India has a long tradition of comic readership and themes associated with extensive mythologies and folk-tales have appeared as children's comic books for decades.[1] Indian comics often have large publication. The comic industry was at its peak in the late 1980s and early 1990s and during this period popular comics were easily sold more than 500,000 copies over the course of its shelf life of several weeks. Currently, it only sell around 50,000 copies over a similar period.[2] India's once-flourishing comic industry is in sharp decline because of increasing competition from satellite television (children's television channels) and the gaming industry.[3]
India's comic industry began in the mid-1960s when the leading newspaper The Times of India launched Indrajal Comics. The industry evolved later in India. Up until the late 1960s the comics were only enjoyed by the children of wealthy parents. But from that time until the early 1990s they established themselves in the market.[3] The evolution of Indian comics can be broadly divided into many phases. Around 1950s saw syndicated strips like The Phantom, Mandrake, Flash Gordon, Rip Kirby being translated to Indian languages. The success of such comic books was followed by a swarm of publishers trying to emulate these titles. The second phase in the late 1960s came in the form of Amar Chitra Katha (literally translated as "immortal picture stories"), comics with hundred percentage Indian content.[5]
The Indian adaptation of Spider-Man, Spider-Man:India, peak example of foreign comics publishers looking at India as potential market.
In the 1970s several indigenous comics were launched to rival the Western superhero comics.[3] The superhero comics in the early '80s marked the third wave, with creators and publishers hoping to benefit from the success of the superhero genre in the West.[5] However, one of India's earliest superheroes is Batul the Great, was created during the 1960s by Narayan Debnath.,[2] whose early comic strip Handa Bhonda, inspired by Laurel and Hardy, had been launched in the magazine Shuktara in 1962.[7] In the 1980s, at least 5.5 million copies of comics such as Heroes of Faith series were sold in India.[3] Dozens of publishers churned out hundreds of such comic books every month, but this trend nosedived in the late '90s with the advent of cable television, Internet and other modes of entertainment in India. However, publishers like Raj Comics and Diamond Comics along with comics like Amar Chitra Katha (with characters such as Suppandi[3]) have been able to sustain their readership. After a lull, new publishing companies such as Level 10 Comics, Chariot Comics, Arkin Comics, Nila Comics, Yali Dream Creations, Cheeseburger Comics, Fiction Comics, Comix Theory, Green Gold, Jr. Diamond, diamond books, diamond toons etc. have appeared on the market in the last few years.[5] Comic publishers meanwhile have been accused by critics of lacking innovation in the face of digital competition.[3] But counter to the claims many innovations had been introduced where Indian publishers have tried many innovative ways to promote comics such as animation, film and short films, and TV serials and ecomics, VHS films, audio films and mobile apps by Raj Comics, Diamond Comics, Amar Chitra Katha. And a very innovatively attempt was done by Indian publishers which is reaching out to 236 Indian Rajya Sabha members through sending postcards with request to promote reading books and comics by world record holder sri Niand Jadhav ji in conjunction with Indian comics publishers Comix Theory and Comics Byte, and also comics art workshops, massive comics giveaways programs, Pulp Gulp Talk Show[8] made by Comix Theory to promote comics digitally and brings out various topics of discourse in mainstream comics which were earlier not present like comics and philosophy, history of comics directly from the academics, link between comics and fine art and theatre from the viewpoints of legendary as well as new comics artist of Indian comics industry, making a rich contribution to the present culture and discourse on Indian comics from within.[9] A dedicated news portal Comics Byte[10] has been seen covering Indian comics and its activities. Recently vr and ar enabled comics were seen apart from the long exploited 3d comics of past, TBS Planet comics devised vr comics where one can discover a hidden treasure box called 'treasure hunt" through the help of their smart phone pointing at the pages of comics, another example is from Kolkata Comics who made AR capable comics to translate comics from bangle language to English language on smart phone screen[11] all these innovations, innovative activities makes recent years in Indian comics most dynamic and addressing the issues developed historically in Indian comics industry.
Webcomics have been a popular medium in India since the early 2000s. Indian webcomics are successful as they reach a large audience for free[12] and they are frequently used by the country's younger generation to spread social awareness on topics such as politics and feminism. These webcomics reach a large amount of exposure by being spread through social media.[13] Also there were publishers solely dedicated to bringing licensed content to Indian comics market. Gotham Comics was such an example around 1997 to 2008. Gotham Comics made possible Spiderman India a version of western iconic character Spiderman. Dolton comics, courtesy to Chandamama had many DC characters published in India in various languages mainly superman and batman were staple products. publication of licensed characters in by Indian comics publishers has a long history which includes publishers like Amar Chitra Katha, Madhumuskan, Gowersons, lion comics, Egmont, euro kids and recent years regal comics, Fenil comics, Shakti comics and many more.
