Saturday, May 23, 2009

Clandestine: Blood Relatives HC

This is a pretty easy sale for me, since I'm a huge Alan Davis fan. I've followed all the Clandestine material over the years and this holds up the high level of quality Davis has produced in the other series. This is a very character-heavy series, with the main confrontations with the Griffin included almost as an afterthought. What makes the Clandestine books so much fun is seeing how the different family members wrestle with thier immortality. Crimson Crusader and Imp are still dreaming of being super-heroes, their older siblings (who pose as aunts and uncles) are taking turns taking them out on patrol. All the old characters show up here, Cuckoo, Walter/Wallop, Samantha, Newton, and of course Dominic. Dominic gets the most exciting plotline as he is shunted off into space/time where he joins up with Excalibur on their Cross-Time Caper. That's right, this is a crossover to a story published 20 years ago. Since Davis drew the original, Dominic fits in seamlessly to the story, he looks perfect. I was amused to see how quickly my old feelings about Excalibur resurfaced. I still find this Captain Britain to an insufferable oaf, while Nightcrawler, Meggan, and Shadowcat are still quality heroes. The different elements of this collection include Cuckoo's longtime association with vampires, evil Inhuman tyrants, alternate timelines, and scantily clad robot-girls. Davis weaves these disparate elements wonderfully, making this a rewarding check-up with some obscure favorites. With Adam Destine somewhat written out and the cliffhanger we get here, I certainly hope we can get more Clandestine adventures soon.

Davis' art is as wonderful as always. I'm particularly impressed at his Inhuman designs, both for the alternate timeline and the standard Inhumans. Davis' art is a great blending of the styles and details of Kirby but with a modern flair. He remains one of my top 3 artists.

Excellent

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