This Scorpion Keeps Staying on Top

Movie Title: Black Scorpion

Director: Jonathan Winfrey

Year of Release: 1995

Copyright Holder: The Pacific Trust

Starring: Joan Severance as Darcy Walker | Rick Rossovich as Stan Walker | Casey Siemaszko and Edmund Gilbert as Dr. Noah Goddard | Terri J. Vaughn as Tender Lovin | Bruce Abbott as Michael Russo | Darryl M. Bell as E-Z Street | Paula Tricky as Leslie Vance

Roger Corman is the name that launched a “thousand” masters into the world of filmmaking. He has worked with the most imaginative budding writers, directors, actors, art directors and composers. His productions may have been made on low budgets, but with rich symbolism woven into all the scenes. Black Scorpion is no less, because it stings you into paying close attention with its very first spoken line: “Once upon a time, there was a scorpion...”

Stan Walker, a cop with Dirty Harry vibes, is the one telling his little daughter, Darcy, this fable of the scorpion and the frog. She would much rather hear the fairytale of Cinderella, but he proceeds to tell the other story, for they live in Angel City, where crime is rampant.

Though it is unclear in the original fable whether the scorpion is male or female, Lt. Walker goes ahead with using the “she” pronoun.

After telling the story, Walker has to rush out to stop a couple of suspects. But before that, he thinks of letting a married woman babysit her. Darcy opposes the idea, declaring that she can take care of herself. This is the first sign of Darcy Walker wanting to be independent – a girl who is approaching womanhood is seeking independence.

Meanwhile, Walker’s police tactics put the suspects in hospital, and a medical practitioner, named Dr. Noah Goddard, rushes to their aid. The doctor wishes to conduct a scientific experiment on the suspect who is in a more critical condition. But the less severely injured suspect triggers a shootout during which Walker shoots Dr. Goddard.

The story takes an eighteen-year-leap here. Darcy, now working as a police officer, goes undercover as a prostitute. Her target is a pimp named E-Z Street, and she needs the help of Tender Lovin, another prostitute, to get him.

Darcy’s colleague, Michael Russo, monitors her movements from a distance, and does not approve of her revealing outfit. Even Darcy feels uncomfortable in it. Tender Lovin tells Darcy there must be another part of her that she is not consciously aware of.

E-Z Street finally shows up, and takes Darcy to a private place. This development puts Michael in a position of discomfort. He dismounts his noble steed, in this case a van, and nabs E-Z Street, prematurely. This disappoints Darcy, and she gets even more upset when E-Z Street is released immediately. At this point, Darcy is aware of her outfit, and covers up with a coat – the negative feedback reminds her to resort to modesty.

Michael insists that he had intervened to protect Darcy, and she says she is tired of him trying to protect her. Just then, another cop passes a borderline lewd comment on Darcy’s figure. The chivalrous man within Michael intervenes again, annoying Darcy.

Darcy meets with her father, Walker – it is evident that his actions from eighteen years ago had led to his dismissal from his job as a cop.

He brings up the scorpion and the frog fable again, comparing it to the nature of his life.

When Walker and Darcy discuss marriage, it is clear that a wedding doesn’t guarantee a happily ever after. The situation is reinforced when an authority figure, who is under the influence of a ‘mysterious spell’, steps forward and shoots Walker to death.

It is at this stage that Darcy needs everything to make sense. And yet, the turning point is yet to come.

Darcy faces accusations on the lines of police brutality, and gets suspended from service, for assaulting the authority figure who had murdered her father. She makes a statement that men cross the line every day with the full support of the higher-ups.

Her position lost, Darcy declines to save Tender Lovin from E-Z Street. Later, Darcy sees Tender Lovin’s face all bruised from an encounter with E-Z Street, and is held responsible for the attack. Soon after, Darcy sees her father’s gift – a ring with a scorpion designed on it, and starts understanding her true nature, her true self.

Darcy goes, disguised as the vigilante Black Scorpion, and confronts E-Z Street. He claims he is the romantic type, but she states that she is not – making it clear that Black Scorpion can overpower a dragon-like pimp by herself. She kills him, and empowers herself.  

