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Spider-Man in India

Lord Omlette writes "I'm really surprised no one else has mentioned this, but Spider-Man is getting redone in India! As an Indian-American, I'm quite excited. (Let's get it out of the way: even our comic book heroes are being outsourced, wtf!) The manga version of Star Wars was pretty good, but off the top of my head I can't think of any other comic books that were redone for a completely different culture. Anyone?"

22 of 358 comments (clear)

  1. What's he going to swing on? by l810c · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Spiderman's a character built on the premise of New York. Nothing against India, his character wouldn't work well in my home city of Atlanta either. They just don't have the rows and rows and rows of skyscrapers for him to climb up, scale over and swing through. He would kinda lose that advantage.

    And what's with the bottoms? American spiderman doesn't ware suit pants. Is this to make him look more Indian or would there be a cultural backlash against tights?

    1. Re:What's he going to swing on? by cygnusx · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's called a "dhoti". Allegedly more Indian, although you'd be hard-pressed to find a under-40 Indian wear one outside of a religious ceremony or political gathering. Looking through the changes, they are cute. Pavitr Prabhakar makes me laugh - it sounds *forced*.

      I like Spiderman, but for this to take off, Gotham Comics India better get their "localization" right - cosmetic changes like Parker -> Prabhakar are miles away from understanding what the typical (i.e., *not* English-speaking) Indian comic reader is looking for. And the Indian language audience already has lots of comic publishers (most notably Diamond) who do a far better job of creating characters that Indian language readers relate to. The (far smaller but still large) English language audience would never stand for something like this (has "cheap knockoff" written all over it) because they would rather read the originals.

      (offtopic) Of late /. has been accepting a lot of story submissions that originally appeared on Boing Boing days ago so here's a tip to get the stories early: use the Boing Boing slashbox.

    2. Re:What's he going to swing on? by AKnightCowboy · · Score: 4, Funny
      Nothing against India, his character wouldn't work well in my home city of Atlanta either. They just don't have the rows and rows and rows of skyscrapers for him to climb up, scale over and swing through.


      He's going to swing on the hundreds of thousands of outsourced jobs, broken promises, and shattered dreams of American tech workers. Oh wait Spider-man? I thought we were talking about George W. Bush's re-election.


      Is this to make him look more Indian or would there be a cultural backlash against tights?


      I imagine it's similar to how most female comic book superheroes have extraordinarily large breasts. It's best to appeal to your target demographic.

    3. Re:What's he going to swing on? by aixou · · Score: 5, Informative

      From "The Top 10 of Everything 1997" (a bit dated but relevant nonetheless)

      Top 10 world cities with most skyscrapers (skyscraper == habitable buildings of over 500ft/152m):

      Cityname followed by number of skyscrapers

      1 NYC 131
      2 Chicago 47
      3 Houston 27
      4 Los Angeles 21
      5 Hong Kong 20
      6 Dallas 17
      7 Melbourne, Australia 16
      8 San Francisco 15
      9 Boston 14
      10 Atlanta 13
      10 Singapore 13
      10 Sydney, Australia 13

      Spiderman would be a little subpar anyway outside of New York.

    4. Re:What's he going to swing on? by kfg · · Score: 4, Funny

      If you're swinging from the Taj Mahal, where on earth are you swinging too?

      "Hey, look at me. I'm on the Taj Mahal. But now. . . I'm on the Taj Mahal.

      Now, for my next magical trick, I have to change into my Batgirl outfit and fire up the Royal Enfield, because I'm really getting sick and tired of going in circles."

      KFG

  2. Someone hold back Stan Lee. by Kenja · · Score: 4, Funny

    Given the problems Stan Lee has had with getting paid for his creations in the US, I dont think he's too pleased about this.

    --

    "Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
  3. Kind of like Turkey remake of Star Wars by BigFire · · Score: 4, Interesting

    For ages, due to censorship law in Turkey, the locals who want to watch American import have to make do with the next best thing, local remakes. If you can find it on sale online, it's well worth the effort to find the Turkish remake of Star Wars. Same story, no effect budgets...

    1. Re:Kind of like Turkey remake of Star Wars by Lost+Dragon · · Score: 5, Informative

      About Turkish Star Wars:

      Review 1

      Review 2

      Where to buy it:

      Purchase.

      I wonder if there's Turkish Star Trek too.

      PS: Caveat Emptor.

