Alone Against Alpha Flight!

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"Alone Against Alpha Flight!"
Publisher	Marvel Comics
Published in	The Transformers issue 18 issue 19 issue 20
First published	18th May, 1985 (part 1) 1st June, 1985 (part 2) 15th June, 1985 (part 3)
Writer	Tom DeFalco
Artist	Steve Ditko
Colours	Nel Yomtov
Letters	Diana Albers
Editor	Denny O'Neil
Editor-in-chief	Jim Shooter

While trying to track down Madam Menace, Machine Man comes under investigation himself as the central figure in a potential international incident.

Synopsis

Part 1

Barely a week has passed since Machine Man first encountered the underworld armourer Madam Menace, and the living robot is haunted by the possibility that she remains at large. Floating over the city skyline, Machine Man recognises the warehouse on the deserted pier that served as one of her bases. He heads inside looking for answers, but finds a squadron of Menace's henchmen burning documents and destroying machinery to cover their tracks. The henchmen scramble to combat Machine Man. In a moment of over-confidence, he fails to spot a particular goon who opens fire on him with a sonic rifle, fusing the circuitry in his left knee. Machine Man destroys the weapon and incapacitates the henchman.

Most of the goons are down and out, but Machine Man is no closer to finding Madam Menace. He grabs one henchman for interrogation, bluffing that he'll drop him from a height if he doesn't squeal. All the henchman can offer him is that Menace has gone into hiding; with Machine Man's finger sensors monitoring the man's pulse, he is satisfied that he has been told the truth, and he gives the henchman a soft landing on some of his still-standing comrades. With nothing else to learn here and his left leg threatening to overload, Machine Man heads home.

In Madam Menace's underground headquarters, Rollins reports to the boss lady about Machine Man's interference. Sensors placed all around the warehouse have recorded the living robot's every action, and Menace demands her men complete a full profile on his capabilities. She must study Machine Man – and in particular, his vulnerability to sonic weapons – in order to replicate his abilities and produce a full range of multi-functional combat units.

At Aaron and Peter's apartment, the strait-laced psychiatrist's worry for his superhero friend manifests as a swipe at the boorish Gears Garvin. The conflict between them escalates, as Peter accuses Gears of using Aaron as a simply toy with which to tinker, and Gears responds in kind that Aaron is a mere case study for Peter. Machine Man returns home, and the two men play down their argument as a mild disagreement over what to watch on television. As Gears tends to Machine Man's injured leg, Peter privately reflects that they were acting childishly by fighting over their friend's attentions.

Across town, in a posh Mid-Manhattan hotel, Senator Miles Brickman is still on the campaign trail, preaching his usual rhetoric against the menace of Machine Man. His ship is sinking, however; even before the tepid response from his audience, his offstage supporters note that his popularity is dropping and that he hasn't scored well in the primaries. Privately, they encourage Brickman to focus on more important societal issues, but the senator says he has already taken steps to destroy Machine Man as part of a plan that will cement his reputation as society's saviour...

Meanwhile, an important conference is taking place in Department H, a top-secret section of the Canadian ministry of defence situated five hundred metres below the parliament buildings in Ottawa, Ontario. A minister briefs his men about an incident some months ago wherein they dispatched their super-powered agent, Sasquatch, to stop the rampage that ensued after the Incredible Hulk invaded Canadian territory. He explains that parliament has received a dossier from an anonymous source that alleges that the Hulk was hypnotised and deliberately sent to Canada by Machine Man, a robot rumoured to have ties to the U.S. government. If true, the implications for U.S./Canadian relations are disastrous.

The minister has chosen Department H's top covert operative, Agent K, to head to New York City and determine the origin and veracity of the unattributed dossier. He takes K to meet the team of specialists who will accompany him to keep Machine Man off his tail: members of the Canadian super-team, Alpha Flight! Agent K watches as the near-mythical superheroes train their powers: Dr. Walter Langkowski, alias Sasquatch, proves his strength under the force of a four ton hydraulic press, while the twins Jean-Paul and Jeanne-Marie Beaubier – Northstar and Aurora – demonstrate their super speed by dodging sonic and laser obstacles. After the training session finishes, the minister explains to the four agents that their operation must be carried out without official sanction so as to not jeopardise their relations with America. Early the following morning, their limousine crosses the border into the United States...

Part 2

That same morning, Madam Menace puts the finishing touches on her sonic disruptor, a weapon designed to incapacitate Machine Man. She has Rollins place a classified ad in the following day's Daily Bugle to lure Machine Man into her web once again.

