A gory blood-stained face of a man in a hood, three beaten boys, a lady with a smile plastered on her face capturing image of this grotesque scene in her smartphone. The picture – quite vivid – instils in your mind as you see the cover art by Marcio Abreu and Prasad Patnaik, for Yali Dream Creations’ latest comic book, A Hero Among Us: Rakshak. The comic publishing house known for The Caravan series has launched Rakshak as a new superhero / vigilante title which will be having three issues of around 72 pages each.
As suggested by the title Rakshak meaning protector and the cover art, one can imagine what the story would be like. A man who fights against the evils in the society to protect the citizens of the nation. However, what will interest the readers is the storyline. The first issue of the series follows the story of Captain Aditya Shergill and how his life changes in just a matter of moments. These moments include – a jeopardised mission, death of his sister and brother-in-law, a girl in trouble and his love for comic books.
The story kicks in with four marine commandos out on a secret mission to kill jihadis and part of this mission is our protagonist Captain Aditya Shergill. Though an austere military official, he can be observed as a man with a heart and soul. The mission does not go as planned, leading to Shergill losing his hand and returning to his city with a heavy heart and retirement from his service to the nation. On his arrival, he is greeted by his twin sister Trisha, her American husband Ronald and an unhappy, discourteous niece, Saina who soon bonds with him due to their love for comics. Life became easier; however as fate would have it, the happiness didn’t last for long and one night, Shergill loses her sister and brother-in-law. The reason for her death – rape! Blaming himself for his sister’s death and seeing the lenient nature of the government and jurisdiction upon criminals, Shergill takes upon himself to stand by the weak and defenseless. Thus, the ‘Rakshak’ is born.
The story does sound a bit cliche; however the manner in which the plot unfolds, it manages to get hold of the reader’s attention. We can relate the comic book to the recent incidents taking placing in the country wherein women are being subjected to torture and feel unsafe in their own homeland. Seems like with this comic, writer Shamik Dasgupta wants to tell the young torchbearers of the country, to ‘not just stand and watch, rather take action’ against any atrocities taking place.
Though an intense comic, Dasgupta manages to balance it out with few jovial instances. References of Game of Thrones, Batman, The Flash, Daredevil can be observed in the comic book and yes, our vigilante is a super fan of the Gotham city vigilante, Batman (seems like we know where the comic got inspired from). Maybe in the coming issues we can expect Shergill to dawn a mask or a suit to fight against the growing crime in his city, the capital of the country or should we say, the land of increasing crime, New Delhi. There’s was also a blooming love story which might be reprised in the coming issues.
Supporting the story are the captivating visuals by Pramit Santra and Prasad Patnaik. The action scenes and emotions are well captured by the artists. All in all, though not a fresh concept, Shamik Dasgupta has managed to give a crisp, engaging story and one can definitely give it a read.
Produced by Asvin Srivatsangam and Sanal Govind; story and script by Shamik Dasgupta; inside pencils by Pramit Santra; inside colours, cover art colours, lettering by Prasad Patnaik and cover art by Marcio Abreu, A Hero Among Us: Rakshak is out in the market and can be read by teens and above.
