http://www.virgincomics.com/preview.html

Devi looks pretty cool, Ramayan looks good too. I'm not much of a comic book person, but i'll definately check it out.

Devi


Snakewoman



The Sadhu



Ramayana Reborn



Seven Brothers



Virgin Comics LLC

Vision

Indian culture has had a massive effect on the world for thousands of years, creating four of the world's major religions, (Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism), much secular philosophy, the largest volume of classical literature, extensive theology (for instance jataka and itihasa), asia's two most prolific epics (Ramayana and Mahabharata), mathematics, science, as well as both ancient and modern art and entertainment. In recent times however, there has not been widespread exposure to this eight thousand year legacy in popular culture, especially in the United States, which until recently had only a small number of Indian immigrants. Gotham Chopra, Shekhar Kapur, and the other visionaries behind the project intend to re-establish familiarity with the culture of India, and at the same time use its great diversity for entertainment, in the same way Japanese anime and manga does, participating in a cultural renaissance. With the help of Gotham Entertainment Group and Richard Branson's Virgin Group, Virgin Comics was created to use Indian mythology, art and history as a basis for cutting edge graphic novels and comics, which may be turned into larger franchises, animation, computer games and movies in future. The initial markets that Virgin will focus on are India, the United States and United Kingdom, followed by the rest of the world. One of Virgin Comics' chief visionaries illustrated the company's vision:

"I have always felt that a culture is sustained and nurtured by its myths. Mythical themes influence our behavior and even our habits of consumption. Myth encapsulates the collective imagination, the collective dream, the collective aspirations of society. We are in need of new myths as we move into a global culture. The super heroes of tomorrow will be cross-cultural and transcend nationalistic boundaries. They will provide the raw material for a new imagination that will take us across the seas of space, time and beyond. I am excited about participating in the creative aspects of the comic project because I see an opportunity to bring to our society a message that goes beyond the narrow boundaries of nationalism, and invites them to a domain of awareness where we experience our universality and hopefully, go beyond racism, ethnocentrism, bigotry, prejudice, and hatred. The new super heroes will be hybrids of all cultures helping us dream infinite possibilities and actualize our highest potential."

I hope Virgin survives and doesn't go under like Crossgen and Valiant.

hey, I edited the thread and put in photos and links, you can check it out!

Great Pictures, they look awesome.

Snakewoman has exposed nipples though.......lol

omg... this is awesome!

Yeah, I loved the pics too.

I definately think Virgin comics will be around for awhile. Hopefully these comics will get worldwide distribution, so they can become popular(like manga). Fingers crossed!

wow, looks awsome!

i love the pictures the style is soo cool

looks pretty cool.........

thanks, i can't wait 'til they come out

They are already out.

really, some said october(2006). i'll check again.

Snakewoman, Sadhu and Devi are all available at your local comic shop. If they are out of stock, the store owner can order them for you....

thanks

now these are worth looking at, they look awesome!

Who the hell reads comics? That's just lame!

^^ No its not, some of the great modern literature happens to be graphic novella or comics.

Good example includes the work of Alan Moore who did The Watchmen and V For Vendetta, both extremely powerful political satires.

Also, comics and manga especially have become pretty mainstream culture, in the advent of the rise of manga in the west. Manga is aimed at all areas of the market, from young to old, and there's intelligent to just non-sensical manga, depending on what's wanted. Superhero comics have always made references to social and political events taking place in the world, commenting on the occurance of such events.

Some of the most intelligent posters have replied positively at this thread, and the comics they're going to make seem to be based on some incredibly intelligent and popular Indian texts, how is that lame unless all the Indian text or culture its based on is lame too?

You can say I'm lame or whatever for admitting I love reading comics and graphic novels, it doesn't deter me, nor do I think I'm particularly lame for liking them. I think its lame when people put down someone for liking something simply because they don't like it themselves.

True, Japanese manga, are world famous. Some of the most popular moveis have come from manga/comic books.

Lets see more exposure in Indian made comics.

Anyone here read Tinkle? Kalia the Crow, Tantri the Mantri, all of them kick @$$.

I actually wanna read End of Story more than any thing. It's another production by Virgin Comics. It remind me of Harry Potter.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/End_of_Story

Whoa..didn't realize how cool those pictures are.

thanks, do you read any comics? I'm just starting.

Haha..I read the Ramayana when I was little...and um don't laugh, but I like Barbie magazines when I was 6.

I liked Archie digests too when I was in elementary school.


Damn, this lady has a nice body.

She's a white woman.

a hot body is a hot body, no matter where the girl's from

barbie, ain't bad for a 6 yr old, lol

Ramayana, was great, Achie i've never read.

bump

are they any good? my girl always reads magnums(?)

Nice Comics .

I think most are new, I haven't read any, I think Rahul has.

I preffered the old classical strips.

These just look like some copies of baby cartoons from that manga stuff.

What do you mean by "old classical strips"?

This is quite a good idea, and perhaps Indian comics can become the next manga sensation, esp since the style used by virgin comics, while largely inspired by the western school of comic book art, also has a degree of uniqueness in terms of character design.

Ramayana Reborn is another idea with a lot of potential. After all, is it any different from doing a graphic novel version of The Odyssey, with a grittier setting and a different perspective? A truly great epic can easily adapt itself to any format, and can be given any number of twists for each version. That's why in, for example, the Indonesian version of the Ramayana (and probably the Thai version as well), Rama and Sita are siblings, for example.

This may be more recent, but it is no different.

Also, someone pointed out that Snakewoman's nipples are exposed. It's not a big deal at all, considering the kinds of carvings you can find on certain temples in India. besides, it's concept art for a comic book, not a Penthouse spread. Thus, the context is totally different, it's a form of artistic expression, no different from the Venus de Milo (or countless bronze sculptures). FTR, a bikini top would probably throw the image in question out of balance.

BTW, Devi=HOTT

^^ good post

True, Ramayana already had many versions in different parts of Southern and Southeastern Asia. It's about time someone modernized the epic and adapted it as a comic book. They should also create a comic book series of Mahabharata, which I think is probably one of the greatest epics of all-time.