Ancestral Recall #1 (Ahoy, 2025)

Every week, there's only a couple comics that I have no real context for, that when I read them, it's a great surprise. This is one of those reads. Pull it! 

ANCESTRAL RECALL #1, written by Jordan Clark, art by Atagun Ilhan, colors by Pippa Bowland, and letters by Rob Steen.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, and welcome to First Issues now, the weekly show
posted daily about only the newest first issues released by
insert comic company. Here this week, I'll be looking at
the comics release for the week of August sixth, twenty
twenty five. I have no lead into this. It was
on the stack, although I do dig the cover and
I do like Jordan Clark's Aquaman work, so there is

(00:21):
some goodwill going into Ancestral Recall number one. Written by
Jordan Clark, art by Attigan Ilhan, colors by Pipa Boland,
and letters by Rob Steen. Okay, the short of the
story is well, actually I'll go with the dust jacket
for it. Black history. For painter Melvin Waring, it's an

(00:42):
actual superpower. When Melvin's wife mysteriously disappears, he must call
on the most important black figures of all time to
help him in his search. With a premise like that,
I have no idea what that meant, but it's actually
really cool how it laid out. First, I do want
to bring up that there is actually another character that
plays a major role. His Korean Puerto Rican neighbor, the

(01:05):
adorable Miron and her animatronic Kauaius and Panda Petunia. I
have to bring her up first before we get into
everything else, because without her, Melvin's plot kind of has
him becoming one of those homeless guys screaming about how
Jesus is already here to eat everyone's host as fruit pies.
She actually is a photographer and even talks to him

(01:26):
about how people keep disappearing in the neighborhood as well,
so it's not just a random of reduction again, this
is actually a really great setup. As for the superpower, well,
I'll be honest. When I read the solicit copy, I
was worried that it would turn into a history lesson
more than a proper book that has historical character. Not
that there's anything wrong with just stopping a book and

(01:46):
teaching about black history or history in any sense, but
it could also easily diminish the book to stop and
just have a Xavier riddle. Here's the famous person moment.
But it doesn't do that. See when his wife does
eventually go missing, he is teleported to the mind Palace
or wherever we're calling it to see Sam Marlowe, the
Jamaican immigrant and first black private eye in la who

(02:08):
is famously or should be more famously known as the
inspiration for both Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe. It's a
fascinating history just on that front alone. And then he
uses Sam's skills for him to try and find his wife.
I think he does get found by Mirn later in
the trash. However, later on to end the book, he
does actually run a foul of assumably the henchmen of

(02:30):
who took his wife, which happened to be robots, and
then we actually get and then we get the action
scene where Melvin channels Jean Louis Michel, one of the
greatest sortsmen in France during the nineteenth century. And on
a very personal note, the reason my blood brother and
I learned defense in the early nineties, and so Melvin
kicks all the robots butts with a lead pipe. Those

(02:52):
are two very different ways to showcase two very different
historical figures that are important and rarely really spoken of.
It is actually probably the best foot forward in both
showing Melvin does have some sort of power as well
as going, hey, here's two really cool figures you should
actually know the history of. Without throwing in those facts,
it is still a great book, and that actually just

(03:14):
makes it greater. The only thing I would ding this
for is that, while it is a standard first issue length,
it kind of ends somewhat abruptly where it feels like
there needed to be a little bit more. But on
the other hand, I don't want to ding it for
that because what is in this issue makes me want more.
It develops a fascinating vibe that I just can't say

(03:36):
anything less than positive about. So that would mean that
my verdict is pull it. Pull it means that it
definitely should be put onto your pull list digitally or physically.
I'd honestly say both, but I am a glutton for
double paying. I personally cannot wait to see where this
story goes. But maybe I'm wrong. Let me know what
your thoughts of this issue is over on Facebook at

(03:59):
the I'm a Archivist, or Twitter at AGENC underscore does
it all, and on Blue Sky at AGAC does it
all without any Underscore. Don't forget to like, share, follow,
and do all the stuff that I'm being told is
so important to continue doing these More than anything though,
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