ClanDestine #2: A Growing Family

ClanDestine #2
“Apparently Unrelated Events”
Writer/Creator/Pencils: Alan Davis
Inks: Mark Farmer
Letters: Pat Prentice
Colors: Helen Nally
Editor: Paul Neary
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco
Released: Sept. 20, 1994

The second issue of “ClanDestine” delivers expansion rather than explanation, but it continues to build an intriguing story.

The story opens in the French chateau of Samantha Hasard, an interesting enough name, but it's no Kay Cera. She's in the midst of splattering some of the creepy, stretchy Gryphon-seekers from issue 1 when she gets a phone call from Walter, warning her about these very beings. As they compare notes, Sam see a news bulletin about Kay's death, but she and Walter suspect I might have been right and their sister survived the attack.

They plan to meet up at the “family estate” after Walter picks up another sibling named Dominic. As Sam hits the road, two mysterious figures follow.

Over in Spain, a cat watches as two men murder a hooker in an alley. Occupied by the mind/spirit/essence of Kay Sera, the feline scares the killers away by projecting a horrifying image. Then she transfers her mind/spirit/essence into the recently deceased body and telekinetically revives it, though it looks like her new shell may not last long.

Walter takes Rory and Pandora (aka Crimson Crusader and Imp) to the island where Dominic has isolated himself to reduce the input to his superhuman senses. Walter morphs into his big blue form, this time wearing a Speedo that I would presume is made of unstable molecules, except these folks don't seem to be in the club where Reed Richards gives those out.

There's no love lost between Walter and Dominic, and it apparently has something to do with “Adam” killing “Vincent.” The kids interrupt their fight and get them to chill long enough to look over a family photo while Dominic changes into his Creeper cosplay.

In outer space, the Silver Surfer checks out the VW van from last issue and chats up its driver, one Adam Destine. The Surfer says he's shocked to find Destine surviving in the vacuum of space since he seems to be a normal human. Adam, who must be a real hit at parties, asks the Surfer if he can help him figure out how to die.

More stretchy, clawed marauders attack an apparent Destine family member shooting a superhero movie in Australia, and Dominic decides to summon another family member, a rather nerdy looking fellow named Newton. Newton arrives, apparently from a planet called Ethera, with a musclebound form covered by almost as little clothing as Walter's. Newton takes the communication devices used by the attackers back to his lab.

The issue wraps with Dominic, Walter and the kids deciding to investigate a business card one of the attackers had for Griffin Technologies, which sounds kind of like the Gryphon the strangers were seeking. And it seems like they'll have a very unfriendly welcoming committee waiting for them.

We learn that Crimson Crusader's powers are gravity based, which explains the flight and apparent super strength but not so much the bulletproof-ness. He says Imp can “do some interesting things with radiant energy,” so maybe he was helping her out with flight last issue.

They're doing more showing than telling, which is good, even if I am partial to long-winded expositional dialogue explaining a character's powers mid-fight. We were told Kay Cera, or Cuckoo as she is sometimes called, is telepathic and telekinetic, but we get to see her body-swapping trick unfold.

As I said last time, the idea of a long-lived, secret group operating behind the scenes in the Marvel Universe isn't exactly new territory, but Davis is building this cast in a way that makes it feel different, even among that familiarity. They're set very much in the rest of the universe but not overly relying on it. The Surfer is the only guest star so far.