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I never thought of that! It is kinda odd...
The Eye of Agamotto has found a successor to Stephen Strange in the form of Jericho Drumm, formerly known as Brother Voodoo. Now known as Doctor Voodoo, Drumm splits his time between traveling the Everdimensions in an attempt to discover and prevent the dark times foretold by the Vishanti and helping the unfortunate at his non-profit clinic in New Orleans.
The first issue finds the good doctor doing his best to establish himself as the new Sorcerer Supreme but it isn’t an easy task. Using methods quite unlike those of Doctor Strange, Voodoo finds himself at odds with Dormammuu, evil Loa and another doctor from Latveria who also happens to possess quite a vast knowledge of sorcery.
I really enjoyed the fact that Doctor Voodoo isn’t the Sorcerer Supreme – he’s the Houngan Supreme. It isn’t just a different word for sorcerer; it’s a completely different mindset and it is felt throughout the entire issue. He’s not a magician or sorcerer, he’s a voodoo priest and his role is to maintain the relationship between the spirit world and the community as a whole (I looked it up on Wikipedia). His methods, his outlook and the variety of spells and incantations he used were very different from the traditional things we’ve seen from Doctor Strange. It was cool.
I thought Jefte Palo’s art was a great fit for the book and I especially liked the way he rendered Dormammu and Dr. Doom, as well as the variety of Everdimensions we saw in this issue. Doom’s armor looked sweet! And it’s always cool to see Doom’s sorcerer side showcased as well. Sometimes we just get the evil scientist/ruler guy and it’s forgotten that this dude is a master sorcerer as well.
This was a great issue, but Remender really tried to pack a lot in and it seemed a wee bit cluttered. I guess he did his best to establish that Drumm is a doctor as well the Houngan Supreme, has established a home for the Lost Spirits of Shuma-Gorath, has re-established the Scryting Stones of Chthon, read from the Darkhold, is capable of fighting an evil Loa and also fights Dr. Doom and… you see what I’m saying? It was great to see just how different of an approach Drumm will be taking to the role, but he could have held off on a couple of the little details for subsequent issues.
Cover art to DOCTOR VOODOO: AVENGER OF THE SUPERNATURAL #1 by Marko Djurdjevic
Marvel has done a good job of establishing their traditional superhero world, the cosmic side of things and now they’re focusing on the supernatural aspects of the Marvel U. Doctor Voodoo would serve well as the flagship title of this line.
I thought Rick Remender did a fine job of setting up the world of Doctor Voodoo, even if it was a bit jam-packed. I appreciate the fact that Palo’s art wasn’t traditional superhero artwork and I cannot stress enough how much I enjoyed the various aspects of voodoo tradition that were shown in this issue. The Hoary Hosts of Hoggoth are still making their presence felt, but now they’re alongside the Barrier Crows of Legba and Petro Loa. It’s a nice melding of two supernatural worlds and I’m looking forward to the next issue.
It is kind of odd now that you mention it... but Brother Voodoo is kind of a stupid name (in my opinion) and I'm guessing that Marvel wanted to make the name at least somewhat reminiscent of Doctor Strange so fans would get the connection.
Doctor Voodoo does have a nice ring to it.
So you're asserting that Marvel changed the inconsequential name of the character because they believed some people would find it offensive, and you think that's a bad thing? Anyway, once Stephen comes back, this guy will be Brother Voodoo again...
I don't get why his name changed to Doctor Voodoo though. I mean he's always been a doctor and he never called himself Doctor Voodoo but he does now because he has the Eye? It just doesn't make sense. But oh, well.