Voodoo Child #1-6
Created by Nicolas and Wes Cage
Written by Mike Carey
Art by Dean Ruben Hyrapiet
Virgin Comics
Cover price: $2.99; Available now

Whenever I hear about a movie star with a comic book idea, a small part of my fanboy heart dies a little inside. It’s not that it is a bad idea, but rather it just looks like a good idea on paper.

Virgin Comics has basically made its name in the comic industry by allowing stars from the movie industry the chance to fulfill their inner geek dreams and create their own comic books. Some have turned out pretty well (Guy Ritchie’s The Game Hunter) and some haven’t (John Woo’s Seven Brothers). Virgin recently gave movie star Nicolas Cage and his son Wes a chance to come up with their comic character and what they came up with is Voodoo child.

Voodoo Child tells the story of Gabriel Moore, a child born out of the union of plantation owner Mason Moore and slave girl Celeste during the 1800s. When racist confederate Sebastian Bussard attacks Moore’s home one night, Gabriel is caught in the crossfire and is seemingly killed. In reality, he is placed in limbo by a voodoo priest and stays there until he is summoned back to the land of the living. He returns to our world in 2005 in the middle of New Orleans with strange new powers and lands right in the middle of a gang war.

When I first got these books, I really wanted to not like it. Maybe it was the comic book fan in me but after seeing Nic Cage in Ghost Rider, I made an assumption that if his taste in movie scripts were along the lines of his comic book ideas, I would be in for some big trouble. I am glad that I did not jump the gun and gave Voodoo Child a chance. The book is a decent read, thanks to the writing talents of Mike Carey.

Carey does the script for all six of these issues and really swings for the fences for each book. Each book is filled with great dialogue and excellent storytelling. Whether it is Gabriel journey to avenge his father’s death or the subplot involving two detectives and a string of kidnappings, Carey gives you the impression that he is building toward something bigger.

Carey has written his fair share of magical characters from John Constantine to Lucifer, so he should feel right at home with Gabriel, whose powers are reminiscent of The Darkness, but I think his work excels when focused on the two detectives, who are dating. Their banter alone makes the book entertaining and makes me think that Carey would write a decent romance/detective comic a la Moonlighting (Look it up, folks. It was a pretty awesome show.).

The only major issue I have with the series is how predictable it gets toward the end. At the end of issue five, one of the characters in the story has a secret revealed about them that is suppose to shock the readers but in reality it is not really shocking at all. I have seen it done in so many comic book and movies alike that it comes off a bit cliché. I would expect Carey to come up with something that wasn’t so on the nose but it is really a minor issue.

Along with great storytelling, the art was also satisfying. I am not familiar with Dean Ruben Hyrapiet‘s work but after reading this, I cannot wait to see his work elsewhere. It is eye-catching to say the least and Hyrapiet accomplishes what few artists can do in today’s comics: he can make his art look pretty without sacrificing visual storytelling. I would not be surprised at all if Marvel or DC decide to grab this guy up and place him in one of their horror books.

In the end, I think Virgin had to right idea to pair Carey off with the Cages. A storyline like this could really go either way in terms of tone but with Carey at the helm, the story really takes off. I am still hesitant whenever I see a movie star’s name under the credits of a comic book but as long as they team up with a great comic writer, the experience cannot be all bad.