ClanDestine Week: ClanDestine v2 #1 Review

The ClanDestine (volume 2 issue 1) by Alan Davis


And now we come to the remarkable – the return of the ClanDestine. I didn’t think it would happen, even if Davis has been working with Marvel of late, but it would appear that the powers that be care to keep Davis at their house enough to let him create more stories of his creator-owned series. That’s fine with me.

First things first – what’s going on with the logo? The original had a classic elegance (similar to the Trajan font, as discussed the eminent letterer Todd Klein in this post about the Spider-man logo during Civil War), whereas this is crude and sinister (and drops the definite article from the title). I wonder what Mr Klein would think of the change? I don’t wish to appear as somebody who can’t stand change, but I prefer the original. I’m sure there’s a good reason (perhaps to make it more ominous) but it doesn’t mean I have to like it.



The next immediate difference is the darkness of the whole affair – from the cover to the rest of the comic, the colourist (SotoColour’s J. Brown) seems to have taken their name to heart and made a bright and cheery comic and turned it to a muted, shadowy version of the original. Again, it could be related to the tone of the mini-series, as the brightness of the original series now takes a turn for the worse, but it seems at odd with the initial tone.

This comic has to get the reader up to speed on the ClanDestine as well as setting up the new conflict that will drive this story. Davis does a good job – we start with a family tree for reference, before a daydream reveals the twins’ existence in a school (which appears to exist in a time bubble from about 30 years ago). Up next is the new plot, in the form of a nefarious and secretive sect called the Guild, which handily also identifies our main cast members through their report of their analysis of CCTV footage of the Clan and their real identities.


Back in Ravencroft, in Walter's cottage (and family home) the family is doing its usual familial arguing, but also revealing character (Adam is analytic, even if he reiterates the myth about people in olden times believing that the Earth was flat; Dominic is cursed by his senses by today’s excessive broadcasting; Walter is worried about turning into Vincent when he loses control of his transformation; Jasmine/Cuckoo is amoral and has no respect for privacy; Adam has a strange temporal perspective which sets up the universe-spanning stories in the next issue).

Personally, I hope the stories we see will address some of the many interesting plots Davis has set up, including: Jasmine’s possible dark character within the family (and her potentially Aids-infected body); the power connection between the twins and the development of Pandora’s own personal interests outside of Rory's desire to be a superhero; the extent of the family; and how does the whole thing work with Adam and the djinn so that they have kids at different times and ages?

This is a very good first issue, not just for the return of a story from over ten years ago. People are introduced, plot is set in motion, things happen – none of this compressed storytelling for Davis. It goes without saying that I look forward to the rest of the series: the Clan is back, Davis’ art is as gorgeous as ever (even under a muted palette) and all is good with the world.

ClanDestine Week: The X-Men Special

X-Men and the ClanDestine #1 (October 1996)

A year after the end of the series, Alan is given the opportunity to round up support for his creation – nothing like slapping an ‘X’ on a comic book to increase sales. And Davis had form with the X-Men – apart from his run on Excalibur, he came to prominence drawing New Mutants Annuals #2 and #3, Uncanny X-Men #213 and #215, and Uncanny X-Men Annual #11 back in 1986/87.

The comic is set during the time when Wolverine’s claws were made of bone and were still somehow able to cut things – it was a stupid time.

I do like the busy double cover (I wish I had a bigger scanner – my Photoshop skills aren’t good enough, I’m afraid), with the classic ‘splayed legs’ of Alan Davis’ acrobatic characters and the double fingers. This sets out the stall from the start – old-school, fun superhero comic books with lots of action.

The story is titled: ‘Dreams of Darkest Destiny’ – he loves alliteration more than I do. Xavier, in his youth, comes across Gracie and Cuckoo fighting an ancient evil (a Synraith); he helps them but is made to forget … until now. Back in the present, Davis introduces us to the X-Men by having a quick demo of their powers on Sam ‘Cannonball’ Guthrie – this team is Scott, Jean, Hank, Bobby and Warren (in the post-Apocalypse incarnation).

