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Complete Voodoo, The: Volume One
Released by: IDW Publishing/Yoe Books
Released on: December 7th, 2015.
Written by: Various
Illustrated by: Various
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Voodoo began its life in May of 1952 when the first issue of publisher Robert Farrell's horror series hit newsstands around America, hoping to get in on some of that success that E.C. Comics was experiencing with their now infamous line of horror and suspense titles. Now, IDW Publishing and Yoe Books bring the series back to life in the first volume of The Complete Voodoo, reprinting in full color the first six issues of this pre-code horror classic!
Voodoo #1 - May 1952:
The Shelf Of Skulls (with artwork from Matt Baker) - It starts on a dark, dismal night in lower Manhattan! A guy named Don talks his dame, Celia, into cashing in on Trent's will (which is left to her). Trent's a skull collector so when they make it look like suicide, no one will be suspicious at all… for some reason. That night, Trent shows Celia his collection and then tells her the story of Olane, the beautiful female ruler of The Banishing Islands! It has to do with shrunken heads and primitive natives and cheetahs - but what of the murder scheme?
The Golden Ghouls (with artwork by Robert Webb) - A female reporter named Lucky Wings. She's in hot water with her editor - he doesn't like women journalists and he won't let her do anything except write obituaries. But Lucky, she's ambitious and when she learns that there are fifteen funerals scheduled but only four recent deaths, she decides to investigate on her own and hires a swami named Ali to help get her into the funeral home by putting her into a death like trance. Lucky gets buried alive - will she make it out of her grave in time to bust the story wide open? With legs like that, will her editor even care?
The Werewolf (artist unknown) - Here we learn the horrifying tale of Chuck Ayres and his lovely assistant Vicki as they head back to the city after a weekend in the country. The skies are dark and legend has it that there are werewolves in the area. But if Vicki is afraid, Chuck is a man's man, the brave sort who pays no mind to local folklore. But when they make a wrong turn and wind up in Walpurgis Hollow and wind up stranded on the way, of course those local legends turn out to be more than just folk stories.
The Haunted One (artist unknown) - A young woman named Ellen awakes in the night, fearful that her uncle's ghost is up to no good. She calls her family's lawyer, Mr. Shrigg, who promises to get Doctor Trimm on the case post haste! It seems that Shrigg is up to something, trying to scare Ellen off so that he can get his hands on the three million dollar estate, but is her uncle's ghost real… or just a ploy from a crooked lawyer?
Voodoo #2 - July 1952:
Zombie Bride (artist unknown) - Joe Farnsworth and his new bride Lily are on a honeymoon in Haiti when a strange man follows them. Big Joe shoos the guy away and then they head off to explore the jungle. Little do they know that the guy Joe upset is a zombie master and that he's got eyes for lovely Lily!
The Antilla Terror (artist unknown) - A jungle woman named Kolah and her panther friend Saber face off against a horrible menace - half animal/half human women that are kidnapping men and forcing them into slavery! But before she can save the day she has to fight a giant snake.
Idol Of Death (artist unknown) - A sculptress named Donna is a master of her trade and when we meet her, she's preparing for a huge gallery exhibition of her work. When her work goes unappreciated she decides to go live amongst primitive people and off she goes to the jungle where her artwork will get the acclaim it deserves from a tribe of idol worshipping savages!
Horror In The Hills (with artwork by Matt Baker) - When a museum curator named Mike decides to have Reverend Dawson wed he and his wife in the very place he works, things get bad quickly as the good Reverend faints at the sight of a prehistoric man. Mike then decides to tell the party about how they found this specimen during a strange journey into the heart of the primitive jungle.
Voodoo #3 - September 1952:
The Game Called Dying (with artwork by the Iger Shop): A rogue named Joe Yanner hates the Dutchman he works with and schemes to steal his woman and his diamonds! He aims to make things right for himself and to take the guy out of the picture for good but of course his plot goes awry and he winds up coming face to face with a flying severed hand!
Plantation Of Fear (with artwork by the Iger Shop): A plant man named Oliver Claxton always laughed at the stories of the Mandrake Root, how it would scream when uprooted or bleed poison when picked… until he came face to face with the mysterious plant himself when he learned why his ancestral home was called… Mandrake Manor! This might be the greatest comic book story about a killer root ever created.
Congo Terror (with artwork by the Iger Shop): Jerry Worth gets a job offer from Mr. Snyde who wants to charter his plane for a flight into the dangerous interior of the jungle. He takes the job and soon enough they're flying out with a woman named Sybil Parks along for the ride. The flight gets dangerous when all parties involved reveal their true selves.
