He-Who-Has-Died-Twice may soon be born again…no, not through Houngan magic, but in the MCU. I’m talking about the Marvel character Jericho Drumm, better known to comic fans as Brother Voodoo. Jericho is currently Doctor Voodoo, but as Brother Voodoo his first appearance can be found in Strange Tales #169. If he makes an MCU appearance, which is likely, this comic will become a valuable book you’ll want to own in the coming years.
What makes me think Jericho Drumm will appear in the MCU? This isn’t just blind hope, rather the evidence seems solid. For example, in the ‘Doctor Strange’ movie there was an Easter egg aimed at Brother Voodoo fans and establishing the grounds for a future appearance of Jericho Drumm.
This happens in the scene where the Sanctum Santorum is invaded by Kaecilius. In that scene, we see the current guardian of the Sanctum, Master Drumm, mortally wounded and dying.
In a deleted scene from the DVD release we get an exchange between Steven Strange (played by Benedict Cumberbatch) and ‘Master Drumm’ (played by Mark Anthony Brighton), unequivocally telling us this character is indeed a Drumm. Credits confirm the dying guardian to be Daniel, brother to Jericho.
Recently it was announced that ‘Doctor Strange 2’ will happen and should start filming in 2019 once again under the creative control of director Scott Derrickson. In interviews, Derrickson has confirmed he wants to see a role for Daniel’s brother in the sequel (see here).
Who is Brother Voodoo?
Daniel and Jericho Drumm were originally both voodoo practitioners from Haiti. In the comics, after Daniel learns that he is dying from a black magic curse spell placed on him by the local Houngan in Port-au-Prince, he tells his brother Jericho (home from studying psychology in the US) to seek out Papa Jambo.
After teaching Jericho the voodoo arts and at the moment of Daniel’s death, Jambo is able to bind Daniel’s spirit to his brother’s body. This allows Jericho to increase his strength, speed and stamina making him the formidable hero known as Brother Voodoo. Daniel’s spirit is also able to possess other living bodies, setting up Jericho’s adventures as the supreme Houngan of Haiti. In various Marvel comics you can read of Brother Voodoo’s encounters with Zombie armies, black magic and all kinds of super-natural entities.
In fact, Brother Voodoo was a regular in the Marvel universe, especially in the Bronze Age horror books like Werewolf by Night. Later he joined the Avengers and partnered with Doctor Strange. In New Avengers #53 (July 2009), Jericho actually becomes the Sorcerer Supreme. That’s a comic that could heat up, but the book you should seek out before the next ‘Doctor Strange’ movie is the Bronze Age title:
Strange Tales #169 (September 1973) – First appearance of Brother Voodoo
There are 486 copies of this comic on the CGC census. Of those 486, only 8 are above a 9.6. This already tells us something important. This comic is very hard to find in high grade. That’s also probably the reason why a 9.8 certified grade of this book currently has the fair market value of $3, 100.00. More importantly, other numbers on this comic are strong across the board. 9.6 grades currently sell for around $850.00 and all grades (excepting 5.5 sales) show positive returns. These are led by the impressive positive +565.4% return on 9.8 after a $3,055.00 sale on ComicLink on May 24, 2018.
If you can afford it, I recommend a 9.0 which is hovering at around $260.00 at the moment. I can easily see that going much higher. And that’s not because of Houngan magic or voodoo economics, it simply comes down to the appeal of the Brother Voodoo character. A big screen appearance, if done right, could see this book turn red hot.