Meanwhile, in Venezuela, Gracie Gamble is leading a dig. She displays her powers and instantly makes those on her team who witness it forget (quite cavalier about her abilities) and finds the ruins with hieroglyphs that say ‘The end of the world is nigh’.

In Ravenscroft, Rory & Pandora give us a quick recap of who ClanDestine are, and the adults have a discussion about what to do with twins (a continuation of the former story line, ignoring whatever was done in the few issues Davis wasn’t responsible for), followed by a quick display/recap of all the Clan’s powers (remember, he’s introducing the characters to a new audience, and he does a good job in an economical fashion), and the new information that Vincent destroyed the mansion and that this caused the family to scatter across the globe.

Meanwhile, in the Danger Room, Storm and Sam are practising when a hole erupts in space. Which is odd. Back at Ravenscroft, the Destines are still arguing with each other, and Gracie goes into the temple to stop the Synraith, only for the spell to backfire, a trick by the Synraith. At the same time, the X-Men are in the Danger Room, investigating the problem when a dimensional rift opens and tentacles erupt, dragging Xavier back into the rift, with Colossus holding onto him. Simultaneously, Kay goes into a trance and another rift opens, tentacles pouring out (nice bit with Adam, who is so dispassionate about it) which eventually pull Kay in with Adam holding on.

They call in Newton to help – he detects energy pattern and sets his teleport to that location, which appears to be the Danger Room, giving a classic team versus team panel.

Issue 2: The Destine’s Darkest Dreams (Alan Alliteration Davis)

This issue starts with two glorious two-page spreads of the ClanDestine and the X-Men (damn my weak Photoshop-fu), followed by Rory saying, ‘This is one of those clichéd mistaken identity hero versus hero mix-ups’, which stops the fighting.

Dominic, still delirious from the battle, notices that Wolverine is not as he appears, so starts poking him, leading Logan to gut Dom with his claws. Walt starts pounding on him, but Newton knocks him out. Walt is taken away, and Rory & Pandora are taken on a tour of the mansion by Kitty and Sam.

Meanwhile, Xavier and Colossus meet Adam and Kay and Gracie on the Synraith world. Back on Earth, Newton sees to Dom with Storm and Moira, while Gambit puts the moves on Samantha; Rory & Pandora are offered places with the X-Men; Walt is in restraints, which causes him to ‘hulk out’ even more.

Gracie then does the exposition – Cuckoo was Spanish nobleman going to Mexico. Gracie (then only 16) passed as a valet. Somehow, Gracie gets separated from Cuckoo and tries to channel a nexus of cosmic power to stop Cortez massacring Aztecs but ended up showing Synraith way to Earth. They stopped it, but Gracie knew it would return eventually.

While the others realise that something is wrong, Colossus wounds the demon, resulting in agony but he throws a fastball special with Adam; Adam goes through the demon, ending up in the Danger Room. Logan about to attack but stops because he recognises him from way back (yet another in the little bits of history that Davis throws into the mix; although it’s slightly implausible that Logan would remember everyone he has met after all the meddling with his memory he has suffered). Cyke goes ballistic, making Logan realise that Synraith has got into Danger Room programming (how many times has that happened? Seriously, it seems really easy to do this. Should they think about installing a firewall?), which gives Davis a great excuse to draw loads of old-school X-Men.

Obviously, things work out in the end and they all end up in the Danger Room: Colossus is back to normal, Rory is in his y-fronts, Dom wakes up to tell them the truth, Newton is entwined in a robot that he thought was Storm, Walter is smaller but more relaxed because he has purged his hulking out. More fun with Newton being slapped by the real Storm, the banter between Dom and Newton – the other aspect is the fun of family that Davis does so well. Gracie decides to stay with the family as psychologist.


The book finishes with the hopeful caption: 'The End?', as well as the order: ‘Want to see more of the Clandestine? Write to Marvel Comics’ Well, I don’t think that’s the reason why we have ClanDestine.

