BAMBU
Real Name: Bambu
Identity/Class: Human
Occupation: Brother Voodoo's manservant (by his own choice)
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Baron Blood (Victor Strange), Morgana
Blessing, Brother Voodoo (Jericho Drumm), Raymond
Coker, Pete
Hawkins, Jerome Hayes, Captain Levuru, Dr. Gregory Maitland,
Rintrah, Jack
Russell, Loralee
Tate, Samuel
Tate, Topaz,
Eliah Ward;
formerly Damballah
(Josué Koulév)
Enemies: Cult of the Dark Lord, Damballah (spawn of Set), Dragonus, Marie Laveau, Varnae
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: A mansion in the outskirts
of New Orleans, Louisiana;
formerly Port-au-Prince, Haiti
First Appearance: Strange Tales I#169 (September, 1973)
Powers/Abilities: Bambu was a normal human, who was immensely loyal to Brother Voodoo and believed in voodoo craft. He was a talented cook and was capable of keeping a whole mansion in a proper state all by himself. He was also a pilot and could fly smaller planes.
He probably wore a hairpiece.
Height: Unrevealed (5'8"; by approximation)
Weight: Unrevealed (160 lbs.; by approximation)
Eyes: Brown
Hair: White
History:
(Strange Tales I#170) - Bambu served Damballah because he wore the Wangal
of Damballah and witnessed the members of the Council of Vaudou
from all four corners of Earth join Damballah after Fong Lee, the only
member that questioned him, was killed by Damballah's voodoo.
Bambu changed his allegiance to Brother Voodoo after Damballah was killed by snakes as soon as Voodoo used his brother Daniel's spirit to possess a member of the Council and take the Wangal from Damballah, removing his power to control the snakes. Bambu explained that he had only served the pretender Damballah as long as he wore the blessed Wangal and now would serve Brother Voodoo. Despite some hesitation Voodoo agreed to let Bambu serve him because he had much to do and would probably need his help.
(Doctor Strange II#48 (fb)) - Voodoo locked away Damballah's Wangal in a safe at his mansion because he deemed it too dangerous for any man to possess. Only he and Bambu knew the combination.
(Strange Tales I#171 (fb)) - Bambu admitted entry to Voodoo's mansion in New Orleans to Jerome Hayes and Eliah Ward and led them to Brother Voodoo, whose help they needed against Baron Samedi and his zuvembies in Haiti. Voodoo agreed to help and asked Bambu to make the necessary arrangements to return to Haiti.
(Strange Tales I#169) - Brother Voodoo teleported with Bambu to the Port-au-Prince Airport. After Voodoo had saved Dr. Maitland from Baron Samedi's followers, Bambu put Voodoo's cloak back on his back.
(Strange Tales I#171 (fb)) - Bambu was present when Dr. Maitland examined one of Samedi's alleged zuvembies, but he had not real explanation for the man's state. Bambu offered to help Voodoo in his search for real answers at the local cemeteries, but Voodoo declined his offer and told him to stay with Maitland and the local authorities, including Captain Levuru.
(Strange Tales I#172 (fb) - BTS) - Bambu kept Voodoo's mansion tidy.
(Strange Tales I#172) - One day Voodoo brought in a woman named Loralee Tate, who had been saved by him from drowning in the Mississippi River. Bambu got some blankets and dry clothes for Loralee and Voodoo's doctor's bag. While Voodoo learned from Tate why she nearly died, Bambu accidentally let in the Cult of the Dark Lord that was after Loralee and was knocked unconscious by them.
Chief Tate and Detective Hawkins arrived at the mansion soon after Loralee, Tate's daughter, had been kidnapped by the Cult. Hawkins helped Bambu back to his feet and Bambu immediately got Brother Voodoo his cloak while Chief Tate told him about the murders of three girls that were likely connected to the same people that took his daughter. Tate ordered Voodoo to stay out of this because it was a police investigation and he didn't want to endanger his daughter, but Voodoo teleported away in front of Bambu, Tate and Hawkins to save Loralee.
