Book review: 'Local Monsters'

Book: Local Monsters

Author: Samit Basu

Publisher: Westland Ltd

Pages: 96

Price: Rs495

The mark of any good book, at least for me, is being able to write most of the review in your head even if you haven’t quite finished it yet. Local Monsters is just that book.

Samit Basu’s graphic novel is that quintessential good versus evil superhero saga involving local (read Indian) youngsters out to save the world, from evil forces. At the centre of the book is Mighty Indrajit Vyas, the professor who brings together a team of monsters — Bela, Tashi, Indra and Latha — to fight his nemesis Subramanian.  

The X-Men references are obvious here — the group of superheroes, led by a talented scientist (Professor Xavier) out to fight his arch-rival (Magneto). In the novel, Professor Vyas even alludes to X-men’s Professor Xavier, namely by shaving off his head. The book seems to have borrowed a little bit from every superhero: there’s the angst of Batman, Iron Man’s (or Robert Downey Jr’s) signature brand of sarcasm, and Twilight’s misunderstood but extremely loveable vampires.

There’s one difference. These aren’t your ordinary superheroes. They are monsters with ordinary concerns like bills, rent and finding a job to handle at the side. We are in Delhi, after all.

A Delhi resident may take offence to the way Delhi is represented in Local Monsters, for non-residents it is quite fun. The book opens in the home of Munna Molestor’s house where his parents wax eloquent about their son finally going out molesting on his own. We learn that Tuesday is not a good night for molesters but that doesn’t stop him because “Delhi has a reputation to maintain; women must not be allowed to feel safe on any night”.  In one of the operations, one of backup teams gets stuck in a jam at Moolchand flyover. Professor Vyas has a monster app, that records a huge concentration of monsters in Noida, at a mall. There is a lot of fun at Kolkata’s expense too. The introduction to Bela’s character features a vampire making its presence felt in the daytime at an Armenian cemetery in Kolkata. This, despite numerous books telling us that vampires are unable to tolerate direct sunlight but, “Kolkata has always had a difficult relationship with rules”.

 The technology of today, and how it can help in fighting evil is well-represented.  The X-Men had the Cerebro, our desi monsters have a monster identification app that registers a spike when monsters are sighted.  

With witty yet true-to-life references, Basu ensures readers’ belief in the Indianness of these monsters. The M in M-men stands for a character’s mother Meenakshi because it makes sense that a superhero team will be named after a beloved relative. There’s one character who says, “Have you seen the secret history of India? Of course you haven’t. The files were lost in a fire.

Government buildings. Practically tradition.” After a bad day, there’s a panel where the characters contemplate what to do and end up just sleeping.  The final confrontation happens in a mall and before the action begins a warning goes out that people are unhappy because in the movie that is being screened, Salman has taken off his shirt only once.

The lack of colour (the entire novel barring the cover is in black and white) tends to put you off but as the story grows, you’re more interested in the story rather than the exterior. This, for a graphic novel is a pity because the book’s content is strong but is let down by seemingly average graphics with skewered panels and blurring of lines. The pages are very crowded. Also, besides their superpowers, there’s little you know about the four youngsters.

Barring these anomalies, Local Monsters is fun and quick reading. It gives out the message that youngsters can be rebels, even if their “heroes are business tycoons”. There’s also a very obvious moral:  all monsters need not be found in the pages of books like these. They exist everywhere, particularly in Delhi’s malls.