By Rocco Sansone Voodoo: It’s one of the biggest literary themes that has been used in every media to the last century. It’s been ingrained into our culture that it feels odd to see at least one thing containing voodoo. Enter “Punk Mambo†by Cullen Bunn with art by Adam Gorham and the first issue is decent at best.
Punk Mambo has lost the ability to summon her loa (voodoo god) Eyezan after a battle in the outskirts of New Orleans. The “Voodoo Queen†Marie Laveau takes her to Haiti in order to find a way to reconnect with Eyezan.
It’s a neat premise that hasn’t had time to fully develop in the first issue. We get to see Eyezan, Punk and Laveau and the background, but there’s not much to get a reader excited about. Punk is an Ok character but, since this is supposed to be a comedy, nothing she says or does in this issue is remotely funny. The story does have a spark of light, though. This plot can go a number of fun ways.
Gorham’s art has some great moments, but also some mediocre ones as well. Punk may look like the typical punk with the pink mohawk, leather everything and piercings, but Gorham does a great job of drawing that. You can hear “The Misfits,†“The Ramones,†Rancid†and even a hint of “The Descendants†coming off of her. The locations, on the other hand, aren’t as lively or well-drawn out as they should be. They seem flat and lifeless considering one the locations are New Orleans during a major holiday. Eyezan is also a problem. She’s just one big pink humanoid shaped blob that doesn’t stand out except for the fact she’s pink.
“Punk Mambo†has a neat idea but it’s not quite there at the moment. The story so far is OK with art the same way with some exceptions. Punk rock is notorious for being loud, fast and with lots of “FUCK THE GOVERNMENT!†thrown in. This first issue is more Barry Manilow than Joey Ramone.
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