(Tales of the Zombie#10) - The police received a letter from Haiti for Brother Voodoo and Chief Tate delivered it to him. Voodoo immediately rushed with Bambu back to Haiti and on the flight there revealed to Bambu that the letter was from Sarah Le Jeune, an old friend of Voodoo, who told him that her dead husband had visited her. Voodoo also made it clear that he didn't consider Bambu his servant and never asked him to address him as master even though Bambu kept doing it.
Bambu and Voodoo rented a car and made their way from the airport to Le Jeune's village, which seemed deserted. They found the corpse of Sarah and Voodoo told Bambu to stay with the corpse while he took off to find answers at the graveyard.
Bambu later joined Voodoo at the graveyard because he couldn't wait any longer, but Voodoo had already defeated Dramabu. Bambu carried Sarah's young daughter to safety while Voodoo was troubled because he still had much to learn from his dead brother.
(Werewolf by Night I#38) - Jeesala of the Thousand Years sent Raymond Coker to Doctor Voodoo for help. When Coker arrived Bambu opened the door for him and told Coker that Voodoo was expecting him.
(Werewolf by Night I#39 (fb) - BTS) - Voodoo chartered a plane and Bambu piloted it and took Voodoo and Coker to Malibu where they met with Buck Cowan, Lissa Russell, Jack Russell and Topaz.
(Werewolf by Night I#39) - After Coker got kidnapped by zuvembies, Bambu piloted the plane to Haiti with Voodoo, Jack and Topaz aboard. He took them as close as possible to the Devil's Grotto where the Three Who Are All had directed Voodoo to. On Voodoo's request Bambu stayed with the plane while the others made their way to the Devil's Grotto to save Coker.
(Doctor Strange II#48 (fb)) - Brother Voodoo put on the Wangal of Damballah, believing he could control Damballah's power for good, but instead his brother's spirit got possessed by the Elderspawn Damballah, who in the process gained full control over Brother Voodoo and set his mansion ablaze with Bambu still inside. Bambu nearly burned to death, but was saved by Brother Voodoo, who was immune to fire...though he couldn't remember it later and actually believed that he had killed Bambu. (see comments)
(Doctor Strange II#48 - BTS) - Bambu remained in a New Orleans hospital near death...or not (see comments)
BTS - He got better? (see comments)
(Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme#17) - Bambu took Rintrah, Morgana Blessing and Victor Strange to Voodoo's mansion on a boat. He asked Rintrah to sit more in the center because he was afraid the boat could tip over. During the ride Victor took off into the swamp and Rintrah nearly tipped over the boat when he tried to follow him. Bambu asked him not to and later told Rintrah that he would've never found Victor in the swamp. He was also pretty sure that Victor would turn into a bat and spy on Voodoo's mansion from the air. Shortly after they arrived at Voodoo's mansion Bambu got annoyed with Morgana and left to make dinner only to get knocked out by the minotaur Dragonus, who had been summoned by Marie Laveau using the Darkhold. Marie tried to slay Bambu and Morgana with the Darkhold, but halted when Victor arrived at the mansion. Marie banished Dragonus before he could endanger Victor, whom she needed to force his brother Doctor Strange to bring her the Book of the Vishanti to cast the Vampiric Verses.
(Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme#18) - Using an Atlantean dagger Marie attempted to sacrifice Morgana Blessing to bring Varnae back to Earth, but Bambu regained consciousness and protected Morgana with his own body only to get stabbed in the back and die in her place instead. Bambu's corpse transformed into Varnae, who took off after a fight with Doctor Strange.
BTS - He got better? (see comments)
(Marvel Super-Heroes III#1/4 (fb) - BTS) - Brother Voodoo returned to Port-au-Prince to mourn Bambu, who had died from an illness (see comments). He was joined by Loralee Tate, who stayed with him for awhile.
Comments: Created by Len Wein & Gene Colan.