There's Peril In Perfection (with artwork by the Iger Shop): A professional beauty contest judge named Jerry Poston is having trouble finding the perfect girl, he sees flaws in all of them. As it turns out, he's got the perfect woman waiting for him all alone back at his house… Cynara! No one will ever suspect she's a robot.
Voodoo #4 November 1952:
Drums Of Doom (with artwork by Matt Baker): Pierre Lafton is not a man to be trifled with! When he learns that a man named Moltane can make drums that will give people eternal life he busts into action to find out the truth. He decides he has to have one of these drums, but at what cost? And what of the she-devil Adlana?
The Crawling Horror (artist unknown) - A dude named Tom convinces the museum director he works for to let him try and decipher the strange code found on an ancient Mayan stone. It turns out this is another Rosetta Stone and before you know it the director takes his team to Mexico to try and cash in on all of this. Too bad they didn't count on coming face to face with a big ass snake!
Thief Of Souls (artist unknown) - In ancient times we learn of a wealthy king unhappy with his massive stash of riches and greedy enough to want more and more and more! Wulf, the court jester, brings in a magician named Merlo to help. The magician agrees to visit the king, but of course, there will be a price to pay.
Beasts Of The Bog (artist unknown) - Travel back to the Ireland of 1921 to meet Captain Anthony Denter and his bride Pamela. Pamela is upset that the locals hate them, but they don't have to worry about the city folk when Denter is assigned to bog country, an area that was once under the control of his own great grandfather and an area populated by bog people!
Voodoo #5 January 1953:
Corpses Of The Jury (with artwork by the Iger Shop) - A Nazi colonel named Karl Bucher sends many to the gas chambers but saves a beautiful blonde - but when she slaps him, she has the skin pulled off of her hands and turned into a pair of gloves for Bucher! She's then tossed into a corpse pit and left for dead but before she passes, she swears she will have her revenge!
Death Light (with artwork by the Iger Shop) - A small group of men land on a tiny island in the ocean where they're to keep watch over an important but isolated lighthouse. It turns out there are stories about this place, and that some of the ships that seem to appear in the night are not ships at all but ghostly forces that make people disappear and scream. Or is it that they're all just going mad?
Ghoul For A Day (with artwork by the Iger Shop) - All Cynthia Morris wanted was what any woman would want - a husband, some kids, a nice house… and love! When a funeral parlor owner named Rodger Baxter came along, she was happy to marry him without really knowing much about him. She was getting a bit desperate and not getting any younger. When she learns that he's an undertaker, she flips out and decides this isn't what she wants at all - but it's too late and soon enough she becomes his assistant, a woman learned in the ways of death!
The Spiteful Spirit (with artwork by the Iger Shop) - Rose Talon is the paid companion to the wheelchair bound but extremely wealthy Mrs. Maury Corinth but soon enough she's companion to her husband as well, wink wink, nudge nudge. When she tries to talk Maury into offing his old lady, he begrudgingly agrees so that he can be with Rose, problem free. They never expected her to come back from the grave…
Voodoo #6 February 1953:
The Weird Dead (with artwork by the Iger Shop) - Matt Barston was a greedy man who would do anything for gold, including breaking into a forbidden Aztec temple in search of ancient riches. The ignore the warning scrawled onto the door of the tomb and awaken an ancient evil, much to the delight of the equally unscrupulous Ben!
Ghoul's Bride (with artwork by the Iger Shop) - A beautiful woman named Rita is set to be executed for murder. When death himself arrives in her cell and asks her to join him, she obliges, ingests the potion he hands her and is then escorted to the gallows. The rope snapes and she dies… or does she?
Killer Lady (with artwork by the Iger Shop) - A reporter named Mackay is asked by his boss to interview Princess Oona. He agrees to the job and while other reporters have tried this before and failed, Mackay knows his lovely blonde locks will win the woman over! And they do, but will his good looks save him from evil incarnate?
The Black Future (artist unknown) - Lila Simmons wants to know what the future holds for her and so she decides to use the occult powers of 'The Black Book' to give her a glimpse into what lies in store for her. She does everything by the book, just as she should, but she never figured that it would lead to both love… and very deep trouble.
Lots of twist endings here, some moderate gore, plenty of gruesome panels and even some top notch classic fifties era good girl art from Matt Baker? What's not to love. Sure, some of the stories were recycled from earlier efforts from the same publisher and not everything fits into the 'voodoo' theme at all, but there's a lot of fun reading to be had here for anyone with an interesting in old pre-code horror books. On top of that, Mike Howlett, the man behind The Weird World Of Eerie Publications, contributes a great introduction that provides some welcome background information on Farrell, his contributions to the comic book industry of the time, and some interesting stories about The Iger Shop's work here and in other, similar comics. Great stuff!
