Last year, Oni Press (Invader Zim, Scott Pilgrim) accepted Podi, a Sri Lankan-written comic. Podi is about two bickering sisters who accidentally shrink themselves:
A page from “Podi.” Out in 2018 by Oni Press.
And must find their baby brother and escape, or be trapped forever, in miniature.
“It was a long shot. We submitted; crossed our fingers; kept working,” said Deshan Tennekoon, one of Podi’s writers. “A few months and 2,571 entries later, Podi was one of the books selected. Daytime martinis, as you do.”
Podi is being created by Isuri Dayaratne, Navin Ratnayake, and Deshan Tennekoon.
Isuri Dayaratne “is an illustrator of books and maker of fine things. She wanted to grapple with sequential storytelling and – having no use for sanity – used this project to purge herself of it.”
Though you may not have realized it, you’ve probably seen her work around Colombo (next time you’re there, take a look at the Coco Veranda logo). Indeed, while I did not meet her till years later, I first got to know of Isuri from this logo she did for Colombo Comic Con back in 2012.
Her work has been exhibited at Gallery1988, Light Grey Art Lab and IAM8BIT Gallery.
The predecessor of Lanka Comic Con, circa 2012
Her previous work includes August in Pasikuda for the comics-poetry journal, Inkbrick (No. 4, 2015) and illustrated haiku in Lexicons, the Sri Lankan SFF anthology.
She is a graduate of Columbus College of Art & Design with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Illustration.
Navin Ratnayake “wrote for Colombo’s first city guide for five years and now writes terrifying, complex stock market analyses. He recently completed his first history book.”
In school, what I remember most about Navin was how impressively well read he was. Very pleased to see he’s writing his own books now.
Pub Quiz, like art, takes commitment.
Many know Navin from his time cohosting the Colombo Pub Quiz, at the Barefoot Cafe.
Now, you do too.
Deshan Tennekoon edited the magazine Navin wrote for. As the father of two short humans (aged 10 and almost-12), he wanted to tell them a story they’d never heard before.
He has contributed to the poetry comics anthology Over The Line (Sidekick Books, 2015), the comics poetry journal, Inkbrick (2015/16) and the Sri Lankan SFF magazine, Lexicons(2015).
Occasionally he gets asked to write things that aren’t comics, like Traditional Culture and Aesthetics of Sri Lanka for the Encyclopedia of Asian Design (forthcoming, from Bloomsbury Publishing).
In school Deshan was always scribbling comics in his notebook, and often other people’s notebooks (whether they knew it or not). He also taught me Dungeons and Dragons, which changed the very course of my life.
Podi will be approximately 120-pages, and should be out in 2018.
However, you won’t need to wait that long to see more of their work. Isuri and Deshan are also in the (fully funded!) Elements – Fire comics anthology. Elements will feature their story Metta Helmet.
From the upcoming Metta Helmet.
Metta Helmet is a story set in post-apocalyptic Sri Lanka, where an eccentric octogenarian imparts an unexpected gift to a reluctant gang member.
Elements should be out by December.
You can meet the Podi team at their panel at Lanka Comic Con, Saturday 20th of August.
