Broken Frontier

The mystical power of the Sadhu weaves great magic throughout India and has extended power to two brothers in London.

I must say this new effort from Virgin Comics is quite ambitious. It’s being billed as an epic fantasy that takes its cues from movies like Pirates of the Caribbean and Neil Gaiman’s classic Sandman series. It does indeed have a cross genre appeal and it’s nice to see this much passion and zeal put into a comic property such as The Sadhu.

The story begins with a prologue in 1856 Bengal, India where a war is brewing between soldiers of the British East India Trading company and a group of skilled martial artists known as Dakaits. The leader of the Dakaits is a man of wisdom, a mystic and is also a Sadhu. He’s getting very tired of defending the land of India against the British and he’s in dire need of finding a younger successor to help keep the faith and defend the land. As luck would have it, a mystical guide comes to him and reveals that another will come from far away to help him bear his burdens. This bit of knowledge pleases the Sadhu as the prologue comes to an end. Another two years pass and our story picks up again in London, where two brothers struggle with finding their place in the world. The younger brother James decides to try his luck by serving in the armed forces in the colonies unaware that he may be walking into the adventure of his life.

Now that’s just the tip of the iceberg here and there’s so much more going on beyond that. The set-up is simple enough, but writer Gotham Chopra imbues the story with a sense of mystery and wonder throughout the issue. The dialogue he chooses is precise and fueled with the knowledge of authority for Indian mythology, and this is something that I like to see in a book promising a mystical adventure. The story comes across as a fable heavily influenced by the fantasy elements generated here, and I felt slight comparisons could be made to Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series. It’s great to see this type of fantasy return to comics.

The art of Jeevan Kang is beautifully rendered throughout and there is also a sense of wonder and magic imbued in every panel. I don’t have any prior knowledge of Jeevan’s work, but a good friend of mine from India assures me that Jeevan is quite well known in his native country. I think it’s great that an artist of his stature is getting exposure over here in North America, and it will be interesting to see how he develops long term on this series. I think his work will appeal to those who enjoy lush, colorful animated style visuals and let me tell you there’s no shortage of that here.

Again, Virgin Comics continues to surprise me with the high caliber of projects they have put out since the beginning of July. The Sadhu is now the third project released by the company and I have to say this one may be the most ambitious of the three. High fantasy concepts such as this are a rarity in comics and I am glad to see the publishing giant is taking the chance here.