DRUMS #1 (Cover Date: May 2011)
Story by: El Torres
Art by: Abe Hernando & Kwaichang Kraneo
Cover by: Raul Allen
Publisher: Image Comics
Cover Price: $2.99
Book Summery: In our world there exists an ancient religion with many names and many disguises: Candomble, Palo Mayombe, Santeria… Voodoo.
FBI agent Martin Irons is sent to investigate the sudden deaths of an entire gathering of followers at a ceremony, an assignment horrible enough before one of the mangled corpses rises and leads him on a sinister path. A new horror story with possesions, santeros, zombies… all set to the thunderous boom of drums!
“Let The Bataa Speak”
spoiler warning
A good voodoo story is unfortunately few and far between. Since the seventies where it appeared this genre was at its height, I remember a particularly great arc in Vertigo’s Preacher years ago and the Papa Midnight mini series, also from Vertigo that spun out of Hellblazer a few years later which was another good example of the genre. But in recent times, things haven’t fared so great for Voodoo stories. Marvel hit it in a big way a couple of years ago with the changing of the guard with Brother Voodoo but the story didn’t sit well with all fans. Then out of left field comes this little gem of a book from Image Comics that reignites the fires of fine voodoo storytelling once more.
Following the gruesome discovery of dozens of dead Latino bodies at a location littered with the type of paraphernalia indicative of voodoo and related religious practices, FBI agent Martin Irons and his partner Agent Poltz are plunged in a mystery that neither of them was prepared for. Irons follows some of the bodies to one of three coroner’s offices where the bodies are discovered to have died from fast acting toxins. After having a supernatural experience with one of the bodies, Irons enters a world where his wits and his sanity are going to be severely tested.
This is a wide encompassing tale that is going to take in many aspects of religions that get largely bad publicity, but Torres does a good job of mixing elements of said religions and great story beats to form a cool first chapter.
Artists Abe Hernando and Kwaichang Kraneo produce some amazingly moody and dark visuals in all the right places. There is a double page spread where we see the discovery of the bodies that just makes you shudder with its grimness. And without giving anything away there are plenty of excellent visuals particularly the final image that sets up nicely a beat of what comes next.
Drums will hit store shelves on the 18th of May and it is well worth checking out. It brings something fresh to a genre that some are unsure of what to make of. It is made even more accessible to readers through a glossary of terms that explain the various religious words that litter the text, something that is missing from other books like this. Writer El Torres has obviously delved into history and thoroughly researched what promises to be a very satisfying read in the long run.
Story: 8/10
Art: 8/10