During another night patrol, Black Scorpion saves Tender Lovin from a robbery. And finally, Tender Lovin gets a voice, when she gets interviewed by reporter Leslie Vance.

Darcy also feels emboldened to upgrade her crime-fighting technology.

Two women wrestlers become Black Scorpion’s next Herculean challenge. The so-called arena is a jewellery store – a place which sells precious items for women.

Over here, Black Scorpion encounters Michael. During their fight, they roll on the ground, till she gets on top of him. This time, it is the woman who gets to force a kiss on the man.

Michael and Darcy finally try to give their romance a fighting chance. He insists on picking her up from her doorstep. She says she saved him all the extra effort by coming over to his car. He takes her home, and surprises her with a nice home-cooked meal. In a fit of passion, Darcy pins him against the kitchen shelf and kisses him.

While their lips are locked with one another’s, the TV is on. Reporter Leslie Vance announces the Women’s Assertive Movement (WAM) candidate for Woman of the Year – the Black Scorpion. The WAM respects her independent spirit, but has reservations about her costume.

Michael is unable to go through with kissing Darcy. Michael admits that the Black Scorpion can handle herself – he is unsure whether Darcy can. This revelation confuses Darcy, especially because she had kissed him in her Black Scorpion attire.

When Darcy returns home, she sees a new-improved version of her car, courtesy of an acquaintance named Argyle. The vehicle can now change its make and colours, symbolic of Darcy needing to balance her dual identity.

During Michael’s investigation into a shady corporation, he gets into trouble, and the Black Scorpion saves his life. Later that night, she visits his house, and compels him to have sex with her. In the morning, she leaves before he wakes up. Before going, she brands him with a scorpion-shaped image.

It remains unexplained why Darcy dumps her Black Scorpion costume and identity soon after this.

She visits Michael and tells him about her father. Walker had sacrificed everything – especially his marriage – in favour of his career in law enforcement. One day, Darcy’s mother left home. Darcy does not desire the lonely life that her father once did. She is about to tell Michael something important, when an emergency requires Black Scorpion’s attention. She rushes to reclaim her costume.

The movie’s antagonist, called the Breathtaker, is steadily poisoning people with a gas that makes them do the exact opposite of what they are expected to do. The Black Scorpion and her ally, Argyle, find out that Dr. Goddard is the Breathtaker.

While Dr. Goddard traps Black Scorpion, Michael is headed to that location. Yet it is she, using her handy electrified scorpion ring, who frees herself, not Michael. It is when she liberates herself that she is truly revealed to Michael – he sees her for who she truly is. Even though she offers an explanation, he arrests her.

Darcy requests Michael for one hour so that she can find Dr. Goddard – and then she will surrender herself to Michael.

By hitching a ride with the Black Scorpion, Michael enters her world, and sees things from her perspective. It is now that Michael is ready to accept back-up (read support). They work together in the end. Michael combats the armed henchmen, while the Black Scorpion tackles Dr. Goddard.

Once the battle is won, Michael sees Black Scorpion’s vehicle change its make and colour. When the authority figures arrive, Michael is ready to let Darcy take the credit for saving the day.

After the entire ordeal, Michael requests a transfer, and he asks Darcy why she had taken the law into her hands. Her answer is that it is in her nature – an allusion to the scorpion and frog fable that her father had once told her.

Michael insists that he will forever remember what she did, but she finds a way to make him forget his troubles. She commits an act similar to the sting mentioned in the scorpion and frog fable – but is it fair to limit Darcy Walker’s worthiness to Cinderella’s shoe?

Weighing Instincts versus Ego in 'Jurassic Park III'

Copyright © Universal Studios and Amblin Entertainment, Inc.

Though my ego has been stamped on countless times, my survival instincts take me forward. I have an instinctive love for movies, and it's perhaps my ego that stops me from praising some of them publicly.

