The Indian Avengers in MW, May 2012

In the wake of The Avengers, I was asked to assemble an Indian Counterpart of the Superhero Team by Mans World Magazine for their May 2012 Issue. It was quite a task to pick the best out of the best Superheroes from Indian Comics, still I gave it a shot. I wish I had more time in hands to rake my brains and come up with better options for Hawk-Eye and Maria Hill. Personally I enjoyed making Sabu replace The Incredible Hulk in my list, both of them are known for their angst and hulky-size...

Why This Kolaveri Di Over A Fan Art?

STATUTORY WARNING: The write up is quite long, but reading it wont be injurious to anyone’s health.

A few days back, I left my copy of Kirigi Ka Qeher (one of my most favorite comic book titles for past two decades) with Saumin to scan it for Chitrakatha. Unsuspecting Saumin was curiously flipping through pages one night and this comic played exactly the same role that mythical radio-active spider had played in Peter Parker’s life some five decades ago. Before he would realize, Saumin was entangled in the rollercoaster ride of a lifetime called Kirigi Ka Qeher.

Swashbuckling action, epic scale fantasy and one of the ‘tightest’ stories narrated in the history of sequential art – Kirigi Ka Qeher inspired Saumin to do his own version of Super Commando Druve (Yes… yes… I know its Dhruv but Patel calls him Druve).

That very night, not only Saumin drew his own version of the character (as a fan art of course) the daring man also decided to share it with his friends, fans and followers on Facebook and trust me we all loved this new version (with minor inputs dropping in from everywhere). Saumin’s daring act of re-designing one of India’s most favorite Superhero was backed by the most daring and open minded publisher Mr.Sanjay Gupta, who shared it with the (hardcore) Raj Comics fans on the Raj Comics FB page and as they say – all hell broke loose.

While a little fraction of fans was cool with this ‘fan art’ others seemed really offended with this version (may be they were simply scared that Raj Comics is planning a SCD reboot and a costume change ALA DC’s infamous Wonderwoman Costume Reboot). Though this fan art saw a hearty support from the artist community but as its always expected “Fans are a super-irked unforgiving lot, so this new look was able to strike terror/a ting of hatred into their hearts”.

Someone called it a Manga Ripoff, some called it Ben-10 just because of a Cargo-trouser, someone compared the cargo pants to a Dhoti and was obnoxious enough to write a back-story based in a village to mock the look. Looking at the outrage, it made me rethink why fans got so put off with a ‘fan art’. Its more or less the same thing that we all have done as kids after reading a comic book –  getting inspired and try to scribble down our own version of it. No offence meant to any creator or any design that’s already been there. Knowing Saumin personally, I know he was simply kicked and this was his way of saying that the Comic was just awesmackin’ awesome.

Also, Saumin is a fan of X-Men series of movies and he has always appreciated the way they keep playing with the costumes in all their movies or spinoff titles, it was simply his way of trying out a new look for a Superhero, that he’d just discovered.

But there is more to it, X-Men franchise itself has many offshoots and spinoff series that have come out of the original source material so it becomes easier to revamp the look/costumes (out of which many have been ridiculed in the past). But other than X-Men have we seen any mainstream superhero/a superteam getting a brand new look? Even the most popular reboot The Ultimates didn’t see much of a jump in the costumes of lead players like Ironman, though Cap. America’s costume has been evolved a bit, but it hasn’t been that big a jump. Even in DC we’ve seen this happening with characters like Green Lantern etc. Costume evolution is a calculated risk with B-Level characters, who doesn’t have that big a fan following. But the publishers themselves stay away from doing such major changes with their flagship titles and whenever they tried that, sudden uproar of fans pushed them back to their roots.

Such new takes were ridiculed and rejected outright by the fans irrespective of the big names attached to the projects. One great example would be Tim Burton’s unmade Superman Lives with its Disco Superman Costume and the casting of Nicholas Cage, which has been a joke fodder for the fans for more than a decade now. Check out Tim Burton’s vision/costume/look for Superman here: 

Hardcore fans are disappointed again esp. after the ‘leaked’ Man Of Steel images started appearing online. Visionary Director Zack Snyder decided to remove Superman’s iconic red undies from his costume, and people feel that makes the man of steel appear a little ‘nude’ (I totally agree). While fans loved Snyder’s choice of campy costumes in Watchmen (not to be forgotten, Watchmen was based in the 1980s and that was the color pallete of those years, remember the early 1990s Batman films with cheesy colorful costumes?), they immensely dislike his choice of costume in The Man of Steel, lets hope he has a storyline to support his vision this time as well.

