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18 Days-The Mahabharata
The epic adventure begins! in comic book terms, it does for "epic fantasy" what watchmen did for superheroes. From comic book legend, Grant Morrison (Batman, all star superman, the invisible, dinosaurs vs. Aliens) and acclaimed Indian artist, Jeevan J. Kang (The Sadhu, Chakra the invincible), comes 18 days, a re-imagining of the great eastern myth, the Mahabharata, that tells the story of three generations of super-warriors, meeting for the final battle of their age. The war begins with the clash of super-titans, armed with incredible weaponry. The characters are huge, cool, easy to identify with, to cheer and hiss at. The stakes are high, as is the body count. The vistas are spectacular. We think we know who the bad guys are and who the good guys are. In 18 days, however, a characters strength often proves to be his downfall or weakness - this is not a lord of rings or a star wars where the good guys win because they are right. The 'good guys' in 18 days are forced to cheat and lie and break rules to win. Although it has fantastic, mythic trappings, this is a very modern story of realpolitik and the failure of ideals in the face of harsh truth. This epic ends with destruction of a super-race of kingly humans and paves the way for the current dark age in which we live. The essential ambiguity, humanity and realism of characters, set in this incredible world of imagination, gives 18 days its unique flavour. The tone is modern, gritty and emotionally against the backdrop of techno-mythic super-war.