So much Alpha Flight in the Marvel Universe these days! And really it was just due to the influence of one man: John Byrne. Byrne wasn’t even a household name yet in 1980, but he was working on acclaimed runs on X-Men and Captain America, and, within a year or two would be doing the same for The Fantastic Four. In 1983, he’d get an Alpha Flight solo book.
But for now, he was just beating the bushes to get the team’s name out there. So they appeared in Machine Man.
The whole fight is a misunderstanding due to lies spread by Madame Menace.
As far as this series goes, it was a decent issue. Which isn’t saying much. It is fun to see Steve Ditko drawing Alpha Flight.