‘Guru, Girls & A Dude Without a Plan’: Inside Goa’s newest graphic novel

In Goa, many books are released every year — they are mainly about Goa’s history, culture, and related topics. But, seldom do you come across a book that tells a funny story in a graphic novel format. Even though we now consume most of our information in a visual format, we do not come across this genre very often.

So, it’s refreshing to read the latest graphic novel in town, titled Guru, Girls & A Dude Without a Plan, written by former newspaper editor and journalist Derek Almeida, and illustrated by artist Fabian Gonsalves.

AT A GLANCE

This 135-odd-page graphic novel, richly illustrated with bright colours, follows the life journey of Jag — a directionless drifter who hits a wall in the chaotic town of Manojkhand. His journey is like a rollercoaster ride and makes for an ideal read on lazy weekends. The novel is filled with funny one-liners, eye-catching caricatures, and a twisted plot that somehow holds your attention.

WHY HUMOUR?

Almeida, who has self-published this book, always wanted to write a book once he left his full-time job as an editor. He says, “I just wanted to be rich and famous, and for some reason, I thought writing a book was the way to go! A graphic novel was always on the table because I grew up reading a lot of comics — serious ones, funny ones, and stuff like MAD, which was satirical and hilarious. So, that’s the direction I took. It was the natural thing because I also used to write a humorous weekly column in a couple of local dailies.”

Being a master of words and not visuals, he took the help of illustrator Fabian Gonsalves. The journey of the book started more than six years ago. There were many roadblocks ahead, including the COVID-19 pandemic. But both carried on with the project, even though initially they were clueless! He quips, “We plodded on like two mountaineers without oxygen tanks! In the end, it worked.” Being fans of comics like Asterix, Tintin, etc also helped.

One of the inside pages of the book

VISUALS & CHALLENGES

Gonsalves, who is also a diorama artist, maintains that the novel has a typical comic format, but he has experimented a lot with angles. “For me, the biggest challenge was trying different angles, as I didn’t want to stick to the usual format of two people talking. Also, drawing an interactive crowd was a challenge, as was depicting the different environments the story is set in.”

Even though comics are a very popular genre worldwide, there is still no buzz around them in Goa. Gonsalves maintains that there is a market for them, but it is a ‘hidden’ market, and there are people who are interested in this format.

Almeida further informs that now that the book is out, the response has been encouraging. He states that many are re-reading it to enjoy the visuals, while others have described the book as having Gen Z language. He adds, “A senior graphic novelist described it as ‘a page-turner’ because there is literally something happening on every page.”

Almeida is now working on a murder mystery and plans to do a sequel to Guru, Girls & A Dude Without a Plan if he manages to find a financier. “The problem with graphic novels is that they are expensive to produce, so I will have to win a lottery or find a sponsor who is willing to go with Fabian and me on this journey for the remaining two books to take shape,” he informs.

Guru, Girls & A Dude Without a Plan is available at Broadway Bookstore, Panjim.

Arti Das is a Goa-based freelance journalist who enjoys writing about art, culture and ecology