Brother Voodoo was still possessed by Damballah when he told Doctor Strange the lie how the Wangal was stolen by cultists, how they set the mansion aflame and how he got the nearly dead Bambu out of the burning mansion. But as soon as Damballah had left Brother Voodoo's body, Voodoo claimed that he had killed Bambu, which is impossible because Bambu appeared again years later. Maybe Brother Voodoo saved Bambu while he was still under Damballah's control though I don't know what the demon's reason for saving Bambu would be. Or maybe somebody else got Bambu out of the burning mansion. We will never know for sure!
In the flashback in Marvel Super-Heroes III#1 Bambu looked more like Papa Jambo. It also contradicted his death at the hands of Marie Laveau and the fact that he had become a vessel for Varnae. The MSH story was published a month before Bambu's death in DSSS#18. Maybe whatever the gods showed to Voodoo was not actually him with Bambu, but an image of him carrying the corpse of the aforementioned Papa Legba after the events of Tales of the Zombie I#10. Loralee's presence in the scene still doesn't make any sense, but whatever. I can only assume that the MSH story was one of the many inventory stories that made it into the anthology title some time after it was originally created.
Maybe there is an unknown tale out there how Bambu was saved from being Varnae and then he got better only to die of the "plague that is destroying your people"...whatever that is supposed to mean (AIDS according to another website). This story had a lot of problems!
What else could the "plague that is destroying your people" mean? Becoming a zombie seems pretty normal on Haiti in the Marvel Universe. Becoming or being possessed by Varnae or another vampire is not that uncommon either.
Maybe Bambu had been a zombie for years and Brother Voodoo hid it from him through some magical means.
There is also the slight possibility that there was more than one Bambu.
This profile was completed on 10/04/2024 but its publication was delayed, as it was intended for the Appendix's 25th anniversary celebratory event.
Profile by Markus Raymond.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Bambu has no known connection to:
images (without ads)
Strange Tales I#169, p3, pan4 (main)
Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme#17, p11, pan3 (head shot)
Doctor Strange II#54, p9, pan2 (crispy)
Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme#19, p10, pan7-8 (stabbed)
Marvel Super-Heroes III#1, p39, pan2 (dead, but is that even him?)
Appearances:
Strange Tales I#169 (September, 1973) - Len Wein (writer), Gene Colan
(pencils), Dan Adkins (inks), Roy Thomas (editor)
Strange Tales I#170 (October, 1973) - Len Wein (writer), Gene Colan
(pencils), Dan Adkins (inks), Roy Thomas (editor)
Strange Tales I#171 (December, 1973) - Len Wein (writer), Gene Colan
(pencils), Frank Giacoia (inks), Roy Thomas (editor)
Strange Tales I#172 (February, 1974) - Len Wein (writer), Gene Colan
(pencils), Dick Giordano (inks), Roy Thomas (editor)
Tales of the Zombie#10/1 (March, 1975) - Doug Moench (writer), Tony
DeZuniga (artist), Roy Thomas (editor)
Werewolf by Night I#38 (May, 1976) - Doug Moench (writer), Don Perlin
(artist), Marv Wolfman (editor)
Werewolf by Night I#39 (July, 1976) - Doug Moench (writer), Don Perlin
(artist), Marv Wolfman (editor)
Doctor Strange II#48 (August, 1981) - Roger Stern (writer), Marshall
Rogers (pencils), Terry Austin (inks), Al Milgrom (editor)
Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme#17 (May, 1990) - Roy & Dan Thomas
(writers), Jim Valentino (pencils), Tony DeZuniga (inks), Ralph
Macchio (editor)
Marvel Super-Heroes III#1/4 (May, 1990) - Scott Lobdell (writer), Fred
Hembeck (pencils; Dell Barras (inkd), Mark Gruenwald (editor)
Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme#18 (June, 1990) - Roy & Dann
Thoms (writers), Jackson Guice (pencils), Tony DeZuniga (inks), Ralph
Macchio (editor)
First Posted: 09/02/2026
Last updated: 10/04/2024
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel
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