Now the Million $ question – Why it irks the fans, when they see their heroes in a new (rebooted) costume?

‘Please don’t kill my hero…’

Being a fanboy, I can totally understand this sentiment. I used to be a Bheriya fan, but as soon as a storyline was introduced in which Bheriya the Hero was divided into two entities – Kobi & Bheriya, it was the death of Bheriya as I knew him. I can’t even recall the number of hate mails I’d sent to Mr.Sanjay Gupta that summer. ‘You killed my hero’. The way I looked at his stories died with him, an entire series was suddenly meaningless, because they just changed the characters all of a sudden. I can go ranting about many such reboots or redesigning of characters that pushed me away from comics series I had been an ardent fan of. I have my sentiments attached to a hero and as soon as someone tries to change or tweak it in a way that renders the earlier stories outdated, I am going to DISLIKE it. Because no matter what the creator (artist/writer) had in mind, he just tried to push me out of my comfort zone by trying to tweak my hero/heroine. I know we have to renew the material to get fresh readers in, but that doesn’t mean we should toss away the sentiments of our existing readers. It can be achieved with new powerful stories. A DKR or a Year One can make me a Batman fan and I can always go back and read the classic Batman without even demanding a reboot in its design or stories. Today’s Raj Comics readers (many of them who were born after Mr. Anupam Sinha took over Nagraj) wont mind going back and trying to get a flavour of Late Mr.Mulick’s Nagraj. Why? Because even though Mr.Sinha changed Nagraj entirely he didn’t let the old mythology slip away and this is the blueprint that creators today have to follow and get fresh readers interested in these comic books. Though as a Publisher Raj Comics has changed the looks of Tiranga in the past and are coming out with two spinoff Nagraj series, but fans have been an unforgiving lot with these spinoffs and no matter what, you don’t wanna mess with the Fans.

I remember Quintin Tarentino’s interview in a special issue of Wizard, where he said, he doesn’t want to direct a Superhero film because he isn’t comfortable with fans’ expectations that comes with all the existing Superhero franchises, but he also added that, he would love to create his own superhero to make a movie with.

We can learn a lot from the smartass Tarentino. Fan favorite writer Mark Millar has learnt a lot from him. Rather than trying to reboot/redesign any ongoing series, Millar very smartly created his own universe with his own version of spinoffs. We are walking a thin line here, and we can learn a lot from Directors like Nolan and Jim Cameron who have tweaked the storylines a lot but never tried changing a costume.  

If you’ve read Cameron’s unmade Spiderman Scriptment, you will realize that even a badass director like Jim Cameron wouldn’t like to cross that thin line and face the wrath of hardcore fans. While Mr.Cameron himself says Spidey’s costume is goofy and wasn’t very keen on having Spidey’s webshooters from the comics (Cameron gave him the biological webshooters, that was later used by Raimi in all his films) but Cameron made sure that the webshooter from Spidey’s costume is still there and totally justified its presence (How? Check out the scriptment page with storyboards here.

Lesson learnt: You don’t mess with the superhero costumes and don’t piss off the fans even if your name happens to be James Cameron, and you are the hotshot director of T:2.

Another example would be Steven Spielberg who was really interested in doing a Superman movie once, but later refused the offer politely and moved on to direct Close Encounters, E.T. and Indiana Jones (creating his own Superhero). He came back to direct a film based on a comic book character much later with The Adventures of Tintin (2011), though he was developing it since as early as 1982. Despite being a totally enjoyable adventure extravaganza many Tintin fans have disliked Spielberg’s version of Tintin (While I started seeing Tintin in a new light post -  Spielbergian Tintin and have started finding it much more exciting). Though Spielberg took liberty with the story, he retained Tintin’s classic look intact. Why? Coz he wasn’t ready to face the Kolaveri of Tintin fans.

But then you might have to change the costume/look a bit to make your hero work in some other medium like Animation or Movies, may be fans might be a little more forgiving when they see these little changes in animation or a film. Personally speaking I would love to tweak/rewrite a lot of characters, but I would rather do that in my Universe with my own characters and earn some new fans. 

Chitrakatha: 10 minutes Rough Cut

A 10 minutes rough preview cut from our documentary Chitrakatha



Feel free to share on your pages/profiles/blogs. And let us know what do you think about it.

