Omega Flight #3

Issue Date: 
August 2007
Story Title: 
Alpha to Omega, part 3
Staff: 

Michael Avon Oeming (Writer), Scott Kolins (Artist), Brian Reber (Colorist), Virtual Calligraphy’s Cory Petit (Letterer), Will Panzo (Assistant Editor), Andy Schmidt (Editor), Joe Quesada (Editor-in-Chief), Dan Buckley (Publisher)

Brief Description: 

Talisman argues about having Michael Pointer as a member of Omega Flight, and that he is the new Guardian. She even goes as far as to wish to kill him, and he begs her to do it, but she doesn’t. Talisman, USAgent, Arachne and Agent Brown soon learn of Sasquatch’s whereabouts, and the Wrecking Crew’s, and leave Michael Pointer at CSIS headquarters while they go to rescue Sasquatch and take down the Wrecking Crew. The Wrecking Crew are rampaging through a museum, where they come to a plaque and two large rocks. The Wrecker uses his enchanted crowbar to open a portal to the Shattered Lands, which is the realm of the Great Beasts, unaware that a man called Simon Walters is watching them. Inside the Shattered Lands, the Wrecking Crew are greeted by an unknown entity who congratulates them and rewards them with power, before countless demons appear. Sasquatch is all but forgotten about by the Wrecking Crew, while Simon Walters transforms into his other self - Beta Ray Bill - and engages the Wrecker, before destroying the demons. Though this exhausts him and he falls to the ground unconscious, where the Wrecker begins to beat him with his crowbar.

Full Summary: 

A young man stands between two large boulders inside the Royal Ontario Museum, and reminds himself how all of his strange dreams are calling him to this place, to this tablet and to the images - the white owl, the strange beasts, all bringing him here, when suddenly, there is an explosion. ‘I think I found the gift shop!’ the Wrecker exclaims as he and his buddies in the Wrecking Crew - Thunderball, Bulldozer and Piledriver - approach the area with the large stones and the tablet, dragging along the battered and bruised Canadian hero known as Sasquatch a.k.a. Dr. Walter Langkowski.

The dread-locked man has visions of demons, demons that hunted his people, and recalls how the demons came to destroy them as the prophecies had foretold. But this man is not any normal man, for he is but the human form to a powerful warrior - Beta Ray Bill, and he recalls how, with his brother-in-arms, Thor, he crushed the demons. ‘I found my true self, then. I found a home - Asgard’. But the man, who in his human form is known as Simon Walters, wonders what connection he has to this particular place, deciding that the dreams must mean something - they always mean something - he mutters as he crouches behind the unconscious Sasquatch, while, Bulldozer tells Wrecker to just break the tablet, to which Wrecker replies that it doesn’t work like that, and raises his crowbar in between the two large rocks.

Meanwhile, at the Canadian Secret Intelligence Services headquarters, the man known as Michael Pointer is strapped to some restraining contraption, while the Elizabeth Twoyoungmen, a.k.a. the phenomenal Talisman, a former member of Alpha Flight, points at him while powers course around her, ‘You destroyed Alpha Flight! You killed my father!’ she screams. John Walker a.k.a. the USAgent grabs Talisman and pulls her away, to which Talisman warns the handsome American not to make her hurt him. Agent Brown also tries to calm the often volatile young woman, but she just knocks both men back with a basic spell.

Julia “Arachne” Carpenter, better known as the second Spider-Woman holds her daughter Rachel back and tells her to watch it, but Rachel just smiles and holds her hand out towards some of the residual magic in the air and exclaims ‘Cool!’. Tears streaming from her eyes, Talisman turns to Agent Brown and asks him what he has done to her father’s legacy. Agent Brown tells Elizabeth that she must understand Michael Pointer was used, that he was a pawn of the Collective, and is as much a victim in this as anyone who died at his hands. ‘And he still has to live with what he did’ Agent Brown points out, while Michael stares at Elizabeth.

Talisman has calmed down a bit, but the tears still fall as she asks ‘But the Guardian? Why the Guardian?’ Agent Brown motions to Michael, who is wearing the Guardian battle suit, and declares that this is the only way to right the wrong done by the Collective, explaining that the power left in Michael’s body is out of control and therefore he needs the Guardian suit to contain it, for without it, he could flare out like a sun. ‘Don’t you see?’ Agent Brown asks. ‘He needs the Guardian suit, and Omega Flight needs the Guardian. This is providence - your father would recognize that’.

‘If he were alive…’ Elizabeth mutters, when suddenly Michael Pointer speaks up, telling Talisman that he had no choice in any of this, not what he did, not who he is. He hangs his head, only to lift it and find a fistful of magical energies coursing before his face, and a furious Talisman standing in front of him. Teary eyed, Michael whispers ‘Do it. Please’. But Talisman turns to Agent Brown and snaps ‘An American wearing the Guardian suit? Is that more providence? Because it sounds like manifest destiny to me!’

