Every Canadian has wanted Logan to tell them that, regardless of the circumstances.

It's once again time to blog a comic I was absolutely going to blog, because I bought it specifically from the quarter bin to blog, like four goddamn times from different quarter bins. I literally had the same idea every time I saw it...From 1992, Alpha Flight Special (1992), "First Flight" Plot and script by Scott Lobdell, script by Simon Furman, pencils by Pat Broderick, inks by Bruce Patterson.

This was a flashback tale, to Alpha Flight's first mission, but opens with Canadian cop Benard in a shootout with three crooked cops. He is saved by Logan, who then takes him to the Prime Minister himself, to set up a transfer. Logan tells Benard he now "belong(s) to the Canadian government," which I feel like I've heard a lot in X-Men/Alpha Flight stories, and I gotta ask, is that common up north? One day Canada decides they need you and your ass is drafted right there? Logan then takes Benard by helicopter to a lodge near Thunder Bay, tells him his room is second floor, first door on the left, then takes off. But, his roommate talks incessantly in his sleep, so he heads for a couch, only to find the mysterious, and very nude, "Narya." Not yet Snowbird then, but she welcomes him to "the Flight," which tells him nothing. Nightie-night! 

As Egghead starts setting up new digs in Canada, and a solid fistful of villains head north; Benard is awakened by the bellicose "Saint Elmo--keeper of the Northern Lights!" He also meets his verbose roommate, Alec Thorne, "the smartest man in Canada!" "Smart Alec" claims to be smarter than Reed Richards, but doesn't get the press; but Logan interrupts his tirade to tell Benard he was due on the training course. Dr. "L," (for Langowski) and Dr. James MacDonald Hudson finally give him the lowdown, which involves a discussion of the recent appearance of the Fab Four--er, Fantastic Four. They are also overly cheerful at the reveal that Benard's ass had been conscripted to pilot Hudson's new exo-suit. Yes, apparently the Canadian government can pick you to pilot an untested, experimental suit against super-villains, terrorists, Giganto, whatever; and there's nothing you can do about it.

Canada's prospective new heroes train, not really gelling as any sort of team. Benard uses his new suit to eavesdrop on an argument between Logan and Hudson: Hudson wants Jodi to be involved with the team, Logan calls her a basket case. Benard meets the young mutant, a.k.a. Stitch, who could precisely control small bits of metal, but was afraid of her powers. (Although, she's using them to stitch up her own face when we meet her; why she needed to do so is also unclear.) She seems to take to him, though.

When Egghead announces he has a nuclear missile aimed at New York City, it's go time, even though Hudson was not sure about them, although you definitely shouldn't tell your team that beforehand. Some of Egghead's crew isn't sure either: he admits his demands were outrageous, and assumed he would have to nuke NYC, in order for later cities to capitulate; and Swordsman was not up for that. When fight time comes down, Stitch proves herself against the Swordsman, the Rhino is surprised to be cut by Logan, and Smart Alec proves useless in the crunch. The missile is disabled but not the warhead; and Egghead proves surprisingly resistant to Logan's intimidation. Saint Elmo sacrifices himself, to destroy the missile, and save his friends. 

Back at HQ, Hudson is getting chewed out by Dr. Michael Twoyoungmen (lotta doctors in AF...) when Benard tenders his resignation, not caring what Canada might to do him. Hudson defends his call to throw them in the deep end, since he had to use what he had to save lives; and Benard may have just given him the idea for a tiered system: an active 'A' team, a training 'B' team maybe. Benard walks away, and Hudson lets him return to his life as a cop. Over the years, Benard had since seen Alpha Flight rise and fall, multiple times by that point, and thought there would always be an Alpha Flight. Canadian optimism. 

I don't know if this was a story that had been aching to be told, or an excuse to slap Wolverine on the cover and move a few copies. OK, maybe I do know. I'm also not sure we'd ever seen 'Mac' Hudson not want to pilot his suit, I kind of thought that it was his baby.