Lonely Planet

Even the pseudonym taunts. The author of the graphic novel Moonward (Blaft Publications,Rs 395) is called Appupen,meaning grandfather or old man in Malayalam.

Even the pseudonym taunts. The author of the graphic novel Moonward (Blaft Publications,Rs 395) is called Appupen,meaning grandfather or old man in Malayalam. Appupen is otherwise George Mathen,a 30-year-old Malayali artist who took the nom de plume years ago,during his schooling in Mary Roys Pallikoodam in Kottayam,Kerala.

Mathen draws characters who are crippled by greed,loneliness and hope and inhabit a world called Halahala. Halahala is a strange world,but it is also strangely familiar. Moonward starts at the beginning of Halahala and jumps forth a few millennia, says Mathen. Now based in Bangalore,he is also the drummer of the alt-rock outfit Lounge Piranha.

The artwork in Moonward is black and white and stark. It is well chosen for Halahala a fantastic concrete jungle,a place so technologically advanced that it is bled of colour. Every creature in this dystopia is a machine; their only language money. There are cash-fed obese men who crave more,the common man is a fly on the wall,a crazed farmer becomes an evil scientist,animals become machines and crops become mutant.

Mathens stint at Greenpeace five years ago is clear in the segment I,Robobird where a mechanical bird is sent out to feed on cotton plants. It lays an egg during the daily Output hours and when the egg hatches,there lies a neat roll of toilet paper. Kleenex has been cutting down trees in the Amazon. Its manufacturer,the Kimberly-Clark Corporation,clears forests to make products that are flushed down the toilet, says Mathen,who relies on little text and long passages of silent,graphic storytelling.

Currently touring Chennai and Bangalore with Moonward,Mathen is working on his second book,a collection of 10 graphic short stories.

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