I found a review of the Moonstone PHANTOM CHRONICLES Vol. 2 (hardcover) on this blog. It is really a nice to note that the reviewer felt that my story “The Plague” felt “very much in the spirit of a Lee Falk story“. Thanks, David Z.

As I have mentioned before, The Phantom is a lifelong love affair for me and I really feel fortunate to have contributed to the anthology. To receive a compliment telling me that I have managed to capture even a fraction of the feel of Lee Falk’s stories alive, is just about the best feeling a “phan” can experience.

Money quote:

Also, a strong story by Saurav Mohapatra and CJ Henderson entitled The Plague ends on a nice note and feels very much in the spirit of a Lee Falk story, just told with a slightly different point of view. The Phantom has a rich history of publication, and I believe that Mohapatra is the first Indian author to make an imprint with the good ring of protection! Awesome.

You can find more about the PHANTOM CHRONICLES Vol 2 Anthology here.

The AMAZON Listing for the Hardcover version of the book

MUMBAI CONFIDENTIAL Digital Shorts are a series of companion comics to the first book “GOOD COP, BAD COP” by various artists using the characters created by Saurav Mohapatra and Vivek Shinde. These shorts are set in the same “universe” as the main story. Though these are not required to follow the main book, they do enhance the backstory of GOOD COP, BAD COP.

About Mumbai Confidential

Mumbai Confidential is a crime noir comic book series created by writer Saurav Mohapatra (DEVI, SADHU, MUMBAI MACGUFFIN, INDIA AUTHENTIC, JIMMY ZHINGCHAK) and artist Vivek Shinde (PROJECT: KALKI, SNAKEWOMAN) set in (of course!) the Indian city of Mumbai.

Christmas came early this year. As promised, we are posting a preview of Chapter 1 of Mumbai Confidential Book 1 “Good Cop, Bad Cop“.

NOTE: The preview requires Flash and on low b/w connections might take a bit of time to load

So we’ll be back in Jan with new exploration and never before seen concept art and some other goodies. The MC Team has always valued our fans and community and this is our christmas gift to you.

If you want to link to it :

http://www.mumbaiconfidential.com/preview/previewchapter-1/.

Also we’re on TWITTER and FACEBOOK too, so drop us a ping if you feel like it.

Enjoy and Happy Holidays!

About Mumbai Confidential

Mumbai Confidential is a crime noir comic book series created by writer Saurav Mohapatra (DEVI, SADHU, MUMBAI MACGUFFIN, INDIA AUTHENTIC, JIMMY ZHINGCHAK) and artist Vivek Shinde (PROJECT: KALKI, SNAKEWOMAN) set in (of course!) the Indian city of Mumbai.

Liquid Comics has put their back catalog (most of it) on Issuu.com and you can read Mumbai Macguffin for free.

Mumbai Macguffin is sort of like Three Days of Condor meets Slumdog Millionaire meets Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
Enjoy!

MUMBAI MACGUFFIN

Writer: Saurav Mohapatra
Artist: Saumin Patel

Synopsis:

A high-octane adventure through the never-before-seen underbelly of Mumbai, ace CIA operative Ike Flint finds himself out of his element and out of his depth when tasked with recovering a downed NSA satellite deep within the biggest slum in Asia. None of his experience can prepare him for the wild and dangerous characters his salvage uncovers: a wheelchair-riding gangster kingpin hooked on John Wayne westerns; a brilliant bar dancer who can solve calculus problems before breakfast; a trigger-happy cop who shoots criminals with the same nonchalance as if he were grocery shopping; a religious cult that will do anything to protect its phallic totem; and a crack team of Jihadists searching for the very thing Ike is seeking.

ComicsBulletin has posted a review of Mumbai Macguffin.

fun, like a summertime action flick.

