“Today’s” Comic> The Descendants #1

Are they flying or dancing?

The Descendants #1

Descendants Productions (1995?)

Some of you remember this comic being brought up in the 2013 Brass City Comic Convention video I (finally) posted last week. The copyright on the comic is 1995 but if that’s the case that’s a long time to get to issue #3

The African spirit Mbwana has helped his displaced people keep their heritage and spirit during the years of tribulations, from slavers to white supremacists, though teacher. Now he’s going a step further by recruiting four people of color from around the world to become champions of the people, the Descendants! Choosing a teacher from an African village, a doctor from Jamaica, and a police officer and his dead partner’s son (beat partner, not “life partner”), he transforms them respectively into The super-powered Chuma, the magical Afiva, the agile Diallo, and the animal-communicationg Suwedi (who is given a size-changing condor named Kinda). In their first adventure they go up against a drug and gun runner Marauder. Although they break up the operation the villain escapes to challenge our heroes again n the future.

What they got right: Remember that this is a white guy who couldn’t care less about skin color doing this review so judge as you will. I do like some of the ideas presented. The heroes superhero names are based on Swahili words describing their special non-superpowered gifts, the reasons they were chosen for the team. The art is very rough but if you can read the old Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics that shouldn’t be a game breaker.

What they got wrong: I wanted to know more about their personal lives, especially Afiva, who also has a daughter while running a free medical clinic. Diallo is still a police officer in New York (and none of them wear masks) and Suwedi must have friends in this normal life and identity and is Chuma missed back home? Does Afiva’s daughter know her mom is a superhero? There are things I hope were addressed in issue #2. Also, some of the caption boxes were done in dark colors, making it hard to see the black lettering. This is something I hope the letterer kept in mind. If this was made in 1995 it would be before computer coloring came home with later editions of image editing software or programs like Manga Studio so I’m guessing changing colors wasn’t going to be easy.

Recommendation: The art is rough and there are some things to explore with the characters but the concept isn’t bad, especially for young minorities who are the target audience of this comic. You can order the current issues through his website and you might find something interesting there.