-Alok

Updates!

I haven't been too active on Blog front for past few weeks. Neither active as a blogger nor as a reader. Reason, well there are plenty - I have been shuffling between Pune & Bom..err...Mumbai for more than a month now. I quit from my job to work on my documentary - Chitrakatha (which now has a dedicated Domain Name and hopefully will be having a dedicated website too along with the already running blog).

Chitrakatha again had to be put on hold for my house hunt in Mumbai. Hopefully I'll be finalizing a house soon and will be moving back to Mumbai.

Another big reason was my Reliance Data Card which has been generating some insane bills despite my limited usage, I fight with them, they disconnect it and I am forced to stay away from my blog.

As the day's approaching when we'll be bidding goodbye to Pune, I want to spend sometime in the city living the Puneri Life. I am definitely going to miss this house, rented hi sahi but this one was the bestest of them all.

I also took a deliberate break from reading comics and graphic novels for sometime and have started reading other books. Just finished reading two books by Argentinean author Guillermo Martinez: The Oxford Murders and The Book of Murder. The stories didn't appeal me that much, but his story telling skills were really commendable. Though I found the stories were not so gripping I would like to read more of his work, just to enjoy the narration, Martinez certainly is a master in that.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney is another fun read, meant for teenagers but IMHO will be appreciated by the grown ups more.

Last but not the least, if you haven't joined the Chitrakatha Group on Facebook. Join the group and bring in all your friends, fans & followers. We will be having our 1st online contest on the Group soon!

   

Comics I read!

It was a hectic week, which started with a lot of stress but everything eventually settled down or is settling down. My trustworthy laptop is at HP Service Center, hopefully I'll be getting it back by next week.

With laptop away and TV in possession of reality shows. I had no other option but to read. The Books I read last week:

Astroboy 3 : Osamu Tezuka (Dark Horse) Osamu Tezuka is called The Father of Manga. Despite being a huge fan of his work and his visual story telling, I avoided reading Astroboy for years, thinking of it as a kiddie stuff. While reading Pluto Series I was astonished to see Urasawa referring to the original Astroboy story - The Greatest Robot On Earth (1964-65) as one of the must read titles. After reading Pluto, I had to read this volume which has the original story and before I could finish the book I was an Astroboy Fan! Highly Recommended!

Pluto : Astro Boy 3 Comparison courtesy : Warren Peace

Scalped: Indian Country & Scalped: Casino Boogie : Jason Aaron (Writer) R.M.Guera (Illustrator) (Vertigo Comics)

Aaron's wonderful story telling also shows the amount of research went into the series and Guera's moody drawing style adds a new dimension to the story and once you start reading it, it kind of grows on you slowly (though there is an ongoing debate on how this series portrays (Red)Indians. The twists in the story, the flashbacks, the characterization everything is so cool that I am hooked to this title.

To The Heart of The Storm : Will Eisner (W.W.Norton & Co.)

Read any Eisner Graphic Novel and you'll understand why he is called The Leonardo of the comic-book form. To The Heart of The Storm is a story told in a series of flashbacks; another installment in Eisner's series of semi-autobiographical graphic novels told by the maestro in his inimitable style. IMHO this is Eisner's is simply one of his best work.

Last Day in Vietnam : Will Eisner (Dark Horse)

Frank Miller once said, "Eisner's the best. He can still kick all our butts." and he really mean it! Last Day in Vietnam contains 6 short stories based on Eisner's experience as a soldier (during the 2nd World War) and as a correspondent for P.S. Magazine (during the Vietnam War).

Mouse Guard Fall 1152 : David Peterson (Villard Books)

David Peterson's Mouse Guard is an Eisner award winning mini series. Brilliantly written and superbly drawn Mouse Guard is a story about an underground mouse civilization, their culture and some dark secrets. Second installment in the series Winter 1152 is in NYT Bestsellers list for more than 5 weeks.

PLUTO 001 : Urasawa X Tezuka

Disclaimer : Well for most of you, this post might sound like the usual useless rantings of a fanboy, but I can't help sharing the magical experience of reading this wonderful book : PLUTO 001 : Urasawa X Tezuka
I came to know about PLUTO when Skottie Young (one of my fav. artists whom I follow on twitter) was tripping over it for over a month. With so many trashy manga titles around in the market, I generally keep a safe distance from most of them until its by my favorite artists, publishers or referred by somebody I can trust. Last it was (almost 2 years back), when Vikram introduced me to Lone Wolf & Cub series, which is really awesome. Before that it was Osamu Tezuka's Buddha series and some more titles by the maestro.

