Climb Aboard the Omnijet!

I’m thrilled to be writing this first newsletter to you as I have been waiting for so long to share details about this project! And lucky for you, you’re the first to hear about a lot of this stuff. When I promoted joining the newsletter, I promised first access to stuff- and I won’t be sharing some of this stuff for several days out in the digital world. Other stuff won’t be posted elsewhere at all- so you’re in for a good time (I hope)!

First of all, let me introduce myself. I’m Daryl and I work in higher education in the great state of Minnesota. In my free time, my husband and I have a podcast (X-Factor Files, where we are currently covering Alpha Flight and Marvel’s Star Trek titles from the 90s); I also do a lot of sewing, gaming, and reading (comics and books!). We also have three pet rabbits that keep us on our toes and, without fail, ask for treats (and who can deny those whiskered faces anything they want?). I have two previously published books- one is a dual biography of my great-grandmother and her mother and the other is all about Linda Ronstadt’s career from 1969 to 1989. If you asked me ten years ago if I would ever write a book, I would’ve said, “No, I’m a reader, not a writer.” But something lit within me, and I found expressing myself via the written word quite satisfying.

So why did I decide to write about Alpha Flight and, specifically, its first volume? At The Uncanny Experience [insert link] last year I presented an overview of Alpha

Flight heroes and villains; somehow, I crammed a bunch of info into 50 minutes. After the program, I had some really great conversations with folks about the book- both longtime Alpha Flight fans and those who were barely familiar with the title. What I came away with was the desire of everyone to know more. I’m a historian at heart and I knew that I could do something about that! So, a couple weeks after that, I began writing and haven’t looked back. Alpha Flight is also the book I fell in love with when I first started reading comics about a decade ago, which makes it very easy to write about. As I put into the book introduction, it’s a perfect cross-section of Marvel- living somewhere between X-Men, the Avengers, and Doctor Strange. The characters and stories hooked me and reading the first volume is so, so fun- and I want other people to have the same experience (except more in-depth!).  

That brings us to today. I just finished my last interview for the book this week and am in the process of putting quotes from all the original interviews I conducted  into the rough draft (already incorporated are quotes from archival interviews and secondary academic sources). At the same time, my phenomenal editor, Laura, is working her way through the book and doing a bang-up job not only correcting grammar but bringing a set of fresh eyes to the project. Laura is completely new to comics and Alpha Flight and can read the draft using that perspective, meaning it will be an accessible tome for any level of familiarity with the title- from those who’ve never read an issue to those who remember when Mac burst into life in X-Men #109.

Now the part you’ve all been waiting for: the cover and title! I’ve been working with Richard Lumsden from inkBoard Studios and, as you can see below, he’s done a fantastic job making a cover that represents one of the most pivotal moments of the entire first volume. Richard is a longtime Alpha Flight fan and a fantastic Canadian independent artist.  It was important to me to choose a Canadian artist to do the cover; not being Canadian myself, I feel the need to tap Canadian talent where I am able for this project (I took Canadian history in college and have visited the country several times- I love my neighbor to the north!). For the title, I drew upon the country’s national anthem, as I feel the phrase “True North” represents Alpha Flight and its purpose (funded by the government or not) supremely well.

So there you have it! I hope you are as excited as I am about the book. In subsequent updates, I’ll be sharing release date details, more insight into what’s going into the book, and where it will be sold!

If you want to chat with me about the book, feel free to send a message to [email protected]. Feel free to forward this message so other folks can sign up for the newsletter. Catch you next time!