It stopped being cool to praise the Jurassic Park movie franchise in 1997, when The Lost World: Jurassic Park hit theaters. Titanic had rammed into all the major players, from Walt Disney to Roland Emmerich, and sunk the competition at the box office till the release of Avatar. It was a time when John McTiernan and Richard Donner were winding down with their Die Hard and Lethal Weapon series, respectively. And no matter how hard Michael Bay tried with Armageddon and George Lucas with Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, their ventures never did as much business as Titanic did that decade.

So, when the trailer of Jurassic Park III came on television back in 2001, I was the only one in class excited about it. My classmate and I were exchanging notes on the movie, and he referred to it as Flop III. I went ahead with my faith in Jurassic Park III and watched it, in a lifeless, near-empty theater.

The local theater used to show the biggest Malayalam movie hits of all time, and by 2001, it was reduced to presenting monster movies and adult content. That's why I could not publicize my desire to catch Jurassic Park III, but I never regretted it, and along with Superman III, it remains one of my favorite guilty-pleasure experiences till date.

Rediscover Gender Roles in ‘The Lost World: Jurassic Park’

Copyright © Universal City Studios, Inc., and Amblin Entertainment, Inc.

Have you ever tried invading a home where a dinosaur is the man (or lady) of the house? The Lost World: Jurassic Park sinks its teeth into certain issues that make our hearts race – gender roles – leaving no room for escape once you step inside.

I was transitioning into high school when its VHS tapes were available at video-rental stores – how I miss the late 1990s. And I became a secret admirer. Why? Because the very mention of the title made every guy I studied with, from high school to college, condemn the movie.

Was The Lost World: Jurassic Park all that bad? Its lead character, Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), faces his fear of dinosaurs, like his feminine counterpart in Aliens, Ellen Ripley, did. And the guys cheered more for her overcoming her fear and proving her worth in a man’s world.

Ian is haunted by a near-death experience in Jurassic Park, a theme park featuring dinosaurs as tourist attractions. Imagine how terrified he would be upon hearing that his girlfriend, Sarah Harding (Julianne Moore), readily ventured into a remote island full of dinosaurs. Ian charges to her location like a knight in shining armor, only to learn that Sarah doesn’t want to be a damsel in distress.

When Ian and Sarah argue like a married couple, they come across as equally educated. Yet it is Sarah who feels the pressure to convince Ian to believe in her. Ian’s daughter, Kelly (Vanessa Lee Chester), looks up to Sarah more than any female babysitter. The two ladies share a common sentiment – Ian neglects their personal goals. Do they have to live up to his expectations? Their run-in with hungry dinosaurs, and power-hungry men, will settle their disagreement.

A hunting party, led by Roland Tembo (Pete Postlethwaite), arrives to capture dinosaurs for Peter Ludlow (Arliss Howard) and his new-improved Jurassic Park enterprise. Their helicopters approach the island the way medieval-age European sailors did while exploring untamed lands. For the new arrivals, dinosaurs are meant to stay chained, live in cages and entertain visitors when summoned. However, the animals are stronger than human slaves, so with a little help from Ian and his team, they break free.

Later, inside a trailer, Sarah’s motherly instincts come out while nursing an injured infant dinosaur. Ian comes over, like a man returning home after a bad day at the office. The infant’s parents pay a visit, collect their little one as if it were a kindergarten school, only to return and attack the trailer.

Once Ian and Sarah survive this, they are shaken. This experience teaches them a lesson in raising children. They have learned how to take care of Kelly. But their struggle to survive is not over – they have to learn to create a symbiotic relationship with Tembo and Ludlow.

Tembo later sees Sarah smearing blood on a leaf and checks if she is okay. Then  they find a location to set up camp.

Later that night, Ian and Tembo hold a meeting outside the camp for an update. In that time, the baby dinosaur's parent shows up near the cave (actually tent) in which Sarah and Kelly are sleeping. At a bad time, when the 'man of the house' is absent.

This leads to a chase sequence where Sarah and Kelly hide in a cave. The scene ends with Ian's entry.