Later, in her civilian identity of Sunset Bain, she hosts a high society party on behalf of a grateful gentleman who insists on introducing her to the guest of honour: prospective president Miles Brickman. Sunset tells the senator that they have something of a mutual friend...

At Delmar Insurance, Aaron dismisses another one of Eddie's gambling schemes before bumping right into Pamela, whom he has been trying to avoid due to the confusing emotions she stirs in him.

Elsewhere, the alter egos of Alpha Flight are put up in a fancy New York hotel. While K investigates his own leads, Langkowski plans to equip each of them with a wrist monitor keyed to track Machine Man's unique bio-radiations and then stake out the address of the only Aaron Stack in the phone book. Jean-Paul and Jeanne-Marie scoff, thinking Langkowski is joking, and before he can protest, the twins head off to party the night away.

The next morning, Peter and Aaron become aware of Madam Menace's ad in the Bugle: "Put a little menace in your life, robot! Meet me at the usual place!" Both men suspect a trap, but even so, this is Machine Man's only lead on his enemy, and he can't rest while she's still at large.

At street level, Langkowski continues his solo investigation while the Beaubier twins sleep off their hangover. When his wrist monitor kicks in, having detected Machine Man's flight overhead, he asks his cabby to take him in specific directions, much to the driver's confusion.

Machine Man finds that the waterfront warehouse has been fortified from the outside. Avoiding a conventional entrance, he extends his arm and uses his finger sensors to scout around inside, finding only a single point of interest: a maser-controlled homing device he is intended to use to trace Menace to her next hideout.

Elsewhere, Agent K has determined that the anonymous dossier was mailed from a particular post office and typed out on stationery only for federal use, concluding that someone in the American government is intending to make Machine Man an enemy of Canada.

Langkowski follows Machine Man to the waterfront and triggers his gamma radiation powers to transform into the monstrous form of Sasquatch. He rips part of the warehouse loose to get Machine Man on uneven footing and announces his intent to apprehend Machine Man. The living robot concludes that Sasquatch acts too strait-laced to be a part of Menace's criminal empire. As they battle, Sasquatch demands to know why Machine Man sent the Hulk to Canada, but Machine Man argues that, in his dazed and damaged state, all he did was throw Hulk away from civilisation. Fearing that Menace will deactivate the homing beacon if he takes too long, Machine Man cuts their conversation short by upending Sasquatch and tossing him into the Hudson...

Part 3

Machine Man taps into the power source of a nearby lamppost and uses a carefully calculated charge to stun Sasquatch. To Langowski's surprise, however, Machine Man carefully pulls him out of the water to prevent him drowning, and as the living robot skates away to make his rendezvous with Madam Menace, Sasquatch tries to contact his teammates.

Machine Man follows the signal to a large sewer chamber where he is attacked by Menace's henchmen. As they bring out an increasing amount of artillery, such as solar-powered nunchakus, he deduces that capabilities are being studied remotely by his foe. As her henchmen continue to fall, a desperate Menace orders them to break out the sonic disruptor. Machine Man is caught in the beam, and he loses all control of his convulsing body.

Rescue comes from an unexpected source, as Northstar and Aurora arrive, having searched the city at super-speed for Sasquatch and followed Machine Man with their wrist trackers. Sasquatch has since concluded that Machine Man leaving him alive proves that he can't be a villain, but the living robot hasn't received the memo, believing himself to be at the mercy of two warring groups of enemies.

Machine Man can only think of one method to free himself. He detaches his head, and uses his gravity-negating powers to repeatedly headbutt the sonic disruptor. Though he successfully destroys the device and ends its influence on his flailing body, his humanised face has become melted and disfigured. In unnerving silence, his head floats back to his body and he reattaches it. Then with quiet fury, the robot speaks:

"Are you all quite satisfied?"

Letting out his bottled-up rage, Machine Man fearsomely attacks the henchmen. Madam Menace concludes that he's gone mad. Northstar and Aurora attempt to stop him committing murder using their combined Mutant power of a blinding beam of light, but Machine Man's finger sensors are immune to its effects and he punches the twins. Sasquatch tries to grab him, but Machine Man lashes out, pummelling him senseless.

Aurora cries out for the "inhuman monster" to stop before he kills him. The words get through to Aaron as he realises his recent actions have made him every inch the menace that people like Brickman believe him to be. Horrified by his behaviour, he drills his way out of the sewer, asking Alpha Flight not to follow him. As Sasquatch nurses his headache, Aurora wonders if Agent K fared any better on their mission.

