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Voodoo (Wildstorm)
Encyclopedia
Voodoo is a comic book
character from the Wildstorm Universe
and has since been revived as part of the DC Universe
.
, published in 1997
and written by Alan Moore
.
written by Ron Marz
and drawn by Sami Basri as part of its September 2011 relaunch of its comics properties. Josh Williamson was announced as the new writer of the comic book, starting with Voodoo #5, because DC wanted to take the story in a different direction.
before being rescued by the WildC.A.T.s
from the Daemonite
s. Voodoo had a gift called the "Sight", allowing her to perceive if a person was possessed by a Daemonite, and being able to separate daemonites from the bodies they were possessing which made her very important to both the WildC.A.T.s and the Daemonites. Voodoo joined the WildC.A.T.S and revealed even greater powers, such as telepathy
and the ability to develop animal-like traits, such as sprouting claws from her fingertips. She was later trained by Zealot
in the martial arts of The Coda
and developed an attraction towards Spartan
.
Her Daemonite ancestry was not revealed until she entered into a coma after being shot. Void
entered in her mind through a computer, and it was revealed that one of her ancestors, a Kherubim
, was possessed by a Daemonite.
When the WildC.A.T.s travelled to Khera, homeplanet of the Kherubim
, Voodoo was separated from her friends because of her Daemonite heritage. She was relocated to a Daemonite ghetto
and discovered that the war between Khera and Daemonites had been over for centuries. More importantly she discovered that most Daemonites were not evil as she always was led to believe; the Daemonites on Earth were all highly fanatical soldiers, but on Khera the Daemonites were citizens. She managed to find the other WildC.A.T.s and confronted Zealot, who shamed her as being of an inferior race in front of the Coda sisterhood. Voodoo became disgusted with the Kherans and renounced Zealot, her former teacher. Despite this she then helped the WildC.A.Ts to stop an assassination attempt on Zealot and she too turned away from Khera. The WildC.A.T.s returned to Earth, but Voodoo couldn't forget Khera and Zealot's behaviour. Disappointed by her life as a superhero, she left the WildC.A.T.s.
Priscilla moved to New Orleans to return to exotic dancing. As she arrived, she met two men, Carry-4 and Attibon. Carry-4 took Voodoo to The Midnight Lounge, where the owner, Christian Charles, offered her a job as one of his dancers had disappeared. She became friends with Purity, another dancer. Needing a place to stay, Attibon took her to a hotel, the Royale, where she met Freeda, a former prostitute and Saturday, a former hitman. These three later revealed themselves as Erzulie
, Papa Legba
and Baron Samedi
.
Soon it became clear that Christian Charles had been murdering his dancers to bathe in their blood, an arcane ritual to resurrect his dead father, a dark magician. Christian had help from Carry-4 who was, in reality, Mait' Carrefour. Priscilla and lieutenant David Dove, the police officer investigating the murders, arrived in time to save Purity, but Christian had absorbed enough blood to summon his dead father. Priscilla faced him and channelled
Erzulie. Despite all their power, Christian and his father couldn't resist her dance and Priscilla lured him back to the Royale. Inside the Royale, Baron Samedi, Erzulie, and Papa Legba waited for Christian and his father, telling them that they disturbed the balance. The three pointed the Charles' towards a door where they faced Damballa
, causing the Royale to explode. The experience made Priscilla decide to learn more about voodoo magic and she became an apprentice to a mambo
.
Several months later, she briefly rejoined the WildC.A.Ts, but left again when the team disbanded following Zealot's apparent death. She moved in with Dr. Jeremy Stone
, but despite her attempts to get closer to him, he often locked himself up in his lab. Unknown to Priscilla, Jeremy had fallen in love with her and was developing a method to remove the Daemonite-genes from her. Voodoo had no direction to her life at this time, but a Daemonite, disguised as an elderly man followed her around.
