A look at the 2nd Anime Convention 2011

Being an otaku for several years and having visited several Conventions outside India, I went into the '2nd Anime Convention, 2011' at Noida with few expectations but was extremely satisfied with the overall event. I really wanted to be part of this Anime convention so I flew down from Chennai to get some first-hand experiences of it all! 

Let’s start with the “EVERYDAY” Activities (stuff that was present on all three days):

The Manga Lounge
This was slightly Misleading !! The event schedule / information mentioned that, “Fellow manga enthusiasts can read a variety of Manga and Anime books throughout the course of three days” or something along those lines, unfortunately about 95% of all the Manga’s and Magazine’s on display were in Japanese and just a handful of them in English. Sadly even the English manga’s were incomplete volumes or random volume numbers + a lot of Pokémon stuff. That being said, it was still a lot of fun to look at and browse original Japanese Manga’s / Shōnen Jump and other Japanese magazines, I even got a bit excited to see one of my favorite Japanese Music Groups “SMAP” being featured on the front cover of a Japanese magazine. In short - if you really like Japanese culture, you would have enjoyed just browsing through them, recognizing stuff and going “Oh! I know this!!”
I feel if your proficiency in Japanese is excellent you would probably have enjoyed it a lot more. 

SPECIAL PREVIEW: Jason and the Argonauts!

Welcome folks to a special preview of one of the most unique looking books to be published out of the Campfire library.

Now, Greek mythology is one of the most widely known and the stories among the most respected and iconic across the globe. From the Trojan war to the twelve tasks of Hercules to the various tales that define their pantheon of Gods, among so many more, it is a rich and powerful family of stories that have inspired people for generations.

So it is small wonder that Campfire has taken it upon themselves to make their successful adaptation works finally touch on these tales of adventure and humanity.

Recently Campfire Graphic Novels has released a graphic novel on the story of ‘Jason and the Argonauts’ and their adventures trying to win the fabled Golden Fleece. Filled with very raw looking but intriguingly quality artwork that confounds with its combination of savage beauty, it all seems to suit the tale, the time and the place.

Courtesy the good folks over at Campfire we have for you today these sneak previews of some of the final pages from the graphic novel as well as an album at the end with loads of amazing black-and-white pages in high-res for you to enjoy and feast your eyes upon!

C.C.E.MUMBAI Cometh!!!

It was some seven months ago I found myself roaming through New Delhi's “Dilli Haat”, dressed as a cheap homemade version of Batman with a paunch, along with my little brother who was a much more convincing Wolverine. Some people were even staring at us as if we were recently let loose from an asylum and were being allowed to mingle with the general public!

Most of the stares openly showed their displeasure at this freedom being given to delinquents like us, but did we care? At that point in time we wouldn’t have cared if the public had started stoning us or even if the cops locked us up.

We were on our way to The Indian Comic-Con!!!

India’s FIRST ever Comic Convention!!!

This was something I had dreamt about for several years but had expected it to turn into reality in at least my lifetime! But hey, what do we know? Dreams have a almost nasty habit of being realized overnight, when you least expect it!

Something magical had happened a few months ago. Facebook had informed us that there was a plan for a potential Comic-Con in Delhi. The word was enough to get me interested and I started following it up. Joined the page, asked the questions, responded to each post, argued, gossiped and spread the word, forced people to join, made them aware and pretty much everything I could think of doing – short of walking on the roads with a biggammajammi banner over my head! And I’d have done that too, but just didn’t think about making/finding a banner soon enough.

Review: SHAOLIN BURNING graphic novel by Ant Sang

ANT SANG lives and works in Auckland, NZ. He is an award-winning cartoonist and amongst his comic works is a series called Dharma Punks and he recently had his graphic novel, Shaolin Burning, published by HarperCollins, New Zealand. Ant is well known in the New Zealand comic scene. And due to his creative work on the Bro'town TV Series, he has stamped his place in the NZ Moving Images scene as well. 

Delhi Anime Con!!!

Sorry about the delay guys. We were experiencing some connectivity problems, due to rain and water clogging in Delhi. The pics for Day 2 and the awesome Cosplay on Day 3 are up on our Facebook Page, and will be available on the website soon enough too!!!

Day 2
Click here to view day 2 pics

Day 3 Cosplay!
Click here to view the Cosplay Pics

Rooting for Ravan!

Call me odd (that will make the two of us) but there are times when I root for the bad guy. Always found that most good guys end up being, stereotypical Mr. Goody Two Shoes. The problem is that heroes are like open books. We know their past, their sufferings, their weakness, their strengths and their beliefs. Nothing is hidden from view. I mean, most superheroes even wear their underwear on the outside.