When Ian, Sarah and Kelly venture into an even more dangerous territory, he hurts his foot, giving Sarah a chance to exhibit chivalry and help him walk. In the next sequence, all three seize the opportunity to outwit a couple of raptors. And they walk out of danger, together, and triumphant.

Now that both Ian and Sarah are on the same page, they decide to leave Kelly at home, so that the couple can resolve the dinosaur problem. They walk, as equal partners, into a death-do-them-apart situation.

At the time when The Lost World: Jurassic Park was getting released, I had just lost my father. He was the sole earning member. While we wondered where we stood, my maternal grandfather and paternal grandmother became our backup. My grandmother did not cook, but my grandfather did - which was in itself a reversal of gender roles in those days. She was capable of making arrangements. If we had to travel somewhere, she made arrangements.

Whenever we decide who stays inside and who steps out, we should consider, for our survival, the possibility of adapting to every environmental change. A man may lose his job, while a woman may get hired. And if we shake the boat thinking that this will bring stability, we risk arriving at no goal.

In The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Ian and Sarah were getting nowhere as long as they strayed away from one another. They kept debating with each other till the dinosaurs helped them find a middle ground.

They discover the roles that they have to play in this lost world of ours.

Ian Malcolm is no noble hero. He opens and shuts doors at the right time, like a wife managing a house. Go ahead - count the number of times he opens and shuts doors.

And Sarah Harding is no housewife. She uses the tools of her trade, be it a camera or a tranquilizer gun.

A dinosaur corners Ian and shoves him to the ground, while Sarah jumps from one roof to the next when a dinosaur pursues her.

Steven Spielberg's movie came out at a time when male-centric action-movie behemoths were at the top of their game - Mel Gibson's Lethal Weapon 3-4 and Bruce Willis' Die Hard 2 and Die Hard with a Vengeance.

Though The Lost World: Jurassic Park may not have succeeded as much as Jurassic Park, it did better business than the critically-acclaimed Terminator 2: Judgment Day did.

Now let's see how Mr. and Mrs. Kirby (William H. Macy and Téa Leoni) will manage the home-front in Jurassic Park III.

Welcome to 'Jurassic Park', a World of Chaos

Copyright © Universal City Studios, Inc., and Amblin Entertainment, Inc. 

It took just one dinosaur footprint to create chaos in our hearts. A quarter century later, we still quake talking about the time Jurassic Park was released.

We were dining at an outdoor restaurant (dhaba) run by a cute couple. The man and I started talking, and … small world … we both lived in New Delhi once upon a time. We shared fond memories of a particular theater in Vasant Vihar. Ask anyone who lived in Delhi in the 1990s about the Priya cinema hall, you will see nostalgia fill their eyes.

He and I listed the movies we saw there, and we stopped at … I’m not joking … Jurassic Park. 

Back when I was a kid, Jurassic Park was a subject of wonder even before the movie’s release. Doordarshan had aired a couple of interesting dinosaur scenes. One of them gave me nightmares till I saw it in context in the theater. It featured two children in a vehicle … and a dinosaur came to peek at them.

After a fantastic viewing experience in the movie theater, we went home, little realizing that the Jurassic Park phenomenon would go out of control. A couple of years later, there were rumors of a second part. Sequels in those days were associated with Batman, Lethal Weapon, Die Hard, James Bond 007 and Hot Shots! Those movies were famous for their protagonists, not dinosaurs. We wondered … how could filmmakers recreate the dinosaur phenomenon?

They did recreate the dinosaur experience, minus the phenomenon.

Steven Spielberg (Jaws, Schindler’s List) returned to direct the first sequel – The Lost World: Jurassic Park. We got a third movie, after which the series went into hibernation. It hatched over a decade later, when development began for Jurassic World.

I don’t think the original creators made the first movie and said, “Let there be chaos.”

The real story of Jurassic Park began way before Spielberg developed it. The screenplay was adapted from a science fiction novel of the same name by Michael Crichton. From the prologue till the last page, you will see one theme dominating the narrative – chaos. Crichton expands on the subject of chaos in The Lost World, a sequel to Jurassic Park.

