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Vimanarama
From the fertile mind and nimble fingers of writer Grant Morrison and artist Philip Bond comes the latest in multiculturalist spectacle! Color, song and cosmic violence collide in VIMANARAMA, collecting the 3-issue Vertigo miniseries that fuses East and West together into a transcendental delight of romance and danger.Feel the Earth tremble as 19-year-old grocer's son Ali and his beautiful arranged bride Sofia accidentally unleash an ancient race of unimaginable evil from beneath Bradford, England, then summon the equally powerful Prince Ben Rama and his Ultrahadeen to do battle against them. Shudder as Ben Rama reveals his love for Sofia, the reincarnation of his immortal soul mate, only to lose all his power at her hesitation. And thrill to the final battle between good and evil, played out over the ancient land of Atlantis together with the consummation of the ultimate end-of-the-world love story. All this and more awaits you in VIMANARAMA, the best of all worlds!
102 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2005
3 people are currently reading
169 people want to read
About the author
Grant Morrison
1,791 books4,569 followersGrant Morrison has been working with DC Comics for twenty five years, after beginning their American comics career with acclaimed runs on ANIMAL MAN and DOOM PATROL. Since then they have written such best-selling series as JLA, BATMAN and New X-Men, as well as such creator-owned works as THE INVISIBLES, SEAGUY, THE FILTH, WE3 and JOE THE BARBARIAN. In addition to expanding the DC Universe through titles ranging from the Eisner Award-winning SEVEN SOLDIERS and ALL-STAR SUPERMAN to the reality-shattering epic of FINAL CRISIS, they have also reinvented the worlds of the Dark Knight Detective in BATMAN AND ROBIN and BATMAN, INCORPORATED and the Man of Steel in The New 52 ACTION COMICS.
In their secret identity, Morrison is a "counterculture" spokesperson, a musician, an award-winning playwright and a chaos magician. They are also the author of the New York Times bestseller Supergods, a groundbreaking psycho-historic mapping of the superhero as a cultural organism. They divide their time between their homes in Los Angeles and Scotland.
In their secret identity, Morrison is a "counterculture" spokesperson, a musician, an award-winning playwright and a chaos magician. They are also the author of the New York Times bestseller Supergods, a groundbreaking psycho-historic mapping of the superhero as a cultural organism. They divide their time between their homes in Los Angeles and Scotland.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 59 reviews
March 11, 2018
Vimanarama is Grant Morrison's bizarre-o take on a modern day apocalyptic tale set in England with a definitely Eastern religion influenced veneer.
Starts off predictably enough with the appearance (presumably enough) of a Bollywood flick. In similar fashion the story careens forth with all the color and bombasity such a film would entail. The initially believable plot swiftly alters from the profane toward the cosmic.
Humongous nephilim-esque figures quickly take the fore after their foil bad guys (who look like Darkseid with tuning forks for horns) are reborn as well. The protagonist's personal problems are subsumed by a crisis of cosmic proportions. Toss in the Legend of Atlantis and a pre-modern space station and the story just gets more and more bizarre.
The application of Hindu ethos/beliefs becomes all the more bizarre (as revealed in the final issue) that the family is Muslim. No matter the slightest shred of logic, Morrison (with his penchant for the heavenly) tosses us a truncheon of Orientalized glints and glimmers of an Oriental mythos. Truly imaginative in scope, the narrative and the illustrations thinly border on the LSD-influenced psychedelia of the 60's.
Messy sure but you can't expect much less from a Morrison work, nonetheless from a one-shot. The three issues will dazzle your eyes but your brain will (uselessly) stretch to make the slightest sense. Who needs substance when you've got groovy style?
One hallucinatory thumb up.
Starts off predictably enough with the appearance (presumably enough) of a Bollywood flick. In similar fashion the story careens forth with all the color and bombasity such a film would entail. The initially believable plot swiftly alters from the profane toward the cosmic.