I think that the scope for stories with this book was limitless, and the basic premise of a super-powered family who don’t fight crime (in fact, the stereotypical crime prevention is what led to the family getting into trouble in the first place) but whose problems are related to who they are. Match this with the perfect Davis art – he draws comic book superheroics the way they should be done, in my opinion – and the delightful sense of humour and you’ve got a winning combination. I always thought that this was going to be another in the long line of ‘gone too soon’ series that have littered the mainstream history (such as Chase or Xero or Quantum and Woody); however, it looked like history was waiting for the right time …

Come back tomorrow when I finally talk about the first issue of the new mini-series of The ClanDestine. I hope these previous posts indicate that this is a good thing.

ClanDestine Week: The Second Half

Welcome back for ClanDestine Week, where we'll look at the second half of the Alan Davis run on the first series of ClanDestine.

Issue 5 – ‘Genie-ology’

The origin issue. Adam tells Rory and Pandora the story of how he became immortal and sired children with unnatural abilities in the family graveyard (we see tombstones for Sherlock [Holmes, perhaps?], Garth [the newspaper strip, perhaps?], and Lance [… nope, you've got me there], suggesting the sense of history that Davis has planned for the story).

Adam was bon in 1168, in England; a farm hand who is impaled on a scythe, but who comes back from near death. So, Adam of Ravenscroft becomes Adam of Destine. In 1189, he went to fight in the Crusades, where he is captured (‘Odds bodkin … It’s a trap!’) by the men of Al Kadhdhaab asking him to fulfil his destiny of freeing them from Sujama Min Raghbah, who fears Adam from dreams in which Adam kills him. Adam finds him in his citadel, where he has a trapped djinn giving him power. Raghbah can’t kill Adam because the djinn wouldn’t like it. Adam confuses him with logic and kills him, only for the original guy to wound him to claim the djinn for himself. Adam instead frees the djinn with the last of his strength – she revives him and their love is ignited (see the accompanying images for hot loving, Alan Davis style), and power is transferred to Adam and to his children. The story ends with said children all arguing, as families do, and the twins being told that they will be facing the one foe they can’t fight: school.



Issue 6 – Rory Destine’s School Daze

(Great cover.) Rory daydreams while at school (about a Skrull invasion – how ahead of his time is Davis? I kid), getting him and Pandora into trouble with teachers and other kids. Adam and Walt talk about the kids – I like the way Davis has Adam talking in a wise but not pompous fashion, indicative of his age. Meanwhile, Kay is reclaiming her business empire, using her telepathy to do so – Sam is naturally appalled, and it’s an interesting dynamic within the family: they’re not all good guys.


Dom in his anechoic (‘free from echo; tending to absorb or deaden sound’ for those of you who don’t know – I know I didn’t) chamber, suffering from being in the world of people again, telling the twins to leave him alone.

After being threatened with separation by Walter for getting into trouble at school, Rory decides to go to New York with Pandora. When they arrive, after a tough journey, they crash-land in Manhattan, where they are saved by Spider-Man.


Issue 7 – ‘Real Heroes’

Sam & Kay are attacked –shot by tranquilliser darts – but Kay is not so easily taken down (being ‘an eight hundred year old nomadic conciousness’) and we see echoes of her former selves (including an Arabic princess, Japanese woman, an English queen type, a native American squaw, a musketeer type, a pirate …) – the sense of history that AD instils in the panel and the potential for story is wonderful.


Meanwhile, Rory & Pandora are hanging with Spider-Man – he rightly wants them to go home but they don’t, so he challenges them to a contest: if he loses, he’ll take them as sidekicks.

Back in England, Adam & Dominic chat, including some fascinating stuff about Adam (no basic responses of survival instinct, he doesn’t flinch in anticipation of danger, he doesn’t twitch or fidget because he doesn’t tire – Davis has put a lot of thought into this).


Spider-Man easily dispatches Rory & Pandora and gives them lessons in superheroism. Sam & Kay are captured by a killer hired by the Financial Director of Kay’s business empire. Kay sends a telepathic message to Rory to help them, so go with Spidey & Pandora. The killer murders the Financial Director, thinking he’s been set up, and the killer is killed in turn by the Punisher (guest stars are soooo important in a new series), under the influence of Kay.


Issue #8 ‘Points of View’

Walt, Dom and Adam go on patrol, even though Walter is not happy about it, in order to understand the twins’ fascination with crime fighting. While doing it, each relates an episode from their past.

