If I had the choice, I would probabably rather be a successful comics-writer than a novelist or anything like that. Like with plays, comics have a mesmerising directness, and like cinema they have a visual language. Comics are the gift that keep on giving for any creator.
I also love to write about comics, which I used to do once-upon-a-time under the moniker of Justcomix.
Click on the names of the comics/essays to read them.
Dream Guide A comic I composed during a 24-hour comic marathon in 2013. I can’t draw so I had to use stick figures to tell my story. Give the story your attention, treat the art as whimsy.
One Man Show A silent story about the fears of a person living alone. It was based on my own concerns as a single man, and a way to tell a story with just one character and no dialogue. Art is by Bhanu Pratap. It appeared in Pulp Quarterly.
In Fame An attempt to tell a hard-boiled noir story. How do you make a well-connected criminal pay for his crimes? By attacking the one thing that even money and connections cannot protect – his reputation. But, do the ends justify the means? With this comic I learned how difficult it is to move from textual story-telling to visual. I wasn’t very successful, but I learnt a lot. Art by Shikhant Sablania. It appeared in Inklab Zine.
Defining Comics An essay on one of comicsdom’s long running debates – are they comics or graphic novels? I explore the sanctity of each term and propose that we need to stop being ashamed of the child-like joys of the medium. It appeared in Pulp Quarterly.
Seeking Krishna An interview I conducted with Abhishek Singh, the first and only Indian artist and comics-creator to be published by Image Comics. Appeared in Pulp Quarterly.
City Hunter-Gatherer An interview with Jai Undurti of the Hyderabad Graphic Novel Project. Appeared in Pulp Quarterly.