Humongous nephilim-esque figures quickly take the fore after their foil bad guys (who look like Darkseid with tuning forks for horns) are reborn as well. The protagonist's personal problems are subsumed by a crisis of cosmic proportions. Toss in the Legend of Atlantis and a pre-modern space station and the story just gets more and more bizarre.
The application of Hindu ethos/beliefs becomes all the more bizarre (as revealed in the final issue) that the family is Muslim. No matter the slightest shred of logic, Morrison (with his penchant for the heavenly) tosses us a truncheon of Orientalized glints and glimmers of an Oriental mythos. Truly imaginative in scope, the narrative and the illustrations thinly border on the LSD-influenced psychedelia of the 60's.
Messy sure but you can't expect much less from a Morrison work, nonetheless from a one-shot. The three issues will dazzle your eyes but your brain will (uselessly) stretch to make the slightest sense. Who needs substance when you've got groovy style?
One hallucinatory thumb up.
July 8, 2013
Ancient Indian space gods return to wreak havoc on London just as Ali, a young British-Indian man, is about to find out what his betrothed wife-to-be will look like. As Ali discovers he is somehow tied into the chaos happening around him, he and his bride-to-be set off on a mystical adventure to save the world!
Vimanarama is Grant Morrison writing what he does best - crazy superhero stories with spiritual-ish elements liberally mixed in. It's also a much lighter, funnier story than we usually see from him and the humour and jokes are the best quality in this book.
Philip Bond's artwork is pretty good - I wouldn't say I was blown away by anything I saw but the line work is strong and the designs for the Ultrahadeen (the good Indian space gods) were great even if the bad guys bore a heavy resemblance to Kirby's Darkseid.
Maybe because it was such a short read (it's a 3 issue mini-series) and as a result the story and characters don't really feel fully fleshed out, but I didn't connect with this one as strongly as I usually do with Morrison's work. Vimanarama is a quirky, fun read in places but compared to the other high quality stuff he usually writes, it's all too forgettable and brief to make a strong impression.
Vimanarama is Grant Morrison writing what he does best - crazy superhero stories with spiritual-ish elements liberally mixed in. It's also a much lighter, funnier story than we usually see from him and the humour and jokes are the best quality in this book.
Philip Bond's artwork is pretty good - I wouldn't say I was blown away by anything I saw but the line work is strong and the designs for the Ultrahadeen (the good Indian space gods) were great even if the bad guys bore a heavy resemblance to Kirby's Darkseid.
Maybe because it was such a short read (it's a 3 issue mini-series) and as a result the story and characters don't really feel fully fleshed out, but I didn't connect with this one as strongly as I usually do with Morrison's work. Vimanarama is a quirky, fun read in places but compared to the other high quality stuff he usually writes, it's all too forgettable and brief to make a strong impression.
June 16, 2018
An absolutely delightful and bonkers mixture of sci-fi, love story and existential drama focused on a regular British Pakistani family who run their own grocery store. On paper, it’s a pretty standard Morrison fare, what with the insane world-ending threat, psychedelic visuals and all that. But it’s surprisingly easy to follow, the characters are rich and vibrant and the dialogues are sharp and witty, and that gives the book its unique flavor that feels different enough from Morrison’s other works to make it stand out. Phillip Bond’s artwork is quite nice, too. Overall, Vimanarama is a lot of fun, and one of the more lighthearted and playful Grant Morrison books, which was a pleasant surprise.
January 16, 2012
This book had intrigued me ever since I saw it in my comic book store. It was about an Indian dude! Or maybe a Pakistani dude, I'm not sure. His name is Ali. But anyway, he's in London, and he's about to meet the girl he's been arranged to marry, and he hopes she's not ugly. And then a 6,000-year-old evil is unleashed along with Prince Ben Rama, who totally macks on his girl while trying to vanquish evil. Now that I think about it, Grant Morrison may very well be a Doctor Who fan because this book (a three-issue miniseries) is sort of like a ridiculous Who episode. Anyway, this was more in the Seaguy vein of just being weird and whimsical for the hell of it, which allows for great lines like "My knee...is grazed beyond redemption!" I did actually like the characters—and appreciated them for being brown—but the book is so short, you don't really get to know them very well.
