That was quick! When Virgin Comics, the high profile joint venture between Richard Branson's Virgin Group and India's Gotham Entertainment to bring Indian mythological superheroes to a global audience launched two years ago, I cited it as evidence that globalization's cultural flows would not be one-way. Madonna and Hollywood would not conquer the world -- there would be some multi-culti pushback.

However, what the global economy gives, the global economy also takes away. Citing "the current macro-economic downturn," CEO Sharad Devarajan announced on Wednesday that Virgin Comics was shutting down. Devarajan said the company is "restructuring," but according to Publisher's Weekly, "the company’s New York office and publishing unit has been closed and the eight people that staff it have been laid off."