Agent Brown reminds Talisman that Alpha Flight was not about being Canadian, but about serving Canada, and remarks that the Guardian suit is a Canadian symbol, an icon that they will put to good use. Pointer begins to cry, while USAgent frowns and exclaims sarcastically ‘That’s great, let’s call Doctor Phil or something. My mood ring is crying!’ Walker’s long-time teammate Julia tells him that he is an ass, to which her daughter Rachel agrees, exclaiming ‘Yeah!’, to which her mother quickly shushes her.

Talisman announces that so long as Michael Pointer is on the team, she will not work with them, and exclaims that she will find Walter on her own, when suddenly Agent Brown tells her to hold it, as he has got a visual on the Wrecking Crew, and switches a monitor on, which displays the Wrecking Crew, dragging Sasquatch along. ‘They have Sasquatch - we’ve got to move fast!’ Agent Brown exclaims, while Arachne hugs her daughter and tells her not to look at the monitor, as Mrs. Gruenwald comes in to take care of her.

USAgent takes the lead and exclaims that Pointer, addressing him as “Hannibal” stays here, as he is not brining in an untrained rookie to the mission. ‘He’s the Guardian - he comes with us!’ Agent Brown exclaims. ‘Maybe when he’s through crying’ Walker replies as Arachne walks beside him, and Talisman proclaims that she is not working with her father’s killer, before following the former members of Force Works. Agent Brown looks at a dejected Michael Pointer, before leaving him alone as he follows the other three.

Back at the museum, the Wrecker’s crowbar glows, until finally, ‘Bingo!’ he exclaims, as a portal opens in between the two rocks, which transform into some sort of totem-like gateway. ‘Twinkle, twinkle, little -’ Piledriver begins to say, until Thunderball tells him to shut up, as this is serious. Simon Walters watches the Wrecking Crew enter the portal and remembers reading that the plaque said these people, the Inuit, called them “the Great Beasts”.

Entering the Realm of the Great Beasts, Piledriver remarks that he is scared, as they just walked fifty-feet through a two-foot wall. Looking around the strange diabolical landscape, Bulldozer points out that this is non knocking over a bank of cracking heads, ‘This is some weird $%^&!’ Still dragging Sasquatch along behind him, Thunderball tells the others that it was a dimensional portal, and that only the Wrecker’s bar could open it, so they need to relax.

Piledriver exclaims that this is not like the magic that gave them their powers, and remarks that he likes that magic, asking if they can call on that stuff again. ‘Be cool, Piledriver!’ the Wrecker remarks. ‘Easy for you to say, you’re the man holding the bar!’ Piledriver replies. The crowbar pulses with energy, and the Wrecker asks the others if they can feel it. ‘Energy’ Thunderball remarks, while Bulldozer exclaims that his hairs are standing up.

Making their way through the frightening realm, and arrive at some kind of totem, with a monstrous face atop of it. ‘Not energy, power!’ the Wrecker remarks, while Sasquatch slowly regains consciousness. Suddenly, ‘What the…’ the Wrecker utters, before he and his teammates are blasted back by the strange head, which seems to be alive, as it fires beams from its eyes at them, before speaking. ‘You have done well, mortals!’ the creature exclaims, before announcing ‘For that, power promised is power granted’ and declares that he seeks to return now, not to rule, but to destroy. ‘And you shall be my hand, you great wreckers of men!’ Suddenly the ground begins to rumble, ‘Witness!’ the creature exclaims, ‘We come to devour the Earth!’

‘No!’ Simon Walters thinks to himself as he watches from the sidelines, while the Wrecker smiles as countless demons burst forth from the rumbling ground, and the Wrecker reminds his teammates that he told them it was power. ‘This $(%# is cosmic!’ Piledriver exclaims as the demons surge forth. ‘That’s not cosmic…’ Simon Walters mutters, before suddenly, he transforms into his other self…Beta Ray Bill! Power flows around him as he engages the demons in battle, energies crackling from his enchanted hammer, Stormbreaker, while he shouts ‘This is cosmic!’

Beta Ray Bill begins attacking the Wrecker, remarking that these demons destroyed his home and decimated his people, and smashes him in the face with his hammer. ‘What the Hell is this?’ the Wrecker snarls, unfazed by Beta Ray Bill’s attack, he snickers ‘I’m gonna stomp you into glue!’ The Wrecker’s teammates begin running away, with Bulldozer asking what they should do. Thunderball, who has ditched Sasquatch somewhere, replies ‘No sweat’ and points out that the new power wants them to tear things up. ‘So let’s tear things up!’