Most stories, irrespective of the format (movies, books or graphic novels) in which they are told, focus more on the hero. The villain is just put forth as a strong adversary to give the hero a challenge and a reason to exist. Not much is revealed about their lives. Or the parts that are revealed just add to their villainy. We know all the bad things Darkseid did or how naughty a boy Voldermort was.

So when Ravanayan was launched, I was excited. Based on the epic Ramayan by Valmiki (and not Ramanand Sagar as I grew up believing) this graphic novel story arc tells the story from the so called villain, Ravan’s point of view. It’s about time his side was heard.

I picked up the issue with great expectations and Holy Cow delivered the goods. And then some. The main highlight for me was the story. A complex character like Ravan needs a writer who is capable of understanding his psyche and put it forth in a manner that is not defensive. The job is to put forth the story from Ravan’s point of view. Not to turn him in to a hero. A good story gives you a moral. A great story gives you something to think about. I have a gut feeling Vijayendra will end up telling a great story.

After Bala from Nothern Song, Vijayendra has another demon’s story to tell. Looks like he will own this niche. A literal devil’s advocate. I liked the pace and manner in which the story was told. The twist in the initial part was unexpected. I knew of Valmiki’s past and yet was taken aback when the revelation was made. When you know something and yet the writer manages to catch you off guard, it can be safely said that you got a good story teller on your hands.

Moving on to the art. Vivek hadn’t lived up to my expectations in Werehouse 1. Ravanayan has made me raise my expectations from him. The art was amazing. Every panel seems like a labour of love and it shows. The initial fight sequence was especially very well conceptualized and executed. Apart from the illustrations, the angles and poses were also eye catching. The colorists, Yogesh and Komal have done a great job too. 

My own real grouse is about Ravan’s look! It is a tremendous improvement from Ramanand Sagar’s version but he looks too much like Geralt of Riveria. For the uninitiated, Geralt is the main character in the mind-blowing RPG ‘The Witcher’ and ‘The Witcher – Assassin of Kings’. But it is just a minor distraction, that’s all. The creators had mentioned that they have taken some liberties with the original script to take the story forward and the two fights in the first issue were part of the liberties I guess. I only hope these liberties are kept to a minimum. There is enough in the original script to provide an insight in Ravan’s motives without taking a lot of creative licenses.

The first issue is to me a tremendous effort. It really set the mood for the issues to come. I look forward to an enthralling story and great art. It might just be as good an epic as the original Ramayana.

DCnU Week 2-in-review! All 13 titles!

Welcome ladies and gent's to Comic Addicts special rundown that we've created just for all you good folks out there!
We have for you burst reviews of all the new DC #1's out this week from two very different points of view - one an old-hand DC reader familiar with it all, the other a Marvel fan relatively new to the DCU a.k.a the kind of fan DC is trying to attract with the reboot.
Will DC's reboot gel with new fans? Will old fans be offended? Will the creative teams do the books justice? Who's review will you agree with? Hell, will the reviewers agree on anything? Keep reading to find out!
And of course - all images are good resolution and can be clicked on for nice BIG versions!

Action Comics (Written by Grant Morrison, art by Rags Morales)

Akshay (Wayfarer Score: 10/10)

Right off the bat, let me say this is my favourite book out of all I've read so far and its done nothing but cement my opinion that Grant really, truly loves and knows this character and will really do this new incarnation justice. Great story, well told and well paced with a fantastic finale to the issue and what an opener for #2! I was in awe! Even Lex is awesome here in his young and oh-so-aggravating way. This is Superman the way he should be, as a young and wayward man who has no family ties, no real home and is just a decent person at his core – albiet idealistic; watching him wanting to kick ass and have fun swatting away bullets and such, great fun!.  So deeply reminiscent of the original superman from his earliest days before he was rebooted a few decades later.

The only weakness was in the art – overall Rags has got a great feel for this and he seems to transfer Grants energy well from script to page, but there are inconsistencies in the facial designs and such here and there, hopefully he can improve on that over the issues ahead.

I'm definitely going to be following this!

Anubhav - Score : 9.1/10

So yeah, looks like Morrison has another masterpiece coming. After his stellar Batman run, Grant Morrison has now shifted his focus to re-establishing the early long-jumping-instead-of-flying part of the Man of Steel’s career. This is the Superman everyone always wanted : Vulnerable and not afraid to kick ass. Master storyteller that he is, Morrison has established the main cast and their relationships with both Superman and Clark perfectly in this issue, a list which includes General and Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen and Lex Luthor. The art by Rags Morales finds just the right blend between good action and excellent character depiction. Particularly worth a mention is his work on depicting a younger Clark Kent as well as his alter ego. Solid debut issue, all in all.