Here comes Avatarex

In early July an announcement in the comic book space caused much cheer and buzz Legendary writers Stan Lee Grant Morrison and Deepak Chopra started work with Graphic India to bring in adrenalinepacked digital comic book exclusives to Humble Bundle to raise money for Doctors Without Borders Meacutedecins Sans Frontiegraveres MSF and Worldreader This was to include the worldwide exclusive release of Morrisonrsquos Avatarex Chapter 1 Morrisonrsquos first digital comic Avatarex is published by Graphic India and introduces readers to an epic world around a lsquosuperbeingrsquo In the comic living myth collides with the mundane realities and cultural upheavals of contemporary IndiaLater legendary SpiderMan IronMan and The Avengers cocreator Stan Lee will join the promotion with Chakra The Invincible mdash Leersquos first Indian superhero creation This will also see its exclusive ebook release in this bundle Chopra the acclaimed New York Times bestselling author will also be a part of this with his ebook comic series Buddha A Tale of EnlightenmentIn addition to the above titles the Humble Bundle campaign will feature Graphic India ebooks including Ramayan 3392 AD Myths of India The Mighty Yeti Morrisonrsquos 18 Days and others Normally valued at over US200 these ebooks will be available for 15 as part of this charity raising eventFrames from the first chapter of Avatarex in digital comic book formatExcerpts from an email interview with Grant MorrisonQ Why did you decide to create a digital comic and not in print What was it like to work on AvatarexA Irsquom in Los Angeles right now with an Internet connection mdash but back home in rural Scotland where I work I canrsquot get a signal So generally I have no Internet no phone and no watch My wife Kristan takes care of everything involving communication Which is to say I rarely think about how my work is being read I do like the democracy of digital comics mdash they can be sourced and read anywhere anytime and that aspect of it is something Irsquod like to get into a little more I want to create work for all available delivery platforms Avatarex is the first digitalonly comic that Irsquove written and Irsquom excited by the opportunity to create for a more accessible global platformChapter 1 of digital comic AvatarexQ Could you give our readers a brief backgrounder about the epic world that we will see in AvatarexA In Avatarex the epic world of living myth collides with the mundane realities and cultural upheavals of contemporary India What happens when an allpowerful superbeing awakens to fight the Last War of the Age mdash only to discover hersquos been sent too early for the End Days and must somehow learn to exist in a world thatrsquos too small and too frail to survive his presence How does humanity react to the challenges of such a paragon in our midst Will Avatarex raise us to his level mdash or will we drag him down to ours Can the embodiment of our highest aspirations exist sidebyside with our alltoohuman failings or will the gulf between what we wish we could be and what we are destroy usQ What were some of the challenges you faced while working on this form of content Was there a time during the process where you had to rethink your plot and storyboardA Irsquove written Avatarex the same way I write my other books so there hasnrsquot been too much of a change in the process other than thinking of shorter episode breaks than traditional 24 page monthly comicsQ Tell us about the Humble Bundle initiative to raise money for Doctors Without Borders and WorldreaderA I believe that educated young women are our worldrsquos best hope for the future and Irsquom very proud to be working with Graphic India and Humble Bundle to support Worldreader and Doctors Without Borders in the allimportant fight against poverty lack of medicine and illiteracy in India This is a chance to make a real difference in the lives of underprivileged girls and perhaps help inspire the doctors artists and leaders of tomorrow By buying the books online a portion of the proceeds of the digital comics purchased will support these programmes The digital comics bundle is available on wwwhumblebundlecom grantmorrisonAvatarexrsquos creator Grant MorrisonQ What is your reading of the graphic novel landscape that is emerging from IndiaA The work I see from Graphic India is changing the perception of Indian graphic novels for me The amazing artists from India I have worked with through Graphic India like Jeevan J Kang Mukesh Singh Saumin Patel and others are doing groundbreaking work Also it seems to me mdash mostly from reading the papers and watching the news I must admit mdash that therersquos a much more progressive and positive feeling in some of the countries of the East like India and China In the West at the moment the future is something to be feared In the East it is something to look forward toFor me the superhero has always been a crude and hopeful representation of how the human future might look if we donrsquot blow ourselves up The reactionary soldier superhero of the West has his place but Irsquod like to see the kinds of superheroes who might arise from cultures with a little more faith in tomorrowAt a time when I feel Irsquove said about as much as I have to say about the American superhero Avatarex is an opportunity to reimagine the entire concept through a different cultural lensLog on to wwwhumblebundlecombooks to read more about these titles and see the full bundle