August 17, 2021
4.5 out of 5— this Morrison work, largely overlooked and possibly underrated, it warrants multiple readings; pit stops for googling names and terms; and a lighthearted mindset on approaching it the first time.
Philip Bond realizes Grant’s script as well as anyone could. The ever present nods to Jack Kirby are accomplished and memorable (especially New Gods), not an easy feat for any artist.
In a nutshell: The rebirth of the last Pakistani superhero; achieved through sacrifice via suicide, during an apocalypse brought to earth by an innocently meddling toddler. Wild, wacky, serious, fun stuff. Give it a shot.
Philip Bond realizes Grant’s script as well as anyone could. The ever present nods to Jack Kirby are accomplished and memorable (especially New Gods), not an easy feat for any artist.
In a nutshell: The rebirth of the last Pakistani superhero; achieved through sacrifice via suicide, during an apocalypse brought to earth by an innocently meddling toddler. Wild, wacky, serious, fun stuff. Give it a shot.
January 6, 2020
One of my favourite mythological concepts is this eternally recurring Wheel of Time thing where in each phase the people are different - going from vast, mighty, nigh-immortal giants in a perfect heavenly world, to a bunch of stunted depraved morons that wage war in the grim darkness. I think we're at the second-worst phase right now. And going by these celestial giants and demons coming from the distant past, looking at how far humanity's fallen, I think Vimanarama draws a lot from that particular mythology. So that'd be neat - gave me some hope as I went into this.
It doesn't really deliver, though, mostly because it's just much too short. This is the premise worthy of a massive and years-long epic that would take me a long time to read through, give me all these characters to relate to and watch them grow and occasionally sacrifice themselves for the cause or turn evil, and see things change in a long period of time. Something like what Hellboy and B.P.R.D did: armageddon decades in the making, until it finally ended only very recently.
But three volumes? Never going to make it. There's just too much it skips, too many things I'd have wanted to see more context on, things happening much too fast, and it ends way too early and ambiguously and basically out of nowhere. It's like only the tiniest slice of a massive many-layered chocolate cake, that's only just enough to give me a bit of a taste and make me want more, then leaves me without delivering.
There's a few short highlight moments, and the art is generally capable if not great, but on the whole this was one of the biggest disappointments of the year so far.
It doesn't really deliver, though, mostly because it's just much too short. This is the premise worthy of a massive and years-long epic that would take me a long time to read through, give me all these characters to relate to and watch them grow and occasionally sacrifice themselves for the cause or turn evil, and see things change in a long period of time. Something like what Hellboy and B.P.R.D did: armageddon decades in the making, until it finally ended only very recently.
But three volumes? Never going to make it. There's just too much it skips, too many things I'd have wanted to see more context on, things happening much too fast, and it ends way too early and ambiguously and basically out of nowhere. It's like only the tiniest slice of a massive many-layered chocolate cake, that's only just enough to give me a bit of a taste and make me want more, then leaves me without delivering.
There's a few short highlight moments, and the art is generally capable if not great, but on the whole this was one of the biggest disappointments of the year so far.
April 3, 2024
(3,6 of 5 for a brief meeting with a nice story idea)
I didn't expect much, but I must credit Grant Morrison his storyteller and idea-making brain is very exceptional. I actually enjoyed it and I see the potential of the story, world and plot. And to my surprise, the only thing which annoyed me was the way the "bad guys" talked. Of course thanks to the given short space it feels rushed and compressed. Bot otherwise it's nice. Nice presentation of something which could be an interesting Hindu-influenced series.