Mumbai Macguffin – a 48 page one shot I wrote is out in stands today. It’s a fun action-comedy title about a CIA spy tracking a downed spy sattelite through the underbelly of Mumbai. It’s my first Mature rated title — so a lot of cussing both in chaste mumbaiya hindi and english

The story has a crazy mix of russian mobsters, a cult led by a figure called Sky Baba, a gangster named Fukku Bhai…. you get the idea… Shantaram meets Snatch

Anyways here is the comixology snippet on the book.

BTW, if you live near Worcester, MA, you can pick up the copies of the book signed by me from the shelf at That’s Entertainment.

My first ever published short story was a flash fiction piece for an e-zine called Heavy Glow edited by Stacy Taylor. I really enjoyed writing small less than 750 word pieces for Heavy Glow and also wrote/drew a serial graphic short/web comic strip (gritty b/w crime/noir shorts) for them. In short, I had a whale of a time. Stacy was very kind and helpful with critiques and encouragement and I really relished writing/drawing these shorts.

Now looks like some of the stories have been published in an anthology called “Heavy Glow Flash Fiction – 2 years of burning brightly” on LuLu.com. It features some of my earlier short short stories (including one called PALINDROME which was a word prompt “story in reverse” contest winner and is one of my personal favorites).

Here are some excerpts from a review of the anthology about my HeavyGlow stories.

“Recharge” by Saurav Mohapatra – oh, I’ve been there done that. Very well done. The author perfectly captures a momentous moment in one’s life.

“The Unborn” by Saurav Mohapatra – this story gorgeously and heartbreakingly captures pivotal moments in an unborn life. This one hurt.

“Palindrome” by Saurav Mohapatra - inventive prompt results in an outstanding tale of broken trust.

Lulu Listing : HeavyGlow Flash Fiction: Two Years Burning Brightly (BUY) (REVIEW)

[digg-reddit-me]I received my comp copy of DEVI vol 4 TPB collecting issues 16-20 of Virgin Comics’ DEVI (created by Shekhar Kapur and your truly as writer) in the mail yesterday. It feature a cover by Luke Ross (SAMURAI : HEAVEN and EARTH). G. Willow Wilson (CAIRO, AIR) was kind enough to write a warm foreword. (Thanks, Willow!).

It should be available in comic book stores and shall be available for purchase at Amazon.com and other retailers soon. In the meanwhile it can be purchased from the Virgin Comics Store

More zhingchak… this time from CNN/IBN.

Full Story

Here is the Video Link on AOL video.

Excerpt from the article

Bring out the bell bottoms, pump up the disco music and prepare for a blast from the past – Jimmy Zhingchak-Agent of Disco is the latest superhero to dance his way into a graphic novel by UTV Spotboy and Virgin Comics.

Filmy clichés abound in this tongue-in-cheek comic series that has Jimmy right out of a 80′s Bollywood masala flick.

So you have the quintessential villain Sir John, the old mother a la Nirupa Roy and then you have the dialogues that defined Bollywood in the 70′s and the 80′s. And best of all, Jimmy’s weapons of choice are his disco moves, just like a certain Mithun Chakraborty who has written the foreword.

Now, I ain’t one to crib (much), but would be nice to have an itty bitty mention somewhere in all this deluge of Zhingchak Euphoria.

DNA (Daily News and Analysis) has posted a nice article about Jimmy Zhingchak – Agent of D.I.S.C.O. (thankfully they got the name right and it’s not typo’d as Jimmy Zhinchak ).

 Full Article Text

Excerpt from the article :

The comic is replete with other Hindi film references, dialogues and situations: Mithun’s sidekick-turned-girlfriend is Agent Mala D; his nemesis is Sir John (who looks like the villain from the film Ram Lakhan) and Jimmy even has a separated-at-birth brother, Johnny.

Hindi film stars are ideal comic book material, says founder-president of Virgin Comics Suresh Seetharaman, because they are already larger-than-life.

…

[Vikas] Bahl  [COO / UTV SpotBoy] says his organisation is going the other way and has an eye on the Mithun comic’s “extendability” into other media. “We would like to follow up the comic with a motion picture, a TV show, an animation series and maybe even a game,” he adds.

Bless you DNA and may the zhingchak be with you!