ClanDestine questions

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ZenoArmani
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Joined: Thu Apr 26, 2007 6:16 pm

ClanDestine questions

Post by ZenoArmani »

Hello. First let me say that I enjoy your works a whole lot. Regardless if it's Excalibur, ClanDestine, The Nail, Superboy's Legion, or Fantastic Four: The End, they consistently make me feel better after reading them, and they never fail to entertain. Imho, you may be the foremost creator I've ever had the pleasure to encounter in these respects.

A few questions:

When rereading my old ClanDestine tpb, in preparation for the new series I immediately noticed the connection between's Cuckoo's dilemma of being limited to her last, quickly aging, human shell, and that Newton can apparently engineer/'manufacture' mindless simulacrums even for himself. It would make sense if Kay would try to get on her kid brother's good side, now that Albert is unwilling to help her any further, and she would also avoid being plagued by an aching conscience. Was this intentionally set up as a future plotline?

Also, given that Meggan is currently literally placed in limbo, and I feel that you are the creator who by far has handled her best, could you please consider bringing her into ClanDestine as a regular main cast member? I think she'd fit quite well into the thematics, and she does have a shared connection to the supernatural. We also never quite got her ancestry mapped out, so there's the potential of a connection to their genie mother there.

In any case, best wishes and I'm looking forward to reading your new series. :)
Alan Davis
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Post by Alan Davis »

Thanks for the extremely kind words, Zeno.

Although I haven’t given a lot of detail about the ClanDestine family and their extensive and complex history in their very limited appearances I do have a framework of major events, relationships and motivations mapped out which would make the idea of Kay using a Newton body less likely.
Firstly, This isn’t necessarily Kay/Cuckoo’s last host transfer. She made transitions without Albert, before he was born, and has only called on him in an emergency. There are some other considerations but I hope to have an opportunity to tell those stories so I won’t expand upon them here.
Although Kay and Newton share some motivations the way they are expressed is very different and I have always envisaged Kay and Newton to be in opposition. Newton is about pure science while Kay, who is naturally a psychic, has acquired occult skills. I doubt that I will ever have the opportunity to tell all of the ClanDestine stories I have mapped out but they form the foundations of the characters as I see them.
Finally, Kay has no conscience about acquiring host bodies—simply put she is a self-centred hedonist and ‘ordinary’ morals have little value or influence to someone with her unique perspective on life. She isn’t a villain but the modern concepts of right and wrong do not apply.

There are indeed supernatural parallels between Meggan and the Destine family (possibly due to my personal predilections OR my limitations as a creator) but when I created Meggan I had a very specific idea of who and what she was… And although I may never work with Meggan again that is who she is in my mind.

Alan
ZenoArmani
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Post by ZenoArmani »

Thanks for taking the time to answer. It's very nice of you. :D

After reading the first few chapters I had the (obviously false) impression that Kay limited herself to bodies near death because of a certain amount of conscience, and that Albert was necessary to restore them to health, but that she was othervise unwilling to usurp the life of someone whose spirit hadn't left the body. I also like Newton btw. He seems like a mixture of Woody Allen and one of my kindly old college professors. It's quite different, especially given the intriguing other side as an alien 'warlord'/hero.

It's too bad about Meggan. I'm very fond of the character. She's extremely different from the usual Marvel mould in her state of almost complete innocence and 'goodness', so I suppose most mainstay creators would be adverse to handling her properly, without feeling a need to turn her 'mean and aggressive', as is frequently the case. Oh well.
DungeonmasterJim
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Post by DungeonmasterJim »

Alan Davis wrote:Thanks for the extremely kind words, Zeno.

Although I haven’t given a lot of detail about the ClanDestine family and their extensive and complex history in their very limited appearances I do have a framework of major events, relationships and motivations mapped out which would make the idea of Kay using a Newton body less likely.
Firstly, This isn’t necessarily Kay/Cuckoo’s last host transfer. She made transitions without Albert, before he was born, and has only called on him in an emergency. There are some other considerations but I hope to have an opportunity to tell those stories so I won’t expand upon them here.

Alan
In fun speculation, I hope you get to explore the 'other considerations' for Kay before too long as she is my favorite of the ClanDestine. It also might be entertaining to see Kay hop into a host with less than desireable physical traits maybe like being over-weight. I could see Kay not wanting to spend even a second in such a body! LOL!

DM Jim
ZenoArmani
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Post by ZenoArmani »

Personally I think it would make sense for her personality-type to use all her resources to find a "permanent" immortal and shapeshifting host. She's hardly a mass-murdering, "Accountability? Me?!" sadistic terrorist like Mystique, but she's a thoroughly "life-addicted" hedonist, so it makes perfect sense. Come to think of it, that would obviously be another way to incorporate Meggan into the story, though I most definitely wouldn't want Kay to succeed in usurping the latter's being.
DungeonmasterJim
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Post by DungeonmasterJim »

Hmmn,... the Meggan/Kay idea sounds really cool to me. Of course, I too would want Meggan to survive in the end possibly by kicking Kay out after a long battle of psyches but it wouldn't be any fun without Kay having total control for a while. I could also see it making the rep of the Clan more shadowy and grey to other heroes which I think would be cool.

