That inking feeling

art may have b een simple, and

The
n comics scene was burgeoning. ics, but lending libraries were
, the India erican com es made

A
few decades ago aracters lifted straight from Am nal comics and Indian superhero vies,
ch gio o
most stories and bs in cities and small towns. Re comic books lost out to TV and m part by a
hu y, in
important social ids across the countr y. Eventuall e last couple of years – fuelled emerging.
ing for k But for th creators
reading entertain and retreating from the metros. – there’s a new breed of comics tional tie-ups,
nd g a
going undergrou grads and social media marketin nt artists, boutique studios, intern the next few
n e In
crop of animatio but it’s all happening: independ und, comics aren’t just for kids. ost of whom
t, aro (m
It’s not all great ye entering the fray. And this time ut for promising new publishers
D C k o ff.
and rumours of algic about the old legends, loo fans. Indian comics are taking o
st e
pages, we get no d Comic Con India) and meet th
n
will be at the seco Cosplay at Comic Con India.
Photograph by Sushant Jain

CS-Super hero comics FINAL.indd 29 2/10/2012 11:50:42 PM

 e
T ellists
h e v
a n
p
Indrajal
Comics
One of India’s big comic houses, Indrajal had
the advantage of owner Bennett Coleman’s
widespread Times of India distribution
network. Founded in 1964, Indrajal started
with syndicated Phantom comics on a
monthly basis, then moved on to other
superhero series including Mandrake, Flash
Gordon and, in 1976, artist Aabid Surti’s
Bahadur – India’s very own comic superhero.
Indrajal’s titles were translated into
regio­nal languages, including Bengali,
Telugu, Tamil, Hindi and Marathi, which
ensured a large fan base. Still, with the
dwindling popularity of comics in general,
30  www.timeoutdelhi.net  February 17 – March 1 2012
CS-Super hero comics FINAL.indd 30
a n s
eter is is th
to th ators, th iverse.
e
to th
e
als
in e n
he orig ve of cr omics u
t wa c
From new Indian
Bennett Coleman decided to finally call it
quits on the company in 1991. Today,
Indrajal fans range from government
servants to housewives to business­
men; a 2010 online campaign to reprint
Indrajal saw over 400 aficionados sign
a petition. While there is no sign of the
publishers giving in to such demands,
ToI reported in December that Bahadur
may be immortalised on the silver screen
in actor-filmmaker Kabir Sadanand’s
Bahadur vs Bahadur. Gayathri Sreedharan
Manoj
Comics
In its heyday, Manoj Comics was a regular
producer of ten to 15 comic books a
month. Founded in the early ’80s, it was
originally called Manoj Chitrakatha and
was published by Rama Kant Sahay.
MC specialised in stories of kings and
queens, detectives, demons, ghosts and
the like. Some of their most popular
original characters include Ram-Rahim,
a Hindu-Muslim crime fighting duo, and
Hawaldar Bahadur, a native version of
Enid Blyton’s Mr Goon.
Other characters were tributes to rival
figures. So suave James Bond inspired the
comical Crookbond, while Diamond Comics’ more books a year until the mid ’90s.
beloved Chacha Chau­dhary inspired With dwindling popularity, MC finally
Chatur Chaudhary. MC had over shut shop in 2000. Nevertheless, its
50 such characters and covers and illustrations live on in
a successful run, cyberspace, where true faithfuls
publishing continue to share, buy and sell. GS
300 or
Tulsi
Comics
Though it was one of the big guns back
in the ’80s and ’90s, Tulsi, which was
spearheaded by pulp author Ved Prakash
Sharma, threw in the towel in 2004. Tulsi’s
original characters included Jamboo, Mr
India, Angara and others. There isn’t much to
distinguish Tulsi from its Hindi and regional
contemporaries (Fort, Nutan, and dozens
of others), but the division of Tulsi Paper
Books did manage to hold on slightly
longer and created a large body of
comics. Eventually, Tulsi failed to
compete with television and other
distractions, and died a natural death.
Vritti Bansal
2/10/2012 11:51:23 PM
 Diamond
Comics
The exploits of Chacha Chaud-
hary and his well-muscled sidekick
Sabu, and the antics of Pinki and
Billoo have delighted generations of kids.
“Our characters are similar to those you find

ACK Media
In a 1989 interview with John S Hawley, Anant
Pai explained how a Doordarshan quiz show
inspired him to create Amar Chitra Katha
22 years earlier. “They could answer every
question about Greek mythology,” said the
man better known as Uncle Pai, “But in
Delhi… where every year they enact the
Ramlila, the youngster could not answer
the question, ‘Who is the mother of
Ram?’” Pai left the Times of India and
started the comic that’s become as
immortal as the myths it has serialised.
Pai, who died last year, was rightly revered
(ACK is bringing out a tribute comic at Comic
Con). But one can’t forget India Book House,
which published ACK and Tinkle until 2007,
when those titles were acquired by ACK
Media. ACK Media took over India Book
House itself in 2010, acquiring a
ready fan base and a huge slice of
Indian comic history. The company plans
to give its books a facelift with film, TV
and web spin-offs, and is involved with
projects ranging from a Mother Teresa
in your own family, so parents buy these for
their children,” explained Gulshant Rai, Dia­
mond’s managing director. Rai ventured into
comics in 1974, though parent company Pun-
jabi Pustak Bhandar was founded in 1950.
The publishing house began compiling anthol-
ogies of characters that initially appeared as
short features in magazines such as Lotpot.
Pran, the legendary cartoonist behind this
lovable cast, joined Diamond in 1978 and still
churns out new stories every other month.
Diamond has also brought out antholo-
gies of Amar Chitra Katha’s mythological
stories, and, until the 1990s, produced local
versions of foreign characters like Phantom,
Mandrake, Superman and Batman. But it’s
the charm of the Indian characters that has
endured and that remains the publishing
house’s mainstay, boosted by increasing lev-
els of literacy. Rai pointed out that his comics
are more popular in smaller towns. “Our main
market is the masses. We are available in the
remotest corner of the country – and that is
our achievement.” Sonam Joshi
www.diamondcomic.com. See Comic Con in
Around Town.