Anyway, after Skottie's non-stop praises and numerous reccomendations for the series, I really wanted to read it. Wiki said its Naoki Urasawa's take on one of the very old Astroboy stories by Tezuka - Astroboy and The Greatest Robot on Earth. A contemporary take on my most favorite manga artist's story! this one reason was more than enough for me to search for PLUTO. When I wasn't able to find the book at any bookstore, I ordered it from Flipkart (last entry).

I wanted to save the book for Sunday, but once I started flipping thru the pages, I couldn't help but finish it in one reading.

A wonderful book, which thankfully is presented in its original form (unlike other mirrored mangas published in America), so reading from right to left was a unique experience. Wonderfully planned narrative structure which takes a classic story and twists it with a contemporary story telling style. Brilliant use of imagery, compelling characters and careful selection of words while translating it from Japanese have made the book a worth read for anybody and everybody.

Urasawa is a master storyteller with very evolved sense of visualization which makes the book look as good as any aesthetically shot good movie. His command over emotions and dialogues is just outstanding and this humane story says it all. I can't wait to read more of his stuff especially - 20th Century Boys (which Skottie is tripping over these days) & his Monster series, along with other volumes of PLUTO.

Junot Diaz, winner of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (Brief Wondorous Life of Oscar Wao) aptly said, "Urasawa is a national treasure in Japan, and if you aren't afraid of picture books, you'll see why."

Now I am looking forward to read the original story by Tezuka and rest of the PLUTO Volumes, as and when my pocket allows.

Went to Landmark this afternoon, just to check if they have the Astroboy Story, which sadly was unavailable with them, but I ended up buying The Art of Up:

Yours Truly,
The Fanboy
(High on Books, Low on Bank Balance)

Books, again :)

Bought some more books. Can't help it. I am addicted.

Sometime back I was searching for the book - Directing the Story, when I stumbled upon Flipkart.com.

After having some real bad experiences and some unimaginable adventures in online shopping, I am always a little skeptical about these kind of 'Bookstore at your doorstep' websites. Besides there are a couple of Book importers in Mumbai where you can order these books (that's what I did for this one).But the collection of Books (esp. Comics & Graphic Novels) on Flipkart was irresistible (which these book importers don't import comics for some reason known only to them. Finally when I couldn't resist the 'urge', I decided to give Flipkart a shot, by ordering just two books.

I am really impressed with their service. Flipkart is as good as amazon. (Wish they pay me for saying this).

It has all the features (which actually work) like tracking your order and getting prompt replies to your queries (which is very rare in the case of Indian Websites) and above all your order arrives in a neatly packed courier within the promised time (mine arrived much much earlier than the expected delivery date).

I was so excited with their prompt service (and the two comic books I recieved), that I logged in again to place an order for other comics I have been drooling over for a long time. Sadly most of them are out of stock now :(

Jim Lee draws for Google

My most favorite artist JIM LEE draws for Google.com home page (which we can't see in India as it keeps on redirecting us to google.co.in) for San Diego ComiCon, a historical moment for all the comic book lovers like us.

Yayawari, Comic Books & lots more...

There was so much to say and so little time that I had to write and delete several posts before I realized its more than a month since I updated my blog.

Anyway, without wasting words and time anymore, I think I should say what I wanted to say. I wanted to talk a lot about the journeys we made in last one month (a little more than a month, to be precise) and the fun we had. But as its already over and most of the journey stories will sound stale, I think I should save those stories for some other time.

Har safar Ek Nayi Shuruaat

Without Neeshank none of these stories would've been as interesting and fun filled as they are. Neeshank was the 'driving force' behind all the fun we had in Delhi and otherwise too...

SP and his tactics to safeguard the luggage was another funny addition during our South India visit.
I can't thank Amrit & Amol enough for making our Delhi visit one of the most memorable experience. With all the Hawabaaziyaan we did there (check out the size of Mango Shake), we almost forgot that Delhi isn't our hometown and we are actually out of home.

Bangalore Trip was more like a deja vu. Having spent a considerable time in Bangalore (back then it was called Bangalore), it was nothing new for SP or Me. Besides we were roommates for such a longtime that throughout on our way from Station to Mayunk n Abha's, we felt like we are going back from some friends place to Mrs.Pinto's at Brigade Road. Bengaluroo trip became zimbly subaarb, all thanks to Mayunk & Abha ki Mehmaannawazi. I so wanted to steal Mayunk's treasure of old comic books but before I could do that, Mayunk booked our return tickets and we had to leave Bangalore..oops...Namma Bengaluroo. But on our way we raided Blossoms and bought some superb comic books from there.

