Alpha Flight (1983) #15, "Blind Date"

I ended by Canada Day weekend by reading an Alpha Flight issue because that just seemed appropriate. Let's have a look at that now.

The Defenders tend to be referred to as a non-team but Alpha Flight, in many ways, was even more worthy of that label. Very rarely during Byrne's initial run was the team actually together for any length of time. Rather, the book would follow the lives of the various members.

In this case, Namor is connected to one of the pair below in particular. They are the two newest members of the (non) team, Marrina and Puck. We join them as they begin to look into a creature that has killed people on Lake Ontario near Toronto.

Famous last words?

Marrina dives off and, told over the course of a few pages, ultimately follows a scent to a hidden cave. When we see her next, she's a lot less friendly.

Puck does his best to avoid Marrina's attacks and to come up with a way of stopping her without hurting her, but things become even more complicated for him.

Teratologists. What do they know?

As is often the case Namor, who was with Marrina when she was summoned by Alpha Flight in the previous issue and had been following her since, jumps in swinging. That's bad news for one "miniature thug", to use Namor's own words, in particular.

The added "u" in "Imperious Rex", thereby spelling it the Canadian way, is the sort of detail that helped make this book great back in the day.

It takes little time for Namor to realize that Marrina is...not herself. As the battle wears on, she rakes him across the eyes, blinding him.

This dude applied a similar nerve pinch on Puck while Marrina and Namor fought. Who is this mysterious stranger??

Oh, it's that guy.

This was part of a valiant effort at making TMOTW Alpha Flight's version of Doctor Doom but it never really panned out no matter how often he's appeared in that team's various titles. I never perceived him as any kind of threat and I doubt that merely hearing his name would chill Namor to the marrow but nonetheless, it was a decent cliffhanger for the conclusion next issue.

Same time next year?