Written by Grant Morrison
Pencilled by Philip Bond
Published by DC Comics/Vertigo
Price: US$12.99
Out now
Vimanarama is the third of Grant Morrison’s three miniseries for DC Comics’ Vertigo imprint, now collected in trade paperback. Set in the Asian community in the northern English city of Bradford, Vimanarama tells the story of Ali, a shopkeeper’s son on the verge of meeting his future bride. The Morrison unusualness kicks in early, as the first double-page spread features Ali cycling past what appears to be a Bollywood musical number, performed by teenage girls on a rain-soaked suburban street.
Ali’s worries about his wife-to-be turning out to be hideous are quickly dwarfed when the hole in the floor of his Dad’s stockroom leads to a bizarre underground city. He meets his intended, Sofia – and then they accidentally release The Sons of Flame, fossil devil-monsters and enemies of the ancient mythical Rama Empire. Fortunately, help is at hand from the Ultra-Hadeen – a team of heroic angels who have arrived in time to save the world. Unfortunately, their leader, the handsome Prince Ben Rama, believes Sofia to be the latest incarnation of his beloved. And Ali’s baby brother just threw up on Ali’s shirt.
Morrison has stated in interviews that he became interested in Muslim culture after 9/11, and started reading up on the history, myths and legends of India and Pakistan. A little research shows how much of this came through on the page – the title itself comes from the vimanas, the flying machines of the Rama Empire which could fly, go underwater or into space. The Ultra-Hadeen are inspired by the angels in the Qur’an, and show that it is possible to mix superhero concepts with Asian influences both ancient and modern - and bear in mind that this is the man who, during his run on New X-Men, kept the team based in India in spandex long after everyone else had switched to black leather, because of their resemblance to “tight, spangly Bollywood costumes”. Morrison has also included a wide and varied range of British Asian culture – there are women in burqas and women in hoodies.
The art is by Philip Bond, who has previously collaborated with Morrison on Doom Patrol, The Invisibles and the marvellous Kill Your Boyfriend. Bond’s style is a perfect mixture of the detailed and the cartoonish, which somehow seems more real than many supposedly realistic artists. Morrison gives him an incredible selection of things to draw – city streets and naked angel women, hospital corridors and giant-robot-spider-mosques.
Morrison has taken a wonderful mixture of elements and made them work together – East is East meets Jack Kirby on a Bollywood stage with a Hollywood mega-budget. If you don’t already own it by the time you read this, you should head for your local comics retailer straight away.
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Russell Hillman was born in London but now lives in Coventry. His hobbies include precious little. He doesn’t get out much, but thinks reading a lot of comics makes up for it. He’s wrong.