A brown Justice League?

Posted on by

All of a sudden the desi comic book scene seems to be blowing up. It has led me to pose the timely question, “is the world ready for a brown Justice League?”

Let’s meet some of the candidates. First we have Sonic. No, not the hedgehog. This one is all woman as you can see. Sonic is featured in the new comic book series titled Guardian Heroes by Kevin Grevioux, who was one of the folks behind the movie Underworld.

There are three questions that immediately came to mind:

1) Does this woman workout at Manish’s gym in Mumbai?
2) What are the tunes she be spinning from those long fingered hands?
3) Does the oversized bindi have any special powers associated with it?

In addition to the Guardian Heroes, we also have a cast of potential brown Justice Leaguers from the new Virgin Comics venture. Via an email:

We are coming out with three issues, each with work done by distinguished personalities like Deepak Chopra, Alex Ross, and Greg Horn – all champions in their own fields. This new venture in the world of comics brings together fantasy and Indian mythology in a brilliant form for the world.

This next dude looks pretty bad-ass. I think they should make the tiger talk also, like Cringer/Battlecat:

I don’t know what type of gas is being released from this woman’s arms but if it is meant to hypnotize me then it is working rather well:

Check out the rest of the superheroes/villains and let’s hope this is in no way a harbinger of the Kali Yuga.

See related posts: World Wide spider-Web, The Anatomy of a Spider, Smashing icons, Chopra tackles comics, Ramayana graphic novel available online, Swab-in-cheek wisdom, A new comic book hero, Angry Eggplants!, Sanjay finds a loophole

31 thoughts on “A brown Justice League?”

  1. i certainly wouldn’t mess with that Hanuman or Rama! wonder what their exercise regime is? and the tiger is coolness itself. and what woman wouldn’t want a waist like that. she could give Chun Li a run for her money. as another hero/villain, i suggest a super sadhu with a football.

  2. A Desi sadhu could well justify vedic levitation better than Superman. But his beard will make him less aerodynamic 🙂

  6. certainly wouldn’t mess with that Hanuman or Rama!

    I agree with you. Sometimes I wonder if such religious figures were merely images in someones brain.

  7. nice grafx – but personally not comfortable with escapist literature – but then, who’s to say religion isnt the ultimate escapist fare – belief in the supreme entity, payback in the post-mortal existence etc – i’d rather kiss the earth cuz it doesnt get better or worse than here and now.

  8. “Given this, I wonder if Rakesh Roshan will go the comic-book route with Krish…”

    sounds like bollywood version of archie, veronica and betty, minus the songs. they could still have the song and dance and make them interactive comic books (like those greeting cards) if they really wanted it to be bollywood.

    “Sometimes I wonder if such religious figures were merely images in someones brain.”

    well, as hairy_d points out, all religious figures/religion can be classified as merely images in someone’s brain, or exaggerated versions of reality. i guess it all depends on which ones you choose to believe in, or whether you choose to dismiss them all.

  9. Kevin Grevioux, who was one of the folks behind the movie Underworld.

    I think he also played the big werewolf henchman in the film.

  10. skin tight costume are NOT appropriate for brown chix. show some respect for the culture and don’t just ape western mores. how about a colorful but classy chamise?

  13. skin tight costume are NOT appropriate for brown chix.

    Here’s a (half) brown chick, Rhona Mitra in a tight costume… looks pretty nice 😉

  14. BTW, is it only me who’s seeing breasts-complete-with-nipples (from whence her power flows!) in Sonic’s hands? A four-breasted woman, what udder joy :).

  15. Completely unrelated but Anjali Kulkarni is in the running for Wonkette’s hottest capitol hill intern. Vote early and often.

  16. Completely unrelated but Anjali Kulkarni is in the running for Wonkette’s hottest capitol hill intern. Vote early and often.

    again, we stoop to the lowest and most pedestrian aspects of western “culture.” what about a contest admiring women for their accomplishments and not their surface attributes? god knows that brown culture(s) have enough issue with heterosexism, should be adding to this by assimilating the most crass and “laddish” aspects of western “modernity”?

  19. Those girls above look like Saloni from the soap opera Saath Phere.

    Here’s a link to the preview issue of Virgin Comics’ new series – Devi and Ramayan Revisited.

    As much as I hate Deepak Chopra, I’m quite impressed by the Ramayan comic. The banar log are really fierce looking though- and tell me the banar on the left side doesn’t look like he’s wearing native American headgear?

  20. “Not comic book related, but speaking of desi subjects, did you’ll see a review of this new film with these desi actors?”

    Sha is flippin amazing

  21. The Ramayana Revisited looks cool, and the brown superhero pulps seem like good ideas. I have high hopes for R.R. Alex Ross’ art looks un-frickin-believable, but Deepak Chopra’s involvement threatens to torpedo the whole affair for me. God I hate that guy. There is a preview of some of these comics here, so take a look and talk amongst yourselves. I hope after all this obsession with the superhero genre, Indian (and more American comics for that matter) will grow the fuck up. You know what was cool about this guy and Spiderman: India? Absolutely nothing.

  24. Hey, it didn’t say I didn’t know! Truth be told, I wasn’t too sure if he was atheist or Buddhist. Or Shinto – he prayed in Shinto temples when in Japan and had a Shinto fiancée…although that doesn’t really say anything about his religion.

    So to answer you, not really.

  26. I wonder how exactly the heavy bindi-donning superhero convinced her hubby to let her engage in such a dominant and aggressive career? Gosh, what would the aunties say? She probably told her husband that she was doing social work and volunteering at the hospital or something.

  27. Fuerza Dulce,

    Bindi Babe probably ain’t married yet, or she has some kind of mild-mannered alter-ego as you’ve suggested.

    It would make quite an interesting story — “traditional”, domesticated desi wife from the perspective of her overbearing and misogynistic hubby and in-laws, liberated crime-fighting superhero in reality.

    The paradox between her family life (and the stresses it places on her) and her “other” life (and, again, the impact it has on her home life) would be interesting reading if they did it properly and wanted to go down the psychological, “conflicted” route, a la the recent Spiderman movies and Batman Returns.

  29. Aside from those that hate my father, I am glad to see the (mostly) positive feedback on our soon to be released books. I trust we’ll continue to get candid feedback from this lot 🙁