Alpha Flight IS a family!

[cmdrkoenig67]

Okay....on another thread(I think it's here, somewhere...although...it may be on another message board....LOL)....I compared Alpha Flight to the Avengers and the Fantastic Four, saying that the team always seems to cycle back to the original members or some such(IMO it should always be about the original members, for the most part), but another member "Corrected" me in saying they are not like the FF, because they're not a family.

This got me thinking...and looking at the pollstoday(I noticed Mokole's family poll) made me think about it even more....enough to post a thought or two about it.

My observation....

Alpha Flight IS a family and always has been....why?

My reasons...

Mac and Heather got married, found Logan(later Wolverine) together and(in a way)"adopted" him as their "son". They function almost as parents to the whole of Alpha, having given "birth"to the team TOGETHER(Mac didn't do it by himself, as some like to believe).

Heather grew up next door to Michael Twoyoungmen and often babysat Elizabeth....the two families seemed very close.

Michael grew apart from his daughter, but took in the daughter of Nevanna, Narya, raising her as if she were his own child. Michael IS Snowbird's father...in any spiritual/emotional sense.

Heather, many years later introduced her husband Mac, to Michael(and his "adopted" daughter Narya) and thus formed the beginnings of Alpha.

Elizabeth, many years later sought out her father and eventually joined AF as Talisman.

That's a LOT of familial connections, right there....in the very origins of the team...

Logan(Heather and Mac's "son") found Jeanne Marie(Aurora) and brought her to the attention of Mac. Jeanne Marie and Jean Paul(Northstar) are of course, siblings separated at a young age...but they were reunited by Mac...and may have never met, if not for him. The Hudson's were "adopting" more "children".

Walter and Aurora had a love affair for many, many years....granted this is not an blood or otherwise, familial connection, but it is an emotional connection that will always be there.

Many families have their problems and most children leave the nest....as Logan did....but he still visits his "family" from time to time.

Heather set up the first "family reunion" in issue one of volume one.
She also did her best to hold the "family" together after Mac's "death"

Heather as leader of AF, took in many "strays"....Purple Girl, Manikin, Laura Dean and Goblyn(more "adoptions"?)in the years that followed.

Heather and Mac have had a daughter too(the family expands).

Recently, fortunately(or unfortunately, depending on your viewpoint) we discover Puck has a daughter, Zuzha Yu.

Then there's the Sadlers(Mapleleafs)....Heather's some what brief, relationship and engagment to Madison Jeffries...who later married Diamond Lil(another AFer).

IMO....Alpha is a family unit with many intricate connections...they may not all be connected in the familial sense, but many of them do have close ties to each other(emotional, spiritual, etc...). See?....They ARE a family, just like the FF.... Anyway....I'm done with my rant.

Dana

[Mokole]

As to the twins it helps explain Northstar. He blames himself for not being around for Aurora when younger so he couldn't help her avoid her MPD et al. So in AF he thinks that he has to be there for her, or else she'll get worse, he has to make up for his past. Tiring of that over time, he lets go and once again they have their own lives.

Off we go to WX and now Northstar will believe he's not the problem, she needs him to be 'centered', so he's the solution. Another option to him to explain his relationship to her and how that pans out...

[Le Messor]

That the Hudsons "adopted" all of AF seems like a big stretch to me. Even the Twinz never felt adopted, or like the kids of.

OTOH, you forgot that Liz was, actually, Heather's foster sister.

- Le Messor
"For Sale: Ex-Wife----Take over payments !"

[kozzi24]

Sorry, Dana..I hate the whole family analogy, the times its come up in Alpha, other comics, and elsewhere. No matter how much we look at our own families and reach for the bottle, or our hair, or their necks, family are those who helped make us who we are, who raised us, and who we raise. We all have friends we love like family or more, but they're escapable. Family is bonded by more than blood, but the relationships are deeper and much more complex.
I think the core Flight is a very good analogy of people working together professionally tho...they get the job done and prove they can work together well...but when the "busy season" is over, they're playing some pretty mean office politics.

