This book is going to get me in trouble. Last week, I defended Catwoman and Red Hood and the Outsiders against pretty much everybody. In fact, my defense of Starfire has been linked to every comic book forum I know of just so people can shoot holes in it. (I stubbornly stand by my argument for these books! Political correctness be damned!) Voodoo #1 arguable has more T&A than both of those books combined. And I liked it too.
Yeah, I’m never going to get rid of that dirty old man label, am I?
Saying that I liked Voodoo #1 in spite of the gratuitous cheesecake is kind of like saying I read Playboy for the articles. (I don’t actually read Playboy. My wife won’t let me. But I hear the articles are swell.) What people are going to remember about this book is that the main character is impossibly well-endowed and that she spent the majority of the book stripping. It’s practically Striptease: The Comic. And the book is deservedly going to be criticized for this.
Buuuuuut, I think there’s still something worthwhile going on with this book beyond the very well-drawn pole dancing. (Basri appears to have done his research.) The titilation is set-up. You know there’s something going on with Voodoo. She’s being investigated by some mysterious agency. No one seems to know much of anything about her. And when she talks, she’s oddly inhuman.
The cover pretty much gives away the book’s big reveal. It’s got less in common with Striptease than it does with Species. Voodoo has a monster inside her and her customer pays the ultimate price for his private lap dance. As big surprises go, well, the cover gave it away. And yet, I was still interested to see where things go next.
Marz does a good job of teasing the story out. Yeah, this could have been told in half the space. But I was never bored. (And not because of all the boobs! Stop saying that!) The book ends with Voodoo leaving the strip club. And hopefully she never comes back. The book promises to showcase Voodoo on the run. As long as she doesn’t go from town to town working strip joints, I think the book has a lot of potential.
I trust Marz to move on. I have never read his take on Witchblade, but from what I hear he turned that book from a T&A showcase into a deep character study. I’m hopeful he’ll do the same here.
Green Lanterns New Guardians #1
I think this is not the last we are going to see from Voodoo stripping because she has been a stripper since her introduction in wildc.a.t.s.. I love the book and how they wrote it from the people that were watching her in the club prospective. You learn a little about her trough other people. They also get a chance to touch on the other strippers and why they are working there. I will be on board lol One thing though I am really getting tired of the whole sexist thing, it is getting pretty aggravating. Its funny out of all the things you see on tv, video games, and movies they choose to pick on comics. Comics in which the character are acting true to character. Catwoman has been acting like that since her introduction and Starfire has always been a free spirited nudist. Buddy Baker had to keep his kids from going outside to the pool when Starfire was staying with them because of starfire always being nude. Also in the R.E.B.E.L.S. book she was having sex with Captain Comet just for fun she even told him that. Now all of a sudden people want to complain about oh they were out of character and sexist, come on. Alot people do not even know starfire and they are making judgement(the only knowledge I they have is from the teen titans cartoon.)
The only thing I hated about Starfire was the whole anemia thing , which probably will be explained in later issues, but other than that it was a good book.
As I said in my One Sentence Reviews, DC are seemingly committed to the “sex sells” strategy with the New 52. Hahaha.