Vimanarama

Vimanarama
Philip Bond's cover for the Vimanarama trade
Publication information
Publisher	Vertigo Comics
Schedule	Monthly
Format	Mini-series
Publication date(s)	2005
No. of issues	3
Creative team
Written by	Grant Morrison
Artist(s)	Philip Bond

Vimanarama is a three-issue comic book mini-series written by Grant Morrison, with art by Philip Bond, and published by the Vertigo imprint of DC Comics.

It is the story of Ali, a young British Asian man awaiting the arrival of his unseen arranged marriage. A baby in his family accidentally opens a path to the centre of the Earth, unleashing ancient monsters hell-bent on destroying the world. Only the Ultra-Hadeen, a team of ancient and somewhat naive superheroes, can stop them.

Ali also must deal with several personal family crises, most of them influenced by the presence of the super-beings.

The story is a Jack Kirby-like (in particular his ancient astronaut series The Eternals) take on ancient Indian tales, for example the Vedas (a vimana as a flying plane, for example) and Mahabharata. It also has an Arabian Nights-style romance mixed with a large dash of psychedelia and general oddness.

Morrison has said that the idea arose after 9-11 when his research into Islam led him on to the ancient epic tales of India and some of the more speculative theories of people like David Hatcher Childress. He states: "I just liked the idea of taking all the pomp and high holiness of one of the world's great religions...and turning it into a Jack Kirby comic."

"Forget Superman, Wonderwoman and even the Incredibles. The new kid on the block is a teenage Muslim from Bradford, where his father runs a successful chain of corner shops. [It’s] a ripping yarn, with Ali and Sofia discovering a subterranean world beneath Bradford when a crate of Turkish delight cracks open a hidden entrance in one of the family's shops." - The Guardian