Spirit’s Destiny is the origin story of a young, Haitian-American girl who suddenly gets superpowers after an accident. This first issue, set in Miami, 2014, and funded through a Kickstarter in 2015. is really Destiny’s origin story. An original work by first-time comic book creator Dorphise Jean, (who I also listed in my post about black women comic writers) she says that she wanted to create a Haitian-American superhero that was not associated with negative Haitian stereotypes.

I realized Marvel had made an attempt creating Haitian superheroes. Characters such as Papa Jambo (Charles LeJeune), ( Doctor Voodoo, (Jericho Drumm),  Daniel Drumm and Papa Legba were all highly skilled sorcerers. But there is more to Haitian culture than just voodoo. – Dorphise Jean

Spirit’s Destiny #1

Characters

Destiny Mitsu Jean – (a.k.a. – “Spirit”) A teenager injected as an infant with a type of augmented ability serum that manifests when she is in a terrible accident. Current skills: Martial arts/Bi-lingual; Latent powers: Flight, astral projection, and the ability to shoot concussive blasts from her hands.

Davine Kenta Jean – Destiny’s mother, former Navy SEAL, current She is mechanical and chemical engineer at Lucid Mechanical Engineering Laboratory. Skills: hand-to-hand combat, mutiple forms of martial arts, engineering, bi-lingual

Brian Walker – Former Major Navy Seal Operative who was dishonorably discharged for his unethical actions towards his colleagues. He is Destiny’s biological father and Davine’s ex-husband. Skills: Hand-to-hand combat, expert marksman  and swordsman,  master tactician.

Danielle Jean – Davine’s mother, and Destiny’s grandmother.Matriarchal force of the family. Skills: Hand-to-hand combat, Voodoo Magic

Plot

Destiny is a  typical rebellious, sarcastic, funny, compassionate and ambitious teenager. Who takes everyday issues like school, homework, bullying in stride. Although she seems to have a strained relationship with her mother, it appears that she does love and respect her to an extent. Destiny has a closer relationship to her grandmother who is the matriarch of the household. Although Destiny’s father is not currently in her life, he seems to have had the greatest effect on her when she was a child.

In fact, the story opens with a dream (perhaps a memory?) she has of him breaking into their home one night to see her. Davine, who is extremely intelligent and successful, (and can clearly hold her own in a fight) only wants what’s best for her daughter but clearly has been protecting her from something. Whether or not it’s her father or someone else is unclear.

Destiny gains her powers in an accidental, very traumatic, Barry Allen sort of way on an unsupervised trip to her mom’s lab with her friends. We don’t know yet the full extent of what she can do, but it’s clear that she is alive yet changed irreversibly.

What I think

This is an all-ages comic that teens and tweens can get into. The story plays out well, although several misspellings and grammatical errors pulled me out of the story on occasion. The line art is clean and strong and the colors stayed consistent through the faces, action and panel angles.

Destiny’s character is also represented well. I really liked the fact that her home life featured her grandmother living with them (typical of most families from the islands) as well as the fact that she was bilingual. (Both English and Haitian Creole). I wish that this comic was a few pages longer and there was more of a reason for Destiny to be at the lab and a scene in which Destiny’s powers manifested after the accident, but overall, I think this is a really strong start and has  a promising storyline.

I’m really excited to see a new indie black female comic book artist on the scene, and with a beautiful character at that. With a bit of editing, I think this could be a really successful and popular superhero. I hope to see more from this Spirit’s Destiny series.  And soon!

TBG Review Rating*

7/10

Buy Spirit’s Destiny Here

CREDITS

Spirit’s Destiny #1

Writer: Dorphise Jean

Pencilers: Zack Dolan, Edwin Galmon, Saint Yak, and Richard Perotta

Inker: Laurie Foster

Letterer: Alex Giles

Colorist: Alexander Malyshev

Character Designs: Terry Alec

Editor: Allyssa Cinquina and Kevin Woolfork

*I am instituting a rating system on all reviewed comics on the site from now on. This is the first!  A rating of 1= poor writing/storyline and poor artwork/lettering while a rating of 10= Excellent writing/storyline and High quality artwork/lettering