As the issue begins, we come upon Brother Voodoo, or rather, Ben surprises Brother Voodoo. Or is that the other way around?
The supernatural hero doesn't say anything. What he does is enough for us to get a quick introduction to his powers.
After the silent demonstration we get a more conventional introduction.
The Black Panther, whom we saw in the crushing grip of a zombie vampire in the previous issue, finds himself in chains - part of a group of hostages. All these other hostages are prominent members of the black community. The rash of kidnappings has Brother Voodoo coming out to investigate. Ben goes with him to a manor where a kidnapping has happened.
Ah, look at that, it's a pet peeve of mine. The Thing is drawn even smaller than Brother Voodoo. Tsk, tsk.
Here's another Brother Voodoo power - teleportation.
Brother Voodoo is starting to come across as a master of the art of confusion. In the panel above he refers to 'good magic', when he first met the Thing it was a reference to 'darkling magic'. He also called Ben's attention to his Voodoo powers but once they were in, ahem, polite company, Brother Voodoo introduces himself as a psychologist.
Here's a little tidbit, Brother Voodoo, although not an out-and-out zombie, has also died and come back to life. So many possibilities with this character - they should have at least tried him out in a limited series.
As a plane containing Dr. Obatu and the vampire take off, it's Ben's turn to show Brother Voodoo a 'magic trick'.
Before Ben could throw it, Brother Voodoo implores him to stop, reasoning, correctly, that the hostages might also be on the plane. Ah, the things you can do with class 90 strength.
At this point, the story takes a bit of a historical turn as Dr. Obatu lands in Africa.
Idi Amin Dada was an infamous Ugandan dictator. In the panel above Dr. Obatu is talking to a witch doctor, W'Sulli. It is W'Sulli who is the true master of the zombie vampire.
Still in flashback mode we hear about Dr. Obatu.
Once an economic minister under Idi Amin he was sentenced for execution but escaped. After weeks of barely surviving in the jungle the doctor stumbled into W'Sulli and his vampire and convinced the former of the caper he is now in the middle of.
The Panther is warned against any shenanigans.
That was then. These days the Black Panther wears a bulletproof uniform.
As readers of this website know, I love well done location panels. Like this one of an Ugandan government building.
In exchange for pardon. Obatu has made a bargain with Idi Amin.
Ben and Brother Voodoo are on a plane arriving in Uganda. Amin orders missiles to be launched and the plane is hit. Implausibly it doesn't explode and then something equally ridiculous happens.
It isn't even a strength issue really. There is just no way to reach out of a falling plane and hold its wings together by hand. The windshear simply can't be counteracted that way.
More weird Voodoo powers: Here Brother Voodoo sends the spirit of his brother to take control of the Thing.
Brother Voodoo and Ben are in the middle of a hostage situation and Ben had to be made to act really fast, no time for explanations. The result is that the heretofore imprisoned Black Panther gets to join the fray in style.
The vampire zombie, regaining his freedom, turns on on his former master W'Sulli. The Thing comes in to prevent a murder.
At which point the vampire, wisely, turns into a bat and flees - but not before causing Dr. Obatu to fall to his death from a nearby balcony.
With that, the kidnap victims are flown back to the U.S. and we end our Ugandan adventure.
