Grafity's Wall Expanded Edition

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So that comics-as-cinema notion is worth keeping in mind, as we get into the second half of the image above, the Grafity’s Wall 16-panel grid. A coming-of-age graphic novel about rebellion, ambition, self-expression, and acceptance, expertly painted against the backdrop of Mumbai's ever-changing and evolving street culture. It’s certainly the work with the broadest appeal, set in a sort of distant historical setting that feels far away for many to start, wherein you’re just transported and you experience something. As Grafity's mural on the wall grows, it chronicles the lives of his friends--Jay, a young man with dreams of being a rapper lured into the dangerous path of a gangster. He presents this vision of a city that’s swelteringly hot and yet also cool as an unknowable, uncaring monster when he needs to.

So you have a Verse and you have a Chorus, then you have a Middle Eight, which is done in the style of Alberto Breccia, the Argentinian artist. There are so many potential ways to letter this that would alter and re-shape the tone and mood of the scene. Visually, this graphic novel takes the amorphous uncertainty and lack of delineation for which many know Mumbai to be and crafts a through-narrative involving a handful of youths whose future is, unsurprisingly, in flux. We are made privy to the lives of four young characters, then, who try to balance the need for survival and the human drive (or necessity) towards making our dreams come true. He’s friends with Jayesh (“Jay,” who’s the most “Americanized” of the trio) and Chasma, both of whom have their own issues.Despite all of which, it still mostly ends up feeling life-affirming when it could easily have subsided into easy miserablism.

The art is wonderful, the story doesn’t let you down, and we get a glimpse into a city and world that’s different from many American cities but also very similar in many ways, which makes it interesting to see how it’s viewed by people who know it well.A middle-aged man teases a crippled cigarette and gazes, without really seeing, upon the sentimental busybodies who run and fall and shirk and pray (and prey) in a city settling into night, itself choked by an aquamarine-gray sky and a multitude of flat, listless leaden clouds.

The others have similar hopes – acting, writing, rapping – but in the meantime they're squeezed between their families telling them to get proper jobs, and an underworld which has more lucrative, more dangerous uses for them. Yet, a wall, like many other things, can change its function depending on the imagination it finds itself face to face; a piece of junk, after all, can easily acquire such worth it seems absurd to the untrained eye, as instances over instances of comic books which were being sold at a few cents are now being bought for thousands – if not tens of thousands – of dollars. Yet, the rhythm of the work is such that we manage to move from chaos to silence in a matter of a few panels. The image is colour corrected to attain the closest possible match to the original work if required.Which is to say Miller isn’t necessarily doing or aiming for what many comics these days now do, which is making comics as almost movie pitches or specs.

there are essentially four short stories here, however the telling turns, between minutes which work in a customary account mode, and minutes which are about the feeling of a spot. Blue In Green ostensibly seems to take that notion to the next level with almost a Bill Sienkiewicz-approach, but within the confines of Grafity’s Wall, RK very much opts for less a gorgeous painting-aesthetic and a surreal vibe on the whole, and steeps it more in a dirty, bright and poppy vibe, a bit like Mumbai. Characters grow, succeed in becoming what they are meant to be, while others change their path according to the kinds of opportunities that are available, without straying too much (just a little, perhaps) from their own desires. Keep in mind that anyone can view public collections - they may also appear in recommendations and other places.

It is a work that’s aware that not every detail or bit will be fully understood by a large part of its audience, but that doesn’t matter.