Series Name- Aghori (Arc-II)
Book V-Bloodlines, Issue 9.
Writer- Ram V
Artist- Gaurav Shrivastav
Issue 9 opens again in an occult ceremony, where hooded men
offer the five elements to raise the Hashisheen (ancient Persian assassins) from
the land of dead and sinners. A bald and greenish grey man raises our
Antagonist for this arc. He is branded
with various marks and has yellow eyes. Our Hashisheen is summoned by a man who
refuses to give his name and asks him to kill the people whose names are on the
paper. He is asked to erase their bloodlines from the earth. Next pages we find
a handsome Kris being pushed to tracks. A seventy year old man Avi Dada killed
on his birthday followed by Big Mak. Our Hashisheen finally goes to kill his easiest
and last target a baby in cradle. But as his soliloquy ends he is stabbed by
Vira. Vira saves the baby while our Krona kills other of Hashisheen’s comrade
on roof top and Desh killing rest on the road. Our antagonist escapes to his
master who asks him to avoid Vira and finish his task. He disobeys his summoner
and moves to seek his entertainment in Vira.
The hooded figures reminds of various movies and horror
shows. It specially reminds of a particular scene from Harry Potter and Goblet
of Fire. Frankly a reader would have no idea what Hashisheen is unless we seek
google god. Hashisheen is our ideal Antagonist, the fallen being, scary face
and an air of arrogance. His eyes are beautifully done yellow and dangerous. He
has a magician’s hat and has belly in place of a toned abs. His physic is a
contrasting one to that of Vira’s. The art work of Krish was adorable; in few
panels you really wanted him to be alive and not dead. Avi Dada’s death evokes
sadness. He really looks sad and empty sitting alone. Big Mak really provides
no clue to reveal secrets of this story, yet he is well drawn. The blood
spurting out is wonderful panel. The expression of the stabbed Hashisheen is of
confusion and fear- awesome. It appears our Krona despite getting his innocence
has grown up faster. The boy is taller and muscular at age of twelve going on
thirteen (what’s his age again?). Desh really has beautiful hair and manly
face. We missed Ashwin, alas he has work to do. When did Krona get his ears
pierced and got his hair spiked? The question here arise what’s the time leap
in this arc? The baby in wrapped in pink towel is really cute let’s hope it’s a
she. After all she is the last one of
bloodlines. The expression of fear in the face of our summoner is really good.
His face reminds me of the evil wizard from Aghori Book 4, who first tried to
wake our main antagonist Kali. But his face is burned which has come from
Balnath’s attack. Yet he has survived centuries, so we can understand his
desperation to avoid Vira and finish the bloodlines. The artwork has developed
and colour scheme is splendid. But the best artwork of the book is its cover.
Bloodlines comes with a surprise at its end too... “That Man Solomon”
This issue arise many questions in readers. Firstly what
bloodlines are we talking about? Secondly why Hashisheen? Thirdly what’s the
time scale, as we can clearly see our Krona has entered teens and his features
are way to manly? Fourthly who is Desh and if he was even with Vira in book-4,
why is he helping now? Fifthly what’s the name of evil conjurer? Finally where
is Ashwin? Hell yeah we have loads of question to ask and the story ended way
too fast like previous book.
Issue- 9 gets: - 3.5 out of 5 (we deducted .5 for ending it
too fast)
Series- That Man Solomon
Book-I:- Issue- 1
Writer- Sudeep Menon
Artist- Gaurav Shrivastav
 |
| Not the actual cover |
The first Issue opens in the 80’s, the Bombay now Mumbai.
The Gate Way of India, the only Female Prime Minister, Kapil Dev and the Angry
Young Man all come in one page in consecutive panels of beautiful colour. We are taken to the Bombay which came up
after Jeet Tahyil’s Bombay. The city of dreams had its own shadows. The youth
dying in gang-war and we enter the den of a crime lord. From the den we get a
peek of pillow talk too. Rajan Shetty wants Yusuf Pathan dead for killing his
brother. Rajan Shetty sits with his adviser and bedding lady. We find our not
so tall, but rough guy -Solomon. He loves to joke, eat, drink and off course
fuck and is a Sridevi fan. He loves to dance and go jiggy iggy with bar dancers.
Our perfect criminal is hired to kill Gosht Baba aka Yusuf. After months of
planning and plotting Solomon finds out Yusuf’s weakness from
Slow-motion-Shardul. The third W was his weakness. A sadist is what we can call
Yusuf when we find him tied and in pink blouse. Solomon claded in Hijab kills
his target only to find both our gangsters had same bed warmer. Our lady- Sorja
meets tragic end and a gruesome one with Solomon singing “Kabhi Alvida Na
Khena”
The artwork beautifully creates the 80’s and the world crazy
after movies. The hairstyle, the white shirt, white trouser and white shoe that
Solomon wore showed the white mania. The colour scheme gives a sense of the 80’s.
The use of Chutney Language and desi gali makes one feel enter a really shitty
world. Solomon is the man we will love to hate. He knows he is a sinner and
hence he is free of any moral obligation. The woman of the story- Sorja, her
role was predictable to an extent. She is a man’s dream beautiful, bountiful,
acts like a damsel yet is a bitch. I fell in love with her wickedness and
ambition, though her death makes the reader shiver. The best panel of the issue is a short Solomon
hugging a tall Sorja, it creates both laughter and pity at same moment. That
Man Solomon is all about this son of a bitch, we will hate him, loathe him but
won’t forget him. The question this flagship character raises is- What is this
man made of? Yes we also want to know why he has the gate of hell in his godown
too. Overall Solomon has given us a powerful beginning, so we can hope that his
story will move to and fro in past and present.
Issue-I gets:- 4 out of 5
P.S- I need to find which college offers Master in Comics Study
thanking you to bear with me
paulOaries
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