Super Sikh: Introducing the new comic book superhero

Considering the swashbuckling, braveheart image of the warrior community, it is truly inexplicable why Super Sikh had not burst onto the comic-book superhero scene earlier.

Now that ethnic Indians of various nationalities are prominently represented in all spheres of life abroad, from politics and movies to beauty pageants and spelling bees — and have even been part of The Simpsons gig for a quarter of a century -— a cool Sikh simply had to break into the all-white world of superherodom.

And the Elvis-loving, Taliban-hating, aviator-shades-wearing, turbanned Deep Singh, together with his nuclear scientist cousin(-sister) Gurpreet Kaur, appear to be as good a bet as any to be the next big comic book marvel, especially for the increasingly influential desi diaspora in the US and elsewhere.

Though only the pilot issue of the Super Sikh’s adventures has been published (online) so far — in which he foils a Taliban book-burning spree in a girls’ school in Afghanistan — it is heartening to note that three more are on the way, along with translations into Hindi, Spanish and Mandarin.

In those, Super Sikh will, hopefully, also flex his muscles in the US, where his community has been the target of some pretty evil elements of late. Then, he can zoom off to India and elsewhere for more baddie-bashing.