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Virgin Comics Lineup: Virulents, Gamekeeper, Devi, Snake Woman
Posted 12 Apr 2007
Writer: Dasgupta, Diggle, Basu, Wells
Artist: Hyrapiet, Singh, Patel, Shinde
Publisher: Virgin Comics
4.60 out of 5 Stars
Reviewed by Adam McGovern
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Virulents GN
Script: Shamik Dasgupta
Art: Dean Ruben Hyrapiet
Color: Parag R. Godse
4 out of 5 Stars
Gamekeeper #1
Script: Andy Diggle
Art and Color: Mukesh Singh
5 out of 5 Stars
Devi #9
Script: Samit Basu
Art: Saumin Patel
Color: Nanjan J and N. Sivakami
4.5 out of 5 Stars
Snake Woman #9
Script: Zeb Wells
Art: Vivek Shinde
Color: I. Jayabalan
5 out of 5 Stars
Comic-book metaphors for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars (and their
political fallout) are unavoidable, from Civil War to
Freedom Fighters and many more. But Virgin Comics’
Virulents, like Vertigo’s Army @ Love, is one of
the books that’s going beyond allegory to simply amplify the
absurdities of the actual conflicts, as a way of accentuating their
disorienting feeling both for those on the battlefield and those
trying to make sense of it all at home.
Snake Woman #9: “A metaphor for indiscriminately
expanding disputes from Palestine to Kashmir, or just an intelligent,
masterfully tense yarn?”
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While Army @ Love portrays a near future in which the
leaders of the endless war on terror resort to recruiting soldiers as
if the experience were some kind of extreme sports challenge mixed
with girls-gone-wild perks, Virulents adds a shadowy threat of
invincible vampires to the list of combatants, magnifying the sense of
unknowable and unconquerable enemies in a corrupting conflict. The
story follows a special detachment of American and Indian soldiers in
Afghanistan, ostensibly searching for a lost patrol but also keeping
deadly secrets from each other and approaching a collision with even
worse ones unknown to them all. The creators do a good job of
conveying hellish landscapes and portraying the pressurized mutual
dependence and cultural animosities between their uneasily allied
Christian, Hindu, Muslim and Sikh protagonists.
The pacing goes a little haywire toward the end, with a creepy
conclusion that, while it effectively expresses the endlessness of a
self-perpetuating war, feels a bit more like the to-be-continued
gotcha of a decompressed regular series than the proper closure of a
64-page standalone. Similarly, quality-control remains an occasionally
unaccomplished mission at Virgin; a writer so savvy about the cultural
dynamics of his international cast should be expected to know, for
instance, that people from Afghanistan are Afghans, not
“Afghanis.” But overall Virgin’s most ambitious
single project to date acquits itself well, and has earned the right
to come home with loyal readers.
Our violent moment plays out in subtler ways throughout several of
Virgin’s current series. Gamekeeper’s
eagerly-awaited premier issue continues the company’s already
strong tradition of promising much and delivering even more. The book
builds great tension and establishes strong and intriguing
characterization in its tale of a Chechen émigré with a mysterious,
traumatic past who serves as a kind of one-man security force at a
remote Scottish ranch for rehabilitating troubled youth — where
all is clearly and spookily not what it seems. Filmmaker Guy
Ritchie’s concept is rivetingly brought to life by writer Andy
Diggle, and artist Mukesh Singh outdoes himself with a cinematic sense
of idyllic vistas broken by gloomy foreboding, jolting violence and
haunted memories, applying stunningly painterly color over his own
pencils and inks; not since Frank Espinosa’s Rocketo have
I gotten a sense of seeing visuals so decisively new for the medium.
Over in the goddess saga Devi, the usual painted look has,
as in the epic Ramayan 3392 AD, given way to a more linear,
manga-evoking style, which doesn’t always work for conveying the
series’ typical gravitas or grace. But Ramayan remains an often
compelling wartime morality tale, and Devi is the smartest and most
imaginative comic on the subject of goddesshood since Promethea. In
Issue #9 we see an intriguing philosophical struggle going on between
the supernatural savior’s consciousness and that of her human host, in
the midst of a more catastrophic real-world clash. As a climactic
battle to suppress a despotic rogue deity rages, the two sides of the
heroine’s mind have interesting things to tell each other about gods
not being aloof to human suffering and humans not being detached from
their sometimes morally-compromising obligations. This exciting
superheroine adventure has an astute subtext about being an engaged
but responsible superpower of another kind.
Snake Woman #9 also shows that a comic can give you your
money’s worth and your mind’s worth in equal measure.
It’s the scary modern-day legend of a secret society of ruthless
men and one confused and volatile woman who have been serially
reincarnated for some two centuries from a group of British soldiers
and a victimized Indian child, cursed to reenact the antagonisms of an
atrocity that happened long ago. The story has been taking suitably
serpentine twists, as everyone from loved ones to law enforcement gets
entangled in this ancient struggle. A metaphor for indiscriminately
expanding disputes from Palestine to Kashmir, or just an intelligent,
masterfully tense yarn? Either way, this book and all of
Virgin’s output is working for me.
—CCdC—
Cover image used without explicit permission in accordance with the "Fair Use" provision of US copyright law.
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