Visual artist and comics creator Appupen has been building up the mythical world of Halahala in a series of graphic novels that started with Moonward in 2009. Halahala is a far-off planet in the distant future which resembles earth in the many struggles that are its lot.
It can be viewed as a mirror world that allows Appupen to explore earthbound environmental issues: at the same time, it can be seen as a mechanised, dystopic space. Halahala is a surreal setting that lets Appupen give his imagination a free rein. In the latest in the Halahala series, The Snake and the Lotus, Appupen continues to play with the superhero genre, while steadily embellishing the landscape of Halahala.
Layers of shadow
There is much that is new in this edition of the Halahala stories. The old Halahala as the readers knew it is coming to an end and a new age is dawning. Human excesses have led to an over-dependence on machines and while the said humans cannot figure it out as yet, their very existence is under threat.
One of the ‘good’ characters, The Silent Green, sends out a call for allies who can save Halahala from ruin. Among the proposed helpers is a girl who is chosen for her connectedness with the old ways. Is she the chosen one? Can she restore the balance?
We encounter a world powered by dwarfed beings who are kept alive on lotus milk. A superhero (Matrix meets Avatar)fights to take the planet back to its roots in nature. While the myth-building continues in much the same vein, taking the beaten path, the drawings in The Snake and the Lotus mark a departure from Appupen’s earlier artworks. The illustrations
here are a significant improvement on those in his previous books.
While the earlier novels in the series abounded in fantastic details, the illustrations themselves were inconsistent, ranging from the absolutely wonderful to the clearly underdone.
For an art style that relied almost exclusively on lines, the quality of line-drawing did not do justice to all the panels. Also, the artist seemed to harbour a fear of black positive spaces, preferring the common white negative spaces with various levels of detailing.
The Snake and the Lotus changes all that. This is clearly the work of an artist going from strength to strength. The shift from handmade pen washes to black-and-white digital has clearly made a difference. The confidence to correct mistakes in the digital medium has lent a certain flamboyance.
The artwork makes great use of black positive spaces to give a secondary layer of shadow to the detailed line-shading.
As a result, Halahala this time looks darker, more dangerous and more inviting. Each page is framed as a single panel, which allows Appupen to create vivid images. (Though some readers may miss the activities happening in the panels in some of Appupen’s earlier books.)
As familiar figures and creatures return to tantalise, the narrative gets more text-driven. If the writing is not exceptional, it does act in tandem with the drawings to create a generic fantasy, sci-fi tone.
Value for money
The book, while suffering from some avoidable Hollywood clichés, still stands firmly on its feet. It is clearly one of the most unique works of graphic fiction to come out of India in recent times. And, as an artist, Appupen has arrived.
Ideally, graphic novels need to be multi-layered to compel one to re-read them several times. I had found this quality missing in Appupen’s earlier works. The Snake and the Lotus takes care of this problem to a large extent. This black-and-white classic may not be a collector’s item but it is certainly a treat for sci-fi buffs.
It’s a book worth reading. It’s a book worth owning. And it will surely leave you asking for the next.
The writer is an illustrator who reads and sketches comic books.
The Snake and the Lotus; Appupen, Context, ₹799