First of all, this issue has an absolutely stunning cover by Dell'otto. It's fabulous! This issue keeps us into the story on Alpha-Flight. And as usual in the Ultimate Universe, things are the same, and yet . . different. In this issue, Alpha Flight still consists of the Vindicator, Sasquatch, Shaman, Aurora . . but there's also Jubilee and Sunfire. Oh yeah, and Sasquatch . . is really Rahne Sinclair. Anyways, Peter and Jean-Paul are lovers, but Northstar is still a member of Alpha Flight, so last issue they decided to reclaim him. To the X-Men's surprise, Alpha Flight greatly overpowered them, because they're taking the mutant performance enhancer called Banshee. Which they find out last issue that Peter is also taking. Therefore in order to take on Alpha Flight, they're also going to have to . . step up to their level. The Professor sees this as an opportunity to find out where this drug is coming from, who's making it and selling it, and maybe rid the world of it's existence. A noble idea, but . . the people behind this haven't stayed hidden this long without the means to do so. Anyways, after a trip to Siberia to secure the drug, the team finally makes it back to Canada to confront Alpha Flight. They're all powered up . . except for Scott, he was faking it . . and they make a pretty good assault on their headquarters. Eventually the tides turn, though. And Scott's lack of enhancement may threaten the teams survival. So he has no other choice. He powers up, the balance is shifted back and Peter does get to Northstar. However, Jean-Paul is overdosing, and their effort appears to be to late. Also the drug has taken Scott to a place he may not be able to return from . . or want to. This is easily the best story-line this book has had in quite a while. I think Aron E Coleite is doing an excellent job with this arc. Also for some reason this book is drawn by a trio of artists. Their pages aren't in any specific order, but Mark Brooks, Jaime Mendoze and Brandon Peterson all contribute to the overall look of this issue. The part I'm really happy about though, is that this book seems to finally be back on track. Let's hope it can stay there.
It's sad that they ended one of four relationships in Marvel that aren't same race, opposite sex. There's Karolina/Xavin, Teddy/Billy, and (sort of) Misty/Danny. That completely ruined the book for me, killing Northstar for the fourth time in 3 years.
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