Suddenly, a massive explosion destroys the museum, while Piledriver asks what will happen once they have destroyed everything. ‘What will we have for ourselves?’ Thunderball swings his ball-and-chain around while replying ‘Less thinking, more smashing!’ Bulldozer moves cars about with ease, while Thunderball exclaims ‘Anarchy - it’s all a boy wanted!’ Beta Ray Bill and the Wrecker continue to clash, with demons hovering around them, and Bulldozer exclaims ‘I love my job, baby!’ The Wrecker uppercuts Beta Ray Bill with his crowbar, before Beta Ray Bill swings his hammer around, and they bring their powerful weapons clashing together.

The mass of revolting demons grows larger, more putrid, and they eventually overwhelm Beta Ray Bill, trapping him amongst them, he struggles, until finally, a brilliant light shines from his hammer, and he expels the demons, in an awesome display of power, he raises his hammer, and energies course from it, literally ripping the demons apart until only their bones fall to the ground below. This move has left Beta Ray Bill exhausted though, and he plummets to the Shattered Lands below, landing with a massive boom. The Wrecker approaches Beta Ray Bill’s motionless body, and flanked by demons, he raises his magic-enhanced crowbar above his head, and brings it down hard upon Beta Ray Bill’s weakened body, while asking ‘Ain’t nobody told you, horse-head? Thor knockoffs have a short shelf life nowadays…’.

Characters Involved: 

Sasquatch, Talisman II (former members of Alpha Flight)

Arachne III, Guardian VI, USAgent (all Omega Flight)

Beta Ray Bill

Rachel Carpenter

Agent Brown

Mrs. Gruenwald

Bulldozer, Piledriver, Thunderball, Wrecker (all Wrecking Crew)

Unknown entity in Realm of the Great Beasts

Demons

In Illustrative Images:

Beta Ray Bill

Thor

Demons

Story Notes: 

The illustrative image of Beta Ray Bill and Thor battling the demons pays homage to the cover of Thor (1st series) #340.

Michael Pointer is the sixth person to hold the name “Guardian” and the fifth to be associated with Alpha Flight. The first is of course James “Mac” MacDonald Hudson. The second was Delphine Courtney a.k.a. “Dark Guardian”. The third is Heather McNeil Hudson, better known as “Vindicator (II)”. Guardian IV is the one not associated with Alpha Flight, he was a Spider-Man clone. Guardian V is the clone of the first Guardian.

Michael Pointer a.k.a. the Collective apparently killed Alpha Flight in New Avengers #16. But therein lies a problem: Talisman refers to her father, Shaman, being killed, which is quite possibly true, but Alpha Flight at the time of the team’s demise consisted of Sasquatch, Major Mapleleaf II and Puck II - as well as Heather, Mac, Shaman and Puck I - BUT it is unclear whether it is the present or past versions of those characters that were slain, for as far as we know, the real Heather, Mac, Shaman and Judd are still in space with Snowbird and Earthmover, and it was the past versions of those aforementioned characters that joined Alpha Flight at the end of Alpha Flight (3rd series): The All-New, All-Different Alpha Flight #12.

Agent Brown’s comment about Alpha Flight not about “being Canadian” is rather peculiar, for in fact the majority of Alpha Flight and their associates have all been Canadian. Notable exceptions include Windshear, Silver, Auric, Sunfire, and the Jade Dragon.

Doctor Phil is a well-known American talk show host / psychologist.

The Great Beasts were the deadly enemies of Snowbird’s family, the Gods of the North. They were: Somon, Tolomaq, Kariooq, Kolomaq, Ranaq, Tundra and Tanaraq appeared over the course of the first 24 issues of Alpha Flight (1st series), culminating in a battle in their realm, the Shattered Lands. It was revealed that Walter Langkowski, when attempting to transform himself into a second Hulk, [as seen in the back story of Alpha Flight (1st series) #11] actually opened a portal to the Great Beasts’ realm and was possessed by Tanaraq when he became Sasquatch. Anyway, Alpha Flight won the battle against the Great Beasts. The Great Beasts returned on occasion, like in Alpha Flight (1st series) #38 under the control of the gravely deranged Pestilence, and to torment Sasquatch in Alpha Flight (1st series) #55, and as illusions created by the Dreamqueen in Alpha Flight (1st series) #64.

The Wrecker’s comment about Thor knockoffs having short shelf lives refers to the cyborg Thor-clone from the Civil War which killed Goliath, only to be ripped apart by Hercules. [Civil War #4, 7]

The unknown entity in the realm of the Great Beasts slightly resembles Sasquatch, suggesting it may be Tanaraq.

Thanks to Monolith for information on Beta Ray Bill.

Thanks to Wendigo for pointing out the homage to the cover of Thor (1st series) #340.

Issue Information: 
Written By: