Sometimes
I read or watch things quicker than I have time – or motivation, or
perhaps even focus – to sit down and do a full blog post. Nothing
against whatever those items are. I feel a compulsion to blog
something for virtually everything, but I don't want this to turn
into a barrage of short posts. Hence periodic “Quick Hits.”
This
is a collection of various recent works for Marvel Comics done by
Alan Davis, who is one of my favorite artists. His style I would
characterize as a combination of Neal Adams and John Byrne, with a
dash of elegant smoothness of line all his own. Here we find three
annuals from 2012 – Fantastic
Four Annual
#33, Daredevil
Annual
#1, and Wolverine
Annual
#1, along with a Thor
special from a few years back, Thor:
Truth of History.
The three annuals actually form a single story arc although each can
be read on its own, and tie into one of my favorite properties
created by Davis, ClanDestine,
a half-djinn
English family/reluctant super-team. I like team books; I like
family sagas; I love England – ClanDestine
is a natural for me. In these stories we learn more about the “black
sheep” of the group, Vincent Destine, whose history and fate always
hung over the original 1990s series and a subsequent 2000s
mini-series like a pall. I'm not sure how the Thor
special fits in, although there is one minor character who also
appears in the Daredevil
Annual.
Probably it's more that it was another work by Davis that could be
thrown in to make a decent-sized collection. I'm not complaining;
anything by Davis is good with me, and this story has its own special
charm, presenting a secret history of the Sphinx as well as hilarious
miscommunications between Thor and the Warriors Three and denizens of
ancient Egypt.
