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Marvel Comics are no strangers to the proverbial ‘castle-in-the-sky’. In the earlier days, when Marvel was still one of the struggling minnows covering under the shadow of comic mammoth DC, the legendary Stan Lee famously created a fan mail column in every Marvel issue out of pure imagination and enterprise, in which he would meticulously reply to crazed ‘fan mail’. It was a gamble of fantastic calculations that paid off and there has been no stopping Marvel since- Spider-man, Fantastic Four, X-Men, The Incredible Hulk, Daredevil, Ghost Rider, Avengers… every title a multi-million dollar franchise.

When Marvel announced the conception of Spiderman India in collaboration with Gotham Comics India, it was announced as a landmark event in comic book history- for the first time ever, Marvel was willing to turn back the clock and switch continents on its most beloved creation. Spiderman alias Peter Parker, friendly neighborhood superhero and cornerstone of All-American pop culture was going to be given a complete reinvention as Spiderman India aka Pavitr Prabhakar. This was not going to be one-off series in which the character is let loose in an unfamiliar, exotic locale, Marvel was retracing the whole nine yards, pressing ‘Restart’ and ‘Reboot’. Spidey India willingly traded the trademark spandex hotpants for Chacha Chaudhary dhotis and bore the impression of a ‘teeka’ on his forehead. Uncle Ben and Aunt May were outsourced to Bhim and Maya. And in an inspired moment supreme, Mary Jain was christened Meera Jain. Regular Spidey villians- the Goblin, Doom, Dr. Ock and co. were to be replaced by Rakshasas. So much for imagination. I should’ve figured the outcome right here but continued to blissfully delude my instincts.The purists were crying out in rage at what they felt was the ’sullying’ of the legend of Spiderman but I caught myself beaming sunshine optimism thinking,” Kyon Nahin? Why not?”

Could be a hell lotta fun.

A sentiment that lasted in me till I got my hands on the very first issue and underwent diminishing returns till I turned to the very last page where the terribly contrived cliche of the image of Spidey India alone on a tower grieving for his dead Uncle Bhim and finally coming to terms with Spidey’s moral-of-the-story-in-stock ‘With great power..’

The first impression I gathered was that the issue read like a bad trailer for a comic book film. Visually impressive, cheesecake dialouge, rushing the narrative any-which-way through myriad connections and disconnections in the storyline. It was as if they had modeled the issue on a Bloomingdales Catalogue. It was as if they were trying to give a direct reply to the fundamental question of the consumer- ‘Mujhe Kya Milega? What will I get?’ Other than the heartless execution of the storyline, the plot is so close to the original Spidey plot that one is forced to ponder- ‘Why bother with a remake? Is Peter Parker in dhoti and sporting a tan really supposed to be some sort of monumental event in comic history?’

So let us assume that the origin plot is inseparable from the Spiderman myth but if the series is titled ‘Spiderman India’, which ‘India’ are they talking about? In which Mumbai college would you catch the most financially backward of kids going to ’school’ in a dhoti-ganji, all the while carrying his books in a hep looking khadi sling-bag. And in which school in Mumbai do you get Meera Jain to dress up ’sexy bindi’ and all like she were in college. ‘Dhotis’ are referred to ‘air bags’ (in est, but wtf??). Conversation includes massive cringe-inducers that belong in ‘Karan Johar/Siddharth Anand’ scripts like IBCD (read ‘Indian Born Confused Desi’). Three pages down it is apparent that Spiderman India is hardly meant for Indians.

If Marvel-Gotham are looking to target a purely Indian demographic then there have a standout disaster on their hands. The only section Spidey India may appeal to seem to be die-hard core fans of Spidey who are willing to take the shift in time-space as an interesting variation rather than an offense. And a little research into blogosphere will let you know there aren’t many who’d be identified as the former. Any attempt to wean away the true believers of local enterprises, Diamond and Raj, will be colossal failure as the average small town reader of Fauladi Singh and Naagraaj will find nothing to associate in the rural-urban awkward smash milieu of Spidey India. Without basic empathy, where will the fanaticm arise. And if Marvel-Gotham is nursing any ambitions of introducing their hybrid to the Pokemon generation and get them to be the first new wave of comic geeks with a thin hic-cuppy uninteresting plot, it calls for a laugh. Sardonic chuckles, more appropriately.

Indian-born comic artist settled in U.S. does not a Indian comic make. Still, You’ve got to hand credit where it’s due and artist J.Kang has a way with his strokes. Baroque strokes, deep hues, well etched characters, slick, a lean to the mystical-psycadelic like posters you may find in a Goan cornershop… the artwork is noteworthy and far superior to your average comic book but lack the grit of Miller or the grotesquerie of Lee and Gainman. It could do with a bit of both to convey the mean streets of Mumbai to its readers. On second thoughts, it could do with romancing a bit more of Mumbai and not just the token Autorickshaw, skyscraper and Gateway of India. Research for the comic seems done during the span of a lazy noon at ‘image search’ on Google. Also there are times when the layout is terrible- Uncle Bhim’s death sequence being laughably inept at conveying the crucial pathos that should otherwise pervade the entire series.

The villain who is given a few pages of obligatory introduction as Oberoi bhaijaan and later explodes (in what is, the best scene in the issue) into a raging green behemoth is probably the chief reason for me to purchase the next issue. The other being ‘curiosity’ which is danger of being as dead as the cat by the time the next issue rolls in.

Yes, all said and done, I will be purchasing the next issue. And then the one after that. Three’s the number. Marvel-Gotham could thank my irrepressible anal retention for that and also my hope that the scope for improvement is tremendous.

If they’re seeking the approval of the Indian audience wouldn’t the obvious step be, ‘Bollywood’. Hollywood writers taking a dabble in comics is not unheard off. Ultra fan Kevin Smith’s prolific period with ‘Daredevil’ comes to mind. Why not a Shashanka Ghosh or Jaideep Sahni? In fact, why not marry off Spidey India to quintesential Bollywood? Why not a Spidey India v/s Dr. Dang episode? or Mogambo? or an Ajgar?

And here’s my favourite:-

Batman and Robin as a Jai-Veeru duo taking on Gabbar who returns from incarceration with the hands that Thakur stamped replaced by iron gloves that wield massive power. Why not?

The ‘Spiderman’ legacy is overwhelming but if Marvel-Gotham need anything to save ‘Spiderman India’, it’s a lot of thinking and most of it outside the ‘box’. There’s time yet before the ticker hits ‘zero’ and a quaint corner of the Marvel Universe lies abandoned and forlorn of it’s resident friendly superhero.

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