Voodoo Dolly

Voodoo Dolly first appeared in "Pulp Horrorshow" vol. 1 #5 (I think it was issue 5, it's too early in the morning to go through my stack of old Xerox comix to know for sure). Voodoo Dolly is a human Voodoo Doll, which basically means she's a living conduit for powerful magicks. She's also an extremely skilled and highly agile fighter. When she first shows up, she was a prisoner of the Ortex Corporation. Because Cactus Joe the Clown had been raising a ruckus and had recently stolen the Eye of Cthug (a very crucial item to Ortex's plan to bring the Apocalypse to Earth), Johny Styles was forced to employ any and every means at his disposal to capture the Clown. Thus, Voodoo Dolly was sent out with the promise that she would receive her freedom in exchange for the Clown's head. To ensure her cooperation, a Control Collar was placed around VD's neck. In "Truth or Consequences Monthly" #5, Voodoo Dolly viciously attacked the Clown in the Locke City Sewers (interesting location now that I think of it...Full Circle). The Clown, recognizing the Control Collar, decided not to fight back, but instead disarmed the Collar, thus freeing Dolly from Ortex's Control. The Clown immediately fell in love with Dolly, while Dolly, conversely, seemed to barely have any feelings beyond mild gratitude toward her savior (in retrospect, this should have been a sign). At the first opportunity, she disappeared, leaving the Clown alone once again.

Voodoo Dolly briefly reappeared in "Super Duper Fun Comix: Strange Encounters", but wouldn't show up again until "SDF: Strange Patterns". With no money and nowhere else to go, Dolly turned to the only person she knew she could trust, the Clown. Cactus Joe, of course, let her immediately move into his place, which caused some tension between CJ and Pengy Penguin, who didn't trust Voodoo Dolly initially. For the remainder of Era Two, Voodoo Dolly was a companion to the Clown and Penguin, sharing in many of their adventures and troubles. But it wasn't exactly smooth sailing. The Clown kept making awkward attempts at romanticizing Dolly, but Dolly made it clear (repeatedly) that she didn't dig him that way. Groan. In the appropriately titled "SDF: End of an Era" Voodoo Dolly meets a "Nice, Normal, Handsome Guy", falls in love with him, and gets married. She exits as suddenly as she appeared, leaving only a little, handwritten note telling the Clown that She never loved him, never would love him, and that she never wanted the Clown's dangerous, rough and tumble life. Needless to say, that Hurt our Hero quite a bit.

And now, in Monster King #5, Voodoo Dolly is not only back, but she's working for the Ortex Corporation and trying to kill the Clown. Why? What drove her to this? We'll find out next week, as Monster King #6, the final issue of the series begins. Sometimes it's better not to know...