The two books and their movie adaptations told different stories, with one DNA strand in common – chaos.

One day, my neighbor’s kids came over to watch The Lost World: Jurassic Park, and the boy said, “They should make more Jurassic Park movies.” Three were too less for him. He wanted six, because for him, it was as great as the Star Wars series. His wish came true … a third Jurassic World is on the way.

All this chaos reminds me of the unforgettable experience of the first movie … before we met that many characters in the sequels who are struggling to prevent the franchise’s extinction.

Back then, it was just Alan (Sam Neill), Ellie (Laura Dern), Lex (Ariana Richards) and Tim (Joseph Mazzello) trying to survive in a theme park featuring dinosaurs. John Hammond (Richard Attenborough), who owns the property, attempts to regain control over the park. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) uses ‘humor’ to convey his expertise on chaos theory, only to become deadly serious when chaos erupts. It was these characters that we loved, but why?

Let’s go back to the beginning of Jurassic Park. We learn early on that Hammond is supporting his daughter during her divorce case. Alan Grant is a man who is not too fond of children. Ellie Sattler is the voice of reason in their lives. Hammond’s grandchildren – Lex and Tim – arrive. Which means his daughter, their mother, is alone somewhere on the American mainland, dealing with the absence of both her husband and her children. We also learn that Ian cannot preserve marital ties with any woman.

Therefore, it is the human species struggling to survive, not newborn dinosaurs.

Things get interesting when Alan gets stuck with the kids while running away from dinosaurs. Lex and Tim ignite the fatherly instincts within him. Meanwhile, Hammond and Ellie sit at a dining table, talking about how having complete control is an illusion. This was the kind of conversation Hammond could have had with his own daughter on marriage and divorce. Ian is a priestly figure, whose prophecy on natural selection stares him in the eye. Despite his pessimistic nature, he understands the necessity for the human race to live … survive.

Jurassic Park was released during a turning point in my family life, too. My father took us to a dinosaur exhibition in Delhi that year. We then went to a zoo. Saw a tiger and a deer. And like Lex and Tim, I was about to lose my father … not to divorce, but to death. We were not aware of his declining health.

A couple of years after his death, when I saw The Lost World: Jurassic Park, I did not feel disappointment – the reviews I heard were quite shocking. Ian Malcolm was too serious for audiences? Seriously? After what he experienced in Jurassic Park, why would he be as humorous as he used to be? I treat the second movie as a great adventure.

My grandmother (father’s side) was bedridden when Jurassic Park III was released theatrically. I cannot believe that pterodactyl-like fans still peck on some of the questionable scenes in the movie. The overall viewing experience was fine. In the third movie, a family gets a chance to patch things up. Nothing wrong with that.

Now, looming over us, earning billions of dollars at the box office is the mutated Jurassic World trilogy. It contains merely a single DNA strand from the original series. It has moments, like dead herbivore dinosaurs and a dying brachiosaurus (heartbreaking).

“Life finds a way,” was Ian’s most famous quote in Jurassic Park.

The movies have also found a way … to get Alan, Ellie and Ian back for one last walk in the park.

How I Won Shaktimaan’s Heart

Can’t believe the 20th anniversary of the Mein Bhi Banoonga Shaktimaan Contest is around the corner. Raise your hands if you remember Ankur Zade’s Maut Ke Moonh Se Vapsi winning the first prize among 10,000 short story entries. No search engine result will direct you to him because the contest was held during the prehistoric pre-Internet takeover. But it was exceptionally memorable for me, since the second-prize winner was none other than yours truly.

It is an honor to have been chosen by Mukesh Khanna, the legend who had portrayed Shaktimaan in India’s first ever superhero television series. And now, I would like to share with you the story behind how my name wound up being listed on Doordarshan as a contest winner.

A weakened Shaktimaan wakes up in captivity and is about to witness something horribly unholy...

Let us rewind my life to the 1980s.