Nagraj based on design by Manoj Gupta illustrated by Pratap Mullick.
India hosted its first ever comics convention in February 2011.[14] According to 2012 estimates, the Indian comic publishing industry was worth over 100 million dollars.[15]
The popularity of manga and anime in India has led to Japanese manga-inspired comic books, such as Mythology, a comic book based on Hindu mythology that has been released in India, Singapore, Malaysia and Europe.[16]Batu Gaiden is a manga fantasy series which incorporates cricket into mythology.[17]
From 2005 to recent times there are many attempts by recently ventured and old comics publishers to revive the Indian comics industry including initiatives from Level 10 Comics, Yali Dream Creations, Cheeseburger Comics, Holycow Entertainment, Chariot Comics, Ayumi Comics, Red Streak Comics, Rovolt Comics, Vimanika Comics and TBS Planet Comics, UFC, Dream Comics, Swapnil Comics, Vaishnavi Comics, Fenil Comics, Dhaansu Productions and the surviving Raj Comics itself. Amar Chitra Katha, Raj Comics and Diamond Comics, Diamond Toons has ventured into other entertainment media like feature films, web series, games, mobile applications etc. since late 1990s and continuously attempting to widen their impact on the comics-reading population. By the end of 2019, many new comic-making companies have shown a great interest in the upbringing of the Indian comic industry and are fighting to make a mark in the industry.
Anant Pai, popularly known as Uncle Pai, was an Indian educationalist and a pioneer in Indian comics. He is most famous as the creator of two comic book series viz. Amar Chitra Katha, which retold traditional Indian folk tales, mythological stories, and biographies of historical characters; and Tinkle, a children's anthology.
Amar Chitra Katha is an Indian comic book publisher, based in Mumbai, India. The company was founded in 1967 by Anant Pai. Most of its comics are based on religious legends and epics, historical figures and biographies, folktales and cultural stories.
Gotham Entertainment Group LLC was an American company established in 1997 to establish a leadership position in the Indian comic magazine and children's book market. The company was established by executives in the industry including the former CEO of Time-Life, the former Presidents of Warner Music Media and Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) Direct, and the former Regional Creative Director of J. Walter Thompson-Asia Pacific. Gotham's CEO, Sharad Devarajan, is an entrepreneur with prior media experience at MTV Networks, Ford Modeling Agency, Elektra Entertainment, and DC Comics.
Tinkle is an Indian weekly magazine for children in English, published from Mumbai. Originally owned by the India Book House, the Tinkle brand was acquired by ACK Media in 2007. The magazine contains comics, stories, puzzles, quizzes, contests and other features targeted at school children, although its readership includes many adults as well. It is published in English and syndicated in many Indian languages like Hindi, Bengali, and Malayalam.
India Book House Pvt. Limited (IBH) is an importer, distributor and publisher of books and magazines in India.
Balarama is an Indian weekly comic magazine published by M. M. Publications, of Malayala Manorama Group from Kottayam, Kerala in Malayalam language. It is one of the most widely read children's magazines in India. Balarama celebrated its 50th year of publication in the year 2022.
Shikari Shambu is an Indian comics character created by Vasant Halbe and Luis Fernandes for the Tinkle magazine in 1983. Shikari Shambu is one of the characters of Tinkle.
Sanjay Gupta is an Indian comic book writer, editor, the studio head and Founder of Raj comics and is considered to be father of Indian Superheroes.
Comic Con India (CCI) is a series of annual comic-based conventions held in India. The first edition was held in New Delhi in 2011 and over the years has expanded to other major cities in India such as Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad and Ahmadabad. There are annual comic cons now in all these cities. Cumulatively these five cities attract over 200,000 visitors with over 1200 exhibitors. Jatin Varma, the founder & managing director of Comic Con India, launched the first comic con in India in Delhi in 2011. Since 2014, Comic Con India has been conducted in collaboration with ReedPop, the organisers of the New York Comic Con and the MCM London Comic Con.
Ram Waeerkar was an Indian comics artist for the series Amar Chitra Katha, based on Indian mythology, history, and folklore. He illustrated the very first issue, 'Krishna' in 1969, and many others later. He was behind the art work for nearly 90 ACK titles. In the 1980s he was an illustrator for Tinkle, a magazine edited by Anant Pai. Here, he was the man behind the art of such iconic characters as Suppandi, Pyarelal, Nasruddin Hodja, Choru and Joru and many more. Suppandi's head was illustrated as flat as he was supposed to have no brains. Ram Waeerkar died in 2003, with comics on Chanakya and Vishwamitra as his last projects. His daughter Archana Amberkar has been an artist for Tinkle magazine ever since and his son Sanjiv Waeerkar too illustrated for Tinkle in the early 1990s.