K has spent his evening searching every government office within the local radius of the post office to find the particular typewriter with quirks that match those evident on the dossier. His investigation leads him to the office of Miles Brickman, and K concludes that the senator intended for Canada to take a stand against Machine Man to boost his political ambitions. In the eyes of the Canadian government, Machine Man is exonerated... but Brickman has a price to pay.

Alpha Flight returns home, angry at how they've been played. Madam Menace vows revenge against Machine Man. Brickman's campaign implodes in light of the news coverage of his attempt to rig the election, though he swears he'll be back. And Gears and Peter pace the apartment, worried about their missing friend.

His trenchcoat collar turned up against the wind, Machine Man stalks the streets. Both emotionally and physically scarred from the loss of his temper, Aaron broods on his new understanding about the darkness in his soul, wondering how he can possibly face tomorrow.

Featured characters

Regular cast	Antagonists	Incidentals	Alpha Flight
Aaron Stack/Machine Man Peter Spaulding Gears Garvin Delmar Insurance Eddie Harris Maggie Jones Pamela Quinn	Sunset Bain/Madam Menace Madam Menace's henchmen Santelli Rollins Miles Brickman Supporters Hulk (footage)	Sunset's partygoers Cabby Canadian government Department H personnel Minister Agent K	Jeanne-Marie Beaubier/Aurora Jean-Paul Beaubier/Northstar Dr. Walter Langkowski/Sasquatch

Quotes

"Is the lady of the house at home? I've come to end her ruthless criminal rampage!"

—Machine Man makes his entrance at the deserted warehouse.

Machine Man: "Wake up, fleshy! Tell me how to find your sexy superior!"
Henchman: "No! I won't!"
Machine Man: (I'll have to bluff him!) "Don't skate around with me, human! My patience fuse -- is easily blown!"

"Forget it, Stack! You'll never be a big-time operator like me! Hey, Maggie! Can you lend me five bucks for lunch?"

–Eddie, right after talking up his dead cert gambling.

(Pam, you make me feel strange, puzzling, very unrobotlike emotions -- and they frighten me!)

—Aaron thinks what he can't express aloud.

Sasquatch: "If your motives were noble, you have nothing to fear from our authorities!"
Machine Man: "Sorry, Sasquatch! I have little faith in the authorities of any country!"

"Humanity has hunted, hounded and haunted me since the day of my creation! I've had enough! ENOUGH!"

—Machine Man cuts loose.

Notes

Alone Against Alpha Flight! on Marvel Database, an external wiki

Original printing

• Machine Man (vol 1) issue 18, December 1980

Crazy credits

Culminating a trend from previous issues, the credits box reads:

Perfidiously produced by: Tom DeFalco -- whose writing is justly slurred Steve Ditko -- an artist absurd! Diana Albers - she letters like a bird! Nel Yomtov - his colours are often blurred! Denny O'Neil - an editor never bestirred! Jolly Jim Shooter - who commands the last word!*

*See! I told you I'd get even with these tiresome turkeys for insulting me in issue 15's credits! -- Shooter

Edits

• All but the eighth (final) page of part 1 are printed in black and white. It seems an attempt was made for the third page, but see #Artwork and technical errors.
• On the initial splash page, "splendor" is changed to "splendour" in the opening paragraph. Nel Yomtov's "colors" credit is corrected to "colours", and Jim Shooter's sign-off (see above) reads "in issue 15's credits!" rather than the original's "in last issue's credits!"
• On page 2, "armorer" becomes "armourer". An attempt is made to mask an error from the U.S. printing using the wrong "it's" by covering the apostrophe with an elongation to the top stroke of the 'T'.
• On page 4, Madam Menace's fashion-themed quip about having a "Fall catalog" of designer armaments becomes the comparatively sauceless "full catalogue".
• On page 6, the U.S. English spellings of "meters" and "defense" are changed to the British Canadian spellings "metres" and "defence".
• Laughable attempts are made to obscure the footnotes on pages 7 and 8, which referred readers to titles and numbers of Marvel U.S. back issues. We say "laughable" because they look like someone scribbled over them with a black pen and didn't quite fill the whole box in.
• On page 8, "maneuvers" becomes "manoeuvres".
• All of part 2 is printed in black and white.
• On the first page, the brand of Sunset Bain's dress is changed (see #Real-life references).
• Also on the first page, Eddie's rather unfortunate choice of words – saying that betting on high school girls' badminton matches is "virgin territory" – is changed to "unknown territory".
• In the U.S. printing, Sasquatch's cabby responds to his sudden change of mind with the inexplicable "It's pineapple-time again!" The UK printing re-letters this to "It's nutty season again!"
• Only the seventh (final) page of part 3 is printed in colour.
• On page 6, two instances of "maneuver" again become "manoeuvre".
• A footnote clarifying what Machine Man means about his "first meeting" with the Hulk is removed.
• On the penultimate page, K's thought bubble of "Alpha Flight must abort Mission: Machine Man!" replaces "abort" with "abandon", necessitating re-lettering "mission" as well.