The ‘Big Bang’ that spawned my imagination originated in Kuwait. Just like every Non-resident Indian child who sought comfort in television, I tuned in to Magnum, P.I. (1980-88), Knight Rider (1982-86), The A-Team (1983-87) Airwolf (1984-87) and Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-94). Please forgive me if I had never perceived any symbolic undertones back then – I was too young to understand the evolving social or political trends! Rather than deliberately forming opinions, I was unconsciously letting these TV shows ignite my creativity.

In the very same decade, epic movie trilogies including Star Wars and Superman came full circle. Once again, I was a single-digit kid, completely unaware of the polarized reviews, so try telling a child in my position to look the other way during a decisive lightsaber duel between a father and his son or when an indestructible man with the gift of flight walks through fire without getting burned. Nor will I deny how much I enjoyed Shahenshah, in which Amitabh Bachchan, a stalwart of Hindi feature films, was cast as a vengeful vigilante traumatized by the suicide of his father who was falsely accused of accepting a bribe.

Let us now fast-forward to the early 1990s.

The first Gulf War meant a dramatic change in my lifestyle. My ancestral home in Kerala provided shelter, but I was cut off from all the movies and shows that had transported me to wonderful worlds without potholes. Of course, Street Hawk and Space City Sigma sped by the small screen of Doordarshan. Then my tastes started evolving, when the local flavors started rubbing off on me, and the Siddique-Lal director duo made me fall in love with Malayalam cinema.

Moving to New Delhi a year later was just as difficult as transitioning from Kuwait to India. The culture was completely alien to me. But it also meant getting to indulge in newer guilty pleasures. Who needed otherworldly concepts when Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan and Salman Khan wooed my family with their onscreen charisma?

That was when Batman ambushed me. After being nearly scared to death by the 1989 movie on VHS, I braved through the dark aisles of a cinema hall for my first English motion picture experience: Batman Returns (disclaimer: my elders had accompanied me that day). And I absolutely loved it! I never understood why a lot of my school seniors and some of my classmates could not digest the film. But I’d rather talk about Batman: The Animated Series. I was fine with it being dubbed in Hindi because the DD Metro television channel had subjected Superboy to the same treatment.

My admiration for the adaptations of DC Comics material made me raid Attractions, a bookstore in South Delhi which sold weekly and monthly issues of various superheroes.

Meanwhile, I did not have enough of Batman, ergo my fondness for the 1960s series starring Adam West at a time when Star Plus was still airing English programs. In the process, I developed an appetite for Small Wonder and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The Star Trek show starring William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley was also pretty engaging, but my father cut that out, asserting that I was excessive with my viewing. But I was still able to squeeze in the occasional Thor, The Incredible Hulk along with Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends.

Everything came to a grinding halt when I shifted back to Kerala. No more DD Metro. Star Plus switched to Hindi soap operas. It took years before Star World restored nearly everything I had grown to love, right down to Star Trek: The Next Generation. And one had to travel several miles by public transportation to buy comic books.

But what was I going to do for entertainment until then? For quite some time, I had resorted to drawing my own comic books. This went on till mid-1997, when Shaktimaan’s teaser trailer was released on Doordarshan. I gave the TV series a chance because it featured a familiar face from The Great Maratha and Chandrakanta shows: Mukesh Khanna. I also recalled enjoying his performance in the lead role of a Hindi movie which was from before his stint in Mahabharat. Don’t ask me the title – I was too young to remember.

So, with enough curiosity sparked by his presence in Shaktimaan, I took the plunge with its pilot episode. It was love at first telecast. The effects at the time do not hold up against the likes of some of Rakesh Roshan’s science fiction movies, but they were way more convincing than Ra.One. What ultimately mattered was that Shaktimaan created television history. Its impact was so tremendous that even Pogo TV had aired reruns dubbed in English.

Though Diamond and Raj Comics had enough characters to fill a lineup a la the Avengers, X-Men or Justice League, Shaktimaan was the first genuine attempt toward creating a superhero platoon for Indian viewers. Years of foundation-laying within Khanna’s fictitious universe led to team-ups in later episodes.