I didn't expect much, but I must credit Grant Morrison his storyteller and idea-making brain is very exceptional. I actually enjoyed it and I see the potential of the story, world and plot. And to my surprise, the only thing which annoyed me was the way the "bad guys" talked. Of course thanks to the given short space it feels rushed and compressed. Bot otherwise it's nice. Nice presentation of something which could be an interesting Hindu-influenced series.
December 23, 2011
I'm trying to figure out where this fits in on the Grant Morrison scoring chart. Essentially, it's fine - fairly amusing, some good character interactions (particularly between Ali, his brother and their father) and great visuals. A short, diverting read.
But the plot just feels rushed and half-baked, and that really rankles with me for some reason. It's like Morrison lost interest in it halfway through. Possibly sooner. Lots of cosmic out-thereness to camouflage the lack of coherence. A deus ex machina here (but the actual mechanics of the story were so confused it's not even clear that it was necessary), a Morrisonesque breaking of the fourth wall there (ditto - to be uncharitable Morrison is papering over the obvious cracks with a veneer of his go-to tricks, in an effort to distract us); but you're left scrabbling to find the sum of its parts.
The Indian/Pakistani background quickly becomes superfluous to the story (again to be uncharitable, the main relevance seems to be that the family owns a corner shop), which is fine, except that such a lot is made of the background in the packaging of the book. And there's a very odd blend of Hindu and Muslim cultures used in the book. Its name, the font used in its logo, the poses of the characters on the cover, the demigods (the Ultrahadeen) are all rooted in Hindu culture (i.e., a culture which is predominantly Indian); but the characters are of Pakistani origin and are Muslim. There's no reason why these two different cultures couldn't be utilised in the same book, but there is no reason in this book why they are. They are presented here without distinction, which just seems lazy.
The best thing about the book is Philip Bond's charming art - for that alone the book probably deserves 3 stars. I would like to read a story illustrated by Bond, with the same characters, but without all the mythic, supernatural and superheroic elements. While he does carry off the Demigods, battleships, demons etc. just fine, it's in the smaller things that his art really comes to life.
So on the Morrison scale of things - the book is short (generally a good sign for a Morrison work); it has few pretensions, and is not trying to carry A Bigger Message (again, normally in its favour); unfortunately, through lack of time or interest, Morrison didn't seem to care enough about the story to make it cohere (kinda fatal in the Morrison canon). And that makes it very minor Morrison - a shame, as Philip Bond (not to mention the readers, and Southern Asian culture as a whole) deserved better.
But the plot just feels rushed and half-baked, and that really rankles with me for some reason. It's like Morrison lost interest in it halfway through. Possibly sooner. Lots of cosmic out-thereness to camouflage the lack of coherence. A deus ex machina here (but the actual mechanics of the story were so confused it's not even clear that it was necessary), a Morrisonesque breaking of the fourth wall there (ditto - to be uncharitable Morrison is papering over the obvious cracks with a veneer of his go-to tricks, in an effort to distract us); but you're left scrabbling to find the sum of its parts.
The Indian/Pakistani background quickly becomes superfluous to the story (again to be uncharitable, the main relevance seems to be that the family owns a corner shop), which is fine, except that such a lot is made of the background in the packaging of the book. And there's a very odd blend of Hindu and Muslim cultures used in the book. Its name, the font used in its logo, the poses of the characters on the cover, the demigods (the Ultrahadeen) are all rooted in Hindu culture (i.e., a culture which is predominantly Indian); but the characters are of Pakistani origin and are Muslim. There's no reason why these two different cultures couldn't be utilised in the same book, but there is no reason in this book why they are. They are presented here without distinction, which just seems lazy.
The best thing about the book is Philip Bond's charming art - for that alone the book probably deserves 3 stars. I would like to read a story illustrated by Bond, with the same characters, but without all the mythic, supernatural and superheroic elements. While he does carry off the Demigods, battleships, demons etc. just fine, it's in the smaller things that his art really comes to life.