Dom tells of being in Greenwich Village years ago, when he was helped by Dr Strange. Walt is in 1944 (he was with military intelligence) when he sees the Invaders (while casually mentioning digging Maurice out of a landslide in 1839 and wrestling a Kodiak bear in 1904 – as I’ve said, I love the sense of history inherent to this book) and how he ‘hulked’ out and loved it, but was attacked by his own side even though he destroyed the enemy. Adam tells of an incident in 1615 (mentioning that Grace & Albert were in Japan, protecting the Shogun Tokugawa during a coup) where he met aliens; they attacked him, to no avail, inadvertently killing two and injuring the other, who says they sought to claim this world for their empire but now won’t.

The comedy footnote to this charming issue: they see no crime during their patrol but there had been a crime wave because the police had been chasing reports of ‘flying men’. This issue was the last that Davis did of this series – no promotion and a feeling of not being supported made him stand up for his creative integrity. Good for him, but bad for us. Fortunately, he was persuaded back for an attempt to drum up business – as we’ll see in tomorrow’s instalment, when The ClanDestine meet the X-Men.

ClanDestine Week: Teaser, Preview, First Storyline

The first appearance of The ClanDestine is in an eight-page story in Marvel Comics Presents #158, in early July of 1994. We see a group of spandex-clad superheroes fighting a small army of robots, punching, kicking, slicing with swords – you know, the fun stuff. In the background is a Woody Allen lookalike with a remote control unit (from Acme).

Only it turns out to be the equivalent of a Danger Room session – in response to the kids desire to fight crime, they thought the training exercise might put them off. They were wrong.

The sense of acrobatic dynamism of Davis’ art is hypnotically beautiful, yet he also demonstrates his ability with expressions – the group obviously know each other very well and interact accordingly. Apart from the hairstyle that he gives Pandora, the team is a visually intriguing collection.

The next comic to appear is The ClanDestine Preview. It has a five-page preview of the first issue, but it is more than just that. It has mini-biogs for Davis and inker Mark Farmer; a double-page pin up; a sketchbook of early ideas (see the sketch of an early visualisation of the main group attached) and sketches of the main characters, including Adam, who we have yet to meet; and a checklist of Davis’ comic work until that date. The best part of the book is The ClanDestine Tapes, compiled by ‘Lana Vadis’ anagram fans, supposedly being interviews with Davis and Farmer about the creation of The ClanDestine. It is extremely funny back and forth between different views of the creation process, just another example of Davis’ wicked sense of humour.

Issue #1 – Apparently Unrelated Events – Family Reunion part 1

The prologue places the book firmly in the Marvel universe, as something escapes from Modok and an AIM laboratory, before we are introduced to the Crimson Crusader and Imp, who are stopping a robbery in a museum. Well, stopping it after they have an argument after the Crusader, aka Rory, calls Imp, aka Pandora, his ‘assistant’. They have strength, flights, a force field that can repel bullets, so obviously believe they are mutants who don’t want to worry their family with the knowledge.

Davis then introduces us to other members of the ClanDestine while kicking off the plot – Kay Cera, fashion designer, is attacked in Barcelona by non-human creatures looking for the Gryphon. Kay reacts with psychic powers but is killed in the ensuing fight. In Switzerland, Maurice Fortuit is attacked by similar creatures who kill him, an event observed by master monk in a monastery in Nepal, as well as in the dreams of Florence, an old woman in the small village of Ravenscroft. She is being helped by Walter when the same creatures attack – only for Rory and Pandora to return and enter the fray. When they are attacked, Walter ‘hulks out’ (but in a more demonic manner, turning blue, increased canine size and hair turning fiery) and destroys the attackers. Then the truth is revealed to Rory and Pandora – Walter is not their uncle, Florence is not their gran: they are all brothers and sisters, born of the same parents but of huge age differences, and the existence of the family has been discovered …

This is a confident first issue – set the scene, introduce an element of danger, include fight scenes to display super powers, and humour: the image of the sleek Silver Surfer discovering a blonde man in a camper van is a delight. And, as I think should be taken as fact for the rest of the story, the art is gorgeous: Alan Davis is one of the best superhero artists in the business and he makes it all look sublime. From setting the scene, telling the story, the dynamic fights, the expressive faces telling more than words, his art is the complete package.

