My favorite childhood superhero is coming to India!

"Dressed in a flowing dhoti, or a sarong, pointy shoes and a familiar red mask, he will swing between three-wheeled auto rickshaws and scooters down crowded Indian streets to take on the evil Rakshasa, or demon.

Creators of India's Spider-Man, who is called Pavitr Prabhakar, hope he will soon be as well-loved as the original one, Peter Parker.

Like Parker, Prabhakar is an orphan who lives with his aunt and uncle in Bombay, India's answer to New York City.

And like many residents of India's film capital, he dreams of becoming a movie star. The source of his powers is a yogi, or an ascetic, not a radioactive spider, and his enemy is a business tycoon who turns into a rakshasa, or demon, with a magic amulet." Full article.

Hmmm. Okay, I was all on board until the "dreams of becoming a movie star" quip and bit about where he doesn't get bitten by a spider... I mean I'm all for local adaptation, but no spider?! Sacrilege! :-)

I took a look at the sample sketches, and this new Spiderman is of a noticably smaller build. But I think the costume actually looks pretty cool... yay for cross-culturalism!