They Sure Don't Make Comic Books Like They Used To

Shakti publications include Devi: the story of "a fierce feminine warrior, stronger than the Gods themselves… a champion of the heavens, and the protector of man;" and The Sadhu, a tale about "one man's choice between his spiritual oath and his human instinct," that traces a simple English soldier's journey to becoming a spiritual warrior.

This summer, the comic books will be retailed at Borders, Barnes and Noble and other mainstream bookstores across the United States. "This is a great way to recruit new audiences, not only within existing groups of comic book readers, but also amongst those who so far haven't really been attracted to comics but might be attracted to this new wave of content," Marz states. The company has the added advantage of retailing at Virgin stores.

Other brownie points for Virgin Comics: its Voices and Director's Cut lines. These go beyond the repurposing of South Asian stories to recruit top creative talent from the fields of film, music and the arts during the stages of creation, not just implementation, of its projects.

While DC and Marvel have brought in outside celebrity talent, this is primarily through writers, like Kevin Smith, who usually work on existing characters rather than creating entirely new concepts themselves. Marz maintains that Virgin is the first to have created such a business model, although other comic book companies are increasingly beginning to catch on.

Through Voices, the company has brought in Nicolas Cage, who will play the lead role in the film adaptation of The Sadhu line of comics; he is also currently in the process of co-creating a line entitled Voodoo Child with his son Weston. With Director's Cut it has inducted names like John Woo, who created 7 Brothers in collaboration with writer Garth Ennis, and Guy Ritchie, who thought up The Game Keeper -- both monthly paperback comics lines, the latter of which is slated to soon be turned into a film.

The high level of celebrity involvement is certainly a selling point for the company, which operates out of a sunny, single floored office in Soho. "Over and above being just a name, a celebrity is a brand. Tapping into existing brands in this alternate form is one way to compete in a superhero dominated world," acknowledges Devarajan.

Inducting celebrities from different parts of the world has also served to strengthen Virgin Comics' cross-cultural appeal. John Woo reels in fans from South East Asia, Guy Ritchie has some sway in the UK markets and Shekhar Kapur's Devi is proving popular in India. Devarajan staunchly denies playing favorites to any region in particular: "We have no one focus because there are different rewards in different markets."

The company's decision to stay far way from the superhero genre, even within the US, is a wise one according to Marz: "The American comic market is dominated by superheroes -- companies like Marvel and DC rule the roost and people don't want third generation knockoffs. The American comic book market is so restricted: when people hear about 'comics' they immediately think of superheroes, rather than seeing them as merely one way to tell a story, " Marz says. The writer's own decision to work with Virgin was spurred by his conviction that the company is doing something "new and different," which is likely to induct new readers.

Gerry Gladston, co-owner of Midtown Comics in New York, agrees: "Companies like DC and Marvel are more mainstream; they are houses of established iconic characters. Virgin takes a more intellectual approach, with stories that are based on folklore and mythology. Its audience goes beyond just the regular comic book buyers -- there's a lot of scope for it to expand the existing demographic of the comic book market."

When asked whether they thought Virgin could ever act as a threat to an established name like Marvel, both Gladston and Marz maintain that there's space enough in the comic book markets across the world for both companies to flourish. States Marz: "Virgin and Marvel aren't competitive with each other. They're just opposite ends of the same spectrum."