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Title: X-Men/Alpha Flight: The Gift (Marvel, originally 1985, reprinted in squarebound format in 1998, 96 pages)
Creators: Chris Claremont (story) and Paul Smith (art)
Availability: Available in multiple trades: Asgardian Wars (softcover), Asgardian Wars (hardcover), Essential X-Men v. 5

I'll give you one guess...

Northstar. A snarky, arrogant speedster who thinks that teamwork is something that happens to other people. And yet, still very loyal to those he cares about and capable of unexpected empathy once you get past the quills and razorblades. Makes for an interesting character, and one I've been intrigued by for the last fifteen years, give or take.

I didn't really start loving Northstar until I read the Byrne run of Alpha Flight and got a better feel for his personality, but the first time he turned up on my radar was in the 1985 X-Men/Alpha Flight cross-over. As you might have guessed, he made a good impression.

Before we start, I'd just like to draw your attention to the worst cover I've ever seen on a comic.

The back isn't any better.

Spark Notes version:

Cyclops, Maddie Pryor, and her crew are flying over Alaska when the weather starts to go haywire. Back at the X-Men's mansion in New York, Rachel gets a telepathic glimpse of her father's distress, and catches Cyclops mentioning how the weather reminds him of the atmospheric manipulations of Alpha Flight's Shaman. Even as he says that, the plane is struck by lightning and crashes.

The X-Men respond by heading off to Canada, tracking down Shaman at his clinic. Rachel immediately attacks, immobilizing Shaman and nearly causing his medicine pouch to eat Heather. The X-Men move in to try and call her off before she can do any damage.

Northstar had left Alpha Flight by this time, so the only reason for him to turn up during the fight was that he sensed his sister's distress through the bond they share and came to help (it's an aspect of their powers that tends to come and go as plot dictates).

Professor Xavier smacks Rachel down on the astral plane, after which the two teams confer. One of their own, Snowbird, had taken ill about the same time the plane went down, so the two teams decide to go in search of the missing plane together. Puck rustles up an aircraft big enough to carry both teams, and off they go. On the way, Wolverine and Heather catch up, with Heather filling him in on how Alpha Flight's been doing since Mac's death.

Dear Mr. Claremont,

Liking men does not mean being unable to bear the presence of women.

FAIL.

Anyway...

The sight that so stuns Nightcrawler is the sight of an enormous, golden palace tucked away in a summer valley. The X-Men are greeted by Cyclops, who has control over his eyebeams for the first time. They find that all of the humans who were on the plane, have manifested superpower, including Madelyne herself, who has become an extraordinary healer. She demonstrates her powers by curing Puck of his dwarfism, Sasquatch of his growing rages, and Aurora of her fragmented personality.

Then Rogue steps up.

At the time, I just thought this was a nice gesture -- he really didn't have anything to gain by offering himself up as a test subject for Rogue, but he did so anyway. I learned later that Northstar doesn't really do "nice" and that this was the first kiss Rogue ever had that wasn't traumatic or invasive on her part, so it resonates a bit more in retrospect.

Eventually, the X-Men learn about the Fire Fountain, the source of these new and extraordinary powers, and the teams go down beneath the citidel to investigate.

At that moment, Shaman realizes that Snowbird has vanished, but before he can begin a search, his medicine pouch goes haywire and demons spill out of it to attack him. Northstar and Aurora grab the pouch and take off, which causes the demons to follow them. They fling the pouch far away and head back to the others, just in time to hear Madelyne say that she can't heal Shaman, who is dying from his wounds.

Next, Madylene heals Wolverine of his berserker rages, and he sets out to find Snowbird (with Lockheed the dragon tagging along). He tracks her scent to a cave, only to be confronted by two of Maddie's crew, Pathfinder and Beastmaster, who's called a horde of wolves and wildcats to prevent Wolverine from taking Snowbird back to the citadel.

Wolverine returns, badly wounded, but healing, with a bleeding and unconscious Beastmaster strapped to his back. Pathfinder was killed in their confrontation.

The two sides square off.

During the battle, Northstar takes Talisman down to the Fire Fountain, where they're confronted by another of Madelyne's crew, an architect who was given the power to make even his most outlandish designs reality. Aurora finds his sketchbook, which is full of beautiful drawings at the front, but dwindles away to doodled stick-figures at the back. The architect throws the book away in anger and frustration, confessing that, since gaining his powers, he's lost the ability to imagine. He can replicate any design perfectly, but can't create anything new.

Knowing now that their paradise would come with an additional price, many more of the X-Men and crew who were advocating utopia agree that the cost is too high and stand down. Loki arrives then, reveals that the plan was all his doing, as an attempt to win a wager. When the gifts he's given the human crew are again rejected, he attempts to strong-arm them into acceptance, only to be thwarted by Those Who Live Above In Shadow, who claim that Loki has violated the terms of their agreement by refusing to allow the free acceptance or rejection of his gifts. Loki reluctantly abides by their decision, but tells the X-Men and Alpha Flight that they have made a dangerous enemy, and revokes all benefits granted by his gift -- Cyclops loses control of his eyebeams, Puck goes back to being a dwarf, Aurora loses her inner peace, and Rogue can no longer touch people. Even the citadel begins to collapse.

Everyone piles into the plane -- save Northstar and Snowbird, who go their own ways -- and they take off.

Not a bad story, and still one of my favorites, even apart from it being my intro to Northstar.