So on the Morrison scale of things - the book is short (generally a good sign for a Morrison work); it has few pretensions, and is not trying to carry A Bigger Message (again, normally in its favour); unfortunately, through lack of time or interest, Morrison didn't seem to care enough about the story to make it cohere (kinda fatal in the Morrison canon). And that makes it very minor Morrison - a shame, as Philip Bond (not to mention the readers, and Southern Asian culture as a whole) deserved better.
February 6, 2017
Weird and fast, though not really fleshed out, still enjoyable for what it was.
April 19, 2020
Overlooked at the time of publication in part because everyone was gushing over the contemporaneous We3, I suspect Vimanarama was also a bit too niche and weird for mainstream -- largely American -- comic audiences. A British-Pakistani protagonist? Ancient Sanskrit epics reskinned as Kirbyesque adventures? Flip-flopping between kitchen-sink comedy-drama and apocalyptic battles? It was probably all a bit too difficult for some to parse back in 2005.
I love it. It feels a bit like The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, with an ordinary British family -- and nothing seems more ordinary and British than the Pakistani family running the corner shop -- thrust into a genre for which they are not prepared, their personal anxieties and preoccupations clashing with the serious business of magic supermen battling in the skies. Which is, of course, not serious at all, because it's all very silly in comparison to real life. Which is sort of the point. Anyway.
It's also funny, but in an understated, laid back way. There are a couple of jokes and smart quips in there, but the humour arises in most part from people acting like people in the face of great adversity. All of the characters feel real, except for the magic supermen, who are stupid and over the top, but again, that's part of the point.
Philip Bond is one of my favourite comic artists anyway, but he and colourist Brian Miller do a great job. Although Bond has a cartoony style, he nonetheless has a talent for capturing ordinariness that other artists cannot match; yes, his people are cartoons, but they are cartoons of real people, which doesn't make as much sense as I thought it did now I'm writing it down. His style can also accommodate the more fantastical subject matter, and his comic timing and storytelling is perfect.
My only criticism of the book is that the last few pages feel a bit rushed and vague, but then I suppose the story isn't really about those characters and what happens to them, so a brief summary and update is good enough. I'm sorry if that is itself vague, but I'm trying to avoid spoilers.
Anyway. Read Vimanarama. It's great.
I love it. It feels a bit like The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, with an ordinary British family -- and nothing seems more ordinary and British than the Pakistani family running the corner shop -- thrust into a genre for which they are not prepared, their personal anxieties and preoccupations clashing with the serious business of magic supermen battling in the skies. Which is, of course, not serious at all, because it's all very silly in comparison to real life. Which is sort of the point. Anyway.
It's also funny, but in an understated, laid back way. There are a couple of jokes and smart quips in there, but the humour arises in most part from people acting like people in the face of great adversity. All of the characters feel real, except for the magic supermen, who are stupid and over the top, but again, that's part of the point.
Philip Bond is one of my favourite comic artists anyway, but he and colourist Brian Miller do a great job. Although Bond has a cartoony style, he nonetheless has a talent for capturing ordinariness that other artists cannot match; yes, his people are cartoons, but they are cartoons of real people, which doesn't make as much sense as I thought it did now I'm writing it down. His style can also accommodate the more fantastical subject matter, and his comic timing and storytelling is perfect.
My only criticism of the book is that the last few pages feel a bit rushed and vague, but then I suppose the story isn't really about those characters and what happens to them, so a brief summary and update is good enough. I'm sorry if that is itself vague, but I'm trying to avoid spoilers.
Anyway. Read Vimanarama. It's great.
March 24, 2016
«It's the end of the world and I'm only eighteen, Ali! What are we going to do about it?»
One of the three 3-issue Vertigo mini-series from the mid-2000's by Grant Morrison (the other 2 being the equally excellent We3 and Seaguy), Vimanarama is a wonderful blend of East & West, of comedy & drama, and of light & darkness. Don't let the 'potential End of the World' storyline fool you: this book is a light-hearted break from all of Morrison's serious/edgy/WTF stuff, with endearing characters and colourful, eye-popping art. I liked how some (if not all) of the characters were more concerned with their own problems than with the impending destruction of the world.