Khanna plays the titular character, a yogi with two personalities. One minute he stands tall as the champion for truth in the avatar of Shaktimaan, and the next he exudes childlike innocence while walking the streets as the buck-toothed Pandit Gangadhar Vidyadhar Mayadhar Omkarnath Shastri. It is just as well that he takes up photojournalism because his work would capture the ways of city life, something alien to him because he had spent all his childhood in the desolate Himalayas.

The plot is set during Kali Yuga, an era when the human race descends to base levels thanks to the rising influence of the malicious Tamraj Kilvish (Surendra Pal), bearing the torch of righteousness is the Suryanshi sect. Residing in the Himalayas for the past few millennia, they train young Gangadhar in Kundalini Yoga to control the six passions of the mind, activate the seven chakras of the body, and master the five elements of life. Once he possesses the strength to make the last stand against the forces infecting the world around them, he works hard to keep his body, mind and soul free of corruption while bringing spiritual balance to the cosmos.

Is this Shaktimaan's twin brother? Only time will tell...

Following Gangadhar’s first public appearance in his yogic form, it is Geeta Vishwas, a reporter working alongside his down-to-earth self at ‘Aaj Ki Aawaz’ (a daily newspaper), who knights him with the title of Shaktimaan.

People look up to him, but is this really Shaktimaan who is threatening to spread chaos in the world?

Quick question: Do you know Dolly the sheep? Ian Wilmut had appeared on the cover of The Week magazine in the mid-1990s in connection with the cloning of a sheep and that the ‘newborn’ was named Dolly. I mentally filed away the news story till the Mein Bhi Banoonga Shaktimaan Contest was announced. How could I resist the chance to pen a tale revolving around the theme of cloning? Isn’t it worthwhile to tell the story of how science helps duplicate a righteous man like Shaktimaan but not his virtues?

A newsreader breaks the news that Shaktimaan is causing worldwide destruction, but can this be true?

The final cut of the story arc based on my entry featured Geeta Vishwas’ reputation as an honest journalist being destroyed when a clone of Shaktimaan’s, engineered by one of Tamraj Kilvish’s minions in the scientific community, undoes the yogi’s good work with acts of violence in broad daylight. 

Shaktimaan finally confronts the impostor, a clone who had broken the faith of millions of people.

Even though Geeta (Vaishnavi) knows the real Shaktimaan was in captivity the whole time and that he finally defeated his duplicate in hand-to-hand combat, the world loses its belief in him.

Will Shaktimaan defeat his clone in this epic standoff?

It has been nearly 20 years since I won the second prize for Shaktimaan Vs Shaktimaan, and I have been telling quite a few stories since then. The English-speaking world has also slowly started recognizing the potential of India as a source of endless inspiration.

When I see Stan Lee’s Chakra in bookstores, I can’t help but think of a similarly powered Shaktimaan, the true pioneer who had strived to inculcate civic sense in those who grew up in the late 1990s. He taught us to never surrender to our darker passions. And Mukesh Khanna still inspires me to never quit writing.

Look! Out There, Downtown! It's a Bird! It's a Plane! It's Comic Con India!

Adrenaline coursed through my brains while I marched towards the venue of … wait for it … Bengaluru Comic Con 2017! 

Joining the lineup of excited volunteers who would watch over us for two days was none other than Walter White AKA Heisenberg (it was just a Bryan Cranston poster but, boy, his tough attitude could not be caged in a two-dimensional image). Yes, I plead guilty of being a fan of Breaking Bad. What are you going to do? Arrest me? It will not change my convictions for that show. 

Soon I was in the presence of Princess Leia, or rather, a Star Wars: The Last Jedi poster featuring the legendary character. I did shed a tear or two back home for the late Carrie Fisher, and now was my chance to observe a minute of silence in her honor. Realizing she would have wanted nothing but entertainment for her fans, I was determined to fulfill her wish. 

Lurking around dark corners of the venue, stalking the children (well, not really), was the infamous Pennywise. No matter how much I tried to avoid him, he kept surfacing to haunt me, so I faced my fear and photographed the cos-player. I didn’t see much of him after that (thank goodness). 

