MS SHABASH

We wanted to bring out a comic featuring a female superhero character that could bring attention to important social issues that girls and women face, while still being highly entertaining with over-the-top comic book tropes. So we introduced Ms. Shabash, who was a gender-flipped version of Shabash in an alternate reality. In her first comic, Ms. Shabash protects the citizens of Dhaka from Whitewash, the CEO of a skin lightening cream firm who was horribly mutated by her own product and goes on an aggressive marketing spree.

Shabash

Shabash is Bangladesh’s first superhero and Mighty Punch’s flagship character. He’s a bit of a slacker and a man-child but he can accomplish great things when he puts his mind to it. And after he’s been powered up by atomic mangoes of course. Shabash has fought against Ancient Giant Cockroaches (much to his disgust) and has also been slapped around by a genetically modified mosquito. In his downtime, he likes playing street cricket with the neighborhood kids or go on quests to find the perfect biryani business.

Lathial

A series that takes place in a fantasy version of Bangladesh, full of mythical characters, newly created and also reimagined from traditional folklore and fairy tales. At its heart, it’s the story of a young warrior woman who gets banished from her kingdom and sets out on a journey to restore honor back to the ancient order of Lathials, who were the purveyors of peace and justice throughout the land.

Captain Kathal

Kathal is a strong, brooding vigilante with a no-nonsense attitude and an obsessive love for jackfruit. He was introduced in the Shabash comics to be a rival to the mango-loving hero. While he couldn’t stand Shabash’s guts at first, Kathal has since warmed up towards him (although he would never admit it). While Shabash handles the more outlandish villains, Kathal concentrates on street crime and other less frivolous villains.

The Legend of Zooey

In the land of Farago, there is a chill wind that blows nobody any good. The cruel witch, Frostella, has locked the land in an unnatural winter for the past 100 years. Her armies of Samurai Snowmen patrol the land and prey on the good critters of Farago for the Queen has decreed that they will all serve as meals for her overly lavish banquets. But when the fabled Princess Zooey appears, from a different world, there is a sliver of hope that spring and salvation could be on the horizon. 

Shabash 1: Rise of the Cockroach King

When a cult of cockroach acolytes awaken their ancient king (Blatt) from his long magical slumber, the latter is not very happy to find that human beings have become the predominant species on the planet. When Blatt begins to wreak havoc on Dhaka City, the local superhero Shabash comes out to face him. At first Shabash is too grossed out to fight the hulking cockroach, but when people start making fun of him and he starts losing Facebook followers, he decides to salvage his reputation by getting his hands dirty and squashing Blatt’s nefarious plans

Shabash 2: Keramoti’s Experiment Part 1 of 2

It’s winter in Dhaka and as usual the mosquitos attack in droves. The mad scientist, Professor Keramoti, who is under house arrest for his horrific experiments, decides to genetically modify a mosquito for his own outrageous purposes. When the experiment goes awry and the mosquito escapes, Shabash has to get involved before the insect uses the population of Bangladesh as its own personal buffet table

Shabash 3: Keramoti’s Experiment Part 2 of 2

When Shabash finds it hard to lay his hands on the super-fast mosquito, he has to ask Keramoti to make him some weapons in order to combat the creature. Kiron -- Shabash’s next-door neighbor -- also pitches in to help by piloting a giant robot but soon realizes he has taken on more than he can handle. Find out what the all the buzz is about in the second part of Keramoti’s Experiment!

Shabash 4: Shabash at the Comicon

In the first of three stories, Shabash is at the Dhaka Comicon and is upset because nobody recognizes him there. Meanwhile, some thieves are planning a big robbery heist on the same day but will Shabash come out of his depression long enough to stop them? In the second story, Shabash plays a game of street cricket with a bunch of kids only to get into an infantile argument. And in the third story, Shabash tries to form a truce between Brazil and Argentina football fans in Bangladesh. Good luck with that, Shabash!

Shabash 5: The Spoiler King Manifests and other stories

While helping Keramoti clean out his lab, Shabash discovers a TV that can pick up transmissions of shows from the future. He gives up superhero duties for a while in order to binge watch series after series with some unpredictable results. In the same issue, Blatt’s followers decide to throw their king a birthday party but he is not amused that they have adopted such frivolous human customs. In the last story, Shabash makes a trip to Old Dhaka (on the day of the Shakhrain Kite Festival) to eat biriyani only to have part of his costume ‘stolen’.