comic to a 3D animated feature on
Tinkle’s Suppandi. The popularity of
ACK is also the biggest reason that
Indian comics are still perceived as
mostly kiddy stuff. Uday Bhatia
www.ack-media.com. See Comic Con in
Around Town.
Raj Comics
More than two decades ago, when Indian
children were in desperate need of a pulp
comic tradition they could call their own, a
hero was born. Established in 1985, Raj

Origin storieofsthe forthcoming documentary Chitrakatha: Indian Comics Beyond Balloons and Panels, flashes back.
Alok Sharma, creator ed hundreds of books, but still have their
feet
r
I ran one Some old players have survived. Ama nd… mos t of the
I have grown up amidst comic books. Chitra Kath a is the only title that pare nts firmly planted on the grou
ish crea-
of the biggest comic book lend ing libra ries in
schools boisterous new-generation Facebook
as a teen ager . All I wan ted to don’t mind buying for their children; tors are yet to prov e them selv es as artis ts.
my city, Bhilai, keep them in their libra ries. A large chun k is
com pe-
com ics. I had been in touc h with And yes, the newer lot is facin g toug h
do was draw by NRI s who wan t to intro duce
age. As orde red vel. As told to
a lot of comic book creators since that Indian culture to their kids. Diamond
survives tition from DC and Mar
l tryin g to learn it all in a sma ll Gayathri Sreedharan.
an individua because of its wide r reac h and tran slati ons. iew a
town, I was lucky to start my care er with
iving on their dedi cate d Visit www.chitrakathaonline.com to prev
Raj is still surv of Chit raka tha.
Gotham Comics. roug h cut
one fan base.
When I started collecting, Indrajal was There could be new avenues to publish
and
icati ons, than ks
of the most noteworthy publ sources for funding. But in the end, you need
latio n and grea t tran slati ons.
to its wide circu great content. We don’t lack readersh
ip or the
ishers
Its grand success inspired several publ hung er for good com ic book s, but we are still
to com e up with their
and comic book creators lagging behind in terms of content. Com
ics
. DC and Mar vel were neve r com pe-
own titles are still not a profi table busi ness for man y.
beca use
tition. They could never compete It took me almost five years to save for
es
they weren’t widely available. The stori Chitrakatha. It’s self-funded, so it’s an
ongo-
too Ame rican for an Indi an who wasn’t t want
were ing cycle: work , earn , save , work . I don’
way
exposed to American pop culture the it to look amateur. While cond uctin g inter -
toda y. Inste ad, Indi an com ic
teenagers are views, what stru ck me is the hum blen ess of
d toug h com petit ion from cabl e
book s face creat-
o gam es. the Indian comics stalwarts: they have
TV, Internet and vide
February 17 – March 1 2012  www.timeoutdelhi.net  31

