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New Indian Comics Round-Up – Angry Maushi, Do Not Open This Comic, Munkeeman, Zombie Rising

Akshay Dhar writes for Bleeding Cool about some of the new comics produced in India recently and gives you a sneak peek and his recommendations on them:

Angry Maushi #2 (Abhijeet Kini – self published)

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Story and Art: Abhijeet Kini

When I came across the first Angry Maushi comic nearly a year ago,  I did not expect much. It was simple, silly and entertaining but nothing to exactly write home about.

So picking up the sequel was not exactly brimming over with expectation. It turned out to be one of those lovely little experiences that we all genuinely enjoy, when something far exceeds out expectations!

Picking up not long after the first issue where the titular Maushi is still on her zealous rampage to cleanse the nation of the corrupt and evil, having vanquished the evil Mantri (minister) in power. But all is not well as we find the dastardly politico returned in a shiny, metallic new avatar and with a whole new scheme aimed this time, squarely at our rotund, rioutous, rampaging heroine. The stakes have never been higher!

Filled from the very start to the hilariously explosive finale with gags and the signature art style and cleverness that creator Abhijeet Kini is known for, this book is definitely a step up. This time around Kini has clearly made it a point to focus more on the script than he did the first time around and it shines through quite strongly – I was literally laughing out loud while reading it and now eagerly look forward to the next installment.

SCORE : 7.2 / 10

Don't Open This Comic (One-shot) (Pulpocracy)

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Story : various

Art : various

The first comic anthology by this new publisher, it is a very enjoyable, very dark and well crafted collection.

India has a pretty long history of horror story-telling which is wuite different from the horror you find in many more European-flavoured stories and myths and such. The nicest part is that this draws from that as it needs but remains its own creation.

First up is "The Call" written by Ashwin Kalmane and drawn by Pia Alize Hazarika and it is a beautifully atmospheric little tale thanks largely to the artwork. An exceedingly simple story, this one is all about the visual and works exceedingly well.

The first entry from Sudeep Menon is next called "Rickshaw Raj" and is drawn by Ghanshyam Bochgeri. It is very much in keeping with Sudeep's style of serious stories with a pinch of levity under-lining it all as we follow a rickshaw ride that reveals the driver to be a werewolf and takes off from there. Good, mostly clean fun!

The next story, "Hazard Pay" is perhaps my favourite of the lot. It is also penned by Kalmane and is drawn by Charbak Dipta whose quirky, cartoony style of art couple with his eye for detail and expression actually suits the dark story of child-labour and the supernatural. Dark and a little twisted, it is a well crafted entry.

Halfway down we find ourselves "Behind Closed Doors" in a psychological horror story penned by Ram V (Aghori) as we delve into a somewhat twisted mind. Told in a first person style, the story itself is pretty decent but personally I felt the art from Nitin Veturkar was a bit of a let-down. He clearly has a good hand as some of the panels/details show, but it feels like they tried to be too experimental with the visuals, resulting in an atmospheric story that couldn't decide what kind of atmosphere it wanted.

Next up we get another entry from Menon, this time drawn by Vinay Brahmania, and this is another of my favourites from the set. "Vermin" follows a protagonist suffering what feels like a haunting of sorts from a mere rat, a haunting that is driving him around the bend. Curiously funny, this one skirts at the edge of qualifying as a horror story really, but it works as a break from the much more intense stories before it.

A fairly generic story is the penultimate entry, penned again by Kalmane but this time drawn by Arun Kumar Kaushik entitled "Man Walks Into A Bar". I can't get into the story beyond saying the guy walks into a bar and is handed a beer mug containing a beating heart though, because thereafter it's a very simple tale. What works here though is the art which is very well done and suits the setting and story and its simplicity works very much in its favour.

Last but not least, "The Masterpiece" again by Menon. The only onw of his entries that has no humorous bent, it is a simple and not shocking but suitably dark finale to the anthology. A beautiful woman models for a painter, essentially that is it but with a twist I would rather not ruin. The art by Shishir C. Naik is the standout here – possibly the best quality art in the whole book and with solid consistency and details. This is another one with no dialogue and like its predecessor, the art is really something else!