Priscilla was given a credit card from the Halo Corporation
under the name Marlowe
. While tracking this credit card, Voodoo was attacked by a serial killer called Samuel Smith, who was trying to kill Jacob Marlowe
and all his relatives. It turned out that Jacob had defeated Smith's grandfather, a criminal with superhuman powers and now Samuel wanted revenge. He surprised her, and his powers seriously injured her, separating her legs from her body and injuring her throat. Spartan, now Jack Marlowe, and Grifter took down Smith later. Grifter also convinced Jeremy that his plan to heal Voodoo from her Daemonite-side might not be welcomed at all by Voodoo.
While she was treated in the hospital, she amazed the medical staff by quickly recovering from her throat injuries. She quickly grew annoyed by the medical staff until she noticed a Daemonite among them. Soon afterwards, the Daemonite confronted her. He told her that he was not an enemy, but a rare conscientious objector
among the Daemonite military and that she should see him as her grandfather. He instructed her in the proper use of her Daemonite powers of time-manipulation and regeneration and within several hours, Voodoo had regrown her legs. Before leaving, he also convinced Priscilla to start a relationship with Jeremy. This relationship has ended recently; an aspect of her telepathic powers is that they increase with physical intimacy, and Voodoo's willingness to be intimate with other men to use them was, despite his protests, not something with which Jeremy could cope. The break-up fight was ended when Priscilla intentionally angered him to the point that he grew in size. With the resulting loss of intellect that comes with his size growth, he forgot they were fighting, and she took the opportunity to leave. (as of Worldstorm #2)
When DC Comics
' character Captain Atom
was stranded in the Wildstorm reality, Voodoo and the other WildC.A.T.S were sent to capture him. Voodoo displayed magnetic abilities that allowed her to control the metal of his uniform, and even disrupt the flow of iron in his bloodstream. However, when she attempted to use her telepathy
to probe his mind, he connected her brain to all of the information in the world, which overloaded her mind and rendered her unconscious.
that it had been "years since [they] were superheroes together," it was clear that their former passion was not dimmed, and they ended up in bed together. She now appears to be an employee of the Halo Corporation
once more, with Hadrian offering to triple her current wages.
animated cartoon, Voodoo was portrayed as a somewhat naìve teenager, rather than an exotic dancer. She was voiced by Canadian actress Ruth Marshall
.
human-Kherubim hybrid with Daemonite ancestry and possesses "the Sight," the ability to see Daemonites who have possessed humans. Along with this, she can use her powers to separate Daemonites from their hosts and has shown the ability to do this to other organisms that have been bonded. She can read and manipulate the thoughts and emotions of others, and even shut off people's minds. Her powers increase proportionate to physical intimacy, enabling her greater ability to psychically manipulate and read others. Early on, she was able to shapeshift
into a humanoid wolf-like state, complete with fur and claws, and in this state her personality became savage and feral. Later this power was changed so that she shifted into a Daemonite form. An elderly Daemonite appeared to her and taught her the use of her hidden powers of regeneration and time-manipulation. Zealot
has trained her in the martial arts of The Coda
. She was also mentored in the use of Voodoo magic by a High Voodoo Priestess.
Recently, Voodoo has displayed the power to control magnetic fields, and can move and manipulate ferrous metals with her mind. She can control the trace amounts of iron in a person's bloodstream.
:
All the first issues of the "New 52" were collected in one hardcover volume:
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
character from the Wildstorm Universe
Wildstorm Universe
The Wildstorm Universe is a fictional shared universe where the comic books published by Wildstorm take place. It represents an alternate history of the real world where ideas such as interstellar travel and superhuman abilities are commonplace...
and has since been revived as part of the DC Universe
DC Universe
The DC Universe is the shared universe where most of the comic stories published by DC Comics take place. The fictional characters Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are well-known superheroes from this universe. Note that in context, "DC Universe" is usually used to refer to the main DC continuity...
.
Wildstorm
The first Voodoo series was a four-issue limited seriesLimited series
A limited series is a comic book series with a set number of installments. A limited series differs from an ongoing series in that the number of issues is determined before production and it differs from a one shot in that it is composed of multiple issues....
, published in 1997
1997 in comics
-January:*Avengers #3 - Marvel Comics*Captain America #3 - Marvel Comics*Fantastic Four #3 - Marvel Comics*Iron Man #3 - Marvel Comics-February:...
and written by Alan Moore
Alan Moore
Alan Oswald Moore is an English writer primarily known for his work in comic books, a medium where he has produced a number of critically acclaimed and popular series, including Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and From Hell...