CS-Super hero comics FINAL.indd 31 2/10/2012 11:51:37 PM

 Comics was not the first Hindi publishing
house to introduce indigenous super­
heroes – Indrajal’s Bahadur beat them
by a decade and a half – but constant
reinvention has ensured that RC’s
Kryptonite is yet to be found.
The Raj comic-verse is populated by
vigilantes like Nagraj, the snake-sprouting
martial arts expert; Doga, the reformed
criminal who hides behind a dog mask;
animal-whisperer Super Commando   by Rashmi Ruth Devadasan, who runs Blaft
Dhruva; and righteous babe Shakti.
Raj grew out of a love for storytelling. “We
grew up on a steady diet of Amar Chitra Katha
and Diamond Comics,” said CEO Manish
Gupta, who started RC with his brothers San­
jay and Manoj. A subsidiary of Raja Pocket
Books, RC enjoyed an enviable distribution
network. When its idols faltered, it stayed
afloat by keeping dialogue current (still Hindi,
for a small-town target audience, despite
some English titles) and updating plots. For
instance, Nagraj did not originally need an
alter-ego; now he heads a security agency.
RC has also refreshed itself with new media
platforms, TV shows, and limited edition com­
ics, e-tailed through their site. But the surest
way to win fans is to encourage readers to cre­
ate their own storylines, Gupta told us. “We
even invite Nagraj fans to mix on his birthday
in August every year at our Burari office.” We
wish “Hari Maut” many more. Karanjeet Kaur
Available at Raja Pocket Books, 112 Dariba
Kalan (2325-1109; www.rajacomics.com).
m Chandni Chowk. Raj Comics will be at the
New Delhi World Book Fair. See Books.
The Fandom
The universe of collectors and geek
s  comics are directly lifting from there. I
is expanding, says Sonal Shah.
Comic Addicts (l-r) Rohan Parti, Akshay
Dhar,
Mayank Khurana, Nishkarsh Chugh, Aniru
dh Singh
“I had about 5,000 comics when I stopped
counting,” said Mayank Khurana. “Tha
t was
about ten years ago.” In his library, Khu
rana
has shelves organised by country and
pub­
lisher, figurines and framed posters. His
glossy
DCs and Marvels are in sleeves, but his
original
collection of Indian comics is stacked up
in
thick, dusty piles.
“I started with Diamond and it snow
balled,”
32  www.timeoutdelhi.net  February 17 – March 1 2012
CS-Super hero comics FINAL.indd 32
Blaft
Publications
This idiosyncratic Chennai publishing
house created a splash in 2010 with
Kumari Loves a Monster, a pulpy picture
book that paired attractive, buxom women
with grotesque ghouls. It was conceptualised
Arkin Comics
with her husband Rakesh Kumar Khanna,
and Kaveri Lalchand. Kumari was Blaft’s
Even if you’re not interested in comics, you second foray in comic territory; they’d earlier
may have envisioned having super-powers: the published Moonward, a graphic novel by
ability to fly, outrace bullets, crush enemies Bangalore’s George Mathen. They plan to
with your bare hands… We don’t recommend release two titles at the upcoming Comic
attempting these stunts in real life, but there’s Con: an autobiographical manga by Yukichi
nothing stopping you from transforming into Yamamatsu called Stupid Guy Goes to India
a comic book hero and reading about your (see p41) and The Obliterary Journal, a col­
own brave deeds. That’s the impulse Rohan lection of “comics, street art, typography and
Kapadia, then 19, decided to tap into when illustrated stories” (see p42). Devadasan
he founded Arkin described herself as
in 2007. Kapadia a “huge comics fan”
has released titles and mentioned that
Kriteen and IRITH, they were planning
but Arkin also offers a to bring out two more
personalised service. titles in the Kumari
For a price (`1,500), series by next year.
get your face on a UB
superhero’s body and www.blaft.com. See
show off your own Comic Con in Around
book or merch. Town.
Akshita Nahar
Visit Arkin’s Facebook Hard rain From Arkin
page for details. Comics’s IRITH
he recounted. “I got to know that comics
abroad are superior – that a lot of India fan, freelance artist and Jalpaiguri stud
ent,
n Devmalya Pramanik.
kind Delhi has at least a couple of serious
of got disillusioned and moved towards comic art
foreign comics. But it was hard to find collectors too. Dipyaman Sanyal and Apa
them rajita
at that time.” All that changed with the Bhattacharjee got hooked with Tintins,
ACKs
Internet. “In ’96, I had a TCP/IP account… and Bengali comics, but have since ama
ssed a
I was massively researching on the net,” respectable portfolio of original art, inclu
he ding
said. Social media also made it possible work by Will Eisner, Michael Zulli (San
for dman),
Khurana to connect with other enthusia Bob Kane and old newspaper strips. “We
sts. His know
library is headquarters for Comic Add lots of people who would like to [collect],
icts, a but
website and fan club he started last year things are not available here,” Sanyal said
. The .
project began as a blog, but soon Khurana “First, we were just looking online. And
then we
started “recruiting” fellow enthusiasts. bought one or two,” said Bhattacharjee
Most . “The
contributors live in Delhi, but Comic Add expensive ones we would gift to each othe
icts r.”
has over 3,000 Facebook fans and abou Sanyal added that he’d like to collect India
t 25 n
core members from all over India and abro comic art, but there’s no market for it. “It’s
ad. exactly what happened in the US 50, even