Issue 2 – Relative Strangers: Family Reunion part 2

We meet Samantha in France, another member of the family, who is attacked by the same inhuman characters from the first issue. Meanwhile, Kay is still alive and moves her mind into the body of a recently killed junkie hooker (who said comics are for kids?).

Walt and the kids go to pick up Dominic, another sibling with superhuman senses and a ‘capacity for flawless deductive reasoning’, who is a hermit recluse on an island off the coast of England. Davis sets up more of the history in this scene, where Walter and Dominic argue over the murder of their brother Vincent by their father Adam (who is talking with the Silver Surfer in deep space, which is obviously impossible by the laws of physics, but suspension of disbelief and all that).

In Australia, Will Chance is an action film star who is attacked by the inhuman creatures. Dominic calls on Newton, another sibling, a ‘whiz at creating technological marvels’, who has been ‘Warlord of Etherea’ using a super body engineered on Narcissus 4.


Issue 3 – Selfish Genes: Family Reunion part 3

We are introduced to Albert, another Destine sibling, who is brought to Barcelona in astral form to fix Cuckoo’s body, which is mortally wounded. He fixes her body, but leaves a warning that she will die next time.

Adam is assailed by images of his family dying, so the Silver Surfer fuels his suped-up VW van in order for him to get back to earth. Sam (Argent) is followed by the inhuman characters, Kay visits her in astral form, before going to Dom, Walt and the kids to help in their entry into Griffin tech.

In the middle of this, there is a fantastic little bit: Dom is intoxicated by chocolate due to the taste being hypersensitive to it. Just a small, insignificant piece in the middle of all the plot manoeuvring in this issue, but it highlights the thought that Davis has put into the characters and their abilities, and the sly humour he uses to show this.

Walt and kids have gone into the facility without the unconscious Dom and have been caught by a creature calling himself Alpha, who wants the Gryphon (basically the MacGuffin), which has been apprehended by the twins during a night patrol – Alpha shows CCTV footage of them obtaining the machine when stopping a robbery and Pandora losing her cloak as mentioned in the first issue, which shows the stage-setting that Davis has been doing – only for the Rory to be stolen away by teleportation, and the real villain revealed.


Issue 4 – Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: Family Reunion part 4

Walt and Pandora are rescued by Kay and Sam. Kay identifies the villain as Lenz – a ‘super-advanced prehistoric beast’. However, he is one of a kind, so he is only trying to reproduce himself, unsuccessfully. This is why he wants the Gryphon, which will help him in his quest.

(Again, Davis slips in what I call ‘Clone Wars comments’, to give a sense of history to the book in a short space of time – Dom: ‘Remember what happened in Bangkok in ’64?’ when talking about Walter hulking out. I love these little tasters and the sense that there is a grand framework of stories and the family’s past.)

We see Newton as Woody Allen again, as the family to return to Walt’s home, which is near the family home. [A nice Davis visual joke – in Pandora & Rory’s secret HQ, there are trophies of dinosaurs, a large coin and a Joker card]. We see the siblings argue like real family, rather than the faux family stuff we usually see; it feels based on reality.

Back at the plot, Newton teleports them to Lenz’s HQ, only for Lenz to take them out with ease and prevent them from teleporting out again. Fortunately Adam appears, invulnerable to physical harm, and saves the family from Lenz, only to let Lenz live. This leads to the family arguing again (as all families do) – Rory: ‘Are family reunions always like this?’

These first four issues set up the characters, the basis for continuing stories (I enjoy that they are a group of people bought together by fate that don’t feel the need to fight crime, the twins excepted), the interactions between members and a nice collection of super-powers set within the Marvel universe. When these comics came out, I was in my mid-20s, so I was able to appreciate a comic book with clean art that told an intelligent story about characters that I could believe in who acted in understandable ways. I can imagine that the bulk of the comic book fans of the time, hooked on ‘kewl’ artists and grim’n’gritty stories of violent heroes in armour shooting things, were probably completely bemused by all this. Coming from a large family and reading comic books, I particularly enjoyed the dynamic in the book of super siblings arguing in a manner I could easily relate to, so perhaps I was going to be inclined towards ClanDestine, but I still assumed that everyone else would be wowed by the quality of the work. How little I knew.

