It's Not Easy Being Purple

*“Love?! Even were it conceivable that I might return your affections -- one does not use those one loves!”*

—**Northstar**, *Alpha Flight #41*

## It's Not Easy Being Purple

### Character(s)

Northstar
Purple Girl

**It's Not Easy Being Purple** is a storyline written by Bill Mantlo, with art by David Ross, Whilce Portacio and Bob Sharen.

The story was first published in *Alpha Flight* #41-42 in 1986-1987. This story introduces the character Purple Girl, who would go on to become a prominent member of Alpha Flight herself.

## Story

### Part 1: It's Not Easy Being Purple

In Etobicoke, a suburb of Toronto, 13-year-old Kara Killgrave returns home from a party with purple skin. Her mother, Melanie, finds her in the bath trying to scrub the purple from her skin. She reveals information about Kara's father, who was the supervillain known as Purple Man. At Alpha Flight's headquarters, Vindicator discusses bringing in Madison Jeffries as a member. After a remark about a form-fitting costume, Northstar reluctantly joins the rest of his teammates in having Jeffries join Alpha Flight, though Shaman abstains. After the vote, Northstar states that he is going to take a leave of absence to resume his skiing career. He thinks to himself that it will also spare him the pain of watching Aurora lust after Box. Aurora notes that his powers prevent him from competing fairly which angers Northstar.

A week later, Kara, now calling herself Purple Girl, has run away from home after stealing her mother's credit cards. She has a room at the world-famous Banff Springs Hotel, a ski resort where Northstar is competing. Northstar remembers his time fighting for the liberation of Quebec, as well as Raymonde Belmonde's influence on him and the first meeting with his twin sister. Purple Girl, a huge fan of skiing champion Jean-Paul Beaubier, runs to a public restroom out of embarrassment of her purple skin. A young woman knocks on the door to use the restroom, but Purple Girl responds, "You need to go jump off a cliff!" This forces the girl to turn purple and attempt to commit suicide by jumping off the cliff.

Jean-Paul, revealing himself to the crowd as Northstar, flies quickly to save the young woman. He notices her confusion at her suicide attempt as well as her fading purple skin. Purple Girl notices from the crowd that her powers are similar to her father's. The crowd turns on Northstar, accusing him of cheating in the competition. Northstar vows to never ski again and leaves to be alone. Purple Girl follows behind and forces Northstar to follow her. She continues to use her powers on him until she forces him to fly her to an exotic location. Purple Girl orders Northstar to jump into the lake with her and swim. Although he's forced to strip down, she is too embarrassed to have him completely nude. Suddenly, she's attacked by a crocodile. As Northstar jumps in the water, he briefly regains his senses until Purple Girl orders him to save her from the crocodile.

After the crocodile whirled away by a waterspout, Northstar regains himself once again by submerging his head in water and chastises the young girl. Purple Girl states that she loves him, but Northstar rebuffs this. After learning of Purple Girl's parentage, Northstar mentions Alpha Flight. Though she vowed not to use her powers on Northstar again, she ultimately tells him to take her to Alpha Flight.

### Part 2: Auction

Purple Girl and the purple-skinned Northstar arrive at Mansion Alpha to the shock of Northstar's teammates. Aurora demands that Purple Girl releases Northstar from her powers, so she orders Northstar to "soak" his head. He jumps in a nearby pool and regains himself, yelling in French. During the conversation about Purple Girl, Aurora mentions that she would stop dating Box if he doesn't emerge from his robotic form soon. Northstar asks Aurora if she truly loves "that legless cripple", but Aurora tells her brother to "shut up". He turns his attention to Purple Girl, as he is in disbelief that Vindicator would offer her a place in Alpha Flight. Vindicator mocks Northstar until he starts coughing. Purple Girl deduces that all the soakings from getting rid of her influence must have given him a cold.

After going over the options of what to do with Purple Girl, the young mutant begins to panic as she thinks they may kill her. She orders them to "freeze" as she escapes. Hours later, Northstar and the rest of Alpha Flight attempts to track her down. They eventually find Purple Girl due to her captive Madison Jeffries' powers revealing their location. Northstar rescues Purple Girl's mother but suffers a minor injury in the process.

Alpha Flight manages to rescue Purple Girl, who realizes that they (including Northstar) were there to save both Madison Jeffries and her. Ultimately, the group decides to revive Beta Flight with Purple Girl as the newest member.

## Featured characters

* Northstar
* Purple Girl
	+ Melanie Killgrave
* Alpha Flight
	+ Vindicator
	+ Box
	+ Madison Jeffries
	+ Puck
	+ Shaman
	+ Snowbird
	+ Talisman
* Raymonde Belmonde (flashback)
* James MacDonald Hudson (flashback)
* Purple Man (flashback)

## External links

* Alpha Flight #41 on Marvel Database
* Alpha Flight #42 on Marvel Database