1. Newsarama Best Shots Review http://www.newsarama.com/comics/best-shots-advance-110119.html
2. Comic Buzz http://comicbuzz.com/witchblade-141-review
3. Project Fanboyhttp://forums.projectfanboy.com/showthread.php?t=10308
4. Comic Buzz http://comicbuzz.com/witchblade-141-review
5. nFamous Gamers http://www.nfamousgamers.com/reviews/books/paper-monsters-witchblade-140-and-141
6. Comic Attack http://comicattack.net/2011/01/tcrevwitchblade141/
7. Pendragon Post http://www.pendragonspost.com/2011/01/23/witchblade-141-review-top-cow/
8. Comics Bulletin http://www.comicsbulletin.com/reviews/129590607378350.htm
9. Graphic Policy http://graphicpolicy.com/2011/01/31/review-witchblade-141/
10. Weekly Comic Book Review http://weeklycomicbookreview.com/2011/01/25/witchblade-141-review/
11. Donuts and Top Cow Podcast http://www.comicbooknoise.com/topcow/2011/02/episode-5-witchblade-140-and-141/ (7m30s onwards))

Once again, hearty thanks to Ron Marz, Top Cow, Filip Sabik and Phil Smith for giving me a chance to write Witchblade. Here’s hoping that we get to do something together again, soon… ish!

As I’ve mentioned before, I had contributed to an anthology edited by A. David Lewis and Christine Hoff Kraemer titled “Graven Images – Religion in Comic Books and Graphic Novels” (as a continuation of the aforementioned panel discussion at Boston University. Looks like it’s out from Continuum Books and available at Amazon.

A couple of reviews for the book:

1. Gods in the panel by Rebecca Buchanan at Sequential Tart
2. Review of Graven Images at Eternal Haunted Summer by Phillip A Bernhardt-House

Money quote(s):

Witchblade #140, the first of the two-part story I co-wrote with Ron Marz (art by Stjepan Šejić) for Top Cow (as mentioned in this post earlier) is hitting the stores tomorrow (8th December). Already there are a few advance reviews out and looks like it’s getting some love around “teh interwebs”

It shall be available in comic book stores on Wed 8 December, 2010. So run out and grab a copy.

So without further ado, here are the reviews so far:

• Project Fanboy (rating : 4 out of 5 stars)
• Player Affinity (rating : 8.3/10)
• Line of Fire Reviews @ Comics Bulletin (rating: 4 out of 5 stars)
• Comic Vine (rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars)
• Comic Book Revolution (rating: 7 night girls out of 10)
• Graphic Policy (rating: 8.25/10)
• Newsarama Best Shots Rapid Reviews
• Broken Frontiers

Some nice blurbs from the reviews above

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

Well, I think I found this a year or so too late. http://nenena.livejournal.com/126717.html

Thanks for the kind words, Nenena. It is much appreciated. These are the moments a writer lives for

An excerpt:

The modern heir to Amar Chitra Katha, India Authentic comics are effing fantastic: A combination of spiritual lesson, high adventure tale, and artgasm after artgasm. All are fronted by Deepak Chopra’s poetic introductions. But the best part is the writing by Saurav Mohapatra. Mohapatra gets inside the heads of the gods and gives them voices that sound all-too-human; which is exactly what the Hindu gods, flawed and imperfect as they sometimes are, should sound like.

Read the whole post

“Dude, I ain’t watching DANCES WITH THE SMURFS 3D!”

That was the reaction of a co-worker when I told him that James Cameron‘s AVATAR blew me away. He’s got a point there, while completely missing the point of the movie. AVATAR has a by the numbers / cookie cutter story similar to the New World or Dances with the wolves. But I think that is by design. The real star of the movie is the graphics — mindblowing graphics. Yet it could have become a soulless/senseless paen to imagery a la CITY OF LOST CHILDREN or MIRRORMASK, but AVATAR as a story has heart — lots of it. The cliches and tropes are salvaged by the smooth and seamless integration of the gorgeously imagined and rendered Alien landscapes (which are IMPORTANT and RELEVANT to the story/plot). It is realistic without crashing down into Uncanny Valley and balances the realism of simulation with appropriate does of suspension of disbelief and in some cases even sensory stimuli.

AVATAR reminded me of two most excellent Discovery channel documentaries titled FUTURE IS WILD and ALIEN PLANET I had seen earlier.

FUTURE IS WILD is an extrapolation of evolution on planet earth millions of years into the future and ALIEN PLANET is the imagined story of the first unmanned mission traversing space in search of extraterrestrial life (and finding it). Both were made with budgets that probably would not even render half a dozen giant mushrooms in the world of PANDORA. But they share a bond with Cameron’s AVATAR in being utterly imaginative about what alien flora and fauna (and even terrestrial ones in the future) may look like. While AVATAR has the luxury of dramatic hyperbole and poetic license, it uses them to build a vibrant vista rather than squander it on meaningless visual non sequitors.

To those few who are still debating whether or not to see AVATAR, my advice would be to go see it immediately (preferably in IMAX/3D). This might be something that’ll help you score some coolness cred with your grandchild when (s)he’s twiddling away on a full 3D holographic handheld with full haptic / synaptic interface powered by the latest Quantum computing chip.

“Y’know back in my day, we did it all with Mo-Cap and 280 mil dollars!”

Yup, it’s that kind of a landmark in motion picture history.

AVATAR HD Extended Trailer

FUTURE IS WILD

ALIEN PLANET

ComicsBulletin has posted a review of Mumbai Macguffin.

fun, like a summertime action flick.

Google Alerts popped up a link to this blog post about India Authentic vol 1. Book of Shiva.

http://becomingicha.blogspot.com/2008/07/im-in-love.html

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)

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.