I checked out Vibe, a webcomic, today with high hopes. I heard that its protagonist was voodoo priest and the art gave the loas a modern feel. I was disappointed to fins that despite the modern feel it was still a reduction and misappropriation of voodoo practices.
| As a comic it works. the characters have personality. the art is brilliant and gives the setting its own personality. The story clings to certain genre conventions but its still good. Here Alain Locke would remind us, "art for art-sake". |  | As a representation of voodoo, Haitian or otherwise it doesn't work. The protagonist calls himself by the primitivist term, "witch doctor", instead of a hougan or priest. The roles of the loas are reduced. It claims Ogun is the loa of magma but does not mention that he is also loa of the forge, war, and technology. It claims Agua (Agwe) is the loa of storks, but neglects that he is the loa of the sea, ships, and luck. The comic also makes no distinction between the rada or petro. I feel like Zora Neal Hurston would cringe. |
The lore and practice of voodoo has many aspects that take years to learn and are the subject of think textbooks. Its still a young comic. Let's see where it goes...
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