The only thing I regret is that it took me so long to actually get around to reading it! The fact that it's out of print* certainly makes finding a copy that much harder, but should you have the chance to read this book, don't pass it up.
Fun, charming, witty, colourful. Comic book gold.
I loved this book!
* March 2016: This book was reprinted in Kill Your Boyfriend/Vimanarama Deluxe.
One of the three 3-issue Vertigo mini-series from the mid-2000's by Grant Morrison (the other 2 being the equally excellent We3 and Seaguy), Vimanarama is a wonderful blend of East & West, of comedy & drama, and of light & darkness. Don't let the 'potential End of the World' storyline fool you: this book is a light-hearted break from all of Morrison's serious/edgy/WTF stuff, with endearing characters and colourful, eye-popping art. I liked how some (if not all) of the characters were more concerned with their own problems than with the impending destruction of the world.
The only thing I regret is that it took me so long to actually get around to reading it! The fact that it's out of print* certainly makes finding a copy that much harder, but should you have the chance to read this book, don't pass it up.
Fun, charming, witty, colourful. Comic book gold.
I loved this book!
* March 2016: This book was reprinted in Kill Your Boyfriend/Vimanarama Deluxe.
February 1, 2010
I've never read any Grant Morrison, but judging from this one example, he's a weird dude. A young British guy of South Asian descent discovers an otherwordly temple under his family's corner store, on the same day he meets his bride for an arranged marriage. They accidentally release some evil dudes who are sort of a cross between demons and giant robots. The story moves so quickly and with little explanation and I mostly spent the book thinking, "What the *#$?" It's a quick read and the art is cool, but could have used a little more back story.
September 6, 2017
A surprisingly funny entry from Morrison, who I've never really seen do anything bordering on "comedy" with any success. This still has a lot of his specific creativity behind it (big crazy gods, different realities colliding, exploration of death and emotion via extremely weird metaphors), but somehow feels different from his other stuff I've read.
Part of it is the characterizations. Morrison often just kind of makes everyone in his books extremely weird, and in this case we've got some real life human beings on the page. This is actually great, and really grounds the book when it needs it. Philip Bond's art is also a great fit for this style, and brings the whole story to life in amazing ways.
But, it's far from perfect. I think the biggest problem with this is how rushed it feels. This story, which features some pretty huge, wild ideas based on Indian folklore and a full, three-act style romance, is only about 100 pages long. You can read it in about 20 minutes. It just doesn't give any of its content enough time to breathe or grow. It leaps forward at a lightning pace, and as such sacrifices a lot of its uniqueness. If this thing had been about twice as long telling the same story and exploring the same ideas, I think I would've liked it a lot more. As it stands, though, it's just a quick, fun romp that reads like a pitch for a larger series.
Part of it is the characterizations. Morrison often just kind of makes everyone in his books extremely weird, and in this case we've got some real life human beings on the page. This is actually great, and really grounds the book when it needs it. Philip Bond's art is also a great fit for this style, and brings the whole story to life in amazing ways.
But, it's far from perfect. I think the biggest problem with this is how rushed it feels. This story, which features some pretty huge, wild ideas based on Indian folklore and a full, three-act style romance, is only about 100 pages long. You can read it in about 20 minutes. It just doesn't give any of its content enough time to breathe or grow. It leaps forward at a lightning pace, and as such sacrifices a lot of its uniqueness. If this thing had been about twice as long telling the same story and exploring the same ideas, I think I would've liked it a lot more. As it stands, though, it's just a quick, fun romp that reads like a pitch for a larger series.
June 29, 2022
This mat be a short graphic novel but don't let that fool you.
The art is gorgeous and the story is funny (like a Bollywood comedy), full of delirious action and some big bad guys thrown in for good measure.
