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“Rare Flavours” #1

By | September 22nd, 2023
Posted in Reviews | % Comments

“Rare Flavours” #1 is a book that is steeped (pun) in Indian food, culture, and storytelling. As a result, I had to do some research outside of the comic to really get a grasp of the characters, the story, and the themes and message of the book. As a result, I felt compelled to write down a very brief glossary of terms below that will help those unfamiliar to understand the book.

Masala Chai: Is a drink that is tea brewed in milk with spices added into it. The word “chai” means “tea” in India so there is no need to reference it as “chai tea” (thank you Spider-Man).

Rakshasa: Is a creature from Hindu mythology that is kind of like a demon, but there are rakshasas who are capable of being good. They have incredible powers, and in the context of this book, some of them are cannibals.

Mahabharata: One of the great Indian epic poems and a cornerstone of Indian culture and literature. It’s a poem that is almost 200,000 lines long and to describe what happens would take ages, but for now all you need to know is that there are five brothers who are trying to retake their kingdom from a rival, and one of them is a super strong prince named Bhima who likes to fight and uses a club.

Alright, with that out of the way let’s delve into “Rare Flavours” #1.

Cover by: Filipe Andrade
Written by Ram V
Illustrated by Filipe Andrade
Lettered by Andworld

Discover the tantalizing tale of Rubin Baksh, a demonic Rakshasa with a down-to-earth dream of becoming the next Anthony Bourdain.

To achieve his vision, Rubin enlists Mo, a filmmaker who has seen better days, to document the world-renowned cuisine of India and the people behind such glorious food.

But little does Mo know that there’s more to Rubin than meets the eye, and the mortals play a darker role in the show than they were prepared for…

Entice your palate with the follow up offering from the Eisner, Harvey, and Ringo Award-nominated team of Ram V (Detective Comics, Blue In Green) and Filipe Andrade (Fantastic Four, Star) in this series painstakingly prepared for fans of Anthony Bourdain’s Hungry Ghosts and Eat The Rich!

Bakasura is a rakshasa who terrorized the land and was known for eating everything and everyone who crossed his path. In the Mhabharata he was defeated by the mighty Bhima, who broke his back with a club and brought peace to the land.

Today, Bakasura has healed from his injuries and is now back in modern day India. He had heard of the passing of one of his favorite television personalities–Anthnoy Bourdain–and he is determined to gain fame and fortune by creating his own documentary on food and culture. To do this he enlists the help of a down and out film maker named Mo, and manages to gain his trust and time with a good cup of chai masala and a story about the man who makes it.

But there is something else going on behind the scenes, something much darker and more violent than any mortal could possibly prepare for. What are Bakasura’s plans? What will happen once the documentary is finished? Who are the strangers that have been following him and what do they want?

“Rare Flavours” #1 is written by Ram V, who has made quite a name for himself as one of the best writers working in mainstream comics at this moment. For anyone who might not know, Ram V is from Mumbai, so it could be argued that this book is his love letter to the food and culture that he grew up in. Ram does a great job of presenting Bakasura as someone who is both relatable and alien at the same time. This is a creature that has been alive for thousands of years, killed and eaten hundreds of people, and yet he seems to enjoy being among humans and loves their food. The comic is at its best in the quiet moments where Bakasura is talking to Mo and convincing him to join him on his culinary adventure by telling him stories. The whole thing culminates with a beautiful and delicious vignette talking about the life of a chai seller and how they make their drink, which sounds both delicious and intriguing. It’s nice to see a comic that doesn’t have massive, world ending stakes, and understands how to just take a moment and let the reader enjoy what’s going on in the book.

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Interestingly enough for a comic about two people who want to tell a story, “Rare Flavours” #1 is actually at its weakest when it tries to build a story of its own. There are moments in the book where Ram shows two mysterious individuals who are hunting Bakasura for some reason, probably to make sure he doesn’t fall back on old habits, and there’s a mystery presented at the end where someone winds up dead. The thing is, all of this comes at the expense of learning about the food and the smaller stories about the people who serve it. Granted, it will probably become more important in future issues, but for now this is a comic that is better when it just sits back, takes a breath, and vibes off the food and culture it’s trying to share with the world.

Speaking of vibes, the artwork of “Rare Flavours” #1 is provided by Filipe Andrade. It’s difficult to pin down the art style, but it feels less like a comic book and more like a post-Impressionist art piece that someone like van Gogh or Gaugain would paint. Andrade is content to use rough and uneven lines to create more of a suggestion of setting than a definite sense of place but it’s still clear and easy to read. When it’s coupled with a very pastel heavy color palette the whole book gives off a dream like quality that transports the reader to another world filled with some of the most gorgeous sights, colors, and vistas you will see in a comic.

“Rare Flavours” #1 (incidentally “flavours” is the British way of spelling that word), isn’t a book that’s too concerned with epic plots and world ending events. It’s just two creators coming together to create a comic that talks about the food and stories behind them and the people that create them.

Final Verdict: 8.5- It’s a book that’s more concerned with vibes rather than plot and transports the reader to a far off exotic land where they are really going to want a massala chai.


Matthew Blair

Matthew Blair hails from Portland, Oregon by way of Attleboro, Massachusetts. He loves everything comic related, and will talk about it for hours if asked. He also writes a web comic about a family of super villains which can be found here: https://tapas.io/series/The-Secret-Lives-of-Villains

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