Doctor Voodoo: Avenger of the Supernatural #4
Mar 2010
Just as Omega Flight was turned into a 5-issue mini within moments of being announced as an ongoing, this excellent series shared the same shameful fate. Shameful on whoever made those decisions, not on the creative team, who deserve praise for putting together an enjoyable, visually stunning and well-rounded series. In this introductory story arc for the new Sorcerer Supreme, Talisman appears very tiny in a brief cameo in one panel.
When the search was on to replace Strange as the new Sorcerer Supreme, it was very disappointing that Talisman wasn’t even in the running. The candidates involved were all incredibly strong users of magic and Elizabeth ought to have been included, as depicted on the cover of New Avengers #51 where the field was originally shown. Apparently, other factors than ability, skill, talent, raw power and innate relationship to magic were in play.
In this series, Doctor Voodoo battles Nightmare, the ruler of a dream-based dimension, who recruits magically-themed heroes, villains and others to battle against the new Sorcerer Supreme and Doctor Doom. Talisman is one of these, and she can be see in one panel as a member of Nightmare’s green-eyed dark army, just above Ghost Rider, flying boobs-first into battle. She’s just a few splotches of color, so small that it was generally overlooked until issue #5 came out and a more substantial illustration of her in her Omega Flight costume confirmed her presence in the dream battle. Note that this is an un-real appearance in Nightmare’s conjured world, and not in continuity.
For many fans who knew Brother Voodoo as a Fred Hembeck joke character, his choice to be the new Sorcerer Supreme was shocking, and many fans could not believe this series could undo that deep-seated impression. Congratulations to Rick Remender and artists Jefte Palo, Alessandro Viti and Jean-Francois Beaulieu for pulling it off!
I still don’t understand how her costume stays on.
Tags: Talisman
Alpha Flight Collector 
March 28, 2010 at 2:31 pm |
While I certainly can get behind a finger-wagging at Marvel for launching ongoings with B-list-and-below leads with little advertising and leaving them to fend for themselves in an oversaturated market with an increasingly jaded readership, I can’t really blame them for pulling the plug on a series like this or S.W.O.R.D. Dr. Voodo #1 sold 23K in the direct market and those numbers had dropped by half by issue #4. Those aren’t acceptable numbers for an ongoing at the Big Two.
March 28, 2010 at 7:28 pm |
They should have continued the series anyway. It was good.
March 28, 2010 at 8:44 pm |
Be that as it may, I can’t imagine what Marvel was thinking when they launched it. Most readers were not anywhere near in love with the idea of a relatively obscure character being the one to take up Strange’s mantle. Launching an ongoing before the customers were convinced that they should even like the newcomer, let alone support him in a solo series, seems like this book was set up to fail.