Alpha Flight: The Other Team Canada

I've been reading a lot about Alpha Flight lately. I thought it was vaguely cool that Wolverine is Canadian, but as it turns out there's a whole Canadian justice league (not to be confused with the Justice League of Antarctica, though I really couldn't blame you for the mix-up), and it's their job to protect the Great White North. You know, clean water, salmon, tar sands, that sort of thing.

The team includes:

Guardian, a St. Thomas, Ontario scientist who can manipulate Earth's magnetic field and whose maple flag-emblazoned jumpsuit could easily belong to our Olympic bobsled team (after he dies, he's replaced by his wife, Vindicator aka Heather MacNeil – isn't that a positively Canadian name? She might as well host a CBC morning show).

Northstar the first openly gay Marvel hero (from Montreal, natch). His powers include super speed and light generation.

His twin sister Aurora (Borealis must have been taken), who shares his powers. She's also got mental problems and a great back story involving a mean headmistress (who I assume was a Catholic, French-Canadian nun).

Marrina, an amphibious Newfoundland woman. I actually came upon her a little while ago while checking out Marvel's female characters

Plus a Sasquatch, a Shaman, an Inuit demi-goddess named Snowbird*, and Puck, a dwarf bouncer from Saskatoon who really doesn't seem to have any abilities beyond that of a Cirque du Soleil performer. And that's just Volume 1. Volume 2 and 3 include Manbot, Major Mapleleaf and Yukon Jack.

Sooo many questions. Why weren't we taught about Department H in school? Did Guardian and Captain America ever face off in a sexy, cross-border battle? How come so many female characters have the word 'bird' in their name? When will Alpha Flight get a Heritage Minute?