Alpha Flight #41
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeAlpha Flight #41 is the first appearance of Kara Killgrave — the Purple Girl — a character who would grow from a frightened thirteen-year-old runaway into a recurring Alpha Flight and Beta Flight hero, and later a member of the Thunderbolts under the name Persuasion. The issue also serves as the formal induction of Madison Jeffries into Alpha Flight's active roster, cementing a character who would become one of the team's most distinctive members. Beyond its debut duties, the issue carries outsized significance in the long arc of Northstar's characterization: a throwaway quip by Aurora — asking her brother since when he objects to having attractively-dressed men around — stands as one of the most deliberate and precisely placed hints that writer Bill Mantlo laid down on the road to Northstar's eventual 1992 coming-out in issue #106, making this chapter a documentable waypoint in Marvel's halting, Comics-Code-constrained effort to depict a gay superhero.
In "It's Not Easy Being Purple," newly minted Alpha Flight member Jeffries steps into the team's orbit as Northstar takes a break from duty to hit the slopes—only to run into Kara Killgrave, the daughter of the infamous Purple Man, who’s inherited her father’s hypnotic powers. When she briefly takes control of Northstar, he’s forced to bring her to Alpha Flight for help, setting off a tense and unexpected chapter in the team’s mission. Written by Bill Mantlo and illustrated by David Ross, with inks by Whilce Portacio and colors by Bob Sharen, this 1986 issue features a cover by David Ross that captures the moment of confrontation.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
Bill Mantlo had taken over the series from John Byrne with issue #29 and steered it toward more character-driven, socially conscious storytelling; the 'It's Not Easy Being Purple' two-parter beginning here reflects that approach by foregrounding identity, inheritance, and the burden of a monstrous parent. The issue was edited by Carl Potts with Joanne Spaldo as assistant editor under editor-in-chief Jim Shooter — the same Shooter whose standing policy against openly gay characters forced Mantlo to encode Northstar's sexuality in subtext rather than text. It was pencilled by David Ross and inked by Whilce Portacio, an early professional credit for Portacio before his star rose on Uncanny X-Men and X-Factor. The on-sale date was September 2, 1986, carrying a December 1986 cover date, and it was published under the Marvel 25th Anniversary banner.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Kara Killgrave (Purple Girl), created by writer Bill Mantlo and penciller David Ross; she is the mutant daughter of the Silver Age villain Zebediah Killgrave / Purple Man.
- First appearance of Melanie Killgrave, Kara's mother, who explains in flashback how the Purple Man coerced her into a relationship before she fled to Toronto.
- Madison Jeffries officially joins Alpha Flight as a full member in this issue, voted in by the team to fill the vacancy left when Marrina departed to marry Namor.
- A deliberate hint at Northstar's homosexuality — one of several planted by Mantlo — appears when Aurora asks her brother since when he objects to 'having attractively-dressed men about'; this was constrained subtext under Jim Shooter's editorial policy against openly gay characters and the Comics Code Authority.
- The issue opens the two-part story 'It's Not Easy Being Purple' (concluded in Alpha Flight #42), in which Kara accidentally uses her inherited pheromone-based mind-control on Northstar at the Banff ski resort.
- Creative team: script by Bill Mantlo; pencils by David Ross; inks by Whilce Portacio; colors by Bob Sharen; letters by Jim Novak; edited by Carl Potts.
- The issue was reprinted internationally in Strange (Éditions Lug) #220 (April 1988), Alpha Flight (Planeta DeAgostini) #38 (May 1988), and Superaventuras Marvel (Editora Abril) #113 (November 1991).
- Kara is established as thirteen years old in this issue, and her powers are depicted as pheromone-based — she controls subjects through verbal commands, turning their skin purple — an explicit inherited variation on her father's abilities.
Cast · 16 characters
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Reprints
Reprinted in Strange #220 (1988), Alpha Flight #38 (1988), Superaventuras Marvel #113 (1991), Alpha Flight by Mantlo & Lee Omnibus #[nn] (2025)
Key issues in Alpha Flight
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