Today I'm particularly giddy over a fun comic that recently crossed my radar. This title is ClanDestine, a book written and drawn by Alan Davis and originaly published way back in 1994. The title is seeing a new series released this month, but I had never read the first run and figured I'd check it out before deciding to purchase anything new. Thankfully, I was once again pleasantly surprised by the work of Alan Davis.
The story revolves around the Destine family, an enormous family of folks who all have various super powers. At first they appear to be mutants, but their powers are inherited from an immortal and invulnerable father and a mother who was an actual genie. The family lives in secrecy and hides their powers so their legacy will not be discovered. They live by the code of the Relative Stranger Protocol, where everyone has a fake identity and even newer members of the family have no idea who their relatives are and what exactly their relation is. This where things start to fall apart for the Clan Destine.
The main characters in this story are Rory and Pandora, teenaged twins just discovering their new powers who decide to take up costumed crime fighting after school. Of course, as with most teenagers, they end up getting in over their heads during a robbery and inadvertently reveal the identities of their family members. This leads to the death of their "grandmother" who actually turns out to be their older sister, and the dirty family secrets start to flow from there. The story takes off as we meet more Destine family members, learn of their unique powers and relationships as a mysterious evil force emerges intent on hunting and killing the entire family.
What I find the most fun about this series is that it takes place in the current Marvel Universe (circa 1994 at least) yet the Destine family have no desire to be superheroes. There are appearances by Silver Surfer, Spider-Man and the Avengers, but nothing is tied strictly into their individual universes. This gives The ClanDestine a completely fresh slate of characters and situations to work with, which is something seldom seen in a Marvel comic. Each character has a unique personality and the family dynamic is reminiscent of Fantastic Four, where they are at each others throats as often as they are fighting the bad guys.
However, the most enjoyable aspect of this book is Alan Davis. He has such a knack for characterization, both in his writing and his art. Every character has a unique look and the world Alan draws around them is detailed but not distracting. The story moves along a decent clip with just the right amounts of action and back-story. My first exposure to his work was with Fantastic Four: The End which is actually a very recent release in his career but had me hooked on his artistic style and storytelling right away. He's one of those artists that makes sci-fi and fantasy look so easy, you almost forget he's created entirely new worlds and characters right in front of your eyes.
This book is collected in trade format now, but you could probably find it in the $1 bin at your local shop. There are only 12 issues in the original run so it won't be very difficult to put together. I highly recommend hitting eBay or your comic store for a copy of the original series, it's required reading for any Marvel fan.