Publishers now send them comics to revie 30,
w. years ago – people threw them out,” he
The Delhi members meet about once a said. “I
month to go over the latest arrivals from would love to buy a cartoon by Mario Mira
the nda,
US (Khurana has standing subscriptions) but I don’t know who I can call. Even Pran
, –I
plot events and generally geek out. At their don’t think it’s great art, but I would buy
it for
“mini con” at 1 Boulevard in Novembe nostalgic value.”
r, about If the fandom keeps growing, he may
250 people walked in for screenings, gam have a
ing bit of competition. But as Comic Addict
competitions, live sketching and music. Rohan
The Parti pointed out, fans share only the frien
community is growing, and becoming dliest
closely of rivalries. “At the Jaipur Literary Fest
linked with the world of comics creation. , if
“Every single fan wants to do one sing celebrities came, there was controversy;
le comic if
before they die,” Khurana said, “even I celebrities didn’t come, there was controve
have rsy,”
that.” For now, he’s content to collect. He he pointed out. “But we don’t have that
showed kind
us his first original art aquisition – a page of shit in Comic Con. Just straight ahea
d
of Level 10’s Daksh drawn by a 19-year-o comic love.”
ld Visit www.comicaddicts.com.
2/10/2012 11:51:50 PM
 Strip research
lved, comics must be serious busines
s, says Kingshuk Niyogy.
If academics are invo ry
“Sequential art in India has its own histo
ers and
Despite recent bursts of creativity in the
Indian and a huge body of work by Indian writ
hic
comics scene, most new readers have little artists exist that predates the proper grap
nd, ali, Tam il and Hind i,”
knowledge of the industry’s backgrou novel, espe ciall y in Beng
been
use of limit ed avai labil ity and a Gupta said. “Comic book art in India has
mostly beca
lack of formal documentatio n. And exce pt around for at least half a century without
ies on Ama r Chit ra Kath a being seriously studied.”
for a couple of stud
(Nan dini Chan dra’s The Clas sic Popu lar With a few thousand images already col-
urce,
Amar Chitra Katha, 1967-2007; Karl
ine lected, Gupta plans to build a web reso
-
McLain’s Indi a’s Imm orta l Com ic Book s: with strip samples, author bios and inter
st entri es are Nara ­
Gods, Kings and Other Heroes), comics views. Currently, the olde
n
da (an India
researchers are also few and far between. yan Debn ath’s Haa nda- Bhon
ali
When it comes to researching comics Laurel & Hardy) from 1954-55 in the Beng
art- there ’s May ukh
beyond ACK, the pioneering study is still magazine Shu ktar a. Then
features
ist Amitabh Kum ar’s 2008 Raj Com ics for Chowdhury’s 1960s Agantook, which
ics who can grow claws
the Hard-Headed. “I grew up reading com an extra-terrestrial bein g
s
of that diet, ” Kum ar like Wolverine , Nara yan Debn ath’s 1950
and Raj Comics was part and
said. “Friends wou ld read it, enac t scen es and Black Diamond series about a private eye,
working 1976 Nax al story
follow character development.” While Subrata Gangopadhya y’s
pe),
as a researcher in the Sara i-CS DS med ia lab, “Palabar Path Nei” (No Route For Esca
trans-
Kumar arch ived and inde xed all the exist ing which is being published in an English
“a part of mak ing tera ry Jour nal (see p42) .
RC titles. He explained that Agantook Mayukh Chowdhury’s hero preda
tes Wolverine lation in The Obli
comics a sustaina ble profe ssion is to unde r- As comic production heats up, more
stan d indu stria l and com merc ial histo ry of our genre’s earliest origins in newspaper and researchers like Gupta and Kumar will
surely
tten. It
comic book culture. The commercial succ
ess magazine strips has been largely forgo emerge. “Now , with man y othe r agen cies of
ulea n effor t by Abh ijit Gupta, forgot-
of older com ic book hous es beco mes very rel- has taken a Herc distraction for urban youth, comics lie
evant, and only Raj Comics is still com
ing out professor of English at Kolkata’s Jadavpur ten as the original enemy of parents,” Kum
ar
comics.
with fresh content.” Despite this, he said
, “their University, to unearth these neglected pointed out. “Wh at is also due is a natio nwid e
more told us that whe n he start ed work ing on such stud ies
drawing style or sens e of narr ation have Gupta
supp ort from the survey of reading habits.” As
or less remained the same. This sens e of bein g The Comic Book Project with increase, they will help establish the com
mer-
in 2010 , “The aim was to digit - turn hope-
static is what attra cts me to Raj Com ics as a British Council cial valu ation of India n com ics, in
ic book art in mag azin es and y.
model. The tsunami, terror attacks, IPL
and ally pres erve com
cted fully driving profitability and creativit
match fixing all feature prom inen tly with out newspapers, which had never been colle Download Raj Com ics for the Hard -Hea ded
er of disa ppea ring .”
disturbing their narr ative fabr ic.” before and was in dang from www.sarai.net/publications.
While a trawl through the Internet reve
als a Gupta and his team at JU’s School of Cul-
ng
large (and chaotic) enou gh univ erse of old Hin- tural Texts and Records have been nosi
re rese arch - around in seco nd-h and stalls for strip s
di com ic-bo ok selle rs to keep futu
ers like Kumar busy archiving for year s, the in Bengali, Tamil, Hindi and English.

