Rajat's Random Ramblings: The Jungfrau Encounter

SPECIAL NOTE:  On this festive occasion of the wedding of our royal couple Saifeena (or however you spell it) we are proud to present this review based on a movie starring the beautiful couple that's captivated our nation's collective hearts! 

Nah - scratch that. This is Comic Addicts, not movie addicts! No bollywood superstars or buxom bimbos here, only talented artists, writers with some real imagination instead of monkeying Hollywood or Tollywood scripts! So forget that and continue if you wish to get addicted...

A package arrived at 7:30am, from the good folks at Westland/Illuminati Films, and although I was groggy from another late night at office, I lost all the lethargy and laziness as soon as I tore open the pack and held this magnificent looking book in my hand!

Now THIS was more like it. The stuff I had been reading recently had been a little below the expectation and even disappointing in a few cases, but this certainly looks promising. In fact, the feel reminded me of the old collection of Tintin and Asterix books my dad owns and I used to love reading as a kid (and even today, for that matter). The best part about this book was the size, thickness and the quality.

Being priced at 250/- I was a little apprehensive about the value for money and quality, but this one, thankfully, managed to make me feel better.

Look at this beautiful art work! Click on the image to view full size

Also sample this pencilled copy of the same page - Personally I was very impressed by the amount of details that both the penciller and the colorist had managed to put in every single page. Don't believe me? Click and view it in its full sized glory, and see for yourself, bub!

I am not kidding, but I held this one in one hand, and believe it or not, FIVE copies of this popular on-going series by another of our Indian publishers, and one of it was bigger and thicker than ALL the others combined! So, in the end, it turns out to be worth its while, getting TJE (I'll be using the acronym from this point onwards, so don't get all mixed up :D)

Okay, so Agent Vinod. The book was supposed to be released a little earlier than the movie launch, if I am not wrong, but it got delayed a little due to some problems. The reviews for the movie have been average and I have been told that it’s exceptionally good at a few places and very ordinary in other. All in all, simply an average movie.

I loved the different angels used by Saumin to bring out the narrative in a very cinematic style. 

Pencilled copy of the same page. Okay, lemme share a secret here. I had decided not to use ALL these hi-res images sent to me, but I think I might not be able to stick to that decision! :D

Since I haven't seen the movie, I have no frame of reference in my mind about the story or the plot or the quality of the movie and all I went by was with the experience of reading TJE.

The story starts with a group of men sitting in a restaurant, literally at the top of the world!
All of them have been bitten in the bum by Agent Vinod at some time or the other in their lives. Vinod is a R&AW Operative (RAW is the India’s intelligence service – Research & Analysis Wing) and is something of a James Bond meets Jason Bourne meets Zorro kind of guy, street smart, fast, dangerous, quick thinker, wily, wicked, reckless and a flamboyant character who has been trained by RAW to deliver quick sharp lethal blows when diplomatic channels fail.

A pencils only  page - I was under the impression that these days, all the fonts were digital, and it turned out to be a pleasant surprise for an old school fanboy to see that Saumin had actually drawn the fonts! And beautifully! In fact, the fonts was a huge factor in the preview/promo images, that attracted me to this book immediately.

So these 4 Gentlemen are reminiscing about times when Vinod pulled a fast one on them, and we are taken to a tour of 4 parts of the world with completely different culture, feel, characterization and backdrop and believe me, it’s a pleasure to go through the story with such kind of art. A visual delight that packs quite a hard punch!

In fact, to be honest, at a few places, I skipped a few pages simply looking at the beautifully drawn panels, without reading the words and had to come back when I realized that I was just seeing it, and not really reading it :D

Saumin Patel has done a fantastic job of drawing sharp, bright characters and places with a very different style that what you, good readers, must be used to seeing in most Indian comics.

The biggest difference, and an advantage, in my opinion, is that this is not a mythology or even remotely related to mythology in any way.

Splash Page - Beautiful work of art, integrated with the gripping storyline

Now THIS page, I HAD to add for you to see the difference in the pencilled and colored versions. The one noticeable change is Vinod's look, apart from just the addition of the gun. Interesting. Wonder why was this done...

Now, before all you fanatics start crying “Blasphemy” and issue a Fatwa against me, let me clarify – I have absolutely nothing against religion or mythology, on the contrary, I consider myself a sort of connoisseur of mythology and mythological fiction. I have spent some insane amount of time studying Indian, Indo-European, Norse, Greek, Roman, Chinese, South American, Egyptian and African mythology and for a long time I was interested in writing a novel but never really got down to actually doing it. My only problem is that I am absolutely sick of mythology or mythology inspired fiction in the Indian comic scene today. A gazillion of ongoing mythological fiction based comic books were somewhat interesting to begin with, but there hasn't been anything new and exciting in the last 2-3 years except mytho-fiction, and that makes a fan sad and bored at the same time. We need new stuff to devour, so all you creative people peeking, please explore the grand universe. It has many other interesting topics.

TJE takes a much needed break from the usual and at least attempts a nice fast paced fiction, and as I mentioned earlier, even though the movie didn't do any wonders (I haven't seen it yet, I am basing it only on reviews and hearsay), this comic book (Graphic Novel, rather) is a bright ray of hope for all Indian Comic book fans.

Splash page # 2

Now this one is very similar except the very slight change in Vinod's looks again. Very  1970s filmy look, isn't it? :D

If you have ever read anything I have written before, you might have noticed, I tend to regress and lose track of what I had originally started to talk about – so let me get back to the matter at hand. So, the 4 guys were discussing their past and were trying to come up with a plan to eliminate Vinod, but combining their resources. Now, Vinod is the title character and the Hero of the series, so it is obvious that he survived the vile plans lay down by these villains, but despite that fact being established even before one has opened the book, the story will still manage to surprise you at more than one place.

I have been an avid reader of fiction, and even before I had finished school, I had already devoured characters and novels like Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, James Hadley Chase, Perry Mason, Nick Carter etc. so I have developed a sort of instinct <ahem><cough> for recognizing patterns and the unexpected twists that writer tend to pull at you (Alright, alright I'll cut down on self-praise, don’t bite my head off!) – so I was able to successfully spot a few very interesting plot elements and not-so-surprisingly, even though I was right on the spot, the whole thing was still very exciting to read and imagine. 

I'm not trying to be condescending or patronizing, but most readers, who are not totally drenched in suspense and detective fiction like I am, will not be instantly able to recognize the patterns and they will have an even better time, when they reach the end. (PS: Don't start reading from the end, that’s just silly, you know!)

#1 - Sketchbook

#2 - Sketchbook

#3 - Sketchbook

To sum up my rambling review, even though this review is a month or so too late (totally my fault, I was buried neck deep in my day job and social life was set on hibernate mode), The Jungfrau Encounter is a MUST for all comic book fans, readers of suspense and thrill, action enthusiasts, artists, art appreciators, fanboys (and girls, of course) and the patrons of Indian Comics and comics in general.

Once you get it, you have my word that you will be glad you own it because this one, my dear readers, is a definite keeper.

Rating

Art: 9 of 10

Story: 8.5 of 10

Overall: 8.75 of 10 

Alright, alright you greedy fans! Here you go, 2 bonus pencilled pages.

Happy? This really IS the end!