Black Mumba

Collection of short stories set in the city of Mumbai, India. The graphic novel is a collection of 'Noir' short stories, set in the city of Mumbai and told through the eyes of a weary police inspector. But there are no real criminals in Black Mumba. The city itself is the quarry and the bleak, weird and yet magical nature of life on its streets is at the heart of the stories. Black Mumba began as a single short story titled 'Dead Rain' written for the Blood Root anthology published by Sawdust Press in 2012. What began as a 14 page story then grew into a larger concept and more stories. Excited by the idea of a project set in Mumbai, some of the brightest comic book artists in India came together to create this 100 page book. Written by Ram V and featuring art by Devmalya Pramanik, Kishore Mohan, Rosh and Aditya Bidikar. Portrayed in the, nowadays, rarely used 1940s black white noir style, the art in Black Mumba blends very well with the eerie tales. “These are not your usual run-of- the-mill crime plots. They are much more gritty and realistic, which showcases the stark nature of life in the city in tandem with the cynicism and personal conflicts of the protagonist Dev. In ‘Dead Rain’ we have used a lot of grey. But the other stories are lot more gory. So we have used only black and white to portray them,” explains Kishore. This book is a love letter to that most difficult of cities, Mumbai.