Campfire contemporary stalwarts

like Nelson Mandela and

Graphic Novels
This comic imprint, established in 2008
boxer Muhammad Ali. The
most popular titles to date
though have relied on Indian
in Delhi, has a major advantage over other mythology; Ravana: Roar of the
Indian publishers. Campfire has Demon King and Sita: Daughter of
a distribution partnership with the Earth were big sell-
several major publishing hous- ers. Campfire books
es worldwide, including Ran- stand out because
dom House in the US, which of their artwork,
explains why they sell most of which is of an
their books in North America. international
Campfire’s graphic novels standard. Sen-
fall into four educational cat- ior editor Aditi
egories for a younger audi- Ray told us that Campfire
ence: classics, biography, has “largely an in-house
mythology and originals. pool of very talented
Though the books are artists. The writers
drawn and pro­duced in are handpicked by
India, Campfire has a glo- the in-house edi-
bal reach. Classics titles tors after a rigor-
include Robinson Crusoe, ous process of
Kidnapped and The Time engagement,
Swashbucklers From Chariot Comics’s
Machine. The biogra- discussions, Damned and (left) Campfire’s Sinbad
phies usually focus on and ideation.”
34  www.timeoutdelhi.net  February 17 – March 1 2012

CS-Super hero comics FINAL.indd 34 2/10/2012 11:52:05 PM


Nice guns Crimefighter in Fenil Comics’
Black Gold and (right) Mastermind
Not stacking up
Delhi’s bookstores are sadly comic
sans, finds Akshita Nahar.
Before the Daryaganj book bazaar beca
me
a dumping ground for people’s old tutor
ial
notes, it used to be a good place to pick
up used
comics, especially those in Hindi by loca
l Store manager Vinay Kumar claims that
publishers. But on a recent Sunday visit
, we
found just a handful of Lotpots and a few
Raj
and Diamond comics, which undersco
red the
fact that there isn’t a single store dedicated
to
comics in the city.
What we do have is a smattering of shelv
es
within bookstores, where you’ll find a
couple
of the classics, a few of the most mainstrea
m Currently, Delhi doesn’t have a dedicated
graphic novels, and maybe a couple of
inter­
national titles. Landmark leads the bunc
h and
with its selection, and a good time to build
up
your collection is during their annual meg
a ily
sale, when prices are slashed by up to 70
per
cent. However, while they do have a relat
ively
impressive selection, the graphic nove
l shelf
space seems to be experiencing a sligh
t down­
sizing. “Comics and graphic novels cater
to a
very niche audience,” explained Rajeev
V, a
category manager at Landmark. “And
while
the children’s comic sector does well, adul
t t.
graphic novel section experiences a decli
ne, as
the same content is available for downloa
d”.
Though the new Bahri Sons Kids book
store
is explicitly for children, it does attempt
to cater
36  www.timeoutdelhi.net  February 17 – March 1 2012
CS-Super hero comics FINAL.indd 36
The company has grown steadily into a team Shivpuri is an assistant director in Bollywood.
of 36. Along the way, it’s released 59 books. Eklavya, along with Chariot’s other series
Many more are around the corner – including – VRICA (wolves) and Damned (sorcery and
at Comic Con. Kingshuk corporate politics) – may be rooted in Indian,
Niyogy Greek and Norse mythology, but the Chari-
www.campfire.co.in. oteers’ agenda is to, as Chakraborty says,
See Comic Con in “read a myth and then say, ‘Not happening,
Around Town. boss’”. Chariot will release a small print run,
but plans to deliver its series online. KK
Chariot
www.chariotcomics.com. See Comic Con in
Around Town.
Comics Fenil Comics
A little bit of Aniruddho Chakra­
borty and Katyayan Fenil was founded in early 2011 as something
Shivpuri’s smart- of a personal project by Surat resident
alecky cheek Fenil Sherdiwala. In addition
comes through in to creating the characters and
the characters they stories for his titles, Sherdiwa-
create. In their Comic la has a blog where he shares
Con release Eklavya: scans of his large Indian comic
Godslayer, the title collection. He says Fenil stands
character intro- out because “we have original
duces himself as a superheroes.” The comics are in
left-handed merce- Hindi, though there is an English
nary, who offers a iPad app and, in the future, Eng-
special discount lish print editions. Fenil’s newest
to SC/ST/OBCs. titles: Mastermind, starring ordi-
Chakraborty nary guy-turned-hero Faulad, and
and Shivpuri Black Gold, starring Crimefighter.
founded Chariot They take on current geopolitical
in 2009 with producer Ad­itya issues, such as terrorism, technol-
Dhaliwal and artists Tarun Kumar ogy theft, and oil cartels. Fenil will debut new
Sahu and Rohit Bose. The two have superheroes at Comic Con. Simran Bhalla
superhero-style day jobs too: Chakraborty is www.fenilcomics.com. See Comic Con in
the head of branding at a travel start-up, while Around Town.
to slightly older comic lovers as well. It
stocks Asterix, Batman, Superman, Lucky Luke
three-set complete editions of Amar Chit ,
ra Agatha Christie mysteries, and graphic
Katha (`4,750 each) and smaller sets (`50
0). novel versions of Artemis Fowl, Percy
