Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Brother Voodoo: Sorcerer Supreme


Finally after a few months of speculation and a bit of fighting, the Marvel Universe has a new Sorcerer Supreme -- and it's who you least expected.

In the pages of New Avengers, Doctor Voodoo, formerly known under the title of Brother Voodoo, has been granted the Eye of Agamotto, the Cloak of Levitation and has replaced Doctor Strange as the Master of the Mystic Arts. From now on, when there's magical mumbo that needs to be resolved, the heroes of the Marvel Universe will be knocking at his door instead.

You may be asking yourself-- "What the Hell is going on here?"

I'll admit, my previous exposure to the character has been extremely limited and the character of Brother Voodoo himself has been regarded as something of a joke. I mean, when you've got a universe full of mutants, gods, aliens and superheroes, guys like Voodoo get regulated to the background pretty quickly. However, if there's one thing I've learned about New Avengers writer Brian Michael Bendis, it's that he loves to give older, more obscure characters the spotlight.

Before Bendis took over the Marvel Universe, I could have cared less for characters like Luke Cage, Spider-Woman or Mockingbird. These were characters who were big in the 70s and 80s but lost their way when the 90s hit and never seemed to recover (or in the case of Mockingbird, were flat-out killed off!) Under Bendis' hand, these characters not only regained prominence, they became cool again.

And, let's face it, Marvel has been all about the big shakeups lately. From Civil War to Dark Reign, the world that these comics incompass has been changed and shaped and it has made for some very interesting tales. The status quo gets boring fast and giving our heroes new obstacles and agendas to work with has helped to keep things fresh.

I'm not clarevoyant, so I can't be sure if this Doctor Voodoo, Sorerer Supreme thing is ever going to pan out. But I can be sure that no matter what happens, it will make for some interesting and frankly entertaining reading. Bendis continues to keep us on our toes and prove that as long as the universe is under his hand, literally anything can happen.

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