By Shriya Roy
Dhiman Gupta’s comic Out of this World is a short read that takes the reader along on yet another adventure with the protagonist DaBong, this time in Ladakh, along the border between India and China. The story engrosses the reader in a mystery surrounding a monastery close to the Kongka La Pass, which is infamous for its sightings of unidentified flying objects and alien visits.
The story engages the reader until the very end, and the graphics and pictures in the comic add to the mystery factor, expressing a sense of urgency. The story is structured in a graphic novel-comic book form where the visual flow remains to be the single-most important factor.
The comic book weaves itself quite similar to the typical Satyajit Ray’s Feluda and Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay’s Byomkesh detective narrative style, with the protagonist, DaBong, being a Bengali photojournalist who owns a cat and loves to solve puzzles. A lot of the clues that he solves are in the form of puzzles. When he is asked to find out about the mysterious happenings in Kongka La Pass, he teams up with Mr Singh, the police officer who is his partner in the story.
The story follows the detective thriller genre, as the reader flips through pages to find an unexpected end to the journey through Ladakh. Although a short read, every character in the story has their own distinct behaviour, characteristics, which has its root in the rich cultural heritage of India.
Author Dhiman Gupta is a creative director who strategises for brands on the digital medium. He is a story-teller who created DaBong and his series of adventures, mixing many strange characteristics and portions from across India. He has also drawn the graphics of the entire comic himself. Out of this World is the latest addition in the DaBong Diaries series, which includes The Museum of the Future and A Rare Eggs-perience.