As to the twins it helps explain Northstar. He blames himself for not being around for Aurora when younger so he couldn't help her avoid her MPD et al.

If you read those scans you say you have of the original Byrne issues, Northstar being "like he is" (very thin ice in word choice over that particular pond) is fully explained by Byrne...directly relating to family. Northstar and Aurora were born, then orphaned by their parents. Jean-Paul was adopted, Jeanne-Marie was not...then his adopted family also died and he was orphaned again...and that's very real-world development of a very defensive and aloof character. Jeanne-Marie's MPD only made Northstar a more tragic figure when it comes to family.

Throughout Volume One, from Byrne's start to Furman's finish, the MPD was always restricting how well he could get along with his sister's personalities. In the early years, Aurora was mad about a possible explanation J-P had proffered about Aurora "romancing her way to safety," and she took such offense to that remark as to intentionally tri to alienate him from their teammates while Jeanne-Marie turned to J-P whenever she needed help. Post #106, Aurora was supportive of J-P's revelations while Jeanne-Marie had her devout Catholic objections to it

[syvalois]

I think J-P as always been afraid to love, to be rejected. He prefered to reject people before they do it. So Aurora is his sibling and represented to him unconditional love. A way to open up to people

[Northcott]

Gave birth to Alpha... man, oh, man, oh, man. I don't even want to think about the labour pains that must have come with Sas.

In all seriousness: Interesting train of thought. I don't know that I'd take it quite so far, but it's a very valid examination of the characters that holds true for the most part. Certainly familial bonds (or even pseudo-familial) are a big part of AF. It's not something that should be overlooked.

[cmdrkoenig67]

Well....it's just my own analysis(folks don't have to do agree with me...Kozzi..LOL) of the relationships within the team. I liken the team closer to the FF(than the Avengers), only because so many members are related to each other in some way...of course the FF are a much smaller team. In the Avengers...who is related?...Pietro and Wanda, Hank and Jan(once upon a time)...Simon and Vision(sort of).

Dana

[HappyCanuck]

Well....it's just my own analysis(folks don't have to do agree with me...Kozzi..LOL) of the relationships within the team. I liken the team closer to the FF(than the Avengers), only because so many members are related to each other in some way...of course the FF are a much smaller team. In the Avengers...who is related?...Pietro and Wanda, Hank and Jan(once upon a time)...Simon and Vision(sort of).

Dana

Don't forget Wanda and Vision. they were married for a time.

[cmdrkoenig67]

Oops!....duh...I can't believe I forgot that.

Dana

[DelBubs]

Well....it's just my own analysis(folks don't have to do agree with me...Kozzi..LOL) of the relationships within the team. I liken the team closer to the FF(than the Avengers), only because so many members are related to each other in some way...of course the FF are a much smaller team. In the Avengers...who is related?...Pietro and Wanda, Hank and Jan(once upon a time)...Simon and Vision(sort of).

Dana

Don't forget Wanda and Vision. they were married for a time.

Oh and Hawkeye and Mocking Bird.

[HappyCanuck]

... Then you got the fact that Hank Pym is Vision's gran'pappy (Vision was created by Ultron, who was created by Hank); Quicksilver and Crystal are still married (last I looked, at least); Dane and Sersi were psycho-bonded, part of the way that the Eternals claim mates; Marrina (although not an OFFICIAL member, she is listed as 'probitionary' before she bacame Leviaton) and Namor were married; then you got the Thor/Thunderstike connection (said in the Thor comics when Thor came back as being a 'closer bond than brotherhood').

And if you REALLY wanna get finicky - Carol Danvers had a kid with Markus, the Red Centurion - said to be the son/past version of Kang - who is directly descended from Reed Richards (give or take a thousand years or so), who, with his wife and the Thing, were temporary Avengers.