18 days is an epic book mainly for the artwork of Mukesh Singh and especially the direction taken by Grant Morrison. I got hooked from the first 2-3 artworks, and couldn’t put it down until I saw and read, everything that this book had to offer. Read the review below to know more.
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Review of 18 Days
“The Mahabharata Retold” – This new version of the Mahabharata is set in fantastic, mythic time, at the end of the Dwapara Yuga(Copper Age) and the beginning of the fallen, corrupt Kali Yuga, the Age of Iron.
From superstar creator Grant Morrison (All-Star Superman, Batman & Robin, The Invisibles), comes 18 Days, the story of three generations of super-warriors, meeting for the final battle of their age. 18 Days is a re-imagining of the great eastern myth, Mahabharata, and follows the course of the climactic war that concludes the period of the gods and begins the age of man. It is the prototype for every war ever fought. The scale is epic, wherein the most significant armies ever conceived face one another across the ultimate battlefield to decide the fate of the future. This hardcover illustrated script book from Dynamite Entertainment, and Liquid Comics offers readers a first glimpse into the mythic animated series being developed by Morrison. The book reveals the inner workings of the acclaimed writer’s process and features the original animation scripts, story bibles, character descriptions, and commentaries. Grant’s groundbreaking story is matched perfectly with original illustrations created by acclaimed artist, Mukesh Singh (Devi, Gamekeeper, Shadow Hunter).
The print quality of the book is excellent and has clear, some of the artwork is across pages, with the information in columns.
I have included some snippets of text with the images below to give you a better idea of the scale of the story. So just see the pictures below.
Highly recommended book if you are interested in a new perspective to Indian mythology. Rating 5/5
Images – 18 Days
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Book Contents ( Page 3 )
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Inroduction by Deepak Chopra – Image ( Page 5 )
“The core story of the Mahabharata revolves around an eighteen-day war between the five righteous Pandava brothers and their one-hundred rival cousins the Kauravas on the sacred battlefield of Kurukshetra.”
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An Electronic Mahabharata - Story Bible ( Page 10/11 )
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Regiment of super-warrior women bred to fight ( Page 12/13 )
“18 days follows the course of the climatic war that concludes the Third Age and begins the Dark Age we all now live in. It charts the course of the main antagonists – the 5 Pandu brothers – as they suffer the jeleous rage of their vicious cousin Duryodhana, one of 100 sons on the Kaurava branch of the family tree.”
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Karna fighting the half-demon warrior, Gatokacha ( Page 26/27 )
“Karna has the incredible Shakti-weapon of INDRA, given to him when he selflessly handed over his armour to an old beggar.. and the beggar turned out to be the god Indra in disguise. It can be used only once.”
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Early concept art for Rakshasa demon warrior(left) ( Page 32/33 )
The Rakshasas are describled as ‘demons’ in the original text and take various forms that ive tried to break down into recognisable catergories, rooted in some kind of ‘reality’ (Dinosaurs, beast men, sorcerers, war elephants, supritika)
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Warrior Designs ( Page 40/41 )
Weapons range from technological – energy-based projectile weapons, missile warheads and microwave projectors – to the basic, such as swords and spears and clubs for close quarters melee fighting.
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( Page 52/53 )
Yet, for all their great majesty and understanding, nothing could protect the people from Time. And so, in the SECOND AGE of SILVER, evil came to the Earth, in the form of greed.
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A typical hero of the Third Age. ( Page 60/61 )
A typical hero of the Third Age takes off his helmet to look at his face in the mirror. There is a downing horror in his expression as he examines a previously unheard-of blemish.
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The Path leading to the hidden lair of Markandeya ( Page 70 )
Markandeya is the great engine of prophecy as drawn by Mukesh.
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KRISHNA ( Page 75 )
“This is a battle that cannot be fought without you. In time to come, you see, every human being will be called in some way or another to take his or her own place on the battlefield at Kurukshetra.”
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DURYODHANA ( Page 78/79 )
In the heart of the front line is a white soverign parasol under which we find DURYODHANA. His bestial face is mostly backlit by the rising sun but his eyes blaze in the darkness; greedy, demonic…as though something awful looks out from inside his head.
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DURYODHANA – CONCEPTS ( Page 81 )
His Banner is a black serpent on a golden cloth. At this side are the magnificent, mature DRONA, and lean high-cheekboned, wolfish KARNA – SUPER-WARRIORS with their distinctive armour.
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YUDHISH – CONCEPTS ( Page 99 )
Yudish rises, turns and walks a little way back then STOPS. He turns to face the bristling Kaurava front line one final time. His eyes are filled with compassion and completely un-afraid
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Battlefield of Kurukshetra – Daybreak ( Page 111 )
Then they march forward, urged gently by the charioteer KRISHNA and come to a stop with the vast front line of the Pandava armies stretching across the background
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EXT. DURYODHANA`S CHARIOT – DAYBREAK ( Page 119 )
“Why wont he give the order”
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Super Warriors ( Page 139 )
“…then, riding out of the wall of flame behind Bhima come his magnificent comrades-in-arms – ABIMANYHU, NAKULA, SADEVA and DRISHTA – super-warriors all. In slow-mo, firing their weapons up over the heads of the armies.”
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END OF EPISODE THREE ( Page 143 )
Buy – 18 Days
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