Who on earth has been alive
anytime in the last 50 odd years and hasn’t heard of the King of the Ring?
Muhammad Ali, the one true champion of the masses.
Campfire brings to us the
legend of Ali in the form of a captivating graphic novel written by Lewis Helfand
and beautifully illustrated by Lalit Kumar Sharma and it was launched in the
Comic Con Express along with Jungle Book.
Ali is considered to be a true
champion and one of the greatest sportsmen ever by many critics.
He was not only a Boxer but
also a philanthropist and a social activist. Ali, as most of us would know, was
born Cassius Clay, but converted to Islam after joining the Nation of Islam out
of protest against racial discrimination, which was predominant and popular in
the 60s in America, despite several laws and social protests against any form
of racial prejudice.
Ali has been a legend and an
inspiration to people of all ages and era, and not without reason.
Lewis Helfand has done a
fantastic job of compacting the immensely colorful like of Ali in a slightly
less than 100 page comic, which was then brought to life by none other than our
very own resident genius, Lalit Kumar Sharma.
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The first page of the graphic
novel seemed to me, immensely popular and not without reason. Campfire had organized
a competition where the aspiring artists were given a copy of the script for
page 1 and they had to draw their own interpretation based on that script.
We, at Comic Addicts, had
hosted an event in conjunction with Campfire and Mocha Trip where Lalit had
organized a workshop to talk about composition, the making of a comic book and
the likes and we were also witness to some amazing art work from the Muhammad
Ali Art Attack Contest participants!
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| Click to view full size. Copyright Campfire |
The story of Ali’s life is as
interesting as it is complex and Lewis has done a commendable job to bring it
to us in a form which is easily understandable without losing its real
significance and the finely hidden meaning behind Ali’s struggle and the things
he did, the way he did it, and why he did it.
The book starts with the life
of the young Cassius Clay, who although not as poor as many other blacks in the
same period, but had to endure the racial treatment which was displayed towards
all blacks in the 60s America. They were not allowed in Hotels, were seated
only at the back of the Buses, and not allowed to work at several places, apart
from the general preference of picking up white folks for pretty much anything
that was considered worth doing.
Clay was initially puzzled and
later angry by this sort of treatment and even at that young age, you could see
the determination of the young boy to fight back against any kind of
discrimination.
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He finds his mentor in the form
of a kind hearted policeman Joe Martin who took Clay under his wing and gave
him the path and the direction he so desperately required to fulfil the destiny
he had selected for himself.
Martin not only taught him the
basics of boxing but also gave him important lessons about the right thing and
the wrong thing to do. He was a major influence on Clay, early on in his life.
Clay starts from the very
bottom and rises up in the world of amateur boxing and then semi-professional
followed by an unknown entry in the Rome Olympics
in 1960, with Martin as his Coach.
Clay not only rose steadily, he
went ahead and WON the Olympic Gold Medal for Light Heavy-weight Boxing. Later
on he threw his Olympic gold medal into the Ohio River after being
refused service at a 'whites-only' restaurant, and fighting with a white gang.
Clay realized that his winning
the Olympic Gold did not grant him an automatic entry to the world of the
“superior” white people and to find an understanding, if not an immediate solution;
he joined the Nation of Islam under Malcolm X. Clay then changed his name to
Cassius X and then to Muhammad Ali.
This raised a lot of
controversies and many fans and critics admonished this change, but Ali, like
the true champion he was, just went on and on with his Wins and silenced his
critics.
The story takes us through the
life and professional career of Ali as he makes up his way to the Championship
and is crowned the undefeated champion of the Boxing World.
We are walked through some of
the most interesting matches in his career, like the bout with Joe Frazier,
George Foreman and Ken Norton. Lalit has done a wonderful job with the
fantastic artwork depicting the fight scenes with finesse and awesome detail.
We get to hear all the famous
phrases of Ali, like “I’m the greatest, I’m the prettiest, I’m the best”, “I’m
the king”, “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee” and many others (Yes. I’m
not giving everything away!!)
We also come to know about the
later part of Ali’s life and the work he did for society and sports in general
and is still doing his part, despite being riddled by Parkinson’s and suffering
various injuries in the course of his career.
This graphic novel is a keep
and worth every penny. A great, sorry the Greatest Subject, coupled with a
gripping script and very well done artwork makes The King of the Ring a book
worth buying and keeping.
So go and get it for yourself
TODAY! I say Yay!
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