ANCESTRAL RECALL / Script by JORDAN CLARK / Art by ATAGUN İLHAN / Colors by PIPPA BOWLAND / Letters by ROB STEEN / Published by AHOY COMICS

Painter Melvin Waring has been happily married for 40 years. His wife, June, is also his agent and his main means of coping with other people. Apart from their neighbor Myran, Melvin doesn’t really have any friends or anything beyond his art and June.

Then, one morning, June disappears.

Myran says June isn’t the first person in the neighborhood to vanish. And she thinks a local tech firm behind the hottest AI toys is involved. But what can an artist with anxiety issues do against a vast corporate conspiracy?

Plenty, because Melvin has time and a community of heroes across history on his side.

Ancestral Recall defies quantification. It has elements of science fiction, fantasy, and mystery. Before everything else, however, as Joseph P. Illidge notes in his introduction, it is a Romance. Not only in the sense of it being a love story (although it is that) but Romantic in the sense that it is about emotion and humanity winning out over logic and mechanics..

Jordan Clark spins a lively tale. However, his intention with Ancestral Recall is also to educate while enthralling the reader. The Black heroes Melvin calls upon in his quest are all notable, yet largely unsung in American culture. I myself was stunned to learn that the inspiration for Sam Spade and Phillip Marlowe was a Jamaican-American detective named Samuel Marlowe. (The real world history of these heroes is discussed in a special section at the end of the trade.)

The artwork is equally deep and driven. Atagun İlhan is a fantastic visual storyteller, who depicts a variety of characters and settings with stunning ease. The color art by Pippa Bowland is appropriately eye-catching, with most of the colors popping and contrasting with the dull whitewashed world of the villain’s techno-empire. And Rob Steen does his usual stellar job with the lettering.

Ancestral Recall is a must read for all comic fans. With a story spanning multiple genres and themes, it is a universal story while also being a showcase of the Black experience. Like all true art it encourages empathy and educates. Miraculously, it accomplishes both of these tasks well while being entertaining.