Review 07/10

The Rostam comic books have been a delight and joy in the last few years and I, for one, have always looked forward to the next edition. Brought to you by the very talented trio of Bruce Bahmani, Jamie Douraghy and Cameron Douraghy (BJC) and of course their team at Hyperwerks, this epic Shahnameh creation of our famous Persian Hero Rostam is a must read. In Rostam, Battle of the Deevs, we once again encounter an awesome world presented in brilliant comic style color and graphics. Recently, I had a chance to talk to the guys about the project.

Shabnam Rezaei: How did you come up with the idea of the Rostam comic books?

BJC: Back in 2000, while working on the “Truth” anti-smoking campaign, we had been hired to create a customized comic book targeting Asian American teenagers who smoke. The project proved to be very successful with more than a million issues being printed and distributed. During this period, we discussed additional characters that would lend themselves to this medium and the idea of the Shahnameh came up. Finally, our collective experience on this project inspired us to express the action adventure stories we had grown up with from the Shahnameh, into this art form.

SR: What is Rostam, Battle with the Deevs about?

BJC: The New story takes place immediately after the death of Sohrab (book 1). Rostam essentially goes mad with grief and has to battle his internal demons as well as the great White Deev (Deeveh Sefid) himself. In the background we get a view of who Siavash is, and a sneak peek of one of our future books 'Seven Trials' or Haft Khan.

SR: What are the readers saying about Rostam?

BJC: So far we have had great responses from our fans. They rave about the illustrations of the Deevs and the exciting story-line. If there are any other fans out there who want sneak peaks in the future please email us at info@theshahnameh.com and we will include you on our mailing list. In addition, we created three new videos - which give our fans a taste of things to come! For more, please visit www.theshahnameh.com I would also like to add that you can buy all the Rostam comics at the oznoz Persian store.