"Alpha Flight has been a very unique beast in that people always wonder and sometimes write them off as Canada's X-Men or Canada's Avengers. It's not Canada, though, that defines this team to me at all. It's the characters, especially the original cast, which I find most fascinating. I think that's what people react to the most. The book was at its most successful when it featured a majority of the original cast members," McCann told CBR News. "Subsequent relaunches never really caught on for various reasons. I'm sure people have their opinions of why they didn't. Each of those relaunches had their own different take on the team that was different from Alpha Flight's original run. I definitely appreciated what they we're trying to do, but for me it's those original members and what they bring to the table."
One of the reasons McCann finds the original Alpha Flight characters so compelling is because at their core, the individual members are all very flawed people simply trying their best to be heroic. "They are psychologically the most screwed up team in the entire Marvel Universe. If you take a look at them, they all have almost crippling neuroses. Then, you throw them all into a team and they're insanely dysfunctional personality-wise. Yet, as a team, they can kick a lot of ass and get the job done," McCann explained. "On a character level, though, they are really messed up. They're all damaged. They're all scarred and they all kind of need each other to work properly. I think that's the key to Alpha Flight; they really do need each other to work properly."
Another element McCann finds interesting is the origins of the various characters that comprise the team's Rogues Gallery. "They have a tendency to create their own worst enemies. Professor X and Magneto became enemies because of their differing ideologies, but Alpha Flight just has a tendency to either mess up their own members and trainees, or things just happen to them and it spins out of control very quickly," McCann said. "To be able to write a team that spawns their own worst enemies is very cool, because you never know what is going to happen. One thing can go wrong and suddenly your greatest ally is your greatest enemy. That sort of suspense and potential is really what makes a book like 'Alpha Flight' sing for me."
"Chaos War: Alpha Flight" takes place in Canada shortly after the events of "Chaos War" #3, about which McCann says, "I know that I said that Canada doesn't define Alpha Flight, but the timing of where this appears during 'Chaos War' is important. That's because of what the Chaos King and his minions are doing. What happens in 'Chaos War' #3 makes this story happen at this time. It couldn't really happen at any other time or place."
The machinations of the Chaos King and his followers creates a situation that allows dead Alpha Flight members Guardian (James MacDonald Hudson), his wife Vindicator (Heather Hudson), Shaman (Michael Twoyoungmen) and Marrina Smallwood to return from the grave. They won't be the only Alpha Flight members in the book, however; McCann plans to reunite them with several of the team's still living members.
"This is a full reunion of the core cast. We've got Sasquatch, Northstar, Aurora and Snowbird," McCann stated. "Sharp eyed readers will notice there is a missing name from that list. The character is a very popular member, and that's Puck. That is addressed in the one shot. I can't say much more than that.
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As the adage says, nothing is free, and the resurrection of the dead team members in "Chaos War: Alpha Flight" does come with a price. "One of the living Alphans is doing whatever possible to bring back the dead ones. In doing so, this character basically makes a deal with their version of the devil to make this happen," McCann explained. "Once they're brought back, there is one character that is basically trying to hold the team together on the dead side and one character trying to hold the team together on the living side. So when the two are able to succeed and do that with the help of their greatest enemy, you get this awesome reunion, but also, in classic Alpha Flight style, you immediately get the conflict and fallout that rocks every member."
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