Broken Frontier

Ron Marz and Sami Basri bring a much-forgotten WildStorm character to the forefront of DC's relaunch, and provide one of the sharpest defiers of the medium out of the New 52.

Her name is Voodoo… at least, that's what they'll tell you. She's the hottest stripper at the Voodoo Lounge, and she's worth your attention. She's also worth the attention of the military, since she just may be a covert alien agent ready to take out Earth's heroes. If you wonder why the new DC Universe has a general unease about aliens, Voodoo might just prove them right.

Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman: These are the heroes that you know that DC was bringing back. Resurrection Man, Animal Man, and the Blackhawks: These were concepts that DC was willing to bring back, but with major shifts in concept or tonality. Stormwatch, Voodoo, and Grifter: These are the wild cards, fittingly from WildStorm. Having never sincerely interacted with the DC Universe proper, and honestly off the table for a bit before, these characters and concepts are some of the most exciting. While Grifter is being recreated from the outset, and Stormwatch is mixing both worlds in its own book, Voodoo goes back to basics. Half-human, half-alien, stripper origin, the concept is there. Voodoo doesn't look to be joining up with the WildCATs any time soon (since they don't exist yet, apparently), but taking her own starring role, as long as enough readers can find it in their hearts to support this stripper with a heart of gold… or crazy alien-human blood.

Ron Marz is one of those writers that consistently puts out solid work, but most of it flies under the radar. He's been most prolific outside of DC, but his major claim to core comic book fame is writing the "Emerald Twilight" storyline that ousted Hal Jordan as Green Lantern and replaced him with Kyle Rayner. The writing in the book is strong, but many comparisons to Species will be made, unfairly or not. If the ending was a little different, this would come off as a good episode of The X-Files or Fringe. Sami Basri is a rising star in the comic book world, or at least in the eyes of those who see his work. Most recently, he's coming off of Power Girl; while it's hard to top of the work of Amanda Conner, he managed to bring his own style to the table, forgoing imitating for innovating. His work here is amazing, and there's no soft way to say it; he draws sexy women sexy. It's not just that the underwear she wears for most of the issue is well-designed (we've seen Star Sapphires and Starfires that wear less), probably lending Basri to awkward photo-references online, but forms, implied movements, even the aloof look in her eyes as if she's not really from this world (appropriately). Jessica Kholinne's colors only support the artwork; much like Voodoo herself, the book is predominantly browns and purples. If any problems can be found with Basri's work, it's the consistent half-open mouths and the fact one of the leads looks incredibly similar to his Power Girl, minus the outfit and chest.

Voodoo has a solid team and a solid first issue, and hopefully will become one of the strong books out of the DC lineup that doesn't feature spandex (or now, armored) superheroes. While DC's gotten flack for the portrayal of women in the New 52 (and on the outset, this book does feature about a dozen strippers with one as the core character), much like Voodoo, there's a lot beneath the cover that's worth a look.