Thaindian News

Washington, May 5 (IANS) Acclaimed Indian artist, Jeevan J. Kang teamed up with legendary superhero creator Stan Lee in creating the artwork for a new comic book honouring the ‘King of Rock n’ Roll’ Elvis Presley.

Written by Lee, co-creator of some of the world’s leading superhero characters (Spider-Man, X-Men, Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Daredevil, Hulk, Thor), the new short story is being released Saturday, Liquid Comics announced.

Commemorating the 35th anniversary in celebration of the life and legacy of Elvis Presley, the story by Lee was originally created as part of an exclusive hardcover, collector’s item anthology entitled, “Graphic Elvis” which is limited to only 2,500 copies worldwide and available through select online retailers and at www.GraphicElvis.com.

Liquid Comics is now making Stan Lee’s, ‘Elvis’ story available to thousands of people for free as part of Free Comic Book Day, the industry’s biggest annual giveaway of free comic books across America, it said.

In addition to the physical book, an interactive digital and mobile app entitled, “Graphic Elvis: The Interactive Experience,” is also now available for $9.99 and features all of the content from the Graphic Elvis collectors book with bonus videos, animation and interactive features.

Beyond the original illustrations, Graphic Elvis also features numerous hand-written notes and musings, never before seen by the public and written in the margins of various books owned by Elvis, making the hardcover collector’s book and the digital app a must have collectible for Elvis fans around the world.

Lee was joined by some of the most acclaimed graphic novel creators in the industry to portray the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll in unprecedented visual styles. They included Jeevan J. Kang, Mukesh Singh, Saumin Patel and Samit Basu.

Jeevan Kang is an Indian comic artist, who created the artwork of the famous Spider-Man: India comic.

He has been signed on by Liquid Comics, a Los Angeles based company founded by Sir Richard Branson and his Virgin Group, author Deepak Chopra, filmmaker Shekhar Kapur, and entrepreneurs Sharad Devarajan, Suresh Seetharaman, and Gotham Chopra, to create art for their Indian comics.

His other comic work includes: The Sadhu (with Gotham Chopra, Virgin Comics, 2006), Seven Brothers (with Garth Ennis, based on a concept by John Woo, 5-issue mini-series, Virgin Comics, 2006).

(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)