.
DC Comics
In June 2011, DC Comics announced that the character would be incorporated into the main DC Universe in a ongoing seriesOngoing series
The term "ongoing series" is used in contrast to limited series , a one shot , a graphic novel, or a trade paperback...
written by Ron Marz
Ron Marz
Ron Marz is an American comic book writer, known for his work on titles such as Silver Surfer, Green Lantern, Marvel vs DC, Batman/Aliens and Witchblade.-Career:...
and drawn by Sami Basri as part of its September 2011 relaunch of its comics properties. Josh Williamson was announced as the new writer of the comic book, starting with Voodoo #5, because DC wanted to take the story in a different direction.
Fictional character biography
Priscilla Kitaen was an exotic dancerExotic dancer
The terms exotic dancer and exotic dance can have different meanings in different parts of the world and depending on context. In the erotic sense, "exotic dance" is a often used to refer to practitioners of striptease...
before being rescued by the WildC.A.T.s
Wildcats (comics)
Wildcats, sometimes rendered WildCats or WildC.A.T.s, is a fictional superhero team created by the American comic book artist Jim Lee and writer Brandon Choi.-Publication history:...
from the Daemonite
Daemonite
The Daemonites are a fictional alien race in the . They were created by Jim Lee and first appeared in WildC.A.T.s. #1 .-Biology:Daemonites are reptilian aliens from the planet Daemon, who are capable of possessing host bodies...
s. Voodoo had a gift called the "Sight", allowing her to perceive if a person was possessed by a Daemonite, and being able to separate daemonites from the bodies they were possessing which made her very important to both the WildC.A.T.s and the Daemonites. Voodoo joined the WildC.A.T.S and revealed even greater powers, such as telepathy
Telepathy
Telepathy , is the induction of mental states from one mind to another. The term was coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Fredric W. H. Myers, a founder of the Society for Psychical Research, and has remained more popular than the more-correct expression thought-transference...
and the ability to develop animal-like traits, such as sprouting claws from her fingertips. She was later trained by Zealot
Zealot (Wildstorm)
Zealot is a comic book character from DC Comics/Wildstorm.Artist Mike Deodato loves the character of Zealot so much that when he took over as artist of the comic book Wonder Woman he used Zealot's physical appearance as a template for the then new character Artemis of...
in the martial arts of The Coda
Coda (Wildstorm)
The Coda is a group of fictional female warriors in Wildstorm comics. The Coda first appeared in WildC.A.T.S. volume 1 #1 and were created by Brandon Choi and Jim Lee.-Fictional background:...
and developed an attraction towards Spartan
Spartan (comics)
Spartan is a fictional character in the American comic Wildstorm universe and one of the central characters and current leader of Jim Lee's superhero team WildC.A.T.s.-Yohn Kohl:...
.
Her Daemonite ancestry was not revealed until she entered into a coma after being shot. Void
Void (comics)
Void is a fictional character in the Wildstorm Universe.-Fictional character biography:Adrianna was born in Arkhangelsk, Russia. Adrianna and her sister Svetlana were raised by their father after the death of their mother. Her father loved Adrianna and her ambition to become a cosmonaut and...
entered in her mind through a computer, and it was revealed that one of her ancestors, a Kherubim
Kherubim
The Kherubim or Kherans are an alien race in the fictional Wildstorm Universe. They were created by Jim Lee and first appeared in WildC.A.Ts #1 .-Biology:...
, was possessed by a Daemonite.
When the WildC.A.T.s travelled to Khera, homeplanet of the Kherubim
Kherubim
The Kherubim or Kherans are an alien race in the fictional Wildstorm Universe. They were created by Jim Lee and first appeared in WildC.A.Ts #1 .-Biology:...
