Alpha Flight #3 Review

Written by: Ed Brisson
Art by: Scott Godlewski
Colors by: Matt Milla
Letters by: VC’s Travis Lanham
Cover art by: Leonard Kirk, Edgar Delgado
Cover price: $3.99
Release date: October 25, 2023

Alpha Flight #3 feels the burn when their secret team struggles to get Feedback to safety, and the public team risks revolts from the mutants under their care.

Is Alpha Flight #3 Good?

Alpha Flight#3 continues to build energy and tension as one of the few X-titles around that treats the fallout from the 2023 Hellfire Gala with urgency and seriousness. Ed Brisson may not have the most recognizable X-Title on the shelf, but he’s making the most of it.

When last we left Alpha Flight, Box Sentinels arrived to apprehend or kill Feedback. Alpha Flight wouldn’t make it in time, so the team returned to base on Dept. H orders to keep up appearances. Instead, the secret Alpha Flight team of mutants jumped into the action to put down the Box Sentinels and rescue Feedback.

Now, the strain of teleportation takes its toll on Nemesis, the mutants in hiding at Krakoa North, aka Manitoba, are starting to get restless, and the data from the fight gives Roger Bochs Jr. the intel he needs to make the Box Sentinels evened deadlier.

Readers will likely consider this issue a setup or transition issue. Things happen without a definitive outcome, players are moved around on the board, and pressure from all sides increases. Although you don’t get a big wow moment, Brisson is still treating Orchis as the threat they made themselves out to be during the Hellfire Gala.

What’s great about Alpha Flight #3? Ed Brisson turns up the heat on his pressure cooker of a story. The cooped mutants are starting to get frustrated, signaling a potential blowup. Nemesis collapses from the strain, causing Alpha Flight’s covert mission to become increasingly personal. And Dept. H’s failures are causing them to get more extreme and reckless. All the threads are working together to create a boiling point.

What’s not so great about Alpha Flight #3? Transition issues are notorious for building anticipation that could be construed as frustration. The plot is moving along, but not one moment in this issue stands out as the most important thing or unforgettable.

How’s the art? It’s great. Scott Godlewski’s panel compositions, layout, line work, figure work, and action are on point. Ed Brisson’s solid writing is matched (improved?) by Godlewski’s solid art delivery.

About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.

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Bits and Pieces

Alpha Flight #3 is one of the few X-titles that continues to treat the Orchis threat with urgency and seriousness. That said, this issue feels more like a setup/transition issue by creating bubbling tension without delivering at least one wow moment.