Experience Devi, the princeps civitatis of Virgin Comics’ new Shakti line: 

In the second century of mankind’s arrival on earth, the Gods of light took up arms against one of their own.  Bala, a fallen dark god, had rejected the old ways of the pantheon and sought to impose his dominion over mankind…

So the pure Gods each sacrificed a part of themselves to create a powerful entity.  She is Devi.  A fierce feminine warrior, stronger that the Gods themselves, she is reincarnated into the body of a human woman each time a great threat faces the Pantheon… [link]

Finally, a caricature of a strong woman, one who protects the Pantheon, doesn’t take crap from Bala or any other uncle and thinks with her head, not–

Her single ally is a washed up, burnt-out, alcoholic detective named Rahul who has long claimed to see the city’s demons but has been dismissed by everyone…

Devi’s fascination for Rahul, her increasing desire not to save humanity but to save him, not to exorcise Sitapur’s demons, but to exorcise his, now fuels her quest.  This is not the story of a girl who wanted to be the Goddess but rather the Goddess who longed to be a girl. [link]                                                         

Oh.  Well, maybe her friends are cool…

                

Meet Ramayan: Reborn (left), The Sadhu (center) and Snakewoman (right), the flagship creations of a creative collaboration (a.k.a. Virgin Comics & Virgin Animation), between writer Deepak Chopra, filmmaker Shekhar Kapur and Sir Richard Branson:

Based in Bangalore, India, [Virgin] currently houses 50 artists and writers in a creative studio and is focused on two areas of development:

1. The creation of original stories and character properties that tap into the vast library of mythology & re-invent the rich indigenous narratives of Asia in a unique, compelling way.

2. Collaborating with creative talent from around the world - from filmmakers, to writers, to musicians, and other artists - to craft original stories and character properties initially in the form of comics and graphic novels subsequently to be developed into films, television, animation, gaming, wireless content… [link]

Of these collaborations, the most notable (or perhaps just the ones that will be most noticed), involve director John Woo; director Guy Ritchie; actor Nicholas Cage; and jack-of-all-things-notable and Virgin’s Chief Creative Officer, Gotham Chopra (who, for those keeping track, is author of the graphic novel-cum-film, Bulletproof Monk; son of Deepak Chopra; and former news-anchor of Al Gore’s brainchild, Current TV). 

Also joining the mela is CEO & Publisher, Sharad Devarajan (who also happens to be CEO & President of Gotham Entertainment Group, the company that brought Spiderman to India), who believes, quite firmly, that the primary audience for the Shakti line of comics is not in India, but in the western world:

We truly believe that in the years ahead India will become a leading global cultural exporter. In the same way Indian children have embraced Batman, Spider-Man, Scooby-Doo and Britney Spears, today’s Western world has an increasing global appetite for the most engaging content, regardless of its cultural affiliation. If you told parents ten years ago in America that their children would know characters named Yu Gi Oh! and Pokemon as well as they would Spider-Man, those parents would have thought you were crazy – yet in America today an estimated 30% of major children’s animated programming is now Japanese animation.

I can dig that approach, especially because in America we love things that distort our sense of spirituality, sexuality and violence.  However, contrary to what Devarajan thinks, I do think Shakti will have an audience in the subcontinent because, seriously, who doesn’t want to see a woman share title with the mother of all goddesses while wearing leather and falling in love with alcoholics…