, Voodoo was separated from her friends because of her Daemonite heritage. She was relocated to a Daemonite ghetto
Ghetto
A ghetto is a section of a city predominantly occupied by a group who live there, especially because of social, economic, or legal issues.The term was originally used in Venice to describe the area where Jews were compelled to live. The term now refers to an overcrowded urban area often associated...
and discovered that the war between Khera and Daemonites had been over for centuries. More importantly she discovered that most Daemonites were not evil as she always was led to believe; the Daemonites on Earth were all highly fanatical soldiers, but on Khera the Daemonites were citizens. She managed to find the other WildC.A.T.s and confronted Zealot, who shamed her as being of an inferior race in front of the Coda sisterhood. Voodoo became disgusted with the Kherans and renounced Zealot, her former teacher. Despite this she then helped the WildC.A.Ts to stop an assassination attempt on Zealot and she too turned away from Khera. The WildC.A.T.s returned to Earth, but Voodoo couldn't forget Khera and Zealot's behaviour. Disappointed by her life as a superhero, she left the WildC.A.T.s.
Priscilla moved to New Orleans to return to exotic dancing. As she arrived, she met two men, Carry-4 and Attibon. Carry-4 took Voodoo to The Midnight Lounge, where the owner, Christian Charles, offered her a job as one of his dancers had disappeared. She became friends with Purity, another dancer. Needing a place to stay, Attibon took her to a hotel, the Royale, where she met Freeda, a former prostitute and Saturday, a former hitman. These three later revealed themselves as Erzulie
Erzulie
In Haitian Vodou or Vodou, Erzulie is a family of lwa, or spirits.-Maîtresse Mambo Erzulie Fréda Dahomey:Erzulie Fréda Dahomey, the Rada aspect of Erzulie, is the spirit of love, beauty, jewelry, dancing, luxury, and flowers. Gay men are considered to be under her particular patronage...
, Papa Legba
Papa Legba
In Haitian Vodou, Papa Legba is the intermediary between the loa and humanity. He stands at a spiritual crossroads and gives permission to speak with the spirits of Guinee, and is believed to speak all human languages...
and Baron Samedi
Baron Samedi
Baron Samedi is one of the Loa of Haitian Voodoo. Samedi is a Loa of the dead, along with Baron's numerous other incarnations Baron Cimetière, Baron La Croix, and Baron Kriminel. He is the head of the Guédé family of Loa, or an aspect of them, or possibly their spiritual father...
.
Soon it became clear that Christian Charles had been murdering his dancers to bathe in their blood, an arcane ritual to resurrect his dead father, a dark magician. Christian had help from Carry-4 who was, in reality, Mait' Carrefour. Priscilla and lieutenant David Dove, the police officer investigating the murders, arrived in time to save Purity, but Christian had absorbed enough blood to summon his dead father. Priscilla faced him and channelled
Channelling (mediumistic)
In spirituality, channelling or channeling is the belief that communication of information occurs by or through a person , from a deity, spirit or other paranormal entity outside the mind of the channel...
Erzulie. Despite all their power, Christian and his father couldn't resist her dance and Priscilla lured him back to the Royale. Inside the Royale, Baron Samedi, Erzulie, and Papa Legba waited for Christian and his father, telling them that they disturbed the balance. The three pointed the Charles' towards a door where they faced Damballa
Damballa
In Vodou, Damballah is one of the most important of all the loa . Damballah is the Sky God and considered the primordial creator of all life. The veve of Damballah comprises two serpents prominent among other emblems.-Family:...
, causing the Royale to explode. The experience made Priscilla decide to learn more about voodoo magic and she became an apprentice to a mambo
Mambo (voodoo)
Mambo is the term for a female High Priest in the Vodou religion in Haiti. They are the highest form of clergy in the religion, whose responsibility it is to preserve the rituals and songs and maintain the relationship between the spirits and the community as a whole...
.
Several months later, she briefly rejoined the WildC.A.Ts, but left again when the team disbanded following Zealot's apparent death. She moved in with Dr. Jeremy Stone
Maul (Wildstorm)
Maul is a comic book character from DC Comics/Wildstorm. Maul is a half human, half titanthrope , biochemist from Earth. Maul experiences powerful rage and is actually a Nobel-prized scientist named Dr. Jeremy Stone.-History:...
, but despite her attempts to get closer to him, he often locked himself up in his lab. Unknown to Priscilla, Jeremy had fallen in love with her and was developing a method to remove the Daemonite-genes from her. Voodoo had no direction to her life at this time, but a Daemonite, disguised as an elderly man followed her around.