Neeshank & Me

Our trip from Bangalore to Chennai was really eventful. In true Indiana Jones fashion, we fought rogues (in this case the rowdy travel agents), deciphered codes to unearth a mysterious platform (no. 14 B) made by some mysterious civilization at Kempegowda Bus Terminus, just to get a Bus (which plays some trashy 1980s Kannada Movie on its way which none of the passengers wanna see, on its way) to Chennai.

On our way to Kempegowda Bus Terminus

SP & Neeshank, Chennai ki Or...

Poochho Na Kaise Maine Rain Bitayee

Chennai was pure awesomeness. Spent the night on the floors of a friend's office, which was a true 'Kasam Se Mazaa Aa Gaya' Experience. The next morning after having a delightful brunch at Sarvana Bhawan, T Nagar, we met some real cool people and after buying dozens of DVDs from Burma Bazaar, we returned back to Pune the same day. Our journey back home could've been a disaster, if we wouldn't have met this awesome TC, who 'helped' us out and we got an 'upgradation' to 2 Tier AC wunnly for wunn naayiitt!

Other trips and meets were awesome too, but I think Sabka mention kiye bina kaam chal sakta hai...so what I will mention here is THE GIFTS!
Somebody (I would love to mention the person's name, once I am allowed to do that) gifted me 200+ Indrajal Comics.
All the publishers I met gifted me massive bunches of comic books. My greed made me buy another bunch of comic books from all of them and every time I returned home from any trip, I had another carton full of comic books with me.
Bunty sent me his collection of Comic Books (easily 500+). I was going through the comic books last night and was getting all nostalgic about the years when I used to run a Lending Library with Bunty, where we used to share even an athanni and our fights on these comic books, almost every book has a personal memory attached to it. I can't thank him enough for this.

I am yet to start reading the comic books and books I have acquired in last one month.

To Err is...??

I also wanted to write something on some silly mistakes I noticed, while I was travelling -

Number 1 is the trailer of Kambakht Ishq: where they play the Mantra - "Mangalam Bhagwan Vishnu, Mangalam Garudadhwaja, Mangalam Pundrikakshah Mangalaya Tanoh Hari" along with the text on the screen... I was shocked to see 'Mangalam Pundrikakshah' wrongly written 'Mangalam Kundrikakshah' going on air unnoticed by so many people. This one mistake changes the meaning of the Mantra and nobody was actually bothered about bringing this to the Director's/Producer's/Media's notice. STRANGE!!!

Second is a DVD released by Shemaroo: How To Draw Comics The Marvel Way, which is based on the very popular book by the same name by Stan Lee & John Buscema. It was a pleasant surprise to stumble upon this DVD at a Planet M outlet in Mumbai. But I was shocked to see DC's Superman on the cover of the DVD which will teach you How To Draw Comics 'The Marvel' Way. I would love to see Stan 'The Man' Lee's reaction on this cover. I think, we need a serious 'Comic book Education' in India. Nevertheless, despite the blasphemous cover, the DVD is an awesome product and a must have for every comic book lover/creator/'self proclaimed' creator. Check out the videos on youtube here.

Quick Updates

Longer blog post will take sometime. Here are quick updates:

My blog turned one year old this 5th. Wanted to write something on that, but couldn't.

I am in Delhi. The journey was remarkable & really funny.

Meeting some of my most fav. comic book creators.

Enjoying Delhi ki Mehmaan-nawaazi, which is simply mindblowing.

Two stories : Challan Karaogey ya Dosti Nibhaogey! & 'O Koi Load Nahin Hai Yaar' deserve a dedicated post which I will be posting soon.

Milte hain break ke baad!

A Dream realized after 2 decades :


Met Cartoonist Pran finally...something which my Dad promised me in June 1989 was finally fulfilled in June 2009. (A Long story...may be some other day)

Fanboy Explodes!

My DVD Player is again playing games, its either not playing some DVDs or giving some major scratches to the DVDs it is able to play. It gave some Khatarnaak scratches on the Lion King DVD & I can’t express my angst and frustration after I saw the scratches on the DVD.I have decided to throw it away and get a New DVD Player ASAP.

