Saurav Mohapatra

India Authentic volume 2 does another great job of bringing the Hindu pantheon to a general audience. The stories of Narashima, Yama, and others captures the essence of these tales (for me, a non-Hindu, at least). There's some subtle storytelling here and the authors do a nice job of conveying moral complexities. These are not the saccharine religious comics I've come to expect out of any religious tradition. As such, this volume made Hinduism far more accessible to me. I'm terribly familiar with religious-themed graphic novels,so I cannot say that there's nothing like this out there. If there is, however, I don't know about it and would love to find more of this ilk.… (meer)

The fourth volume in the Devi series has a new illustrator and the images are a bit less glossy; they have a grubbier, less polished look to them. I didn't like that at first, but as I continued through the book, they grew on me. The fourth volume starts out pretty slowly and has a somewhat soap-operaish plot twist that has Tara Mehta discovering that she has a sister she wasn't aware of. It also turns out that Iyam has a brother who is trying to unleash the demon Daanvi so she can destroy the gods and men. It's all pretty complicated -- maybe not as complicated as Denise Richards' life apparently is, but still pretty damned complicated. Once things get moving, this addition to the series is solid, but I don't feel it had the freshness of the first three issues.… (meer)

The third volume of this series took some interesting and unexpected turns. I won't go into the details here but I've really liked the way the characters in the series have developed during these first three issues. Part of this has been my own suspension of disbelief in the whole premise of the series. The use of the Hindu pantheon as a backdrop for the game has grown on me. Sure, the comic superhero cliches are here, but so is an enriching and engaging storyline. Trust me, I'm pretty surprised that I've liked this series, but I'm a bit of an Indophile and the whole premise of the Virgin comic series hit a weak spot.… (meer)