VOODOO CHILE #1 – Indie Review

VOODOO CHILE #1, available now via Kickstarter and Plwoods.com, tells a Vietnam-era tale of a hapless soldier conscripted to be the pawn of Baron Samedi while his Sergeant is embroiled in a gun-for-drugs scheme.

The Details

• Written By: Casey Allen
• Art By: Pete Woods
• Colors By: Wilson Anthony Go
• Letters By: Bolt-01
• Cover Art By: Pete Woods
• Cover Price: $4.00 (estimated for Kickstarter digital copy)
• Release Date: July 2021 (estimated)

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Was It Good?

Baron Samedi seems to be a popular character for comics fodder these days. Whether he shows up in Valiant’s Shadowman or as the occasional AIM agent in Marvel’s Earth-616. There’s no end to the possibilities when employing the Voodoo-styled avatar of death.

Here, Baron Samedi is (according to the prologue page) determined to delegate his eternal role so he can climb the celestial career ladder, and he’s off to a bumpy start. Let’s just say the good Baron could do with some leadership training and better communication skills.

That said, the story is primarily focused on Max Boukman and his not-so-deceased colleague, Stewart “London” Thomas. The result is a buddy cop/action story in the same vein as Dead Heat (1988) with fewer jokes.

In any good buddy cop story, the key is the chemistry between the partners. Allen is successful in forcing London and Max together through fateful circumstances and pushing them to cooperate out of mutual survival (or more accurately continuation since one of them is dead). To be fair, the cooperation is born out of necessity rather than any bond between the two characters, so any feeling of chemistry is muted this early in the story. It will be interesting to see how their relationship develops.

The art by Pete Woods is excellent in this issue, primarily on emotional expression through the eyes. Go’s impressive coloring elevates the design of the backgrounds to add authenticity to the jungle setting, and Bolt-01’s lettering fits the artwork perfectly.

What’s It About?

[SPOILERS AHEAD – Click here if you just want the score without spoilers]

Max Boukman is determined to serve out his tour in Vietnam with as little fuss as possible. One day while out on patrol, his team is ambushed, but Boukman manages to survive. While he recovers, Boukman is visited by Baron Samedi who vaguely explains that Boukman is now the possessor of the power of death.

Photojournalist Stewart “London” Thomas also survived the ambush. Later, London shows Boukman that the Sergeant in charge has the camp stationed so close to the border because he’s secretly trading drugs for guns with the Viet Cong (VC). When London and Boukman examine the drug crates, Boukman accidentally toches London and kills him. Stunned by what happened, Boukmn fails to notice the Sergeant approaching and is captured for snooping around where he shouldn’t.

At a meeting place away from the camp, the Seargent forces Boukman to move crates around as part of a drug/gun exchange. When one of the VC soldiers makes the mistake of touching Boukman’s “death hand”, the soldier dies and London’s spirit inhabits the dead soldier’s body. Both Boukman and Baron Samedi are surprised to learn Boukman has the power of death and possession.

We conclude the issue with a jeep chase, London finding out the body he uses can take a lot of damage, and a setup for multiple shootouts.

Final Thoughts

VOODOO CHILE #1 mixes the Vietnam war with voodoo to create the most bizarre buddy cop story you’ve ever seen. The chemistry between the two leads is not quite established but it has potential, and the art by Pete Wood is well above great for an indie comic.

Score: 7.5/10