Panini Books Spider-Man India - Seva.

by Abhishek Malsuni, Abhishek Malsuni (illustrator), Tadam Gyadu (illustrator)

India's Spider-Man stars in his first series in almost twenty years! Pavitr Prabhakar is back, fresh from "The End of the Spider-Verse," in his own universe's Mumbai. But things aren't exactly simple. There's a science professor promising results activating people's "lizard brain," along with a ruthless businessman who may be more than he seems! As a new Lizard emerges to threaten all of Mumbai, its new and terrifying abilities could make it the most powerful version yet! Spider-Man is the city's only hope, but victory will come at a cost - one Pavitr may not be ready for! How can he pick up the pieces when the entire city is turning against him?! The bloodthirsty creature's next move may mean a death sentence for Pavitr should he ever don his costume on the city streets again! Collecting INDIA (2023) #1-5.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Spider Man, Superheroes, Comix, Marvel, Science Fiction

116 pages, Paperback

Published June 1, 2024

Reviews

[Robert]

My fault for not knowing this character had more backstory than just showing up in the Spiderverse movie series but not a particularly good comic by any standard.

[Amit]

I enjoyed a story that mixed beautiful culture of India and the power of Seva with Spider-Man. The parallels with Peter Parker of 616 was amazing to see and lived the way they incorporated all the characters. It was an interesting extension to the 2004 series.

[Anna Quilter]

Pavitra Prabhakar of Earth 50101 takes on his own version of The Lizard and a wealthy/evil land developer...
Fun and fast paced.Enjoyable read

[zara]

[4.5]

[Aritra Dasgupta]

This started super cheesy and cliche and ended up... not bad? It went places where I wasn't expecting to go directly. It doesn't have the best dialogue in the world, but it was engaging and I finished it, so that counts for something. For real though, Spider man India has so much potential with the poverty and the economic disparity present here(with the disparity being wild now, Ambanis having a sizeable percent of India's GDP). So I really hope it gets a sequel and we need to support this. But I also want something which goes all in and is really engaging and heartfelt and great. So not the worst, especially because of the potential.

[Rahul Nadella]

The story was entertaining even if the twist was predictable. The problem is that the Indian Spider-man of Across the Spider-Verse is better designed, much more interesting, much more fun... Spider-Man: India is simply a disappointment for what could have been a much better introduction to the character. Unfortunately, the Pavitr Prabhakar here lives in a world that doesn't feel close to as alive and vibrant as his cinematic counterpart.

[jana (taylor's version)]

2.5 stars

While I love Pavitr in the Spiderverse movie, this comic just fell kinda flat for me.

[Mike Jorgensen]

I really liked this! Great Spider-Man story and very cool take on the the character with a different set of cultural norms and values. Also, the art and colors are stunning

[Krishav Gaur]

WWWWWWWW

[Sanjay L]

What a joy to read Spider-Man India! Nikesh Shukla creates such a great world and the fusion of Hindi is just great. Plus love that I have a signed copy by the man himself after meeting at the Edinburgh Book Festival in 2024!

[Ya Boi Be Reading]

3.5 rounded up for being just such a good story done well as well as being faithful to Spider-Man while incorporating India into it in just the perfect way.
Nikesh Sukla writes a great story focused on community and selflessness of individuality and selfishness in Pavitr Prabhakar vs The Lizard as well as a story of gentrification and media manipulation. I don't know a bunch of Indian culture but you can tell their is clear effort to include Indian culture, depictions, and lens in a Spiderman story here from depiction of social media use as main news source, the way the Lizard and the reptilian brain is handled, and use of seva to hold up the communal good Spider-Man works to do. My only real complaint is about his quippy writing style especially in fights. It's so quippy it can feel like a detriment to multiple serious moments.
Abhishek Malsuni pencils issue 1 and 2, with the rest pencilled by Tatum Gyadu. Both are pretty similar though I prefer Tatum Gyadu as Malsuni can be a bit stiff in action shots. Scott Hanna did an excellent job as inker. I enjoy when he really commits to chunky line weights especially when he draws The Lizard. It just looks so satisfying.