  4. Re:Am I the only one saying WTF? by geeber · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The only thing I find really that stupid is that they're going to have to completely reinvent all the relevant characters to fit this 'new' spider man, so what is the point? Why not just make a new super hero?*

    Because the movie Spider Man was one of the top grossing movies in India. They want to capitilize on the name recognition of Spider Man while at the same time making a superhero that more Indians can relate to culturally.

  5. Bollywood Superman! by MsGeek · · Score: 4, Funny

    This looks like a job for Dharmaman! Faster than a swinging monkey! More powerful than an Elephant! Able to leap Mount Meru in a single bound! Truth, Justice, and the Bharati way! With lots of singing and dancing!

    --
    Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
  6. Re:Well... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I thought that issue where Mary Jane was raped by that tentacle creature was particularly disturbing.

  7. Re:Just don't touch Superman by IthnkImParanoid · · Score: 4, Funny

    Never mind that Superman was foreigner who crashed into the midwest quite by chance to begin with. Hell, that makes him an illegal immigrant (he's taking our jobs!)

    --
    It's nothing but crumpled porno and Ayn Rand.
  8. Captain India by panthro · · Score: 4, Funny

    So if they were to outsource Captain America, would he be renamed to Captain India? (Would he sport orange, white and green? Would his shield have a huge Chakra design on it?)

    --
    If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.
  9. This Reminds Me by turgid · · Score: 4, Funny
    There was a BBC comedy TV and Radio programme called Goodness Gracious Me, written and performed by Indians. It was superb.

    One of the regular sketches involved a very patriotic Indian man and his young son. Whenever the son mentioned something, the father said it was Indian, had been done first in India, or was done by an Indian.

    In one sketch, the small boy was reading in bed before going to sleep. His dad was watching over him. He was reading about Superman.

    "Indian," his father kept saying.

    "Superman can run faster than a train!" enthused the boy.

    "Of course he is Indian," exclaimed the father, "Where else can you run faster than a train?"

    I'll get my coat....

  10. other country's? by RancidLM · · Score: 5, Funny

    Im still waiting for Spider-Man in Canada eh! with his super hockey powers and lumber-Jack Strength!
    now wheres my Beer ya hosers!

  11. "As an Indian-American..." Oblig Simpsons by da3dAlus · · Score: 4, Funny

    Apu: Today, I am no longer an Indian living in America. I am an Indian-American.
    Lisa: You know, in a way, all Americans are immigrants. Except, of course Native Americans.
    Homer: Yeah, Native Americans like us.
    Lisa: No, I mean American Indians.
    Apu: Like me.

    --

    Sometimes I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion.
  12. Re:Am I the only one saying WTF? by Senjutsu · · Score: 5, Funny

    They want to capitilize on the name recognition of Spider Man while at the same time making a superhero that more Indians can relate to culturally.

    So in their version, Spider-Man and Mary Jane are going to almost kiss each other and then spin away from each other and spend the next twenty minutes singing and dancing?

  13. US Examples by phr4gmonk3y · · Score: 4, Interesting

    "The manga version of Star Wars was pretty good, but off the top of my head I can't think of any other comic books that were redone for a completely different culture. Anyone?" Well, all sorts of japanese media has been redone for America. Remember Power Rangers? The whole plot was completley different for the US and Japan versions. In fact, they just used fight scenes and such from the Japanese version of the series, and created a series with a new, completley different plot. Actually, I recall the Japanese version being better (Being relativley young, I remember watching it). Also, anime can sometimes be redone. Following along the lines of young, child fads and franchises, the Pokemon movies had seperate plots. And the series was reformatted to be more US friendly I think. So, while I'm sure the US has done it's share of "outsourcing" of it's pop culture, we're readapting other culture's pop culture to be more US friendly. [ Reply to This ]

  14. Just remember by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    With great curry comes great responsibility!

  15. Re:Am I the only one saying WTF? by pla · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Because the movie Spider Man was one of the top grossing movies in India.

    So let me get this straight... Indians loved Spider Man, so to capitalize on that, they plan to completely change him to make him more Indian.

    Riiiiiiight... So considering the popularity of Anime among geeks, Disney should add a more American touch to it? IIRC, Studio Ghibli had to invoke a minor miracle to prevent Disney from turning movies like Tenkû no shiro Rapyuta into Mickey's Vacation in Laputa.

    Strange. I will never understand the corporate world.

  16. Re:Am I the only one saying WTF? by nwbvt · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "Explain to me why we're re-doing comics for other locales? Can't they make their own comics? "
    How many Disney movies were based on old stories from other cultures?

    --
    Mathematics is made of 50 percent formulas, 50 percent proofs, and 50 percent imagination.