Anyway, recently somebody asked me, “You still see (animated) Films like Lion King…”

What followed was a 45 minutes long debate and the last message she sent was, “I don’t ever want to talk to you again…”

When will Indians (sorry to generalize us here) grow up/evolve as an audience and start understanding things (read animation & comics) properly?

Not all the Animation & Superhero Films are meant for kids. Thankfully our market doesn’t have a supply of Hentai DVDs or else the DVD stores would keep them in Kids Section (like they kept Hardcore Adult Vertigo Graphic Novels in Kids Section in Landmark, Chennai) and parents will buy Hentai* for kids or might take kids for some intense animated films like Ghost In The Shell or Grave of the Fireflies just because its animated.

Grow up guys! Animation doesn’t always means Tom & Jerry!

Recently I saw a father taking his kids for ‘Watchmen’. Thankfully the ticket vendor refused to issue tickets for the Kid who was 8 years old & I heard the Father mumbling – “Comics ke upar bani film bachche nahin dekh sakte to kya matlab hai phir…” (Why can't kids see a film based on a comic book?)

This reminds me of a scene from one of my most favorite Shyamalan movie Unbreakable. Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson) who runs a Comic Art Store gets annoyed when a rich father wants to buy an original comic art for his four year old kid (comics are for kids, right?). Elijah shows him the door, but after giving him a piece of his mind :

Elijah Price: Do you see any Teletubbies in here? Do you see a slender plastic tag clipped to my shirt with my name printed on it? Do you see a little Asian child with a blank expression on his face sitting outside on a mechanical helicopter that shakes when you put quarters in it? No? Well, that's what you see at a toy store. And you must think you're in a toy store, because you're here shopping for an infant named Jeb.

(courtesy : imdb)

Anyway (changing the topic, otherwise I’ll go on & on & on…), talking of Watchmen, I recently got something which is real cool from a friend Alan Watts from UK. Alan stays in London and attends almost every book signing there, he has got a collection of Graphic Novels signed by great artists & writers like – Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons, Art Spiegelman et al.

I always drool looking at the pics of signings he posts on his Facebook Profile. One fine day, he made me an offer I couldn’t refuse – He would get me Alan Moore’s autograph this free comic book day. Alan Moore was supposed to sign with longtime collaborator artist Kevin O’ Neill (they have worked together on League of Extraordinary Gentlemen).

I kept on making and changing the list of books I wanted to get signed by Mr.Moore and bugging Alan (Watts) almost everyday.

Just one day before signings Paypal played games and my credit card (yep yep the same infamous credit card of Exuberant Shopper’s Guide fame) also expired. I wasn’t able to get books signed. But Alan was really kind to get me Alan Moore’s and Kevin O’Neill’s personalized signatures on his sketchbook (I have the digital copy, hard copy is yet to arrive). Here are the pics:

The Que

Alan Moore & Kevin O'Neill signing (Alan was wearing an Indian Kurta that day)

Alan Watts with Mr.Moore & Kevin (Kevin is signing for me in the pic)
Signatures!!!! Yay!!

How To Use Your Credit Card : An Exuberant Shopper's Guide

Just saw my credit card bill and almost had a heart attack... All the muhavras learnt in the Hindi Period of that small primary school danced before my eyes- 'Jaisi Karni Waisi Bharni', 'Paanv Utne Hi Failaane Chahiye, Jitni Lambi Chaadar Ho' et al. Have shopped like crazy the last month and the tax saving investment plans have already drained all my savings (whatever little I was able to save the whole year) so I am wondering How am gonna pay this HUGE Credit Card Bill?

Here is a 'How To' guide from an expert to turn your Credit Card Bill into a 'Big, Fat, How 'am gonna pay this Credit Card Bill'.

Book all the travel tickets online, using your Credit Card and just chill, you don't have to worry till next month. Going to travel, don't forget to buy a good Laptop Bag first, and yep, don't forget to use your Credit Card.

Laptop Bag (The Bag actually looks better than the image)

A friend is coming down from US to India, so order following DVDs from amazon and get them shipped to her address and save yourself the shipping charges, Jai Ho Credit Card Ki!

Visiting Chennai? Don't forget to check out The Landmark Store at Spensor's Plaza, they have some real cool books. Buy The Art Of Madagascar 2 & Will Eisner's Last Day In Vietnam, a rare graphic Novel. Swipe the trusted credit card again.


