Nerve Endings Firing Away

Book previews are something that I love about being a blogger; partly because you are gladdened that someone values your opinion. Of course, your loyal readers and even friends and family reinforce that opinion by visiting you everyday in hope of reading yet another of your posts however rambling and ranting they might be. It started with Simon and Schruster sending me couple of books and the latest offers came from Virgin Comics.

A little background first; Virgin Comics is spearheaded by Shekhar Kapur, Deepak Chopra and Richard Branson and I couldn’t agree more with their first objective that is “to create original stories and characters that tap into the vast library of mythology and reinvent the rich indigenous narratives of India.” I have always believed in the story-telling power of Indian mythology and the richness and depth of the characters is mind-boggling. Almost an public-domain treasure house of tales waiting to be tapped.

As kids, we grew up on Indrajal Comics and Amar Chitra Katha. Although I loved Phantom’s antics peppered with Old Jungle Sayings and Mandrake’s seemingly simply power of hypnosis to fight evil, I relished my time with folk tales crammed in thin editions of Amar Chitra Katha. I read about unknown heroes and ancient warriors that our history books had conveniently edited out for sake of brevity (and academic relevance). The blue-colored Rama or Krishna always stood out amongst the light pink-colored characters. The art was strictly ok and since we had never seen other comics, we gladly lapped them up. One of my friend’s dad worked in a publishing company that gave me access to Marvel Comics and works of Edgar Rice Burroughs (Tarzan) and Rene Goscinny & Albert Uderzo’s lovable Asterix and Obelix. Honestly, I was never into Marvel’s dark and gory stories as comics were always meant to be a welcome relief from boring textbooks. I easily got by with Amar Chitra Katha. It also let me throw around few tales here and there and had convinced everyone that I was well-versed in Indian mythology.

So many years later when I open a comic book again, what am I expecting? My perception of story-telling has changed and so has my ideas of illustration thanks to advances in technology and exposure to other art forms. Being friends with a rocker gave me an insight into a non-traditional form of sketching that is almost akin to Japanese animation.

Virgin Comics is much like that. The lines are bold and stark; no attempts made to soften the images and give the characters that hardened look. Perhaps, it isn’t aimed at children (learnt not so long back that comics weren’t necessary the property of children alone) but as marketing executives would like to say, young adults. I received previews to two character series – Devi and Ramayan Reborn. The other series include Snake Woman, Sadhu, Seven Brothers. They may sound cliched but remember they are digging deep into the archives of Indian mythology and you are bound to encounter familar characters. It might be important to dwell on how those characters are etched and if they hold your attention.

Devi’s incarnation is rooted in the premise of a fallen angel caught in middle of celestial wars. The initial preview is reminescent of the Akshardham holdout. And what’s more, there are hints of sexual tension between Devi and disgruntled cop, Rahul. As Ash mentions, Devi is a kick-ass babe who believes in four cardinal rules [read them here] for surprising hostage takers. Of course, she looks uncannily like Trinity from the Matrix albeit with a glowing bindi (hint of a third eye?). But personally, I prefered Ramayan Reborn. An immortal tale of good versus evil promised to be remixed. The battle scenes in the preview issue depict Laxman in a tussle with Ravan who looks a lot like Voldemort. But the gory battle scenes aren’t softened for your viewing pleasure but this is the way I love it. I almost forgot mentioning a bunch of World War II comics that my dad once got me. I must have read them a thousand times over. War always commands interesting animation. Add in a few Vanars and Jatayu, you have lots of potential for some amazing graphics. Of course, narrating Ramayan comes with its dose of morality lessons which I am hoping will be more relevant for today’s times.

In conclusion, I was impressed with the quality of the comics and definitely recommend them. Now if I can get Virgin Comics to send me a free copy of their first edition when they launch in September, the pleasure would be complete.