Northstar Mania

So, for those of you who don't hang around Xmen slash fanfiction websites, there's been a pretty big fandom growing around Northstar. It's like the fangirls went 'Hey. There's a character who's openly gay? HOLY CRAP! We must find out everything about him!' And so they have been. On slash Xmen sites there's been a huge increase in people putting up scans of alpha flight, people talking about Northstar's interactions with his fellow Alpha Flight people, and generally people have been discovering the awesomeness which is Alpha Flight.

Now, I can't lie. I am one of these people. I started looking at Alpha Flight for Northstar, but I stayed with Alpha Flight for the sake of Alpha Flight. I was just wondering, what do you 'old timers' (no offense) think about this? It's like Alpha Flight's kinda coming back into style.

Well, I hate to say it, but the "Hawkeye Effect" is certainly a factor.

The last AF book was, to be honest, abysmal. But wait! The "classic" team gets waxed just so the Collective sounds tougher?

That got people ANGRY.

But no lie- Northstar was an X-Man, however briefly, and that pumped his visibility way, way up.

Hell, I got interested in the team after reading an Avengers issue they were in....

Alright I'll openly admit I'm an old timer! For me, I could care less what draws folks into the Alpha Flight family. The more the merrier. If folks climb on board because they though Manbot was the best thing since sliced bread, then I'm happy they came across him! It will take readers who are interested in the team, whatever the makeup, to keep our beloved Alpha Flight around, so if it's Northstar or Manbot or Major Mapleleaf,Jr. or even Sas and Guardian that bring them into the fold it serves the same purpose. I do find it interesting that the deaths created such a backlash. I doubt we'd be seeing the activity if the backlash hadn't been there. Maybe Marvel was testing the waters and is smarter than we give them credit for. Northstar's appearances in X-men, Aurora, Wild Child and Maddison Jefferies in Weapon X, and even the fateful Alpha appearance in New Avengers #16 have all helped to continue on the legacy of our favorite team. Hopefully Oeming/Kollins Omega Flight will continue the rebuilding process and they'll again return to the forefront of the Marvel mythos where they belong.