Sale in Crosswords, Sergio Aragones' Fanboy is available and is on sale. An unmissable opportunity. Credit Card just pops outta wallet and winks at you. Your library gets one more title to die for.


Ring Ring...
"Sir, I am calling from Landmark, you've ordered The Visual Story Second Edition, that book has come..."
Ohh how can I miss this one.
Rush to Landmark.

Just checking out the Graphic Novel Section...I am not gonna buy anything as I have already bought enough for this month. Wh...What's That Book....Is tha.....t....Will Eisner's Comics And Sequential Art...Have been looking for this book for years...

Wellllll...I can stretch my budget a bit...(but what was my budget? ehhh...leave it..just buy it!)

Credit Card again plays the friend in need...


No more shopping for this month but a little window shopping won't do any harm..right?

Enter Sports Planet, just to check out some shoes...Anyway most of the time I don't get shoes in my size...esp. in the designs I am looking for...

Converse Jack Pursell Vintage on display.Cool shoes, no harm in trying out, anyway I am not gonna buy anything.

"Ohh woww...they look cool, are comfy and are available in my size, besides they are on SALE!!"

"Paying by cash or card sir?"

"...Credit Card..."

Understanding Superheroes : The Indian Way

Saw The Dark Knight last week and I am yet to come out of it (those of you who already have seen it, can understand what I mean and if you are yet to see it…go and see your doctor first, there is something terribly wrong with you). As I am waiting for Hellboy II, I was thinking about comic book superheroes who have become a hot property for Hollywood nowadays.

Not only Superheroes but there is a long list of films based on/inspired by graphic novels and miniseries too, whether its LXG or V for Vendetta, Sin City or 300. Looking at soon to be released adaptations like Watchmen, Frank Miller’s adaptation of Will Eisner’s The Spirit (and more than a dozen titles under production), it feels Hollywood has finally started taking capes and masks/balloons and panels seriously.

Now this makes me think of our Desi Superhero Films and before I get into this topic.. I would like to start with a disclaimer.

DISCLAIMER: To call Mithun and Rajni Superheroes will not only be insulting and underestimating them but also over-overestimating the Superhero Genre. So no matter what, we have to keep these gravity defying, bulletproof (infact everything proof) heroes of all time, away from this topic.

We the people of India have a legacy of Superhero films, like our own version of Superman (played by Puneet Issar) in which Sups accidentally kills his foster father (played by Ashok Kumar) by hugging him too tightly or Shiva (played by Jaggu Dada) in 3D Superhero Flick Shiva Ka Insaaf, in which Shiva’s parents are killed by the goons and their child Bhola, who is the only witness, grows up to become Shiva the superhero and avenges the murder of his parents (it is still unknown if Bhola/Shiva and his parents went to see The Mark Of Zorro or, if they went for the same show Wayne family went for??).

Rather getting more into the plots and subplots of these cult classic superhero films (they deserve a separate post) I’ll come back to the topic – Superheroes in Indian Cinema. Indian Filmmakers have an entirely different approach to this genre. They make a Superhero Film/series first; wait for it to become a hit, and once its successful they come up with poorly written-badly illustrated comics inspired by the movie/series. I have seen them doing this with Shaktimaan (which in my knowledge, is the only Superhero Comic book which was published by two different publishers at the same time), Captain Vyom and Krrish etc.

(Chacha Chaudhary remains the only exception, but the TV Series based on cartoonist Pran’s highly popular comic character wasn’t one tenth as successful as the comic book series).

Indian Film/TV Industry’s understanding of Superheroes and comic books has always remained questionable. I am still trying to figure out, how can somebody come up with an appalling idea of creating comics on shows like The Great Indian Laughter Challenge.

(Ahem…Excuse me for deviating again from the topic and let’s come back to Desi Superheroes again.)

Though Krrish was publicized as first Indian Superhero, I think we’ve had many superheroes PK (Pre-Krrish) like Mr. India, Toofan, Shehenshah, Ajooba etc in the past and Hindustani (it was a Superhero Concept wasn’t it) and Anniyan in recent times.

One of the most unforgettable Superheroes on Hindi Film Screen was invisible Mr.India (Salim - Javed wrote Mr.India keeping AB in mind who refused to act in a film where his fans can’t see him. Javed changed the protagonist’s name from Vijay to Arun and rest as they say is history).