Lemme know Mr. D if you need a writer! :lol:

DM Jim
Alan Davis
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Post by Alan Davis »

Zenoarmani, you are correct that Kay chooses to inhabit bodies that are near to death or recently dead—but there have been exceptions (more on that later).
The crucial point about her last transfer, in ClanDestine 1, is that Kay Cera (1) was dead and her consciousness had been forced to reside in a cat until she found the street girl, Kay Cera (2)—who was already dead.
Kay’s natural powers are psychic but she has dabbled in the occult arts and IF she had been in a still viable human body she could have repaired the street girl’s corpse herself before taking possession.
Hopefully Kay’s morality, or lack of same, will become more apparent in the new series. As will the fact that Kay did once have an immortal body-- but chose to leave it. Living in the same body for centuries would be tedious. By changing bodies for something ‘new’ Kay can re-experience life from a different perspective, female, male or with a particular body type/skill—and escape the unwanted baggage of each ‘life’ in doing so (or so she thinks).

Meggan has been possessed or channelled other personalities on previous occasions so being possessed by Kay may not seem as weird as it should be—at least visually which is a criteria I think is crucial in comics. Another consideration is that I don’t see Meggan’s power as a feature of her physical form. Her power is a facet of her spirit and that transforms her flesh so, in theory, if Meggan’s consciousness was removed/placed in another body her power would go with her.

There are already those who regard the Clan as something dark and dangerous, Jim but I hope the mix of character types will allow for the family to have a number of conflicting ‘faces’ so that they retain some of their enigmatic mystery.

Sorry Jim. I’m having way too much fun to share the writing with anyone.

Alan
ZenoArmani
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Post by ZenoArmani »

Hmm. Was the "skill" part a hint that she's occasionally possessed superhuman hosts?

I mused along the lines that the unwanted baggage, and differing perspectives aspect would make it extra appealing for her to switch and exchange these at a whim, rather than every 20-30 years or so.

Meggan is basically the most powerful, non-cosmic entity in the Marvel stable, given her attribute to mimic almost any level of superhuman power, including the Silver Surfer, if I remember correctly, so she certainly would be extremely attractive to any psychic parasite, uninformed about how her abilities work. Still, there should be plenty of inactive or uninspired non 'spiritual-powered'/strictly physical lower-level shapeshifters around, if you ever wish to use the notion. Copycat for example. I think she's presumed deceased anyway.

Again, I truly love your stories, so I hope I'm not too obnoxious or inane. The Internet just makes it somewhat amazing to speculate and chat a little bit with the actual creators.
Alan Davis
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Post by Alan Davis »

You're neither obnoxious nor inane, Zeno'. I'm sure there is infinite potential in any character that has had only limited exposure but as the creator of these particular characters they exist in my imagination as fully rounded and consistent individuals simply because I am familiar with the bulk of the back story, which may never see print, but makes them who they are.
I had never imagined Meggan having the ability to duplicate powers like the Mimic or Rogue. She is an empath and her synchronisation with another person is so complete that she appears like them but would not have their abilities. In fact, her regular human form isn't her true appearance but is a female impression of Captain Britain-- but she does not exhibit his powers.

Alan
ZenoArmani
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Post by ZenoArmani »

Well, to you this is naturally long past 'water under the bridge', but to clarify my impression, one of the interim issues between your own pencilling for Chris Claremont's manuscripts showed Meggan successfully duplicate all the abilities of the X-Men to their full degrees during a battle with the other-dimensional Jamie Braddock. (Spelling?)

I think one of the rather, well, lacklustre, issues in-between your collaborative and later pure vision runs, picked up on this and showed her to successfully duplicate and match a 'demonic Silver Surfer'. There was also that time she increased her power to match (?) the Juggernaut, took out a Hercules-reminiscent Captain Britain Corps member, who was shown as more than Brian could handle, with one punch, or adapted into reptilian behemoth (the Judge Dredd homage story) which was similarly vastly more powerful, despite that he's almost as strong as Thor/an even match for Wonder Man. She's also turned her body into water and back, into a fire-breathing Godzilla look-alike, mimicked the powers of the Sandman without changing her base template form, and drew upon the power of the planet (/Gaea?) to grow into a giant in preparation for fighting Galactus, but it's unclear just how powerful she got at that time. Chris has recently designated her as a 'megamorph', i.e. an 'nth level' metamorph. However, Warren Ellis essentially focused on turning her into an elemental instead.

Although, given that you were one of her co-creators, you naturally have the final say on the matter, if this greatly diverted from your original vision.

In any case, if you ever wish to use the notion of Kay actively attempting to find an 'ideal' morphing body (or one possessing any other power she'd deem as such, given my strictly surface-level insight into her character), feel absolutely free to do so
Last edited by ZenoArmani on Sat May 19, 2007 9:57 am, edited 3 times in total.
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