Priscilla was given a credit card from the Halo Corporation
Halo Corporation
The Halo Corporation is a fictional company appearing in Wildstorm comics. It first appeared in WildC.A.T.S. volume 1 #1 and was created by Brandon Choi and Jim Lee and played an important role in Wildcats volume 2 and 3.-History:...
under the name Marlowe
Spartan (comics)
Spartan is a fictional character in the American comic Wildstorm universe and one of the central characters and current leader of Jim Lee's superhero team WildC.A.T.s.-Yohn Kohl:...
. While tracking this credit card, Voodoo was attacked by a serial killer called Samuel Smith, who was trying to kill Jacob Marlowe
Lord Emp
Lord Emp is a comic book character from DC Comics/Wildstorm.-History:Like the other Kherubim on Earth, Emp arrived on the planet when the Explorer ship he was travelling on crash-landed thousands of years ago, following an orbital battle with a Daemonite vessel...
and all his relatives. It turned out that Jacob had defeated Smith's grandfather, a criminal with superhuman powers and now Samuel wanted revenge. He surprised her, and his powers seriously injured her, separating her legs from her body and injuring her throat. Spartan, now Jack Marlowe, and Grifter took down Smith later. Grifter also convinced Jeremy that his plan to heal Voodoo from her Daemonite-side might not be welcomed at all by Voodoo.
While she was treated in the hospital, she amazed the medical staff by quickly recovering from her throat injuries. She quickly grew annoyed by the medical staff until she noticed a Daemonite among them. Soon afterwards, the Daemonite confronted her. He told her that he was not an enemy, but a rare conscientious objector
Conscientious objector
A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, and/or religion....
among the Daemonite military and that she should see him as her grandfather. He instructed her in the proper use of her Daemonite powers of time-manipulation and regeneration and within several hours, Voodoo had regrown her legs. Before leaving, he also convinced Priscilla to start a relationship with Jeremy. This relationship has ended recently; an aspect of her telepathic powers is that they increase with physical intimacy, and Voodoo's willingness to be intimate with other men to use them was, despite his protests, not something with which Jeremy could cope. The break-up fight was ended when Priscilla intentionally angered him to the point that he grew in size. With the resulting loss of intellect that comes with his size growth, he forgot they were fighting, and she took the opportunity to leave. (as of Worldstorm #2)
When DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
' character Captain Atom
Captain Atom
Captain Atom is a fictional comic book superhero that has existed in three basic incarnations. Created by writer Joe Gill and artist/co-writer Steve Ditko, he first appeared in Space Adventures #33 . Captain Atom was created for Charlton Comics but was later acquired by DC Comics and revised for...
was stranded in the Wildstorm reality, Voodoo and the other WildC.A.T.S were sent to capture him. Voodoo displayed magnetic abilities that allowed her to control the metal of his uniform, and even disrupt the flow of iron in his bloodstream. However, when she attempted to use her telepathy
Telepathy
Telepathy , is the induction of mental states from one mind to another. The term was coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Fredric W. H. Myers, a founder of the Society for Psychical Research, and has remained more popular than the more-correct expression thought-transference...
to probe his mind, he connected her brain to all of the information in the world, which overloaded her mind and rendered her unconscious.
WildC.A.T.s vol. 4
No longer a superhero, Priscilla Kitaen is, at the start of this series, once again an exotic dancer - now dancing for oil sheiks and billionaires. However, despite her telling HadrianSpartan (comics)
Spartan is a fictional character in the American comic Wildstorm universe and one of the central characters and current leader of Jim Lee's superhero team WildC.A.T.s.-Yohn Kohl:...
that it had been "years since [they] were superheroes together," it was clear that their former passion was not dimmed, and they ended up in bed together. She now appears to be an employee of the Halo Corporation
Halo Corporation
The Halo Corporation is a fictional company appearing in Wildstorm comics. It first appeared in WildC.A.T.S. volume 1 #1 and was created by Brandon Choi and Jim Lee and played an important role in Wildcats volume 2 and 3.-History:...
once more, with Hadrian offering to triple her current wages.
