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Lakshman: Now with Angst! But why is every female character on this website described as "sexy"?
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goldenflames:
Check this out. Virgin Comics (yes, THAT zaibatsu Virgin) is apparently the new kid on the block... And they're launching with a whole line of Hindu-based comics. One of which is a retelling of the Ramayana.
Ram, Lakshman, and Ravan
An untitled image from the online gallery, but YAY it's got HANUMAN!
BTW, on the Virgin Comics website there's also discussion about "Virgin Animation," and it seems like the same creative team on the comics line is working in the animation branch, and again there promises to be a focus on Southeast Asian stories, so... could the above possibly be character designs for an animated series? I honestly have no idea - the picture has no title or description on the website - but I'm guessing that's the case.
More Hanuman, because the world can never have enough.
Devi
I'm a bit nervous about the female characters in these things, though. Well, I was never a fan of Sita, Ms. Penultimate Damsel in Distress, to begin with. Devi should by all rights be full of rock, but the blurb on Virgin's website describes her as "a sleek and sexy seductress." Uh, what? And there's another title, Snake Woman, about a reincarnated Naga. Now I know that Nagas are supposed to be eroticized as all get out, but alarm bells are going off in my head when the blurb on Virgin's website has to go out of its way to describe the Naga heroine as getting aroused by killing someone. Er.
In fact, every single female character on this website is described as either "sexy" or "seductive." (*headdesk*)
This whole thing? Needs some Draupadi, please. I'm convinced that there's something out there, maybe the spirit of Draupadi herself, that thwarts every attempt to reduce her to a passive sex object. I mean, just look at the DVD commentaries on the Peter Brooks version of the Mahabharata. Apparently in the original version of the script, Draupadi was totally lame and passive. But the actress that they hired to play Draupadi stood up to Brooks and Carriere and said, "Look, you've got this all wrong." Then they went back and totally re-worked everything so that Draupadi could be portrayed as the strong woman that she is.
May the spirit of Draupadi give Virgin Comics a swift kick in the ass if they try to reduce someone like Devi to just another Lady Sexhole.
EDIT: I'm dumb. I totally missed the free preview comic on the website. Well, y'all should check it out. Devi doesn't look too bad, actually. I'm a little WTF over the spelling of "Laxman"'s name, but whatever. The last page of the comic has a statement from the creators about how and why they're doing the Devi and Ramayana projects, and it's interesting reading.
goldenflames:Check this out. Virgin Comics (yes, THAT zaibatsu Virgin) is apparently the new kid on the block... And they're launching with a whole line of Hindu-based comics. One of which is a retelling of the Ramayana.
An untitled image from the online gallery, but YAY it's got HANUMAN!
BTW, on the Virgin Comics website there's also discussion about "Virgin Animation," and it seems like the same creative team on the comics line is working in the animation branch, and again there promises to be a focus on Southeast Asian stories, so... could the above possibly be character designs for an animated series? I honestly have no idea - the picture has no title or description on the website - but I'm guessing that's the case.
More Hanuman, because the world can never have enough.
Devi
I'm a bit nervous about the female characters in these things, though. Well, I was never a fan of Sita, Ms. Penultimate Damsel in Distress, to begin with. Devi should by all rights be full of rock, but the blurb on Virgin's website describes her as "a sleek and sexy seductress." Uh, what? And there's another title, Snake Woman, about a reincarnated Naga. Now I know that Nagas are supposed to be eroticized as all get out, but alarm bells are going off in my head when the blurb on Virgin's website has to go out of its way to describe the Naga heroine as getting aroused by killing someone. Er.
In fact, every single female character on this website is described as either "sexy" or "seductive." (*headdesk*)
This whole thing? Needs some Draupadi, please. I'm convinced that there's something out there, maybe the spirit of Draupadi herself, that thwarts every attempt to reduce her to a passive sex object. I mean, just look at the DVD commentaries on the Peter Brooks version of the Mahabharata. Apparently in the original version of the script, Draupadi was totally lame and passive. But the actress that they hired to play Draupadi stood up to Brooks and Carriere and said, "Look, you've got this all wrong." Then they went back and totally re-worked everything so that Draupadi could be portrayed as the strong woman that she is.
May the spirit of Draupadi give Virgin Comics a swift kick in the ass if they try to reduce someone like Devi to just another Lady Sexhole.
EDIT: I'm dumb. I totally missed the free preview comic on the website. Well, y'all should check it out. Devi doesn't look too bad, actually. I'm a little WTF over the spelling of "Laxman"'s name, but whatever. The last page of the comic has a statement from the creators about how and why they're doing the Devi and Ramayana projects, and it's interesting reading.
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