Alpha Flight (1983) #16: "...And Forsaking All Others..."

It's Canada Day, bitches! Last year I reviewed #15 of the first Alpha Flight series so let's get on to part two of that story today!

Before preparing this one, I went over the post about #15 and fixed a number of brutal typos and errors so if you need to catch up, check that one out here.

Namor, Puck and Marrina, the latter two members of Canada's Alpha Flight team, were captured by a dude who calls himself the Master of the World. Marrina started showing some bestial qualities in the previous issue so we get a bit more explanation about all that.

TMOTW digs this. Marrina's race, according to him, lives only to dominate and conquer. That's right up the man's alley.

Puck fools the Master into releasing him from the prison tube by faking his own death. The Master is caught by surprise by this subterfuge so Puck manages to free Namor as well, but the Avenging Son is in dire need of water to replenish his strength.

Puck rips off the Master's helmet and throws it against Marriana's aquarium to crack the glass. And that's close enough for Namor to do the rest.

 Despite my poor cut job there, you can see that the Master calls our heroes fools. There are two reasons for this.

• Marrina is surely freed, which is arguably bad on its own in light of her lack of control of late, but the weedy looking creature that she was trapped with is also now free.
• The Master controlled the entire ship through his helmet. Without the helmet, he can no longer do so.

The ship is taking damage as a result of the creature flailing around trying to kill everyone so they need to bail. Namor lets Marrina go in order to save Puck (with some hesitation, it should be noted).

After searching for hours, Namor can not seem to track down Marrina again. All this has turned into a giant bummer for the Avenging Son so Puck tries to cheer him up a bit and appears to succeed.

Marrina was actually hiding a few feet away behind them. She is disgusted with the monster she now believes herself to be, thinks there is no romantic future with the likes of Namor and goes into a self-inflicted exile.

I've never bought into the relationship with Marrina all that much but I do enjoy how Namor blends in with Alpha Flight. He appeared in an earlier issue as well the previous year so I think I already know what I'll be doing 365 days from now.

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?

Alpha Flight (1983) #39, "The Invasion of Atlantis"

Continuing a theme of team-ups involving the multiple teams Namor has been on over the decades, I must admit that this one was not part of the original plan.

I'd originally planned to read/review Avengers #118 which, as you can see at right, co-starred a Defenders team which included the Avenging Son.

After taking it in, however, I realized there is no point. Namor shows up in crowd shots and that is about the extent of his contribution to the story. I don't believe he has even one line of dialogue.

As a result we find ourselves cheating a little bit with Alpha Flight #39 instead. Namor has never been a member of Alpha Flight but he participated in a few of their adventures during the John Byrne years and developed a relationship with one of their members, Marrina. He's not a member, but he's certainly an ally, so close enough.

Off we go then!

Alpha Flight is returning from an exhausting mission to find a guest at their mansion, none other than the Atlantean Byrrah, Namor's cousin. Byrrah explains that he has been sent by Namor to seek help.

Byrrah has an unusual method of asking for help. It's difficult to believe that he was Namor's best option.

Alpha Flight is told that Attuma has taken over Atlantis and is holding Namor's beloved hostage. That, of course, is Marrina, so Alpha Flight is compelled to step up regardless of the possibility of starting yet another war with Atlantis.

As they near Atlantis, their aircraft is shot down and they begin a long underwater battle against the armies of Atlantis. They are barely hanging in until the reinforcements arrive.

As the two teams plan their approach, Namor announces the he no longer seeks the throne of Atlantis. Rather...

Bah, that's weak...

So in order to rescue Marrina, they become the attackers and take the battle to Atlantis.

Well at least here Namor shows he still has hair on his balls after that sad speech earlier.

The fight is rather brief, however, as the two teams (Marrina included) are surrounded by Atlantis soldiers and the book ends on that note. The story is to be concluded in Avengers #272, which we'll get to another day.

This was a fairly simple story and it was entertaining enough if you could overlook the frequent hand-wringing internal dialogue of the various members of Alpha Flight, courtesy of Bill Mantlo. Its art is by Dave Ross.

Something else to note; his name is spelled Byrrah in this book but in the Sub-Mariner's first series  it was spelled Byyrah. Either mantlo got it wrong or someone else did in the past and the new spelling stuck. Whatever the cause, this is why the character appears under two tags in the "Atlanteans" category at right.