Selwyn Seyfu Hinds: writer
Denys Cowan: penciller
John Floyd: inker
The Solicitation
DOMINIQUE LAVEAU: VOODOO CHILD is the story of a half-breed, outcast and heir to the Voodoo Queenship of New Orleans, if she can live long enough to claim her birthright. New Orleans is the most haunted city in America: a town of centuries-old ghosts and newly drowned spirits; where vampires, voodoo spirits and loups-garous make their home. Ruling over this all are the powerful Voodoo Queens, whose influence stretches into politics, business and crime as they maintain a delicate balance between the mortal and supernatural worlds.But in the aftermath of Katrina, all that has changed, for someone or something has murdered the Voodoo Queen and most of her court. The number one suspect is Dominique Laveau, a grad student at Tulane who is about to discover that her entire life has been a lie. Now Dominique must forge alliances with those out to kill her while seeking to uncover the truth behind the royal murders, as she is ultimately forced to deal with a destiny she could never have imagined. Voodoo Child is a new monthly series written by Selwyn Seyfu Hinds, former editor-in-chief of The Source magazine, award-winning author, journalist and TV producer, with art by Milestone Media co-founder Denys Cowan (THE QUESTION) and covers by Rafael Grampá.
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The Story
I saw that they were going to release this, and outside of the title, I've been avoiding all previews/news/what have you regarding this book. I wanted to go into it fresh. And I regret that.
I had to find interviews and more background stuff and only after that did I get how the story is supposed to go. So by that standard, the comic on its own has fallen short of explaining to the reader what is going on. All the text boxes are supposed to be a song. If you read the comic, now you know. And that's fine, but when the song is nothing but riddles and half the time I can't understand what is going on in the page, then making a riddle out of it doesn't help me too much to understand either.
Dominique is running from..well everything it seems. And she can say 'fuck' a lot. She is running from the weirdest stuff, to avoiding a cop/gang shoot out, to falling into some past montage in front of a grave.
Then we have priests, and wolves, and voodoo, and what have you craziness. Crazy hunter guys. Guys who look like a cross between a pirate, a western gunslinger, and covered in dark cloaks.
I'm just lost among it all. Nothing here really grabbed me. As far as I can tell, the story revolves around a girl running away from everything. And everyone around her dies in some fashion. Then insert random Voodoo-ness.
The Art
Considering how lost I felt with the story, i didn't know how to take the art. Did it match the story? Not really. I kinda liked this style. It has a sketchy kind of style that shows some roughness. Its OK by me.
What isn't ok, and I mean not at all, is having the artist but their signature on the panels that take up the whole page. Seriously, it seemed like every character pin up type of page had the artist stamp on it. Your name is on the cover, I don't need to see it multiple times in the story with that ridiculous stamp type of thing on the page. It takes me out of the story. I understand you are proud of your work , but you have to know that that is not welcome in the middle of a comic. Especially when I am trying to get into the comic.
The Cover
Including the pricing information, there are 5 type of font on this one cover. That throws any reader off. Hell, I could only see Voodoo Child at the top of the cover, it took me a little bit to see that there is a name above it. It honestly looked like it was part of the background.
Seeing how there is no credit for a cover artist, I'm inclined to think that the art for the cover was also done by the interior artist, but I can't really tell that because it looks like two different styles. The cover is much cleaner to the interior arts sketchy look.
Grades
Words: 2/10 - There has to be something there, I just can't follow along.
Pictures: 4/10 - Seriously, leave your stamp off the interiors.
Recommend: I don't know if I could. If anyone wants to read my copy to see if you like it, go ahead, it just might appeal to you. But if you find yourself put off about halfway through the book, just leave it.
Buy Next Issue: I'm not. I'm glad I gave it a try, but this will probably be the only issue I ever see.
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