Jackson
if and the Twilight saga. A similar collection
it’s available in the market, they’ll have
it. is available at the Midlands bookstore
He told us he’d gone to great lengths to in
offer South Extension.
the complete set of Tintin hardbacks.
If funds are limited though, try rummag
You’ll also find Archies, Calvin and Hob ing
bes, at the bookstalls at PVR Anupam Com
munity
Centre in Saket for international comics
as
cheap as `50, based on your bargainin
g skills.
comic lending library, like Mumbai’s Leap
ing
Windows, which is opening a new café
hopes to set up shop in the capital next
year.
But the Anupam stall owners will read
exchange old comics for newer ones, keep
ing
your collection current.
Bahri Sons Kids 6 Khan Market, Firs
t Floor
(2469-4611). m Khan Market. Visit www
.
booksatbahri.com for a complete list of
stores.
Crossword Visit www.crossword.in  for
a
complete list of stores.
Landmark Visit www.landmarkonthene
com for a complete list of stores.
Midland Book Shop Visit www.mid
aditi tailang
land
bookshop.com for a complete list of store
s.
Teksons Visit www.teksonsbooks.com
Shelf life At Bahri Sons Kids in Khan Market for a
complete list of stores.
2/10/2012 11:52:26 PM
 Cosmic strips Liquid Comics’ 18 Days, about the Mahabharata; (right)
Level 10’s Daksh; (inset) Holy Cow Entertainment’s Ravanayan

Holy Cow set in the 1980s.

“Indian comics is an endangered
drasenan. They haven’t published anything
yet since they banded together in 2008

Entertainment
According to founder Vivek Goel, Holy Cow
is India’s first comic publisher to be started
by an artist. Goel worked in the industry for
several years, but felt he could better execute
his ideas under his own banner. Holy Cow was
born in May 2011 and has since published
two titles. HCE’s first release was Werehouse,
a horror anthology. The Ravanayan series, a
industry,” Goel told us, “we need with sketching sessions, but are now
people who can keep it alive.” To putting out their first book.
this end, he hires apprentices to Auto-Pilot follows Suku, an
help with production. His philoso- autorickshaw driver, who gets
phy is quality over quantity; HCE Yamaraj, the god of death, as
plans to publish no more than six a passenger. The Artistis are
comics and one graphic novel a also working on a 2D animated
year. VB television series, expected out
www.holycow.in. See Comic Con in 2013. VB
in Around Town. www.liberaartisti.com. See Comic
Con in Around Town.

Libera
narrative of the life of Ravana, followed with

Liquid
four issues out and the fifth launching at Com-
ic Con. The Skull Rosary, a 100-page graphic
novel about the dark side of Shiva, is due this
July. Besides Hindu mythology, the brand has
Artisti Comics
some distinct titles lined up: Serengeti Stripes Libera Artisti is the brainchild
is a series about two tiger cubs in Africa, and of three self-taught artists in Trivandrum: Gods and goddesses hold such a
That Man Solomon is a six-issue crime series Kishore Mohan, Roshan and Sinu Chan- sway over our popular imagination that Amar
Chitra Katha has built a cottage industry
boy around this Indian fascination. But it took
Indrajal folded in 1990, and the Bengali
Tintin in India wonder seemed lost to
ever, in
the
Octo
grea
ber
t India
2011 ,
n com
almo st
ic a surprisingly long time for English comics
creators to create superheroes (rather than
s dust-pile . How
Calcuttans who grew up in the late 1980
deities) based on our mythology. In 2006,
14-ye ar-old crim e- 20 years after Timpa last appeared, Pop Virgin Comics, a partnership between Rich-
may remember Timpa, a Culture Publishing decided to take a first
stab
ard Branson’s Virgin group and Bangalore’s
a sidekick gran dfath er repr inted
solver with at acqu iring outside mate rial and Gotham Studios, began mining India’s vast
and a suspiciously Operation Rescue. Two more reprints, mythological tradition for its slick books. The
Snowy-like dog The Red-Hooded Gang and Legacy of flagship superhero for the imprint was Devi
named Rexy. Timpa the Gods, will be released at Comic Con. (created by film director Shekhar Kapur), a
was modeled by Later this year, PCP will launch two celestial warrior goddess who battles rene-
Jhangir Kerawala unpublished Timpa stories, gade god Bala. In 2009, Virgin pulled out and
on Hergé’s Tintin before starting to develop Liquid Comics emerged after a management
– though unlike fresh material with buyout. It’s only the name that has changed
his globe-trotting Kerawala. Uday Bhatia – the prime movers behind the enterprise
are still Sharad Devarajan, Gotham (Gautam)
inspiration, his Operation Rescue is
Chopra and Suresh Seetharaman. Liquid’s
adventures are available at www.
other popular series include Ramayan 3392
all set in Kolkata. dialabook.in, AD, The Sadhu and Snake Woman. With offi­
Timpa was `150. Visit www. ces in New York and Bangalore, Liquid Com-
picked up by popculturepublish ing. ics has an enviable group of celebrity creative
Indrajal Comics, but after com. partners, including Kapur, John Woo, Guy
just three adventures were published, Ritchie, Deepak Chopra (Gotham’s dad) and
38  www.timeoutdelhi.net  February 17 – March 1 2012