Shabash 6: The Fearsome Four

In the main story, the bunch of thieves Shabash defeated at the Comicon are back to get revenge. This time they’ve upgraded their costumes and weaponry and call themselves the Fearsome Four. Will Shabash manage to escape their clutches? And what does the Fearsome Four’s employer want with him anyway? In the second story, Shabash’s alter ego Shabab Sharif has a rough day at his advertising agency when his colleagues discover the lyrics he had been writing for Shabash’s theme song.

Shabash 7: Kathal Vs Shabash: Fruits of Justice

There’s a new vigilante in the scene by the name of Captain Kathal! Brash, quick to anger and outfitted with an arsenal of gadgets, Kathal works furiously to keep the city free from crime and corruption. He doesn’t approve of the way Shabash conducts himself as a superhero and insults the latter in public. Fervent fanbases form around the two heroes and things come to a head when Team Mango and Team Kathal start fighting in the streets. What’s it going to take for everyone to get along?

Shabash 8: Heat Wave

It’s summertime and temperatures have hit a record high in Dhaka. The heatwave makes the citizens angry and belligerent. People everywhere (and especially trapped in traffic jams) lose their tempers and get into physical fights. Their anger awakens Krodh -- a fiery, elemental being who is trapped many miles under the city. He erupts onto the surface and proceeds to try and reduce the city to ashes. Shabash faces him with some help from Professor Keramoti, Kiron and Captain Kathal but in order to defeat Krodh he first has to deal with all the anger that is emanating from the citizens and fueling the villain’s power.

Captain Kathal Issue 1:  

Captain Kathal vs The Molom Party

It's the holiday season but a gang of thieves known as the Molom Party is ruining everyone's festive mood by going on a massive mugging spree across the city. Captain Kathal decides to take them down single-handedly but along the way he starts to question his own motives. Is he merely trying to bring the criminals to justice or is he using them as an outlet for his own anger issues?

Ms. Shabash Issue 1: The Whitewash Factor and Attack of the Auntybots

In an alternate universe, most things remain the same, except for a few major shakeups such as the fact that the superhero in town is -- Ms. Shabash! In this first issue, she takes on the evil Whitewash -- a villain who got her powers during an accident in in a skin-lightening cream laboratory. Will it be a fair fight? Check out the comic to see. Also, in the backup story, Ms. Shabash has to outwit a swarm of Auntybots that are patrolling the city and poking their noses into everyone’s affairs, often with explosive results. 

Ms. Shabash Issue 2: Toxic Mojo

Issue 2 features a villain by the name of Mojo Khan, who has enslaved fairies and uses their magic to cast a glamour that makes him look like a super-model. He is infatuated by Ms. Shabash and tries to get her attention by putting people in danger but when Ms. Shabash rescues everyone and finds out that it was all a ploy for the villain to meet her, she makes it very clear that she is not interested in him and that he is a menace to society. Humiliated, Mojo escapes and uses the fairies to create a magic weapon that will disfigure Ms. Shabash so that people will be repulsed by the superhero. 

 Ms. Shabash Issue 3: A Mile in Her Shoes

Shabnam and her friends go out to celebrate Pahela Baishakh (the Bengali New Year). The joyous celebration is marred when some vile men harass her girlfriends and Shabnam almost blows her superhero cover by saving them. Later, one of her friends tracks down the men by observing their activities online and wants to dispense some vigilante justice but Ms. Shabash has a better idea and summons the fairies she rescued in a previous story. The fairies cast a glamour on the men so that the rest of the world sees them as women and they experience first-hand what it feels like to be harassed and demeaned on a regular basis.  

Lathial Issue: 0

A few people in a tavern swap stories about the legendary Lathial. They talk about how he saved Princess Kolaboti from the snakemen of Baburam Shapurey; how he defeated a dragon that had captured the Komol Brothers; and other heroic deeds he has performed. After they are finished telling stories, something unexpected occurs that seems to cast doubt on all the stories that were told as well as the identity of the Lathial. This new series takes place in a fantasy version of Bangladesh, complete with callbacks to characters from our own fairy tales.

The Legend of Zooey ISSUE: 

A band of Samurai Snowman attack some hapless taking animals when the fabled Princess Zooey of Legend enters the land of Farago through a magic portal. She has come to put an end to the Ice Queen’s rule and liberate all the enslaved creatures that reside there. 

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