The characters are very down to earth, and the settings very familiar and recognizable (except for a very special hole in the ground...)
This is a quick read that will leave you feeling good, with a big, happy smile.
Read this one, you won't regret it.
The art is gorgeous and the story is funny (like a Bollywood comedy), full of delirious action and some big bad guys thrown in for good measure.
The characters are very down to earth, and the settings very familiar and recognizable (except for a very special hole in the ground...)
This is a quick read that will leave you feeling good, with a big, happy smile.
Read this one, you won't regret it.
April 21, 2009
I get the impression that Grant Morrison once read Roger Zelazny's "Lord of Light" and said to himself, "Hey, I could do that...but as a graphic novel."
Seriously, this was a frustrating book. Some of it was clever, in the ways that the new Dr. Who is clever...the interactions between the cosmic and the mundane worked well.
What didn't work well for me was the main character, who is remarkably self-centered and whiny. The "suicide" sequence, in particular, made too little sense, but the character had a good excuse to be somewhat irrational by then.
I also didn't like the opening sequence, which involved a baby learning to walk getting conned into initiating the end of the world. That just seemed wrong, even for a vast, unstoppable evil...
Seriously, this was a frustrating book. Some of it was clever, in the ways that the new Dr. Who is clever...the interactions between the cosmic and the mundane worked well.
What didn't work well for me was the main character, who is remarkably self-centered and whiny. The "suicide" sequence, in particular, made too little sense, but the character had a good excuse to be somewhat irrational by then.
I also didn't like the opening sequence, which involved a baby learning to walk getting conned into initiating the end of the world. That just seemed wrong, even for a vast, unstoppable evil...
November 23, 2019
This really could have been fleshed out more. I don't understand the purpose of this book.
August 26, 2016
Some of the stuff in here is really cool, like the idea that the demonic antagonists were originally buried deep in the Earth in the form of fossil fuels and the implication that they were released, and the Earth made dark in more than one sense, via the Industrial Revolution. But I can't get over the fact that Morrison mixes Islamic and Hinduism elements haphazardly in his attempt to recreate a Jack-Kirby-space-gods sort of vibe. And the ending was completely unsatisfactory.
October 19, 2018
Stunning miscellaneous paraphernalia. Visually fun, literally confusing.
June 26, 2022
Bueno, recuerdo haber leído hace muchos años esta colección y en su momento me gustó, o al menos me pareció entretenida. Supongo que era muy joven e inocente, o me había dado un golpe en la cabeza o algo, porque la verdad, me ha parecido muy mala. Y mira que me jode darle una estrella a Morrison, que soy un fanboy, y en general me convence todo lo que hace y me asombra, me fascina y lo disfruto muchísimo.
Pero no ha sido el caso.
A ver, la idea es original, claro. Alí, el protagonista, es un chico que pertenece a una familia que parece ser paquistaní, asentada en Bradford, en Reino Unido, y que por azar, descubre que bajo la tienda de su familia están las cuevas donde llevan prisioneros seis mil años unas criaturas malvadas y oscurísimas, pero también aquellos que les habían derrotado. ¿Por qué hay unas criaturas y unos dioses de aspecto y costumbres hindúes debajo de Bradford, UK? Ni idea, no se explica. Y no es algo tan fluido como que la imaginación de aquellos que la descubren conforme lo que encuentran ni nada así, es un misterio del que no se habla. Y además, resulta que en ese mismo momento, Alí está conociendo a su prometida, Sofía... que es la reencarnación de la antigua enamorada del principal de los héroes, Ben Rama.