CS-Super hero comics FINAL.indd 38 2/10/2012 11:52:48 PM

 Wes Craven.
Liquid recently launched
Graphic India, a digital
platform to promote com-
ics, young writers and art-
ists in the country. In late
December 2011, Liquid
announced that the legen-
dary Stan Lee (the creator
of Spider-Man, X-Men and
The Incredible Hulk) will
work with Indian artists to
release Chakra – The Invin-
cible, an original superhero
for the Indian market. KN
A free digital version of Stan
Lee’s Chakra will be out in
April 2012 on www.graphicindia.com.
Level 10
Comics
In 2009, Suhas Sundar and Shreyas Srinivas
left their comfortable corporate and tech
careers to found Level 10 Comics. The Indian
comic market was saturated by retellings of
classical myths, and Sundar and Srinivas
saw the potential for comics that reflected the
interests of urban, English-speaking comic
book readers. “Shreyas and I are lifelong comic
buffs,” said Sundar. “People quickly realised
that we were a comic company started by comic
fans, for comic fans, and this resonated well
with our target audience.” Level 10’s flagship
anthology is Jump, which contains popular
comics such as manga cricket epic Batu
Gaiden; Daksh, about the gatekeeper of hell;
The Rabhas Incident, about a zombie-creating
virus in Bangalore; and Old School, about a
Bengali private eye.
“Our unusual line up explores hitherto
To the app mobile!
Reading comics in the Sunday papers
is an
antiquated notion now that ever ythi ng from
funny page s to grap hic nove ls is on iPad s,
Playstations and other screens. Though
books are accessible to those who can’t
afford
devices, digit al platf orm s allow s com pani
to produce new content faste r and chea per. It
also allows them to tap into an urba n Eng
while
speaking audience for specific titles. So
Fenil Comics prints in Hind i, it’s first Eng
edition was laun ched as an iPad app.
Australian digital publisher
Cloud 9 Comix offers many
Indian titles. Level 10, Campfire,
Vimanika and Fenil all have
iPad versions of their series
available on Cloud 9. A single
issue costs between about `45
to `100. Of course, you have
to own an iPad or iPhone (for
some comics, a Kindle e-reader
or Android phone will suffice).
Comix on-the-go allows BlackBerry
CS-Super hero comics FINAL.indd 39
untouched
genres in Indian
comics, like zombies,
fantasy and sci-fi, and R-rated
action adventures,” Sundar told us.
Untouched or not, Level 10’s visual variety
will appeal to many kinds of enthusiasts.
Srinivas and Sundar take reader feedback
very seriously to ensure that content stays
exciting, and far away from revamped Ramas
and Ravanas. As Sundar said, “We hope to Visit www.level10comics.com. See Comic Con
break down pre-conceived notions of what in Around Town.
comics should or shouldn’t be.” Level 10 will
Manta Ray
release graphic novels Odayan and Daksh at
Comic Con. SB
Amar Aspiring storyteller Pratheek Thomas and his
users to read both older comics such as
Birb al, as friend Dileep Cherian founded Manta Ray in
Chitra Katha and Akb ar and
hies, 2010 in Bangalore. Their first graphic novel,
well as new or international titles (Arc Hush, is a daring work of art that tells the sto-
etc). The app and
Disney, Cartoon Network, ry of a girl who has been sexually abused by
is free; com ics cost 20. Tata
some content `3-` her father. The limited edition book, meant to
s on
Docomo has comics and animated strip be a collector’s item, focuses on silence and
i). Most
its Docomics app (not available in Delh uses no words. Manta Ray’s black-and-white
es s offer their digit al com ics on their series The Small Picture appears in the Mint
publisher
on Sony
sites. Liquid , which also offers comics newspaper every Wednesday. The Year of
er and
lish- Playstation, recently went a step furth the Snake, Manta Ray’s first full-colour comic
ched Grap hic India in Dece mbe r. The site about Charles Sobhraj’s escape from Tihar,
laun
for talen t and fans came out recently in Motherland magazine.
lish will be a national platform Up next is a series called Twelve. VB
ing
(see Liquid Comics). Besides hosting excit www.mantaraycomics.com. See Comic Con in
it
titles, it offers fans the opportunity to subm Around Town.
their own work . Ther e’s only one dow n-
side: no one can claim bragging rights
over digital first editions. Simran
Bhalla
Pop Culture
Visit www.cloud9comix.com and
www.graphicindia.com. Tata
Publishing
Docomo customers can download In comic book terms, Pop Culture Publish-
Docomics from the 3G life portal on ing was inked in 2011, but the preliminary
their mobiles. BlackBerry users can sketches began four years earlier. Random,
an uproarious local take on MAD, hit stands in
download Comix on-the-go from
2008. Founder Jatin Varma then established
app store.
the Golden Kela Awards, India’s answer to the
Razzies and, in 2011, launched Pop Culture
February 17 – March 1 2012  www.timeoutdelhi.net  39
2/10/2012 11:53:06 PM
 Publishing along with the country’s first Comic
Con. PCP’s initial titles were provocative
and proudly desi: Adhiraj Singh and Abhijeet
Kini’s Udd Bilaw Manus, featuring a Bhojpuri-
speaking super-otter, and The Itch You Can’t
Scratch, a ribald comic autobiography by
Sumit Kumar. The trend continued with the
release of Munkeeman (conceptualised by
Tere Bin Laden director Abhishek Sharma),
Retrograde and the irresistibly titled Widhwa
Ma Andhi Behen.
Pop Culture Publishing will release three
books at this year’s Comic Con: two Timpa
adventures (see “Tintin in India”, p38) and a
satire on Indian Communism called Chairman
Anime mund i
hes up with Delhi’s
Karanjeet Kaur catc
small but thriving otaku community.
at
By day, Vijay Sinha is a game designer
start-up Apra Infot ech. By nigh t (and on
weekends), he’s the force behind Genshik
Delhi Chapter, a com­munit y of anim e and
manga fanboys and girls. Sinha and fello
“otakus” (geeks) Vibhav Raina and Lehr
as
Malik started Genshiken in June 2011,
ay from the Delh i Anim e Club .
a breakaw
shik en’s Face
In the last nine months, Gen
has reac hed 111. Thei
book member tally
meet-ups, usually at a someone’s house,
typically begin with an anime film and
alwa ys buy our DVD s, inste ad
cussion. “We
ped
of downloading them off the net,” chip
in Malik, a third-year BTech student. Sinh
“On occa sion , we disc uss othe r top-
added,
ics, such as gaming, or even Time Out
ated film s.” Som etim
hi’s story on anim
ussio ns veer towa rds cosp lay com
disc
tions, such as the one at last November’s
Anime Convention, where Sinha turned
up as Bumblebee from Trans­formers.
At Comic Con India, game artist Rashi
Chandra will play Toph from Avatar:
The Last Airbender. “Toph is very
tomboyish and mirrors my personali-
ty,” she said. Chandra was introduced
Avatar relatively recen tly. She
up, like the others, on a steady diet
of Dragon Ball Z, which began
airing on Animax India in 2000.
“The series aired at 11pm, and
I had to beg my father, who
thought I should be in bed, to
let me watch it,” Malik said.
The channel would show 93
episodes and start again at the
beginning. That spurred Malik to
find others who shared his frustra-
tion – and judging by the numbers,
the otakus are well on their way to
creating a subculture.
Join Genshiken: Delh i Chapter or Del-
hi Anime Club on Facebook. This fort-
night, anime director Maya Yonesho
leads a workshop; see Around Town.
aditi tailang
Indigo child Anima Rai plays Konan from Naruto
40  www.timeoutdelhi.net  February 17 – March 1 2012
CS-Super hero comics FINAL.indd 40
Meow, by Kini and Anant Singh. Varma said
the plan was to come up with titles that
fit their offbeat image, but
were also financially
viable. “If we create
properties that have
some value beyond
the book, we can look
at merchandising,
gaming, animation,” he
said. PCP’s material may
be a shade risqué for the
majority of Indian comic
book readers – a younger
demographic compared to
