Known for his highly cerebral comics work and tackling Western pop cultural mythologies with a unique style, renowned writer Grant Morrison’s latest project is slightly more animated. The surly Scotsman has teamed up with animation house Graphic India to transform the the tale of the Mahabharata, one of India’s major epics and national myths, into a motion comic web series entitled 18 Days, premiering during YouTube’s Geek Week (August 4-10).

The story, in typical Morrisonian fashion, deals with some seriously heady topics like the end of the world, the creation of the universe, battling supergods, and philosophical questions about free will versus predestination. By all accounts, this is going to be one massively trippy series and the artwork has a sort of cosmic otherness to it that is mesmerizing to behold:

And yet, while the series tackles these deep, profound and often cataclysmic issues and focuses on warring gods in nightmare scenarios, Morrison emphasizes that it’s still very much about ordinary people and how they live their everyday lives. During the project’s panel at SDCC, Graphic India’s CEO Sharad Devarajan said that while “the era of the superhero was allegorical to the nuclear age, our story is the age of globalization. We’re bringing one of the great writers of the West together with one of the great texts of the East. We hope it starts some great discussions.” With a story as headscratchingly deep as 18 Days’, we think there will be plenty to talk about in the weeks ahead.

Morrison himself elaborated on the projects back story in two videos on Graphic India’s YouTube channel.

And, just for the hell of it, here’s a music video by Indian rockers Pentagram set to imagery from 18 Days.

In addition to the awesomely heady web series, look for my one-on-one interview with Grant Morrison as part of the Nerdist Comic Block, debuting next week during Geek Week on YouTube! What do you think of 18 Days? Let us know in the comments below!