A Mumbai-based cop with a dark past is tasked to escort an escaped inmate back to the asylum. Along the way, he suspects that the inmate might be a serial killer and the asylum may be haunted.
This forms the core of Shiv Pannikker’s comic book Gone Case, which released on June 18, and is said to be Mumbai’s first horror comic book. It is written and created by Pannikker – an alumnus of the New York Film Academy and a well-known producer, director and screenwriter in Bollywood. The book has been co-created and illustrated by Karan Danda, who also happens to be the author’s childhood best friend, and it has been edited and co-created by Myron D’Silva.
The comic book is part of a trilogy and the second part will be releasing towards the end of this year.
“The whole concept of Gone Case is about a local corrupt little Malvani Police Department which does not know how to deal with the hackers due to the lack of information about the dark web and they make use of basic social media in order to find out about the dark web,” said Panikker.
A personal incident, Panniker says, prompted him to incorporate the dark web in his book in order to spread awareness about the fraudulent activities that take place in the deep corners of the internet.
“When I went to Bangkok in 2019, I was a victim of debit card theft where a lot of my info was stolen online. Even though I got my money back, I got to know through the authorities that it happened on the dark web. I was surprised to learn that 98% of the information sold online was Indian. I knew I had to talk about this and bring awareness in my own way which is why I decided to write this book,” he said.
With intricate designs and illustrations; a captivating and engaging Indian storyline; along with Bollywood references and mentions – the book became among the hottest new releases on Amazon within just three days of launching.
According to Pannikker, there is interest in making a film based on the comic book. “We are in talks with people who are willing to produce a movie based on Gone Case,” Panikker said.
Featured image credit: Instagram/@shivpannikker