This was submitted by Vikas K. Menon, Ram Devineni, and Dan Goldman as part of the 2015 PEN World Voices Online Anthology. It was previously featured as part of our Illustrated PEN series.

Priya’s Shakti events: Priya’s Shakti: Augmented Reality Comic Book and Exhibition and Build Your Own Comic Workshop.

The Illustrated PEN is a weekly online series that aspires to be at the intersection of literature, journalism, and visual storytelling, where images and words come together in an ever-emerging and essential creative form. We’ll feature fiction and nonfiction graphic narratives, comics journalism and illustrated reportage, stories of social justice and personal stories that can’t be told through words alone.

The comic book Priya’s Shakti is a collaboration between poet and playwright Vikas K. Menon, artist Dan Goldman, and filmmaker Ram Devineni. The provocative story portrays an Indian female “super hero” who fights against sexual violence in a Hindu-inspired mythic reality. The comic’s creation was prompted by the December 2012 gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old student in Delhi.

Priya’s Shakti is part of an augmented reality (AR) comic book and exhibition. The comic can be viewed in its entirety here.