Tomorrow, I’ll discuss the remaining four issues of the Davis-written ClanDestine issues (I know there are other ClanDestine issues out there that had nothing to do with him, but they do not exist for the purpose of this collection of posts, nor do they exist in my collection).

ClanDestine Week: Prologue

ClanDestine: A Prologue, in which I explain why I’m writing about The ClanDestine

I’m not one of those comic book bloggers who have a ‘thing’ in addition to their blogging about comic books, such as Neilalien and his love of Dr Strange, Mike Sterling and his love of Swamp Thing, or even Dorian and his love of Wildcat. (Or Chris Sims and his love of kicking people in the face.)

This blog isn’t themed around a belief that ClanDestine is the greatest comic book ever created. I do believe that it was one of the highlights of Marvel’s output in the ‘90s and, given the promotional push and the time to find its audience, could have been a great run of a creator-based superhero comic book set in a mainstream universe (like James Robinson’s Starman or Garth Ennis’ Hitman).

Some history to set the scene. The early 1990s were a very strange time in the world of superhero comic books. Marvel, having been bought by Ron Perelman and its stock made public in 1991, was undergoing a massive overexpansion of its comic line in order to make money quickly. Over at DC, Superman had died and come back to life in 1992–93. Valiant, Malibu (with Ultraverse) and even Dark Horse (with Comics Greatest Worlds) were all creating superhero universes from scratch. After the insane numbers for Liefeld’s X-Force and Jim Lee’s X-Men in 1991, the hot artists form Image in 1992 with their own individual universes. The world of the comic book is undergoing a speculator-led boom that could never last but which didn’t stop people trying to make as much money as possible while they could.

At the same time, my comic book tastes are being refined during this tumultuous period. Having started life as an X-Men fan, I have kicked the habit (soon after Chris Claremont is kicked off the book he made the number one book in the industry). I still have a desire for well-written superheroes, but I have discovered other things: after reading Watchmen, I become aware of ‘proper’ comic books. I am reading Sandman, Animal Man, Doom Patrol, Shade The Changing Man, and Hellblazer (which all become part of Vertigo in 1993). Hellboy (1993) and Sin City (1991) are part of my library. I even read Cerebus phone books. But this doesn’t mean I don’t read superhero comics anymore. For example, Alan Davis has just finished his 2-year run on Excalibur (#42–67), containing well-plotted, entertaining and fun science fiction-based stories. And now, he is being given his own creator-owned book, set firmly in the Marvel universe …I had been a big fan of Davis’ art for as long as I had been reading comic books (my collection of the non-Alan Moore run of Captain Britain with Davis art was extremely worn from excessive reading), so more work is very welcomed.

ClanDestine was and is a very enjoyable yet short-lived series that still bring joy. (I’m not the only one: Clandestine Chum Greg wrote a great piece on why you should own ClanDestine, and this piece from Dave Campbell about a single issue shows not only his appreciation but also that of the people who left comments about the post.) I thought it deserved a better shot that it was given so, when racking my brains for a title for this blog, a coalescence of ideas decided upon a title that might keep the memory alive; nothing more, and certainly not a tribute site. So, after threatening to post my thoughts on the original series for so long, I finally get round to it. In an ideal world, this would have come out the week of the release of the first issue of the second series, but life got in the way.

So, join me for a week of looking at the first series of ClanDestine and a review of the first issue of the second series. (And this will be a proper week, unlike, say, a Dave Campbell week.)

If you like your information official, Marvel provide a handy two-part history of The ClanDestine at their website here and here. If not, come back tomorrow as I talk about the ‘teaser’ story in Marvel Comics Presents, the ClanDestine Preview issue, and the first storyline; hopefully, it will be informative but in a more informal way and not too much starry-eyed Alan Davis worship.