I was recently interviewed by Rebecca Buchanan of Sequential Tart. Here is the link to the interview.

While attending NYCC ‘08, I was approached by Luis Medina, a filmmaker who was making a documentary about [sic] “People of color in comics”. While I made my views clear on that “classification” (the only part that made it into the final cut is at 02:06 on the video), it was kind of interesting to discuss about the role of race/ethinicty in the kind of stories we tell.

I stand by the views I expressed in the documentary i.e. a writer is not defined as an Indian writer or a latin american writer or a caucasian writer. There are good writers and then there are bad writers.

Watch it with an open mind and hope you enjoy it.

Video Link

A review of the India Authentic vol 2. is up at Beliefnet.com.

An excerpt from the review

What makes [INDIA AUTHENTIC] so effective and impressive is that these gods and near-immortals exhibit very human concerns. In fact, many of the stories allow the pictures to “breathe”–to dominate the space of the page–as the reader is exposed to the protagonists’ thoughts. Inner monologue is not something I commonly associate with sacred stories; we never get inside either Moses’ head as he leads Isaac up to the sacrifice or Jesus’ thoughts on Judas or Mary Magdelene. “India Authentic” takes readers inside the super-humans who still seem identifiably human-like.

Nevertheless, each story operates in a sort of god-logic (or, maybe more precisely, Hindu theo-logic), where devotion, will, or ethic leads to a transcendent resolution. These are not Aesop’s Fables with some simple moral to convey. Instead, “India Authentic” demonstrates universal themes refracted through Hinduism–both pictorial introductions and everyday reminders.

Full Review

Buy India Authentic @ Amazon.com :

(India Authentic Vol 1 - Book of Shiva)

(India Authentic Vol 2)

Comic Book Resources has put up a nice coverage of the Graven Images conference held at BU on the weekend of 13th April exploring religion in comics and graphic fiction.

The article contributed by Dave Moran can be read here

Well, finally it’s out. This weekend at NYCC I got my copy of SADHU : THE SILENT ONES Trade Paperback collecting issues 1-5 of the miniseries I wrote. TSO continues the story of James Jensen, the british soldier who became a mystic and walked the path of the Sadhu as he searches for his son. He faces off with an ancient evil cult lead by a beautiful but deadly witch, The Grand Mistress of the Silent Ones. His quest takes him far beyond the limits of the mortal world as he pierces the boundaries between the physical world and the more esoteric planes of existence and discovers the true nature of reality.

Sadhu : TSO was fun to write as I got to play around with a lot of existential concepts. The cosmology of TSO tries to combine the Indian mystical concepts of Maya and Reincarnation along with the Australian Aboriginal concept of Dreamtime, reality as a set of interlocked / intersecting dreams of the collective unconscious.

You can either pick up the book at your nearby bookstore (which carries Virgin Comics) or buy it from Amazon here.

Do let me know how you liked (or did not like) the book. Drop me a line either via the contact page on this website or mail me at mohaps at gmail dot com.

Also if you find any reviews or articles refering to the book, feel free to post a comment here or drop me a line.

The full video of the NYCC ‘08 Panel on Our Gods Wear Spandex.

Panel at New York Comic Con on April 19, 2008 on the topic of Christopher Knowles’ book Our Gods Wear Spandex: The Secret History of Comic Book Heroes. Moderated by A. Davis Lewis, panelists include Christopher Knowles, Testament creator Douglas Rushkoff, Cairo author G. Willow Wilson, Virgin Comics writer Saurav Mohapatra and DC Comics legend Denny O’Neil. Panel discusses the archetypes of comic book superheroes, their function in modern culture and the future of the genre. Questions are also taken from the audience.

NOTE: I had a slip of tonuge and said “Holden McNeil” . I meant “Holden Caulfield”. You have been warned

Been working off and on on a web comic about a comic book writer, the other day just doodled out the lead character. Here is the sketch.

I shall be at NYCC whole day on 19th April (saturday) and in the evening I shall be on the panel “Our Gods Wear Spandex - secret history of superheroes” with Chris Knowles (the author), G. Willow Wilson (CAIRO) and Douglas Rushkoff (TESTAMENT). The panel is moderated by A. Dave Lewis (Lone and Level Sands, Some New Kind of Slaughter).

Panel Details from PW Beat:

**A. David Lewis, hot on the heels of his Graven Images conference (http://www.bu.edu/luce/calendar/religionincomics.html), will be moderating a panel on Saturday, Apr 19 at 5 p.m. in room 1E02. It’s a discussion of Chris Knowles’s book Our Gods Wear Spandex. G. Willow Wilson will be on the panel with Dave, along with Douglas Rushkoff (Testament) and Denny O’Neil.

Looking forward to it

Well, now that the solicits are out, I can finally talk about a couple of exciting new one-shots due hitting the stands in June ‘08. Both of them are a nice change of pace from my titles so far which have been myth based.

Mumbai Macguffin

Mumbai Macguffin is the story of a CIA agent in Mumbai trying to track down a fallen satellite which has been sold off as scrap metal.

Mumbai Macguffin reunites me with my DEVI:Karmageddon collaborator Saumin Patel and boy, did we have a ton of fun doing this one. We both are big fans of Guy Ritchie movies like SNATCH, LOCK STOCK and we long wanted to do a slick action-comedy set in Mumbai. Saumin’s art for this so far is absolutely fabulous and I hope you like this one.

West Coast Customs presents Ryders is a sci-fi post apocalyptic vehicle vigilante tale that sort of comes from a dystopian post apocalyptic world like that of Mad Max or Interstate 76. It’s got fast cars, bandits and a fascist city state with its own vehicle vigilantes, what more can you ask for? And it is done in collaboration with the Pimp My Ride guys!

Yay! Attended the “Religion in Comics” panel hosted by BU as part of their “Graven Images” conference yesterday. Had a whale of a time with fellow panelists Mark Smylie (writer - ARTESIA, Publisher - ASP comics), G Willow Wilson (CAIRO), Steve Ross (writer/artist - MARKED). The panel was moderated by A. Dave Lewis (writer - LONE AND LEVEL SANDS, SOME NEW KIND OF SLAUGHTER).

We had a pretty hearty discussion about how religion is portrayed in comic books and the challenges that lie in writing comics with religious and spiritual themes. One of the most interesting parts of the conference was getting to know about the reaction to India authentic in academic circles. It makes all my efforts worthwhile when people walk up to meand tell him that they really liked the INDIA AUTHENTIC stories and that it is being made into required reading in south asian studies programs (details to come).

Later that day, I attended my first ever signing at the BU Barnes and Noble where we continued our earlier discussion in more casual setting as part of the “Graphically Religious” author meet at B&N. Here is a photo from the signing (more to come).

From left to right: Dave, Your truly, Willow, Steve and Mark From left to right: Me, Mark (photo courtsey : Dave Moran) From left to right: Willow, Dave, Me, Steve and Mark (photo courtsey : Dave Moran)