In an exclusive chat with Mirror, legendary superhero creator Stan Lee says Raju Rai’s yogic powers will rescue the world this May.Fourteen-year-old Raju Rai may not have a very glamorous name, but he has some pretty stellar ancestry. He follows a long line of American super-heroes including Spider-Man, X-Men, Thor, Hulk and Iron Man, created by former president and chairman of Marvel Comics Stan Lee. Raju is Lee’s first Indian superhero, and lives in Mumbai. The teenager is a science prodigy who develops a body suit with his mentor, a scientist. The suit has the power to activate the body’s yogic chakras. Through a series of accidents (then again, there are no accidents in a comic book world, are there?), the suit gets activated while Raju wears it, lending him his superpowers. The comic titled, Chakra the Invincible was announced two years ago, and is an indication that the West may be looking at India as the new site for comic super-powerdom, having already developed a thriving market for Hollywood superhero films and merchandise.“I have always been fascinated by the ancient traditions of the East and have read many of India’s revered texts including the Upanishads. That’s why I wanted to create a character that imbued some of these characteristics into his powers. The idea of tapping into the mystical power of the chakras as the source of Raju’s superhero abilities made perfect sense to me,” said Lee, over an email interaction.Mumbai is the perfect bustling metropolis for the hero to be based in, said Lee. “Just as some of my other characters have swung from the rooftops of New York, for Chakra, we wanted to bring the excitement of Mumbai to audiences worldwide. Besides, Mumbai is a city I’ve always been fascinated by and hope to visit someday. Maybe, I’ll even do a cameo in a Bollywood film if Chakra jumps from the comic book page and into the silver screen,” he said.Sharad Devarajan, CEO Graphic India, who worked closely with Lee to conceptualise the character, said the comic will be published online on May 4, on the occasion of Free Comic Book Day, when comic book stores distribute free copies to fans.A free global release is only part of Lee’s and Devarajan’s big plans for Raju. They will publish Chakra in Malayalam, Hindi and Tamil, simultaneously. They are also in the process of striking television deals for an animation series. The internet will be Chakra’s playground, said Devarajan. “People are consuming written content on smart phones, ipads, and e-readers, globally. With the technology we possess, the static image on a page can come alive online. For instance, each panel can lead to previous artworks, or to another comic that tells the same story from another character’s perspective. In India, we think that there has never been a better time to look at the digital (space).”Yet, Raju’s birth has seen many fits and starts in Devarajan’s search for the perfect Indian superhero to transcend the local, and infiltrate global consciousness.Devarajan, who runs US-based Liquid Comics with Gotham Chopra, son of Deepak Chopra, lifestyle guru, and Suresh Seetharaman, brought down several Marvel and DC Comics titles in the late ’90s, including Spider-Man. In 2004, he suggested they create a desi version of the superhero, to coincide with the release of the first part of the Hollywood franchise. The hero called Pavitr Prabhakar, migrated to Mumbai from a small town and wore a dhoti on his superhero exploits. The comic released in the US, but shut down in India after four issues. In 2005, he founded Virgin Comics with Richard Branson’s Virgin Group. It was renamed Liquid Comics three years later, after Virgin exited the scene. During this time, however, several titles were announced, including Devi, The Sadhu and Ramayan 3392 AD. In December 2011, Lee announced a collaboration with Devarajan to develop an Indian superhero. Then, a fortnight ago, The Chernin Group’s Asia investment arm, CA Media bought a significant minority stake in Graphic India, the comic-book and animation section of Liquid Comics created last year to focus on Indian myths and characters. Raju will finally come to life this May.Raju was created in keeping with Lee’s penchant for the flawed hero. “I always want to make all my characters, including Raju, believable. In order to do that, I give them the same type of personal problems that you and I might have — trouble paying bills, problems with bullies at school, a crush on a girl they think doesn’t care for them — to make us relate to them,” Lee said. However, Jadavpur university professor Abhijit Gupta, who started the Comic Book Project in 2010, to digitise regional language comics of the pre-graphic novels era warned Raju faces a lot of competition. “The market for English-language comics is a worldwide market and is, therefore, extremely competitive. Chakra would need to be really good to compete with what comes out of DC and Marvel. However, it might help that it is set in India, and if it is relatively low-priced.”