Marvel Age: Alpha Flight, Cloak and Dagger, Micronauts

What was hot during the Marvel Age?  The Marvel Age wasn't an era, it was a comic magazine--Marvel's way of keeping fans informed during the 1980s.  Here are some of the offbeat characters that were showcased.

Cloak and Dagger burst free of supporting character status into their own mini-series in 1983.  I always thought that both Bill Mantlo and Rick Leonardi did some of their best work ever on this title.

I remember buying a really cool Cloak and Dagger poster that Leonardi and Terry Austin drew.  Does anyone have a decent scan of that?  It was a great image and I'd like to feature it here.

The Micronauts were red-hot as well, even after Michael Golden left the series.  Jackson "Butch" Guice came along and injected new excitement into the characters.  After the X-Men became popular, it was only natural that Marvel would produce a limited series featuring the two teams getting together.

You have to love Storm's mohawk and biker-girl outfit in this one.  Wolverine's supposed to be front and center, but that mohawk is like a vortex.

I believe Arcturus (Commander) Rann is making a comeback in the current Son of Hulk mini-series.

Alpha Flight made a big splash in 1983 when it received a solo title, the first Marvel series created, written, and drawn by John Byrne (who started his Fantastic Four run around the same time).  This image was also used as a promotional poster.

Fans were excited--Alpha Flight always gave the X-Men a run for their money, and the series sold well but eventually ran out of steam.  The scene I'll always remember is the conclusion of issue #12, where Vindicator dies trying to disengage the circuitry in his costume.  That was well done, Byrne totally disrupted reader expectations with that one.  Nuff Said!