Growing up a child of immigrants, the existence of evil spirits is something deeply embedded in both culture of my mother and my father. In the Filipino culture, the existence of evil spirits is as common as finding Filipinos who are Christians and most believe in both.  In the West Indian culture, there has always existed the Voodoo religion, which came over with some of the slaves, as it is was used to exorcise demons. Both cultures showed to me that although there’s good in the world, there is also evil.

That is why when I watched movies like the Exorcist and The Serpent and The Rainbow, these legends I heard from both side of my families, made those special effects real to me. As they were not fairy tales that were used to put us kids to sleep but actual warnings. As an adult now, and with all the skepticism in the world, I find my self-torn to believe these warnings from family and what I can actually prove. In Ashleigh Davenport’s VuDu Legends Volume 1, the reader is taken on a tour of the spiritual world of New Orleans.

In the opening pages, we meet Stephen, a man whose strong bond with an evil spirit, leads him to find a Damu, which is a person who has powers of healing and exorcism.  The reader gets to know this subculture, as there seems to be a few people who possess this power, Marie Laveau’s family being the most prominent. Stephen ends up finding them, Cassandra, KC and Momo, who definitely sense what is going on with him. By book’s end, Casandra ends up in a battle with the demon, ultimately winning, but a greater evil awaits them all.

Overall, an interesting take on the supernatural genre is explored with a new set of characters. The story by Davenport weaves the story well, introducing some very different concepts into the canon, absolutely making it better. The art by Michael Natividad brings together these otherworldly elements into breathtaking sequential art. Altogether, a great comic which will make you look at the supernatural genre in a wholly different way.

Story: Ashliegh Davenport Art: Michael Natividad
Story: 8.6 Art: 9.0 Overall: 9.0 Recommendation: Buy