In my memory, Alpha Flight was a terrific book.  Reading it now, I’m not experiencing it that way.  It’s still good, it’s just a little…Clunky.  But I’m going to assume it’s finding its feet in these early issues and will soon be at the level I remember it being at.

One major issue with it: Several of the characters are too similar to too many others.  A Native Canadian named Shaman with magic/Earth-based powers, similar to Doc Strange; a guy in a power suit similar in several ways to Iron Man; a big orange super-strong guy like Thing; a white-haired speedster with a hot temper and a creepy level of love for his sister (Quicksilver).

But perhaps no one feels more derivative than Marrina, and this arc focuses on her.  (Although she’s a mighty cute baby.)  

We’re told she’s an alien who hatched from an underwater egg found by a fisherman, who raised her as his own.  She is summoned by “The Master,” who is a centuries-old cro magnon man who found his way into the same UFO that brought Marrina’s egg to Earth, and has been living in it, getting progressively more intelligent and stronger, ever since.  She’s beckoned back to the ship, Alpha Flight tracker her to rescue her, and The Sub-Mariner and The Invisible Woman also assist.

After rescuing her, Marrina returns to Atlantis with Namor.

Also in this arc: Vindicator changes his name to Guardian, in an effort to become Canada’s equivalent to Captain America. And we meet Master of the World for the first time–who will be an ongoing Alpha Flight enemy.

It’s a pretty good story, it’s just not as great as I remembered it.