Alpha Flight #76

Name: Alpha Flight #76
Brand: Marvel
Availability: InStock

Nov 1989 · Marvel · 1.50 USD; 2.00 CAD; 0.60 GBP

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“Bad News”

★ 1st appearance — Jane Thorne★ 1st appearance — Witchfire

About this Issue

Alpha Flight #76 is the introduction of the second Gamma Flight — Canada's government-sanctioned replacement team assembled while Alpha Flight was stranded in another dimension and presumed dead. The issue delivers four debut characters in a single story: Witchfire (Ananym), Auric, Silver, and a new Nemesis, making it one of the most character-rich first-appearance issues in the series' entire 130-issue run. Beyond the head count, the issue plants a politically charged conflict at the heart of James Hudnall's 'Sorcerer Affair' arc: the returning heroes are told they will be arrested on Canadian soil by the very government they once served, a twist that reframes the series as a story about institutional loyalty versus heroic conscience. Witchfire in particular proved to be the most durable creation here, going on to be a recurring figure across multiple Alpha Flight rosters and later resurfacing as a antagonist in X-Men storylines involving Limbo and the Bloodstone amulet.

In "Bad News," Alpha Flight returns from a mission to find their home dimension has moved on—three months have passed, and Canada has officially designated Gamma Flight as the nation's premier superhero team. The two groups collide in a Montreal suburb when the Sorcerer awakens a deadly demon, forcing Alpha Flight to confront both their replacement and a threat they never saw coming. Written by James D. Hudnall and illustrated by John Calimee, with inks by Mike Manley, colors by Bob Sharen, and letters by Janice Chiang, the cover by Calimee and Manley captures the tension of a team divided.

writer James D. Hudnall · artist John Calimee · inker Mike Manley · colorist Bob Sharen · letterer Janice Chiang · cover John Calimee, Mike Manley

ComicBooks.com Value

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Raw (VF) $3

CGC 9.8 · 7 in census $63

CGC 9.6 · 2 in census $29*

CGC 9.4 · 1 in census $20*

CGC 9.2 none in existence

CGC 9.0 none in existence

CGC 8.5 none in existence

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CGC 8.0 none in existence

CGC 7.5 · 1 in census $20*

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More listings for this title

NM $7.99 VF+ $8.48 Alpha Flight 1989 #76 Marvel Comic Book Bagged & Boarded 🔑 $4 Alpha Flight Vol 1 #76 1988 Marvel Comics $5 alpha flight $5

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History

Issue #76 falls squarely within James Hudnall's tenure as the third writer of the ongoing series, a run that began around issue #67 and refocused the book on sustained supernatural threats after Bill Mantlo's preceding three-year stint. Hudnall had launched the extended 'Llan the Sorcerer' storyline in issue #71, and #76 is its pivotal mid-arc complication: Alpha Flight returns from an interdimensional odyssey only to discover that the world has moved on without them. John Calimee, his primary artistic collaborator throughout the run, penciled the issue with inking by Mike Manley — a pairing that contemporary retrospectives described as solid and workmanlike, even if Calimee's more minimalist style attracted divided opinions among readers at the time. The issue was edited by Carl Potts under Editor-in-Chief Tom DeFalco.

Trivia · 8 facts

First appearance of Witchfire (Ananym), a sorceress later revealed to be the daughter of the X-Men villain Belasco, ruler of the dimension Limbo.
First appearance of Auric (Zhao Tang) and Silver (Jimon Tang), Chinese mutant siblings who defected from their country's state-sponsored team and were granted Canadian citizenship in exchange for joining Gamma Flight.
First appearance of the second Gamma Flight team, the Canadian government's officially sanctioned superhero unit assembled to replace Alpha Flight while that team was missing and presumed dead.
First appearance of this version of Nemesis as a Gamma Flight member.
The issue's title is 'Stand Aside Alpha Flight — Gamma Flight Is Here!'; it was written by James Hudnall, penciled by John Calimee, inked by Mike Manley, colored by Bob Sharen, and lettered by Janice Chiang.
The central dramatic hook introduced here — Gamma Flight's standing orders to arrest Alpha Flight on Canadian soil — drives the inter-team conflict across multiple subsequent issues (#79–80, #84–86) of Hudnall's run.
Witchfire is established as having her demonic heritage suppressed from her own memory; she is unaware at debut that she is Belasco's daughter, a revelation that becomes a major character arc in later issues.
The issue was released with a cover date of November 1989 (on-sale July 11, 1989), during Tom DeFalco's tenure as Marvel Editor-in-Chief.