Artwork and technical errors

• U.S. spellings to slip through include "savior", "neutralizing", "computerized", "hypnotized", "authorized", and "jeopardize". In part 2, we have "honor", "artifact" (which is typically "artefact" in British English), "analyze", "armored", two instances of "realize", and "civilization". Part 3 gives us "colorful", "honor" again, and "defenseless" – all in the same speech bubble.
• On page 2, a note from "Didactic Denny" clarifies that Machine Man discovered Menace's riverside hideout "last issue", which was true in the U.S. printing – but in the TFUK printing, he actually discovered it two issues ago.
• The third page of part 1 is in a sort of half-colour. Comparison with the original U.S. printing reveals that any shade containing yellow is absent from the TFUK reprint, meaning all yellow, green, and orange elements are uncoloured or incorrect.
• On page 6, Brickman says he has taken steps to "insure" Machine Man's obliteration. In that context, the word is "ensure".
• On the first page of part 2, Madam Menace refers to Machine Man as her "antagonistic automation", in a context where "automaton" would fit better.
• Aaron is completely unmasked on the third page of part 2; the ID number on his forehead reads "X 41" instead of "X-51".
• On page 5, because of two unfortunate line breaks, the words "identified and classified" are split into "ident fied and class-fied".
• "That raging robot is defeating everyone of my marauding mercenaries!" – that's the wrong "every one", Madam Menace.

Continuity errors

• Madam Menace's henchmen attempt to clear the pier warehouse hideout, calling it "a liability ever since Machine Man discovered its location!" In truth, Menace deliberately led Machine Man to the warehouse as part of a trap.
• Machine Man quips that he weights 8501 pounds – if true, it's hard to imagine how he was dragged back to Peter's apartment in "Xanadu!".

Continuity notes

• "Barely a week" has passed since Machine Man first encountered Madam Menace, in "Arms and the Robot!". "Alone Against Alpha Flight!" takes place over the span of four days.
• During the fight in the warehouse, Machine Man takes out a henchman by hitting him with an entire electro-magnetic generator. This is presumably a component to the electromagnetic stasis field he was held in during "Arms and the Robot!".
• Machine Man's weakness to sonic weaponry was previously demonstrated in "Byte of the Binary Bug!".
• Machine Man's fight with the Hulk occurred before "Introducing Machine Man", in Marvel U.S.'s The Incredible Hulk issue 235  to 237  (or Marvel UK's Hulk Comic issues 35  to 40 ). Hulk then encountered Sasquatch in The Incredible Hulk Annual #8  (or Marvel UK's Hulk Comic issues 52  to 56 ).
• The other half of Alpha Flight is on assignment in Northern Quebec, as seen in The Uncanny X-Men issue 139  and 140  (or Marvel UK's Marvel Super-Heroes issue 396  and 397 ).
• Machine Man implies having a second encounter with the Hulk, which was being published concurrently (with the U.S. printing, at least) in Marvel Team-Up Annual issue 3. 
• Machine Man last demonstrated his ability to become a living drill in "Xanadu!".

Real-life references

• Gears asks if Peter only wants Aaron so he can be a cover feature on Psychology Today. Gears lies to Aaron that their argument was about whether to watch Love Boat or Masterpiece Theatre (Gears claiming to prefer the latter, more highbrow option).
• Brickman hasn't scored well in the primaries, which the TFUK Appendix takes to mean the 1984 Republican Party presidential primaries.
• Agent K calls Alpha Flight "Canada's answer to the Avengers!"
• In the original printing, Sunset Bain is said to wear a "Mackie original". TFUK edits this to a "Dior original".
• A former Brickman goon tells him that this latest scandal would leave him unable to even get elected as Nixon's butler.