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Mostly I bought this book since it was on Landmark sale and had Samit Basu;s name over the script - I wasn't disappointed. This is the first book I have read out of this series. Though this was fine, I do not have much intention to read other books in the series.

Devi is an incarnate female warrior who has this time resurrected in a girl called Tara Mehta, a modern-day female super hero created by Gods to deal with a 'God-child' gone rogue. In this book, it seems Devi takes on her own independent personality out of God's control, a superhero with her own mind. There is an inspector Rahul, who awakens this personality, with his genuine concern for the devi's human hostage Tara Mehta. There is an ongoing struggle between Durapyasa, Devi's followers on earth and rogue Gods. Interesting.

Graphics are great, one reason why I bought the comics to check how have we been faring. I loved the names of chapter - Sandeha, Aks, Samsara, Yudh, Samvara - befitting words from Sanskrit. Story for this volume was alright too, only I wouldn't know how other volumes fare.


P.S - Why do most Indian stories take Rahul as most common name for an Indian hero?! ( )

Artwork varies a bit, particularly with the Devi. Some gorgeous work, but then there seems to be an awkwardness about portraying the Devi's facial expressions. Not a bad read, not great. There seems to be potential, but the story seems rushed. (Almost felt like they had expected more issues to tell the current story arch, but then had to rush to close it.)

Looking at volume 2 of this series, I'd still say that my criticism of the first volume still stand -- there's nothing here that's stylistically different from most comics. Having said that, however, Devi's storyline is actually pretty intriguing. The story of the reluctant goddess and her battles against Bala have grown on me and they're doing a good job of fleshing out some of the characters. There's an interesting moral ambivalence about the gods in the series and one is not always sure that the gods are all that loving or interested in our fate. Even the villains have a certain complexity -- though Lord Bala is still a bit stereotypically steroid-infused sort of supervillain. I'm looking forward to reading the third volume. ( )