iFanboy Upstarts: Mukesh Singh

Superhero comics have been home to a number of epic collaborations bringing a writer and artist together to create something special. Teams like Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, Chris Claremont and John Byrne, Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely. Morrison himself has been part of a number of potent collaborations, from Quitely to Cameron Stewart and J.G. Jones. And now he’s found himself another partner to create his vision: Mukesh Singh.

Mukesh Singh is an Indian-based artist who first teamed up with Morrison on the 2010 illustrated book Grant Morrison’s 18 Days, but his start in comics came years earlier. In 2005 while working as a video game artist, Singh entered a contest to draw Superman put on by the Bangalore comic shop Gotham Comics. Singh won that with an illustration of the Man of Steel paying tribute to the Indian deity of Hanuman, earning him a Alex Ross print and the notice of store-owner Gotham Chopra. Chopra was in the beginning stages of forming Virgin Comics and wooded Singh into quitting his video game job in Mumbai and moving to Bangalore to work out of the studio Chopra had set up. Singh quickly became one of Virgin’s most in-demand in-house artists, making his debut with the flagship title Devi. Mukesh drew that series for seven issues before jumping over to join Andy Diggle in translating movie director Guy Ritchie’s Gamekeeper concept to comics, then partnering with a different kind of creator in Jenna Jameson’s Shadowhunter series.

It was 2008 by then, and Singh had caught notice of the American comics industry enough to earn him a nomination for the Russ Manning award, but his employer was on a downward slide. In 2008 Virgin was faltering after a falling out between Chopra and the Virgin parent company, leading Chopra to buyout the company and rename it Liquid Comics. Chopra was sure to keep Singh close to him, taking him with him as the company entered a more focused publishing stage, first doing a one-shot crossover Devi/Witchblade and then beginning his collaboration with Grant Morrison. At the time Morrison was still under an exclusive to DC, leading them to do their first project — 18 Days — as an illustrated book instead of a comic. That interesting story / movie pitch was an adaption of an ancient Indian mythical story called Mahabharata, one of the Indian subcontinent’s most popular stories of all time. After that, Singh took a side job doing a back-up story in Top Cow’s Artifacts #6 before redoubling his partnership with Morrison and Chopra with Dinosaurs Vs. Aliens. Based on an idea from movie director Barry Sonnenfeld’s, Singh worked with Morrison to create a comic that also served as an outline for a possible movie. A preview was released earlier this month as part of Free Comic Book Day, with the full graphic novel coming in June.

Singh’s hyper-detailed work is a start contrast to the traditional American comics line-work most fans are used to. To some it harkens back to the European BD style, but in reality it owes more to the video game concept art that Singh worked at before jumping to comics. His decision to work outside the traditional Big Two of DC and Marvel has made him an unknown to fans who only buy from those companies, but his art is a rare treat that fans should definitely find the time to devour for themselves.