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Topic: May 17th saw the debut of Alpha Flight in1983. Post Reply | Post New Topic
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Wilson Mui
Byrne Robotics Member


Joined: 27 June 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 4521
Posted: 17 May 2022 at 8:12pm | IP Logged | 1 post reply

I remember so clearly going to the candy
store on my block to see if that highly
anticipated issue had arrived. There was
only one copy left. It had several creases
and wrinkles on it, but it didn't matter.
I was just happy to get a copy!
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Brian Miller
Byrne Robotics Member


Joined: 28 July 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 30832
Posted: 17 May 2022 at 10:19pm | IP Logged | 2 post reply

The first back issue I ever bought at a comics shop was AF 12.
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Matt Hawes
Byrne Robotics Member


Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 16406
Posted: 17 May 2022 at 10:38pm | IP Logged | 3 post reply

Bought the first issue straight off the stands. If memory serves, I bought it at a drug store, and not at a comic shop. Although I had been frequenting the then-only comic shop in town for years, I still more commonly bought my comics from the Readmore bookstore closer to my home, and other stores in the same area, since they were closer and I was still a youth who didn't drive.


Edited by Matt Hawes on 17 May 2022 at 10:39pm
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Doug Centers
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Joined: 17 February 2014
Location: United States
Posts: 5436
Posted: 17 May 2022 at 11:59pm | IP Logged | 4 post reply

I was out of comics for a couple of years when this debuted. Flash forward thirty something years, after hearing it existed, got JB's run in single issues...a couple years later, added the Omnibus. 
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James Woodcock
Byrne Robotics Member


Joined: 21 September 2007
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 7581
Posted: 18 May 2022 at 1:28am | IP Logged | 5 post reply

I lived in a town with no comic shop, usually buying comics from the local
Rylands 3 months after release.

However, at some point, a newsagent, right next to the bus station, decided
he would start to import comics himself (although still three months after
release in the US - so we got them the month that was on the cover - it was
later that the publishers made the switch to cover date being the month of
release in the US - maybe connected to the increase in direct market?)

This was manna for me as suddenly, I could get regular runs of American
issues without having to wonder what would actually arrive.



The exact issue this happened with was X-Men 153 - Kitty’s fairy tale.

So that was it. From then on, Saturday consisted of me taking the early bus
into town, walking to his shop, buying as many comics as I could, getting on
the bus home & reading those things for the rest of the day.



So I got Alpha Flight 1 the day it came to his shop & loved every second of
the read.

Of course, I was so young & naive (even at 14), I missed that the man who
became Tundra was Snowbird’s dad, & I missed that Northstar was gay.

But they became major ‘Wow, how did I miss those?’ Moments on later
reads.
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Charles Nelson
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Joined: 25 June 2012
Location: United States
Posts: 245
Posted: 18 May 2022 at 3:15am | IP Logged | 6 post reply

I found Alpha Flight 1 at a corner store while on vacation in Florida. It's such a vivid memory. Such 11 year-old excitement! 
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Shawn Kane
Byrne Robotics Member


Joined: 04 November 2010
Location: United States
Posts: 3239
Posted: 18 May 2022 at 4:02pm | IP Logged | 7 post reply

My first issue was #13. I knew Sasquatch from a Hulk annual that my brother owned. I bought #'s 5 and 6 that same month in the 3-packs that I could find in my local grocery store. I believe that I also bought #10 as a mail-away order from a cereal ad in the comics. I found a local dealer in a buyer's guide and got 1-4. I eventually talked a buddy into giving me #12. You know you love a book when you can recall exactly how you acquired the issues. 

Edited by Shawn Kane on 18 May 2022 at 4:15pm
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Peter Martin
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Joined: 17 March 2008
Location: Canada
Posts: 15726
Posted: 18 May 2022 at 4:57pm | IP Logged | 8 post reply

IIRC, Marvel UK only reprinted up to issue 10 (what a cover!); by that point, I had discovered a local(ish) comic shop where I could get my 10-year-old hands on American imports and I was fortunate enough to stumble across a back issue of #12, which I duly bought. And it was great. Back then I couldn't get enough of comics and UK comics never told stories in one issue -- they would come out weekly and the reprinted stories were always sliced up and spliced with other stories, so you get part of a Secret Wars issue alongside part of an Alpha Flight issue, for example. So to be able to gorge myself on a double-sized issue of all Byrne-Alphan goodness was amazing. 

And the ending was nuts.


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John Byrne

Grumpy Old Guy

Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 132129
Posted: 18 May 2022 at 4:58pm | IP Logged | 9 post reply

One of the only advantages to moving around as much as we did when I was a kid—nine schools in 11 years—is that I can practically tell time by where we lived. Which makes it very easy to remember where I bought various comic books (and, later, plastic models).
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Jonathan A. Dowdell
Byrne Robotics Member


Joined: 17 July 2016
Location: United States
Posts: 415
Posted: 18 May 2022 at 7:11pm | IP Logged | 10 post reply

I posted this picture once before. This is June 1983 at a small used book store outside Philadelphia. On this night Mr. Byrne signed my copy of Alpha Flight 1. 

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John Byrne

Grumpy Old Guy

Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 132129
Posted: 19 May 2022 at 12:30am | IP Logged | 11 post reply

Ah, Archie……..
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Rick Senger
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Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 9629
Posted: 19 May 2022 at 12:48am | IP Logged | 12 post reply

Bought Issue one fresh off the stands. I actually was lukewarm on it
initially (other than a few X-men issues I didn’t really know these
strange characters) but I found later issues increasingly good such that
it became a particular favorite for a while. I stopped reading comics
while in college and missed much of the second half of John’s run.
When I returned to comics those were some of the first back issues I
tracked down and enjoyed. The run still just feels different and a bit
experimental to me, kind of like John was carving out his own little
universe with new chars and villains ( at least to me) ala Lee and Kirby
inventing much of Marvel in the early-mid 60s. It somehow wasn’t like
other comics of that era to me; familiar enough but somehow very
much it’s own thing.
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