Comic Review : Aghori #01 and #02 (Wayfarer Special!)

I think something short-circuited in my brain just now...

Like you dear reader, I've seen the previews, I've heard the rumours and scoured the facebook groups and people I know for anything I could on this new series and found little beyond what the folks at Holy Cow Entertainment put out there. They played this one close to the chest and now I can see why. This is a very a well-executed and bold new step from Indian creators, the art alone elevates this to a new level of amazing and the production values are impeccable.

(NOTE : Check out some of the preview pages we've got for you here!!)

Series writer Ram V is a very new face on the Indian comic scene and with the aid of his collaborators in this project - that I know for a fact came about amazingly fast (for more history on all this, check out our earlier interviews and coverage, all linked at the end of this review!) - may well be one of the most promising I've come across so far.

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For everyone here who's been living under a rock : The Aghori follows our titular character – our hero if you prefer – who is in fact an Aghori and he travels around and fights the darker parts of the supernatural that may plague mankind. Sure, comparisons will inevitably be drawn to the likes of Blade, Hellboy and other heroes that fight the supernatural, but this series shows the promise of being something just different enough to be worthwhile.

In a happy bit of news - today's review in fact covers not just the debut issue release of Aghori, but it covers the first TWO chapters. That's right, not one, but two! The team at Holy Cow has elected to treat it's patient and dedicated fan-base with a special release, perfect-bound, double issue of their newest series and we at Comic Addicts consider ourselves privileged to have gotten to read this before everyone else! Yes, it's the nerd in me having a mini geek-gasm at being “one of the chosen!” MUAHAHAHA!

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Alright, my evil-twin-within now expressed, on with the review! In case you may not have known it, this title is the first of a handful of 'flag-ship' or trademark characters/titles that Holy Cow has been looking to slowly bring to life and if this first is any indication, fans in India should feel eager and proud.

It's hard not to talk about it without giving away spoilers because so much of it is just a joy to see for the first time, to be shocked, to be amused and all that jazz. What I can elaborate on is that the writer has done an excellent job of crafting a very basic mystery to kick things off, one that hints perhaps at origins and details on what our “hero” is all about and other things of origin and all that! It's a teaser and while that can be annoying, it is handled nicely and before you knew it, the tease was over and you were tossed head-first into the start of a new story and a new adventure – the past left to be revealed another day, another time.

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We get taken through two issues of a raging crazy-house [NOTE: This book is not for the gentle and easy to disturb!] and I must say, that was one of the things I loved most about it. Between Ram's script and Vivek Goel (who is also the founder and head artist of Holy Cow) and Gaurav Shrivastav's amazing artwork, we get one of the all-too-few genuine and engrossing horror comic experiences you might find. In an era when “horror” means “over-the-top gore and violence and brutality and shock-value”, it does a fan good to come across a story that grabs you by the neck, holds on like a vice and has you freaking a little on the inside with that sense of terror that you can't help but be drawn into. Kudos to the team.

They tell stories that are clearly unafraid of getting in your face and dealing with things others would not, including evil Preta's in small, conservative communities and evil ex-Nazi types who pay to sleep with a magical woman kept under bondage because that act restores ones youth – you can't know how badly I want to elaborate on all this, suffice to say that this reveal barely scratches the surface, and the twists that come along the way every time are handled beautifully.

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I've known Vivek for a long while now and have seen his art over the last couple of years and I'm pleased to be able to say that this is undoubtedly some of the finest work he's done so far – great layouts and renderings that add to the story to really create the grabbed-by-the-throat feeling! And of course no Holy Cow wonder would be complete without the fantastic colouring skills of Yogesh Pugaokar who's work has evolved like Vivek's over the past two years, as he vividly creates moods and tones across the pages that are hard not to appreciate.

Flaws? I'm sure someone, somewhere may find a few, but as a fan of comics reading this for the first time – all the good that this book has going for it, blows any potential weakness out of the water.

As an opening salvo for a new series, I would highly recommend it to comic fans and to horror fans for damn sure!

Wayfarer's Scoring : 9 out of 10