Each Friday, we'll be letting a different DC.com writer share what they'll be reading over the weekend and why you might want to check it out. Here's this week's suggestion for a perfect Weekend Escape!
If you’d enjoy energizing your To Read pile with some mystery and intrigue, The Vigil from Ram V, Lalit Kumar Sharma and Devmalya Pramanik is the graphic novel you didn’t know you needed. In this gritty six-issue comic series, a secret team of South Asian superheroes gathers to defend the world from unusual threats. But don’t think this is a tale you’ve heard before: nothing can prepare you for the truth behind the Vigil.
The Vigil comes out from the shadows in this AAPI Heritage Month edition of Weekend Escape!
The Premise:
Former field agent Nia Saha is the new liaison for a team of four individuals with extraordinary abilities. Their mission? Retrieve and destroy experimental technology and research that the world isn’t ready for yet. Sponsored by a mysterious benefactor known only as Mr. Lightless, Nia reports back to him on the team’s activities. But no one orders these metahumans around, because the Vigil isn’t the type of team that can be controlled. Nia quickly finds out that keeping watch on the Vigil isn’t going to be easy…
“[One] thing that is quite unique about these characters is that these are people who were otherwise broken in a lot of different ways,” writer Ram V told DC.com. “Some of them psychologically, others given their physical anomalies. And the Vigil has enabled them to take that and turn it into something they can use.”
Let’s Talk Talent:
Ram V has taken Selina Kyle to the top of her game in Catwoman and dragged Arthur Curry down to the darkest depths in Aquaman: Andromeda. The Vigil is a team of his own imagination that was inspired by Indian culture and history. They made their eye-catching debut in Lazarus Planet: Next Evolution #1 before headlining their own series. Artists Lalit Kumar Sharma and Devmalya Pramanik might be relative newcomers, but their striking work in The Vigil feels right at home in the DC Universe.
A Few Reasons to Read:
- The team lineup: Each member of the Vigil has their own compelling story to tell. There’s Arclight, who wields electromagnetic powers; the shape-shifting Saya; Dodge, who has superhuman reflexes; and finally Castle, a sociopath who’s always ten steps ahead of everyone else. These aren’t traditional superheroes, but they have each other’s backs.
- Nia Saha: Speaking of real people, Nia acts as the audience surrogate, a normal person thrown into a world she doesn’t understand yet. Her reactions are our reactions: confusion, curiosity, astonishment and asking the constant question, “What the heck is actually going on here?!” Ram cleverly uses her character to ease readers into getting to know this team and the world they inhabit without feeling like we’re completely on our own. And as Nia starts to care about her new team members, so do we.
- The twists and turns: You might think you know where this story is going, but when the mind-bending truth behind the team is revealed, you might need a moment to process it. (That’s a good thing. A very good thing.)
- The end feels like just the beginning: As the last issue in the miniseries wraps up, it feels like the Vigil’s story is just getting started and their mission far from complete. While we now have some answers to our burning questions about the team, there are still many more left to ask. What will happen when their paths cross with the biggest superheroes in the DC Universe? Will they see the Vigil as friend or foe? Once you finish reading all six issues in this series, you’ll be impatient to see the Vigil’s future unfold.
Why It’s Worth Your Time:
No one writes superheroes like Ram V does, and it’s a thrill to see a team of his own creation in electrifying action. These are heroes with an air of danger themselves, thanks to a looming uncertainty about their true motives that hangs over them. Nonetheless, this team is a breath of fresh air because every member completely unpredictable. This Vigil is worth keeping in more ways than one, and here’s hoping we’ll see them again in the DC Universe sooner rather than later.
The Vigil by Ram V, Lalit Kumar Sharma, Devmalya Pramanik and Rain Beredo is available in bookstores, comic shops, libraries and digital retailers as a softcover graphic novel. It can also be read in full on DC UNIVERSE INFINITE.
Kelly Knox writes about all-ages comics and animation for DC.com, and she’s the author of several nonfiction books about some of your favorite film franchises. Follow her on Twitter at @kelly_knox to talk superheroes, comics and pop culture.
NOTE: The views and opinions expressed in this feature are solely those of Kelly Knox and do not necessarily reflect those of DC or Warner Bros. Discovery, nor should they be read as confirmation or denial of future DC plans.
