You’ve Never Seen the Mahabharata Like This Before

Unite, comic book fans, mythology fans, and fans of straight up gorgeous storytelling and artwork. The Mahabharata, India's favourite epic featuring moral conundrums, extravagant dilemmas, and a battle for ultimate truth, has a new avatar. 18 Days is the Mahabharata reimagined by Grant Morrison (the writer of Batman) and illustrated in all its mind-bending, otherwordly beauty by artist Mukesh Singh. It follows the course of the 18-day war, which, in the Mahabharata, marks the end of the age of gods and the beginning of the age of men. Since it IS the Mahabharata, there are (obviously) no easy answers.

"This is not a Lord of the Rings or a Star Wars where the good guys win because they are right. The ‘good guys’ in 18 Days are forced to cheat and lie and break rules to win.” – Grant Morrison

"The characters are huge, cool, easy to identify with, to cheer or hiss at. The stakes are high, as is the body count. The vistas are spectacular." – Grant Morrison

“Bhima is the tank of the team, with the appetite to match his size. He’s the kind of non-stop war-machine needed in a struggle like this one.  He’s the Wolverine — the badass, no-messing-around, hero we all love. He also carries an unforgettable MACE — quite simply an enormous techno-atomic hammer of the gods! Compared to this apocalyptic weapon, the hammer of Thor is a tiny fire-alarm window breaker.” – Grant Morrison

"Although it has fantastic, mythic trappings, this is a very modern story of realpolitik and the failure of ideals in the face of harsh truth." – Grant Morrison

18 Days was published by Graphic India, a Bangalore-based media company. You can buy it here. You can also watch the ongoing YouTube series here.

All images from Graphic India.

Like this story? Or have something to share? Write to us: contact@thebetterindia.com, or connect with us on Facebook and Twitter (@thebetterindia).