Angst In My Pangst

A lot of good things happening.

The mundane ( read “materialistic”) stuff first. A trip to Walden got me this month’s swag of Gotham comics. I never held Sharad Devarajan and his crew in high regard, except for the fact that they were bringing one of the best Marvel titles to India. Ultimate Spiderman happens to be the particular title I am talking about, and really, any reader would find Brian Michael Bendis’s work on the book nothing sort of path-breaking. The best part about the book is that it concentrates so much on Peter Parker, rather than Spiderman. Think young, think a scrawny High School kid who gets these amazing powers. ( No, don’t think Tobey Maguire, he was much too old ) And this kid is trying to find his limits, trying to figure out what he can do with his powers, and most of the time he’s screwing up badly. Granted, this was the premise of the original 1962 Spiderman series, but Bendis carries it a step, no, several steps further, by adding neat twists to the tale as we know it, by making Peter Parker more than a shunned Science geek. He actually has a life here (not to mention a funky haircut ) and he’s not the “Yes, aunt May, I love you, aunt May” guy that used to be around. There’s another Spiderman title published by Gotham comics – called simply Spiderman . It’s by John Byrne, and trust me, after reading Ultimate Spiderman, it’s almost an affront to follow Byrne’s mediocre storyline. Suffice it to say ( and feel free to repeat after me ) – Bendis is God.

OK, I cheated. I went to some review site and actually got the entire storyline upto issue 45, so that there’s no niggling sense of “what happens next?”. But it’s still a treat to watch the story unfolding in the comic book. I still maintain my stand – the comics medium is unparalleled when it comes to storytelling.

And then I got a pleasant surprise. A very pleasant surprise.

Gotham also brings out a couple of Super-Specials every now and then. So far, they had been testing the waters, bringing out the previously released comics in collected format – standard Trade Paperback issue. And two or three Superman and Batman Elseworlds tales. But yesterday, I saw what was coming next.

Wolverine: Origin. Daredevil:Yellow. Batman: Tower of Babel. And believe it or not, they have started to reprint the Hush storyline in Batman – which happens to be an ongoing series right now!!!!

Monsieurs and Mesdames, I think comics are beginning to come of age in India. I particularly like the mini-comic format in which Gotham is bringing these titles out, it’s small, godd enough to fit your pocket, and it’s cheap,so kids can afford it. And kids, I dunno, always seem to have this affinity for things that look small, know what I mean? The fact that I can’t find older issues of Ultimate Spiderman and JLA ( another neat series, written by Grant Morrison ) goes to show that good storylines and writing is appreciated even here. I will forget the collectible aspect of comics for now, but the reading value of comicbooks, I believe, will not do anyone any harm.

(Oh jeez, I sound so holier-than-thou up in this last paragraph. )

This is crazy, but I have this weird idea that by the end of next year, Gotham will be reprinting the Sandman titles in India. Fingers crossed.

I also bought the Batman stash I had seen in Sec’bad. At 35 rupees each. And the guys there say that newer stocks are coming in by next week, with titles at 40 rupees. I told them that I would buy out the lot, if they get Batman. Let’s see.

More good things happening in my life. Of course, it’s nothing to do with my everyday, ho-hum interests. I just don’t know where to start. Maybe I will just frame my thoughts properly and write down something when I get the time.