Bengaluru-based writer and filmmaker Falah Faisal’s graphic novel Musalman (Yoda Press), illustrated by Spud (@theartistspud), spins a twist on superheroes. Musalman isn’t a superhero who fights villains with punches or high-tech gadgets, but one whose strengths are his humour and his heart. “It started off as a joke,” Faisal tells us. “My stand-up comedian friend would make a joke about how he looked like Muslim Clark Kent.” This made him think of a world with a Muslim Superman.
Faisal recalls reading Superman: Red Son by Mark Millar around the same time. “In the comic, Superman lands in erstwhile Soviet Russia and becomes a tool of state propaganda in the period between 1953 and the 2000s,” he says. This alternative take on the American original intrigued the writer. “I thought, what if Superman lands up in a madrasa in India; what would change?” These early ideas nudged him to create his first comic Musalman vs Trade Center. The green body-suit wearing superhero flies through the World Trade Center in New York, and nothing happens to it. The comic questioned Islamophobia, which followed the 9/11 attacks, through light comedy.
Illustrated panels from the superhero comic. Illustrations courtesy/Musalman Comix
Faisal believes the medium of a graphic novel works because it is economical. “If this were to be a film, for instance, it would run into crores because of special effects. Moreover, with comics, you can always flip back, flip forward, take your time,” he says. He remembers discovering the world of comics through his older cousin, who shifted homes from Manipal to Chennai. “He had a big stack of comic books. A lot of his stuff was kept at our home; his comics and audio cassettes were in a corner of my parents’ bedroom.”
His interest deepened through Gotham Comics, which reprinted Marvel and DC editions for Indian audiences between 1998 and early 2000s. The company had a godown in Faisal’s neighbourhood. When shutting down, the management allowed customers to sit and read the comics or buy them for cheap. “Gotham’s loss turned out to be Musalman’s gain,” Faisal quips.
Falah Faisal
Faisal’s book explores Musalman’s journey to finding his roots, while he battles news anchors like Arnab ‘Cowswamy’, searches for his companions in the fight for equality, and calls a truce with Raavan. The illustrations inject life into the narratives. Like Superman, whose costume borrows the colours of the American flag, Musalman’s costume colours represent the Indian flag. The juxtaposition of the stature of the flag with Musalman’s punchlines and caricatures of public figures heightens the hilarity and truth behind the text. Spud tells us, “We used a lot of inspiration from Western comics as well as Manga. It helped diversify our artistic language for representing humour while ensuring it didn’t get stale over the course of the comic.”
Some of the artist’s favourite parts were the ones where he could take “the liberty to break the convention of panels and boxes and let loose”. Another fascinating element is the superhero’s distinctive alter ego, Muhammad Salman, a cricketer who wins the match for the Indian cricket team. “Every Indian kid at some point dreams of being a cricketer,” Faisal comments. “Part of this addition was to live out that fantasy. Besides, growing up I was a huge fan of Zaheer Khan and Irfan Pathan, left-arm fast-bowlers who emerged at a time when Indian cricket was exciting to watch as a kid.” They serve as an inspiration for the left-arm pacer Salman in the book. “Some of it is also trying to make sense of the reactions which cricketers like Mohammed Shami get today when India loses a match,” he adds.
Faisal feels the biggest challenge for comic book writers and artists remains in finding the right publisher that is willing to give coloured graphic novels a chance, despite its printing cost. Grateful that it came together for him, he can now be spotted at comic fests donning the Musalman costume and sharing jokes from the book, while his illustrator chooses to maintain anonymity.
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