Hello JB,

Long time lurker, the appearances of Guardian and Shaman in X-Men Elsewhen prompted me to reread your run on Alpha Flight and reading them as a (ahem much) older adult procured me new levels of stimulation. I know that Alpha Flight is not your favorite subject however I have questions that came to mind when reading the issues concerning the creative process. I acknowledge that the concept was not someting that interested you to begin with and it fascinates me how much quality there is in those issues and it shows how much you were fighting to get the best stories possible with those concepts.

1)        I actually found Jerry Jaxon and James Hudson’s relationship fascinating. Seeing this middle executive going to bitter Lex Luthor type nemesis was I think a very understated quality of the run. The whole notion of patent ownership for the Guardian suit technology was actually very thought provoking and actually made me thing of an allegory for comic creator ownership which was a  topic at the time. What was your inspiration or thinking for the Jerry Jaxon character ?

2)        The disbanding of department H was done at the end of your X-men run and it became the starting point of the Alpha Flight Comic. What was the reasoning behind the disbanding and were there already plans in motion for an Alpha Flight comic ?

3)        I actually like the setting of Department H and all the backstory you created for it, including Beta Flight and Gamma Flight. Why was it decided to discard this setting ?

4)        I found also very interesting how the Alpha Flight characters from your X-men run was actually quite different from the ones in the Alpha Flight run. There was a shot in the x-men run with all their secret identities and description.  It seems that during the first year, Northstar, Aurora and Snowbird went into another direction quickly. Why did you take the characters away from this description ?

5)        It seems re-reading the comics that Beta Flight and Gamma Flight were created to birth Omega Flight from the get-go which is such a good arc for the first year. Omega Flight is I think an underrated villains team with a very good SF concept which reminds me in terms of mood what would come in Next Men. I was actually shocked reading the comics as an adult by the bitterness of the members of the team. Was there any inspiration or thinking with the creation of this concept ?

6)        The tragedy of Guardian’s death is incredibly strong. I actually admire how much depth you gave to the character even though he was not a character you were interested in the first place. It gave the whole run a very mature vibe. All the SF concepts and horror concepts were very incredibly novel to me at the time. What was the thinking about using those concepts in a superhero comic ?

7)        I was reminded how much I like Shaman’s character. It is a staple of your writing in the 80s where you could always find a dependable rational wise man your comics, Reed Richards, Doc Samson, Hank Pym himself. I found interesting the way Heather described him in the end of your run as the backbone of the team and the secondary leader. I was very happy to see him again in Elsewhen , although I really thought for a second you were going to kill him. Was Shaman a character you used for introducing yourself with the mystical concepts of Superhero comicbooks ?

Thank you,