C M. Vitankar was an illustrator who created several covers for the popular Indian comic book series Amar Chitra Katha, as well another lesser-known series Manoj Chitra Katha. He also worked in the Hindi film industry in Mumbai as a poster artist, according to Nandini Chandra, author of The Classic Popular: Amar Chitra Katha, 1967-2007. He did the artworks for different Amar Chitra Katha comics like 'Ganesha', 'Tales of Shiva', 'Arjuna', 'the Monkey and the Boy' and 'Karttikeya' edited and published by Anant Pai
Pratap Mullick was an Indian illustrator and comics artist. He was best known for illustrating Nagraj of Raj Comics which gained lot of popularity under him and was later handed to Anupam Sinha who made Nagraj an actual superhero. He worked for the Indian comic book series Amar Chitra Katha created by writer and editor Anant Pai. Mullick drew the first 50 issues of Nagraj from 1986 until 1995. He designed the comic-book character Supremo, who featured in a series published for two years in the 1980s.
Yusuf Lien also known as Yusuf Bangalorewala is an Indian book illustrator best known for his work on the Amar Chitra Katha comic book series, which deals with subjects from Indian myth, legend and history. His dream-like sensual work on the titles Tansen and Mirabai is admired by many who believe he had one of the most distinctive styles among the Amar Chitra Katha artists. According to researcher John Stratton Hawley, the Amar Chitra Katha staff took a 'nonsectarian pride' that the exquisite depictions of Krishna in Mirabai were the work of a Muslim artist, who as his editor Anant Pai described it, would be in tears as he drew his frames for the comic book. Yusuf also painted the image of the child Krishna seen on the cover of the comic book of the same name.
Arun Prasad is an historian specialised in the history of karnataka, a comics archivist and a pannapictagraphist. He is also a researcher, freelance writer and columnist on the heritage of Bangalore and presently the Project & Research Head of Discover Bengaluru, an organisation documenting the Bangalore city's heritage and history.
Mahabharata is a comic adaptation of the Indian epic poem Mahabharata. The 42-issue best-selling series by Amar Chitra Katha, Mumbai was illustrated by Dilip Kadam. The team of script writers included Kamala Chandrakant, TMP Nedungadi, Subba Rao, Yagya Sharma, Lopamudra, Mihir Lal Mitra, Sumona Roy, Mohan Swaminathan, Shubha Kandhekar and Margie Sastry.
Poompatta was a Malayalam children's magazine which started publishing in 1964. It was initially published by P. A. Warrier and later by Sithara Publications, Pai and Company (PAICO), Manorajyam Publications and Suryaprabha Publications. Poompatta under PAICO was the first Malayalam children's publisher to syndicate comics produced by India Book House and publish Amar Chitra Katha in Malayalam.
Sons of Ram is a 2012 Indian animated film created by ACK Animation Studios, and co-produced by Maya Digital Studios and Cartoon Network India. Based on Hindu mythology, it depicts the sons of Rama, Luv and Kush. It is Amar Chitra Katha's first animated feature film in stereoscopic 3D. It was released to theatres in India on 2 November 2012.
Comics Fest India was a comic-based convention held in India, annually at New Delhi.
Aarthi Parthasarathy is an Indian filmmaker and webcomic creator. Having grown up in Mumbai and living in Bengaluru, Parthasarathy is known for creating the webcomic Royal Existentials and writing for the webcomic Urbanlore. Parthasarathy became part of feminist art collective Kadak in March 2016, where she has collaborated to create Personal (Cyber) Space and Aloe Vera and The Void.
Dastidar, D. Ghosh. “Prospects of Comic Studies in India,” Gnosis 3 (2019), 113–128.
Hawley, John Stratton. 'The Saints Subdued: Domestic Virtue and National Integration in Amar Chitra Katha' in Media and the Transformation of Religion in South Asia, eds. Lawrence A Babb, Susan S. Wadley, Motilal Banarasidas, 1998.
MacLain, Karline. India's Immortal Comic Books: Gods, Kings, and Other Heroes, Indiana University Press, 2009. ISBN978-0-253-22052-3.
Pritchett, Frances W. 'The World of Amar Chitra Katha' in Media and the Transformation of Religion in South Asia, eds. Lawrence A Babb, Susan S. Wadley, Motilal Banarasidas, 1998.
Lent, John A., Comic Art of Africa, Asia, Australia, and Latin America Through 2000: An International Bibliography, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004.
External links
GraphicShelf - India's first Graphic Novel Database
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