We got a sneak peek of LoSs4A2, whose artwork is a tribute to Japanese Manga. 

Sailesh Gopalan exuded a boyish charm while explaining the nuances of his world of Brownpaper Bag. 

Just as Sumit Kumar of Bakarmax spoke about comics and cartoons having less number of followers, a few sitting in the crowd got on their phones and joined his fan-base. A few strokes of encouragement go a long away. 

East Meets Australia: Abhijeet Kini (Abhijeet Kini Studios) and Gavin Aung Than of Zen Pencils fame shared the stage and their thoughts on the comic-book medium. 

Scott Hampton (The Upturned Stone) got candid during the Q&A, especially when it came to the significance of symbols in artwork, comic book or otherwise. He remembered having once opposed the idea of illustrating a woman being branded with the Nazi symbol, underlining the need for an artist’s belief to match a writer’s principles. 

You cannot talk about the history of animation in India without mentioning Bahubali. It stands tall like a landmark, creating a turning point for many writers across the length and breadth of India. 

Sharad Devarajan and Jeevan J. Kang of Graphic India are geared up to unravel the epic Bahubali in uncharted directions. 

Amar Chitra Katha was the big bang that birthed the modern Indian comic book. Executive Editor Reena Puri and Art Director Savio Mascarenhas recited the company history and announced the arrival of their very own superhero - Wingstar! 

Anant Pai, the face of Amar Chitra Katha, would be proud to see his creations graduating with flying colors, winning millions of hearts in the new millennium. 

Eager hands shot up during a quiz contest hosted by Sanjana Kapur, Assistant Editor, Amar Chitra Katha. 

It was tempting to buy these action figures, but there are so many of them! Which do I fall for first? 

Ever since Wonder Woman's solo cinematic debut in 2017, she has taken her place among the lineup of action figures once dominated by Batman, Superman and Spider-Man. 

This cartoon proves the relevance of Alfred Hitchcock even in this day and age. His brand of quiet yet chilling thrillers may have been murdered by the loud summer blockbuster movies of the 1970s and thereafter, but comic-book creators won't let crime fiction die that easily in their line of work. 

Robots, cyborgs, synthetics and replicants ran amok in the 1980s, with the Terminator and RoboCop dominating the scene. These action figures are mementos of a great era of science fiction films. 

Batgirl is the heroine we deserve, not the one we see much of, though. 

Marvel and DC Comics share one showcase. Between Thor's hammer, Deadpool's swords and Batman's boomerang, criminals stand no chance of winning against the competition. 

Walter White and Jesse Pinkman do all the cooking, we have all the fun! 

Did you hear? Archie got a makeover. 

Let's put a smile on our faces already! 

From Left to Right: Brown Paperbag, TBS Planet Comics, Bakarmax, Holy Cow Entertainment, Saumin Suresh Patel, Abhijeet Kini Studios and ICBM Comics 

I ran into Oswald Cobblepot. Remember him? Good old Oswald from Batman Returns? Don't tell me you still call him the Penguin. He was polite enough not to bite my nose when I asked to take his picture. This cos-player did the Danny DeVito part so well, I sometimes wonder whether it was really him under all that makeup. 

While Abhijeet Kini was sketching Angry Maushi, he emphasized on the need for the new generation to consider the comic-book medium for a vocation, starting with attending such annual conventions and understanding the rewards of working towards such a platform for creative talent. 

The child who received this illustration from Kini was happy to let me photograph it. 

Zafar Khurshid (ICBM Comics) and Chew writer John Layman reflected on how writers are pigeonholed into churning out material in current demand as opposed to experimenting with newer ideas and growing as creators. They also discussed the danger of others taking over creative properties developed by the original writers, to which Layman says that readers can be presented with a choice between replicas and the masterpiece. 

As the echoes of Comic Con India 2017 fade away, though not from the hearts of passionate comic-book subscribers, let us look forward to the Ghost of Comic Con Future.