I would heartily recommend this book to horror fans who like to dabble in something a little different from the gore-fest that is conventional horror now. Personally I prefer there to be minimal blood-shed and violence in my horror, it's the darker, more in-your-heart-and-mind horror that we need more of and not just in comics.

SCORE : 7.4 / 10

Munkeeman #3 (Pop Culture Publishing)

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Story : Anant Singh

Art : Sumit Kumar

Definitely one of the more strangely interesting, yet surprisingly accessible comics to come out of the new range of Indian titles is the Munkeeman series. Based on an urban legend that overtook the city of Delhi in the summer of 2000 of people on rooftops attacked by a mysterious "monkey-man", the "creature" just as mysteriously vanished as he had appeared – and from one mention of the name, a whole urban myth grew and flowed around for quite a while.

This series is one I've enjoyed quite a bit because it's simple, spiced up and just pure fun in its most unadulterated form. As with all the installments thus far, we get the gist of the story quickly enough and then dive right into the lives of DD (a.k.a Munkeeman) and his love-interest/fake-sister (it's complicated) who is about to become a major pawn against him. Our hero is on the run after last issue which was basically a non-stop action-fest versus Captain Tamga, the Terminator-like government agent sent to hunt him down. New-ish threats are also thrown into the mix as the Captain continues his pursuit, making for one hell of a double-threat for our furry hero with the lollipop habit and his lady-love.

Art by Sumit Kumar shows why he is one of the artists to definitely be on the lookout for with his surprising skill in all kinds of visuals and his exceptional attention to detail. The writing once again shows the love for Indian pop and retro-pop culture (thankfully for non-native speakers, well translated in captions where needed) and cheesy humour to undercut the more serious moments and action.
I'd recommend it if you like a good action-comedy romp.

SCORE : 8 / 10

Zombie Rising (One-shot) (Chariot Comics)

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Story : Devika Singh

Art : Tarun Kumar Sahu

This latest offering from Chariot Comics whose previous titles, Vrica and Templar were unique amongst the other Indian comic, is in its own way just as unique.

This time around however, instead of a creation all their own, they have collaborated with a Bollywood movie production for a tie-in comic which appears to be a prequel of sorts. It reads like a loosely connected series of very short segments that all set the stage for the movie Rise of the Zombie – though the two names seem a little repetitive if you ask me.

As the name bluntly implies, this is about zombies. All the segments are written by Devika Singh who is also the writer for the movie and while I commend her for her creativity in adapting the concept of the genre to the more Indian setting, it is only truly a stand-out in the very first part which is also the most cohesively well-done. The story is different, told fairly well and has a nice dark ending with great art from Chariots own Tarun Kumar Sahu.

Unfortunately, while the overall quality of the art stays fairly consistent (barring the odd weak/rushed panel), I can't say the same for the story-telling. I found that the dialogues and general plotting in the later parts got more lax and perhaps rushed to production because it could have been much better as evidenced by obvious mis-steps and choices in plotting. Coupled with some lettering that could have done with a better eye, the end result is a comic that still has a lot of potential – I would buy and read a reworked version if done right – but in the end flawed at a very basic level that compromised the book as a whole.

SCORE : 5.5 / 10

Akshay Dhar is a slightly quirky nutter but mostly a decent chap – he's been writing for several years now with stints at Maxim India, as a freelancer and comic publications including "Retrograde" from pop culture publishing and "Showcase: Sheshnaag" from Holy cow entertainment apart from acting as EIC for Indian fan-site Comic Addicts.. He's also the founder of the creator-collective Meta Desi Comics and loves to read, write, explore music, travel and aims to daydream further than anyone has done before!

You can check out his writing and artwork here:

http://anansisweb.wordpress.com

http://browncoat4life.deviantart.com/

https://www.facebook.com/scribblinakshay


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Hannah Means ShannonAbout Hannah Means Shannon

Editor-in-Chief at Bleeding Cool. Independent comics scholar and former English Professor. Writing books on magic in the works of Alan Moore and the early works of Neil Gaiman.
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