Así que las criaturas oscuras van a devastar el Reino Unido y se van a lanzar hacia la costa americana en busca de la antigua Atlántida, donde se encuentran las llamadas "Vimanas Negras", con las que van a ser capaces de destruir el mundo (una vimana es una especie de nave voladora en los mitos sánscritos y los vedas en los que parece que Morrison estaba metido cuando planteó esa historia. Y en fin, esto se soluciona en tres números, a grandes rasgos, y aunque tiene esa "extrañeza" particular de Morri, creo que se queda muy lejos de los mínimos de creatividad que suele tener, la narrativa va a saltos, el final es muy precipitado, no se definen bien los malos, ni los buenos, ni nada de nada.
Muy, muy mal.
Pero no ha sido el caso.
A ver, la idea es original, claro. Alí, el protagonista, es un chico que pertenece a una familia que parece ser paquistaní, asentada en Bradford, en Reino Unido, y que por azar, descubre que bajo la tienda de su familia están las cuevas donde llevan prisioneros seis mil años unas criaturas malvadas y oscurísimas, pero también aquellos que les habían derrotado. ¿Por qué hay unas criaturas y unos dioses de aspecto y costumbres hindúes debajo de Bradford, UK? Ni idea, no se explica. Y no es algo tan fluido como que la imaginación de aquellos que la descubren conforme lo que encuentran ni nada así, es un misterio del que no se habla. Y además, resulta que en ese mismo momento, Alí está conociendo a su prometida, Sofía... que es la reencarnación de la antigua enamorada del principal de los héroes, Ben Rama.
Así que las criaturas oscuras van a devastar el Reino Unido y se van a lanzar hacia la costa americana en busca de la antigua Atlántida, donde se encuentran las llamadas "Vimanas Negras", con las que van a ser capaces de destruir el mundo (una vimana es una especie de nave voladora en los mitos sánscritos y los vedas en los que parece que Morrison estaba metido cuando planteó esa historia. Y en fin, esto se soluciona en tres números, a grandes rasgos, y aunque tiene esa "extrañeza" particular de Morri, creo que se queda muy lejos de los mínimos de creatividad que suele tener, la narrativa va a saltos, el final es muy precipitado, no se definen bien los malos, ni los buenos, ni nada de nada.
Muy, muy mal.
March 21, 2018
I'm not sure what happened, but Grant Morrison is a much funnier writer than he generally gets credit for being. Lots of great lines in this book had me laughing out loud. The plot seemed to hinge on an Eastern belief system with which I am unfamiliar (religion of any sort not being my forte), but I was able to follow the basics of evil demigods come to destroy humanity easily enough.
Fun stuff, although I'm not sure if there were many of Morrison's analogy-laden narratives and ideas beneath the surface.
Fun stuff, although I'm not sure if there were many of Morrison's analogy-laden narratives and ideas beneath the surface.
October 31, 2023
Morrison presents a sci-fi presentation of Hindu mythology, set in a contemporary Indian community in Great Britain (specifically, Bradford). A hapless young man becomes a pawn in a game of ancient space gods. It's amusing enough but rather evaporates from the mind once one is done.
January 29, 2018
This could have been fun, given its unique characters and milieu, but I felt it had a serious tone problem when it came to the issue of suicide.
January 2, 2019
Probably needed one or two more issues to actually flesh out the characters and make the resolution a bit more... resolved. But still enjoyable.
January 13, 2019
This book was a bit of a hit mess. I did not enjoy it.
August 2, 2019
isi beutifuly
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 5, 2022
I abandoned this halfway. I love Grant Morrison and Phillip Bond but this was far from their best.
July 16, 2022
Fun apocalyptic love story. Made me laugh quite a few times.
April 7, 2023
3.5 stars
Is it cultural appropriatation by Grant Morrison...? I'm not sure, but it's a brisk, fun ride and I have a big soft spot for Philip Bond's art...
Is it cultural appropriatation by Grant Morrison...? I'm not sure, but it's a brisk, fun ride and I have a big soft spot for Philip Bond's art...
March 23, 2017
Really enjoyed this short graphic novel combining Pakistani England, superheroes. Enjoyed the drawing style.
July 21, 2024
Felt half done. Not Morrison’s best.
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