Ongoing series
In her DC Universe iteration, Priscilla Kitaen is fully aware of her Daemonite heritage, apparently acting as a spy, with her shapeshifting abilities and limited telepathy used as tools to infiltrate humans and earn intelligence about metahumans and other possible threats. Her Voodoo identity is similarly a ruse, as Priscilla believes her role as a beloved exotic dancer could help her into getting in contact with more people, thus increasing the odds of getting useful informationsTV series
In the short-lived WildC.A.T.sWildC.A.T.s (TV series)
WildC.A.T.s is a half-hour animated television series based on the comics series of the same name. WildC.A.T.s is about the universal war between two prehistoric alien races. One of the races is the heroic Kherubim while the other is the evil Daemonites.-Production and series run:The WildC.A.T.s...
animated cartoon, Voodoo was portrayed as a somewhat naìve teenager, rather than an exotic dancer. She was voiced by Canadian actress Ruth Marshall
Ruth Marshall
Ruth Marshall is a Canadian actress from Toronto, Ontario. She is best known for her role in the hit television series Flashpoint. She graduated with a degree in English from McGill University in Montreal, Quebec and then returned to Toronto to pursue a career in acting.She has appeared the...
.
Powers and abilities
Voodoo is a telepathicTelepathy
Telepathy , is the induction of mental states from one mind to another. The term was coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Fredric W. H. Myers, a founder of the Society for Psychical Research, and has remained more popular than the more-correct expression thought-transference...
human-Kherubim hybrid with Daemonite ancestry and possesses "the Sight," the ability to see Daemonites who have possessed humans. Along with this, she can use her powers to separate Daemonites from their hosts and has shown the ability to do this to other organisms that have been bonded. She can read and manipulate the thoughts and emotions of others, and even shut off people's minds. Her powers increase proportionate to physical intimacy, enabling her greater ability to psychically manipulate and read others. Early on, she was able to shapeshift
Shapeshifting
Shapeshifting is a common theme in mythology, folklore, and fairy tales. It is also found in epic poems, science fiction literature, fantasy literature, children's literature, Shakespearean comedy, ballet, film, television, comics, and video games...
into a humanoid wolf-like state, complete with fur and claws, and in this state her personality became savage and feral. Later this power was changed so that she shifted into a Daemonite form. An elderly Daemonite appeared to her and taught her the use of her hidden powers of regeneration and time-manipulation. Zealot
Zealot (Wildstorm)
Zealot is a comic book character from DC Comics/Wildstorm.Artist Mike Deodato loves the character of Zealot so much that when he took over as artist of the comic book Wonder Woman he used Zealot's physical appearance as a template for the then new character Artemis of...
has trained her in the martial arts of The Coda
Coda (Wildstorm)
The Coda is a group of fictional female warriors in Wildstorm comics. The Coda first appeared in WildC.A.T.S. volume 1 #1 and were created by Brandon Choi and Jim Lee.-Fictional background:...
. She was also mentored in the use of Voodoo magic by a High Voodoo Priestess.
Recently, Voodoo has displayed the power to control magnetic fields, and can move and manipulate ferrous metals with her mind. She can control the trace amounts of iron in a person's bloodstream.
Collected editions
The first series has been collected in a number of trade paperbacksTrade paperback (comics)
In comics, a trade paperback is a collection of stories originally published in comic books, reprinted in book format, usually capturing one story arc from a single title or a series of stories with a connected story arc or common theme from one or more titles...
:
- Voodoo: Dancing in the Dark (104 pages, DC Comics, December 1998, ISBN 1563895331)
- Alan Moore: Wild Worlds (320 pages, DC Comics, August 2007, ISBN 1401213790, Titan BooksTitan BooksTitan Publishing Group is an independently owned publishing company, established in 1981. It is based at offices in London, England's Bankside area. The Books Division has two main areas of publishing: film & TV tie-ins/cinema reference books; and graphic novels and comics reference/art titles. The...
, July 2007, ISBN 1845765591)
All the first issues of the "New 52" were collected in one hardcover volume:
- DC Comics: The New 52 (1216 pages, hardcover, DC Comics, December 2011, ISBN 1401234518)