Fascinating article about Virgin's new venture, Virgin Comics, whose mission is to create a line of comics and animated films drawn from Indian and South-Asian myths and culture, creating a mainstream "Bollywood" for comics and toons:
In "Spider-Man: India," the face under the famous mask is familiar – sort of. Mumbai-dwelling teen misfit Pavitr Prabhakar gains superhuman powers. This time, though, they come not from the bite of a mutant spider, but by karmic decree from a godlike being. Kang portrays the familiar villains Green Goblin and Doctor Octopus as demons of Hindu mythology. Characters use modern Hindi slang and make knowing Bollywood references (glossary thoughtfully provided). But like his New York counterpart, Pavitr learns the hard way that "with great power there must also come great responsibility." Some things are true in every culture.
(Thanks, Tom!)
Update: Jason sez, "The quote cited in the post refers to a 2004 series published by Marvel that helped to inspire the Virgin line. Virgin Comics is not an imprint of Marvel or any other publisher."