other countries – but Varma
isn’t worried. “Last year, there
were lots of kids at our Comic
Con,” Varma said. “We want
to encourage that. If we have a
lot of kids reading comic books,
maybe they’ll move on to reading
Pop Culture Publishing titles in a
en:
few years.” UB
www.popculturepublishing.com. See together, had undertaken a research project
w
Comic Con in Around Town. in 1996 to find out what sort of stories Indian
i children wanted to read. “When Vikrant
Rovolt
and I reconnected in 2007, we found the
same lacuna we’d seen 11 years earlier,”
said Sinha. Rovolt is Sinha and Bhargava’s
­
For a publisher yet to release their first answer, and their collaborators include
r
venture, Rovolt is already in a different Indian and international artists. Titles include
league. For starters, one of its backers, The Legends of Aveon 9, a “fantasy, sci-fi
dis-
Vikrant Bhargava, was on the Forbes India’s and Indian classics” narrative, written and
40 Richest list in 2005. Bhargava and IIT edited by Shamik and Ron Marz, writer of
Delhi classmate Manish Sinha formed Green Lantern and the young adults series
a
Viman Media, which will provide print, MetaFreakz. On the cards is also a new
animation and gaming content for children superhero line with Super Commando Dhruva
Del- and young adults: four of the print titles will creator Anupam Sinha. KK
es, be previewed at Comic Con India. Sinha and Visit Rovolt’s Facebook page. See Comic Con
Bhargava, who later studied at IIM Calcutta in Around Town.
peti-
Yeh dil manga more
In 2004, Japanese mangaka Yukichi
Yamamatsu arrived in Delhi armed with
i
minimal skills in English – forget Hind
to notion of tran slating
– and the quix otic
grew and publishing classic manga in the
local language. Incredibly, Yamamatsu
not only got a Hindi version of the 1962
,
manga Chidaruma Kenpou published
own Old Delh i-set Hind i
he also wrote his
aan
e Rick shaw Waa le Ki Duk
man ga Cycl
(pictured; not in print, though some
Googling will find you an online version).
Back in Japan, Yamamatsu published
Stupid Guy Goes to India, de­­tailing his
attempts to spread the gospel of manga
in the streets of Delhi while selling udon
noodles off a cart in Vikas Puri to pay the
lish
rent. Stupid Guy will be released in Eng
Com ic Con India .
by Blaft Publications at
ther anyo ne’s takin g up
No word yet on whe
the translation for Stupid Guy Goes Back
tsu’s
to India, a further account of Yamama
es. UB
Delhi adve ntur
Yuk ichi Yamamatsu will release his book
at Comic Con. See Around Town.
2/10/2012 11:53:27 PM
 Readers’ digests Comic
i.
more than punches, finds Sonam Josh
Comic magazines pack belief
pts
were and storylines; the more successful attem Comics aren’t all fun
Until a few years ago, comic magazines in anth olog ies. Leve l 10 and games – they can
nym ous with the who lesom e, are later brought out
almo st syno Com ic Jum p dabb les in fanta sy, sci- be a serious business
dige sts brou ght Comics’
clean humour of Lotpot, edi-
old ence fiction and action, and has collected for some. Like Sharad
out by Diamond Comics and, if you were es that do well onlin e. This Sharma, a former
tions of those stori
enough, the now-extinct Madhu Muskan. terary
p fortnight, Blaft will bring out The Obli political cartoonist
Lotpot, started by Delhi’s Mayapuri Grou of com ics, illus trate d who founded World Comics India in 1995
-kno wn for Motu -Patl u, loca l Journal, a combination to
in 1969 , is best stree t art that inclu des an Eng lish spread the word on social malaise “in as
y. Chac ha Chau d- stories and  non-
versions of Laurel & Hard ired
this version of a 1970s Bengali noir comic. Insp threatening a manner as possible”. Refe
rred
hary also made his first appearance in by Japanese man ga, indie mag azin e Com ix. to as the grassroots comics movement,
e. In 1997 , Diam ond the
mag azin a follo ws a sligh tly diffe rent mod el. use of comics to make statements in confl
Indi ict
started publishing Five broadly-themed volumes have been zones and rural India has seen a small
but
Comics World, released since 2010. steady increase. With local NGOs, Shar
ma
devoted to foreign To keep costs has trained children, journalists, teach
ers,
comics, Comics low, each issue activists and farmers to use comics to
Pitara, Diamond’s is brought out in express their concerns in public places,
own characters, and black-and-white whether on a boundary wall, a rickshaw
,
a combination of the and follows a print- a tree. And India has a strong tradition
of
two in Comics Digest. on-demand model, political cartoonists, like RK Laxman,
who
With the recent with proceeds dis- will receive a lifetime achievement awa
rd
boom in graphic tributed amongst all this fortnight. GS
novels, there has been the contributors. www.worldcomics.net. See Comic Con
in
a parallel surge in To map this chang- Around Town.
comic anthologies. ing scene, the Comic
Each of these caters to Con India organisers
a different niche, but all of them signal are inaugurating a presented in a more appealing manner to the
a clear shift away from the child-centric quarterly, The Indian youth.” Vimanika was at the forefront of the
Varma,
titles of the earlier generation. As Jatin ded rise in independent comics a few years ago.
Cult ure Publ ishin g, expl ained, Comics Journal. Varma, who also foun
founder of Pop aine d: “We wan t to cove r stuff Since then, Arora has focused on “keeping
e in India n this event, expl
“Whatever growth is taking plac s cont emp orar y and disco ver new art- our culture intact; there’s no vulgarity, vio-
inde pend ent publ isher s, that’ lence or obscene language.” Vimanika has
comics is through des artic les on Mario
plete- ists.” The first issue inclu
who are dedicated to a market that is com and Ana nt Pai, and inter view s with plans to create a live-action movie based on
ren at all.” In 2008 , Miranda its modern-day retelling of the story of Karna
ly mature and not for child ics
ired by legen dary Ame rican Chris Oliveros and Gary Groth. For com from the Mahabharata, The Sixth. One of the
Varma was insp a good
dom, newbies, mags and anthologies can be most popular titles is Moksha, the story of
humour magazine MAD to found Ran duct ion. Hanuman, which begins where the Ramayana
ng from polit ics to intro
which takes on everythi i.com
crick et. Comix.India is available on www.poth ends. Moksha #5 premieres at Comic Con. SB
Bollywoo d to art.c om. See Com ic Con in www.vimanika.com. See Comic Con in Around
and www.flipk
Comic mags allow writers, artists and nd Tow n. Town. Vimanika will also exhibit comic art this
es Arou
publ­ishers to try out varied styles, genr fortnight; see Progressive Art Gallery in Art.

Untitled Vimanika
Creations Comics
At Comic Con India last Vimanika repackages Ind­
year, Aakshat Sinha and ian mythology for a modern
fellow enthusiasts Bhanu audience, preaching for-
Pratap and Anupam Aru- gotten morals to young-
nachalam debuted a pilot er readers. Former mar-
version of Damp Book, keting
an anthology by vari- profes-
ous writers and artists. sional Karan Vir Arora
Now, Sinha’s decided started the “edutainment”
to take the plunge into company in 2008 and, with
self-publishing with the relatively high quality art and
Delhi trio’s first book, fairly regular releases, has
40 Winks. Damp Book managed to captivate a follow-
will also be out regu- ing in India and the USA. Arora
larly, as a collaborative has a fondness for stories on
platform for young art- a grand scale and wanted to
ists and writers. SJ bring a fantasy sensibility to
www.untitledcrea­ comics of Indian epics. “The Watchmen Liquid’s The Sadhu;
tions.com. See Comic main idea,” Arora said, “was (left) Level 10’s Odayan
Con in Around Town. that our culture and ideology be
42  www.timeoutdelhi.net  February 17 – March 1 2012

CS-Super hero comics FINAL.indd 42 2/10/2012 11:53:48 PM