is on an authoritarian track, and has Canada do likewise. Would it be so weird to offer some variety in the line instead? And writer Brisson is based in Vancouver, so this time it can't even be blamed on an American lack of understanding that the neighbours are in fact a separate country. That's not to say this is bad, just lacking in anything that feels the least bit distinctive. Next time, either hire someone who wrote for Letterkenny, or don't bother.

[Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh, how the mighty have fallen...

Alpha Flight used to be the elite superhero unit in Canada. Recently, they were shifted over into a S.W.O.R.D. style Earth defense space squadron. With the 'Fall of X' and the mutants of the world once again ostracized and shunned, Department H is back doing what they....do best. The team has been reunited (with most of its original members) and they're tasked with rounding up any Canadian mutants who are still at large.

As with any Alpha Flight book, Department H is not to be trusted...

There's also a rouge element of Alpha Flight that is trying to 'Underground Railroad' any Canadian mutants to the Shi'ar empire.
(If you feel there's a lot of similarities to Marvel's Civil War, you're not wrong)
----------
Great little update to the Alpha Flight team. Canadian super teams aren't really appreciated much.
----------
Bonus: Bochs Jr? That's a DEEP callback
Bonus Bonus: Got to keep it tied to the X-Men with the Fang (a new, dumb codename, Daken)

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven’t kept up with the X-Men or the Mutant universe over the last decade, so jumping in with this Alpha Flight book really showed me how much I missed (I did read Spectacular Nightcrawler). The level of hate for mutants has risen to a point that seems totally out of touch with the real world. To me it feels really forced and exaggerated to the point of being harder to suspend belief against than superheroes or magic.
I was a big fan of the original Alpha Flight, so I was glad to see them back, even in this somewhat unfamiliar universe. That it was a contained story kept it from being too overwhelming with the mutant hysteria running through the rest of the X-Men universe. I’m not sure I want to wade through that mess; although, I do already have a lot of those unread books.
The art was ok, not bad but nothing special.

[Rahul Nadella · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wasn't the biggest fan of how this ended, but I did think the volume was really solid as a whole. This series remained a pretty good read throughout. Ed Brisson delivers a thrilling climax to one of the better surprises in this the "Fall of X" storyline, leaving no hero unscathed. He balances high-octane action with moments of genuine pathos, culminating in a bittersweet victory that comes with a price. This miniseries didn’t reinvent the wheel or challenge the status quo, but it was an entertaining read and focused on characters who haven’t gotten the spotlight in quite some time. I don't think this will stick with me for very long but I'd be very interested in seeing more Alpha Flight in the future.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 3 out of 5]

This would have been a bummer of a comic back in the day, but now with the US gov't ignoring the law and judges' orders to illegally rendition untried people to secret prisons, it's awful. It makes you want to see the Marvel Universe Canadian gov't die in a fire.

More generally: it's great to see Alpha Flight back, and they're written pretty well, even if it's a bummer to see so many of the shocking changes of the original run rolled back (though that far predates this volume). Brisson even has a bit of the feel of that classic run where anything could happen.

But it's a comic defined by an event and so the limits of what Alpha Flight can do are carefully constrained. That keeps it from being more than OK (but still one of the better Fall of X comics).

[Joey Nardinelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe it’s because the last few Marvel trades I’ve read have been middling, but I like how this five issue arc has a clear beginning, middle, and end to its narrative and while leaving loose threads, offers up enough resolution to feel like a good story ending. I’m not super into Alpha Flight and was mostly reading this for the connection to the Krakoan Mutants formerly on the time — also didn’t realize several of the core team aren’t mutants? Is that new? Adequate tension with essentially two plot threads that all come together for the climax towards the end of the series. Also another downer post-Krakoa ending…still curious to see inklings of where we’re going from here.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fall Of X sweeps up Alpha Flight, who are trying to play both sides of the conflict to save as many people as possible.

Alpha Flight themselves kinda feel like background players in this story, which is weird. Aside from a couple of them, the story focuses more on the characters they're saving and some legacy Flight characters, which is an interesting choice, though not a bad one.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actually one of the better Fall of X titles. It makes sense to make Alpha Flight part of this since they got their start in the X-Men and half their members have been mutants. And at least this story has a coherent story and solid art, unlike some of the others.

[Justin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Someday we’ll get an alpha flight series that’s not tied up in some kind of big crossover so the story makes sense.

This is not that day.

It’s fine. Most of the team is back & we get callbacks to the last series.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably a 2 star, but it was fun to see the team together.

[Kris Shaw · Rating 1 out of 5]

Piss poor writing and artwork. There is nothing to like here.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly good? I was expecting mediocrity but enjoyed the story and the art, it felt like a good fit in the Fall of X.

[B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute enough.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, not great, story. And the artwork's not bad.

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Daniel Butcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alison at how the fall of Krakoa impacted mutants outside the island.

[Erik · Rating 3 out of 5]

So the last Alpha Flight comic I read was the Greg Pak/Dale Eaglesham run…..and then the original members died ? Or was that their clones ?

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

i appreciate we took this detour to remind the readers that canada too is evil

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

A hard 3.5. The story was decent even if predictable. There was little character development beyond one character whom I didn't really care about. It felt like there were a lot of missed opportunities to elevate this beyond using Fall of X to bring back Alpha Flight.

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to confess I've never really liked an Alpha Flight comic w/o the X-Men co-headlining before (& I've read or skimmed all Alpha Flight comics).

I'm not hopeful about what the new X-Men status quo will be after Krakoa, but I hope it has room for a Brisson & Godlewski Alpha Flight book