In Your Skin #1 // Review
Cintra Wilson said that fame is a disease. It’s possibly the only disease that’s sought-after by a huge segment of the population. Writer Aditya Bidikar explores fame from an intriguing horror perspective with In Your Skin. The first issue of the new series features art by Taki Soma. Priyanka is a Bollywood-obsessed fan who has the opportunity to take the place of her hero...a superstar who is retiring from the movies. Priyanka is very excited at the possibility of taking her place, but there’s a bit more to the process of assuming someone else’ identity than she might expect...
Priyanka had filled out a quiz online. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet her idol. In order to be chosen, she has to answer a lengthy quiz about the celebrity in multiple choice format. As Priyanka works her way through the quiz, she begins to realize that it's way too easy. There's a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. She knows that she's not the only one who's going to get a perfect score on this thing. They're not asking really difficult questions. Nevertheless, she's going to get that chance to meet her idol. And that's when things get really interesting.
Bidikar is cleverly sharp in exploring the narrative from a few different angles that feel instantly disjointed on the page. The narrative is clearly there at the heart of all of the drama. However, it's hitting the page at odd angles. Those odd angles, make it really interesting to delve into. There's a lot going on in the story. And there's a lot of horror lurking in the margins of the first issue, which will no doubt come to light in subsequent chapters. The depth of characterization is as impressive as the deeper themes which are emerging over the course of the first issue.
Bidikar’s script he's a rather unflinching look at the nature of fandom and the nature of fame. Soma’s art is similarly and flinching. However, there is a stylishness to it that keeps it from feeling to sterile. The sharp and precise nature of the artists work could easily come across as feeling a bit too intricate. Soma brings the scalpels precision of emotion to the page in a way that's very stylish. It all feels so cleverly constructed with an eye towards plot and framing and pacing.
In Your Skin is the sort of thing that would feel all too cliché where it to be focused on some LA based rockstar or some Hollywood based super celebrity. Bidikar’s choice of focusing on a Bollywood star instead feels a lot more engaging. It avoids all of those stylistic clichés that would otherwise dominate a narrative like this. It's an exploration of fame that feels strikingly original. And that's not an easy thing to do. Fame really likes gazing at itself in the mirror. There have been a lot of narrative works that have focused on it. It's nice to see something that's exploring it from nontraditional direction for an American audience.