[Shivesh]

Now this was a cool return to Earth-50101 (where Spider-Man is an Indian kid in Mumbai). My son and I read an issue every night for five nights before bed. I loved the characters but the ending was abrupt and didn't resolve the main villain drama to satisfaction - there might be a sequel series in the works, but I hope they move on to another bad guy. The conclusion really removes two stars from this series, which had the potential to be spectacular through four issues before fumbling the payoff. Also, the art is very reminiscent of my childhood Indian comics like Amar Chitra Katha. The Seva theme was warm-hearted and keeps close to the spirit of Spidey across all universes: serve one, serve all, and serve your community above everything. I enjoyed imparting the same lesson to my kid while we read about Pavitr's adventure. Also, even as grumpy as I have become over the years over how our society has crumbled in the era of uncontrolled social media, I found that representation like this is real and important! Seeing another brown kid in a major Marvel comic meant a lot to my 7 year old son, just a young Indian boy living in our American melting pot, and surprisingly tugged at some youthful heartstrings within me as well.

[Ross]

Has it been 20 years already? 2004 gave us the first taste of Pavitr and his origins as the alternate universe 'Spider-Man: India'. It was a fresh take then. Early in the days of the Spider-Verse concept and was a gateway to some other crazy Spider-person adventures.

Now?
20 years later, we go back to see how things are managing for (Bollywood?) Spider-Man. We get a look at his seva, or community service. It's a strong component of Indian cultures and fits well with the universal Spider-Man quote of, 'with great power comes great responsibility'. How exactly does Pavitr balance hero work and daily life?
----
This was a super fun story that hit all the high points of a Spider-Man story. It's also fun to see a Indian influenced NYC in Pavitr's universe. Hopefully, it won't take them another 20 years to write more Spider-Man: India tales.

Bonus: Thanks, Goodreads (or Marvel) for spoiling the costume update with the cover photo?
Bonus Bonus: Give us more Spider-Man: India miniseries. Origin stories for Kraven or Electro?

[Chris Lemmerman]

Has it really been 20 years since the original Spider-Man: India? God, I'm old.

This reintroduction to Pravitr's world is okay - it throws a lot at the wall to see what sticks, a Norman Osborn-esque character, a Lizard, a smear campaign against Spider-Man, a girlfriend, and more. Most of it works, but it's a lot. Then again, if you only get to explore a character once every twenty years, I guess that makes sense.

I think the let-down was the artwork, which just feels...pedestrian. There's a few different artists across the five issues, and none of them really left much of an impression on me, which is a shame.

There's room in the Spider-Verse for as many Spiders as necessary; I hope we see more of Spider-Man: India a bit sooner than the last time.

[Sean]

My biggest issue with this book was how generic it felt. Nothing about this felt any different than any other Spider-Man book. It was barely obvious it took place in India. The whole idea of the Spider-Verse are new versions of characters and this Indian version was such a pale reflection of 616 Peter. The art was solid but the coloring was off. Overall, this just didn't hit as it was mostly bland.

[Matt Sautman]

A book that is plenty of fun in regard to how the India version of Spider-Man’s world building unfurls, but perhaps too short to truly tell a story that feels revolutionary or transformative. However, the book may contain significant commentary tied to South Asian experiences that I missed that could elevate its quality further.

[Rodney Sloan]

Junk!

The boring and implausible story arc about an office worker coerced into defaming Spider-Man on social media did nothing for this vanilla Spidey-vs.-Lizard rehash. If I wanted office adventures, I'd watch porn.

That said, the art is fantastic. It's too bad Marvel wasted its artists' talents rendering Twitter screens. Yuk!

[Steve Howells]

Interesting take on the Spider-Man lore.

[Ushnav Shroff]

A pretty amazing introduction to the Indian Spider-Man, Pavitra Prabhakar.

[Andja]

2.5

[Alex G]

Nice story but could've done far more.

[Keegan Schueler]

Solid one off story and the characters are familiar but the change in setting is nice.