Late 80s was the era when anybody who could make a film, was toying with the idea of making a Superhero Film with Amitabh Bachchan. Sadly

the outcome of this Me-Too wave resulted in some really unremarkable Superhero Films like Toofan and Ajooba (an Indo-Russian Co-production). The only film to enjoy little success was Shahenshah where AB played a Vigilante Superhero. (AB was supposed to play another vigilante superhero Rudra, who in a way, was a combo of Shehenshah and Toofan, in S.Ramanathan's shelved film Rudra.)

Talking of Superstar Amitabh Bachchan and Superheroes played by him, reminds me of SUPREMO (a comic book superhero published by Star Comics). It is still undecided if Supremo was inspired by Amitabh or it was publisher’s idea to encash the great fan following AB has/had amongst children.

‘SUPREMO – The Adventures Of Amitabh Bachcan’(for those of you who haven’t read it) had BigB playing Superstar Amitabh Bachchan who dons a mask and becomes superhero Supremo to fight bad guys. AB personally endorsed the series (there used to be this personal letter from BigB himself pleading kids to keep his ‘superhero identity’ secret). It was a mildly successful comic book superhero series, which after an initial success, proved not even Superstar Amitabh can save badly written stuff. Star Comics went out of business and Supremo died a silent death.

Coming back to today’s scene i.e. PK (Post Krrish) we again have a new bunch of Superheroes. From Abhay Deol and SRK’s spoofy Superhero acts in Honeymoon Travels and OSO respectively to forthcoming superheroes Drona (Abhishek) and Toonpur Ka Superhero (Ajay Devgan). But the question remains unanswered- Does Bollywood really understands this genre, or this is another Me-Too wave of people who want to encash on one and only successful Superhero Roshans have created?

Another problem with Indian Superhero genre, I think is the way Indian Audience look at it. They need to be liberated and enlightened to understand that A Superhero Film doesn’t always mean it’s a Kiddie Film. I feel sorry for all those poor little kids, who accompanied their dumb parents to PG-13 rated - The Dark Knight and Hancock (I am serious; they brought their kids along just because these were Superhero Films). Grow up parents!!!

No blog on Indian Superheroes can end without having this video...so here it is: Kimi Katkar & Chichi celebrating the Ultimate Marvel-DC Crossover.

Who Watches The Watchmen!!!

We all would like to watch the WATCHMEN... For those who came in late WATCHMEN is Hugo Award Winning Graphic Novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.

Quoting Wikipedia :To date, Watchmen remains the only graphic novel to win a Hugo Award is also the only graphic novel to appear on Time Magazine's 2005 list of "the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to the present.

I am still reading the Graphic Novel and finding it more and more un-filmable (just like not so long back I found Frank Miller's 300 to be), but since Zack Snyder (who made 300 The Movie) announced to make WATCHMEN: The Movie, I have been waiting to see, how it turns out to be.
The film is slated to be released on 6th March 2009, but looking at the recently released Promotional Stills and the Production Diaries (that Zack, thankfully, kept on updating), we fans/fanboys are convinced that the end product is going to be mind-blowing. Wish Zack could've assured Alan Moore as well, who has disowned the film since the day it was announced.
Nevertheless WATCHMEN is in its post-production stage and like all other fans of this path breaking graphic novel, I keep on checking film's official website to get updates.

Just checked the site to find first WATCHMEN :Trailor . The Trailer is out and trust me guys, it's one of the most amazing trailers I have ever seen...No Exaggeration...Check it out!!

Lots more to say, but have some deadly deadlines to meet..Pray for me

Afterworks 3

Hey there guys, just a quick update (if you still reading my blog)....if you are a comic book/animation entusiast like me this NEWS is just for you..even if you aren't then also I think it's gonna interest you.
We've seen and loved Flight Anthologies. We were kicked when we saw guys from Blue Sky Studios coming together for the Out Of Picture Anthologies Vol.1 & 2.
Latest news from Pixar: After 1st and 2nd installments of their acclaimed Afterworks Anthologies, this group of Pixarians (who used to publish under the guise of E-Ville earlier) is out to make us drool with the next installment of anthology of comics: Afterworks 3.

Check out the links...

Million $ question- are we going to do something as interesting as these anthologies afterwork-ing hours are over ?? or go by the age old tradition of -
समय बिताने के लिए करना है कुछ काम, शुरू करो अन्ताक्षरी ले कर प्रभु का नाम !


have a great day & keep smiling :)

Alok

P.S. Will be back soon with a new blog on one of my most favorite topic...Hindi Film Industry