Webcomics in India

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Webcomics have grown in popularity in India since the early 2000s. Early webcomics created by Indian people were written and illustrated by people abroad and focused primarily on the differences in culture the creators experienced. Later webcomics put a strong emphasis on social and political issues present in the country, usually from a liberal perspective. Webcomics can reach large audiences in India when shared through social media.

India Country in South Asia

India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west; China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north; and Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives; its Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand and Indonesia.

Indian people Nationality

Indians are the nationals or citizens of India, the second most populous nation in the world, containing 17.50% of the world's population. "Indian" refers to nationality, rather than a particular ethnicity or language; the Indian nationality consists of dozens of indigenous regional ethno-linguistic groups, reflecting the rich and complex history of the country. Due to emigration, the Indian diaspora is present throughout the world, notably in other parts of Asia, North America, the Caribbean, Oceania, and Africa.

Social media are interactive computer-mediated technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, career interests and other forms of expression via virtual communities and networks. The variety of stand-alone and built-in social media services currently available introduces challenges of definition; however, there are some common features:

  1. Social media are interactive Web 2.0 Internet-based applications.
  2. User-generated content, such as text posts or comments, digital photos or videos, and data generated through all online interactions, is the lifeblood of social media.
  3. Users create service-specific profiles and identities for the website or app that are designed and maintained by the social media organization.
  4. Social media facilitate the development of online social networks by connecting a user's profile with those of other individuals or groups.

Contents

History

Though webcomics have been a popular medium since the establishment of the World Wide Web in the early 1990s, the first Indian-centric webcomics started being published at the start of the 21st century. Early Indian webcomics, such as Sandeep Sood's 2003 webcomics Badmash and Doubtsourcing, were primarily written by Indian people living outside of India. These webcomics expressed the stark differences in culture between India and the country of inhabitation. [1]

World Wide Web System of interlinked hypertext documents accessed over the Internet

The World Wide Web (WWW), commonly known as the Web, is an information system where documents and other web resources are identified by Uniform Resource Locators, which may be interlinked by hypertext, and are accessible over the Internet. The resources of the WWW may be accessed by users by a software application called a web browser.

According to Sreejita Biswas of Scroll.in , Indian webcomics were defined by "stick figures, unimpressive humour and banal writing" in 2010, but that webcomics of a few years later are of much higher visual quality and use the medium for more meaningful content. Among other things, Biswas noticed a change in focus from political discourse to an effort to spread social awareness. [2] Tarishi Verma of the Hindustan Times stated in 2016 that Indian webcomics are "coming into their own" due to the efforts of the young "social media-friendly" generation. [3] Similarly, Jaideep Unudurti of The Hindu Business Line described India as going through digital comics "renaissance" in 2016. [4]

Scroll.in is an independent Indian English-language news website started in 2014 by ACK Media founder Samir Patil and journalist Naresh Fernandes. Satyagrah, a Hindi news website, is also part of Scroll.in.

<i>Hindustan Times</i> Indian English-language newspaper

Hindustan Times is an Indian English-language daily newspaper founded in 1924 with roots in the Indian independence movement of the period. Hindustan Times was inaugurated by Mahatma Gandhi and known for supporting the Congress party. The newspaper is owned by Congress Rajya Sabha M.P. Shobhana Bhartia. It is the flagship publication of HT Media, an entity controlled by the KK Birla family.

Economics

Traditional comic books were a lucrative business in India until cable television became prominent in the early 1990s. Rahul Vikram, creator of India 2047, described in an interview that he attempted to reach out to publishing companies to distribute his comic, but eventually realised he could save money and reach more people by releasing India 2047 on the Web. Vikram also described interaction with readers as a "bonus". Webcomics in India are greatly affected by online virality: according to Hemantkumar Jain, "the viral effect on websites like Twitter is strong [as] things get retweeted pretty fast and reach more people." [1]

Cable television Television content transmitted via signals on coaxial cable

Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fiber-optic cables. This contrasts with broadcast television, in which the television signal is transmitted over the air by radio waves and received by a television antenna attached to the television; or satellite television, in which the television signal is transmitted by a communications satellite orbiting the Earth and received by a satellite dish on the roof. FM radio programming, high-speed Internet, telephone services, and similar non-television services may also be provided through these cables. Analog television was standard in the 20th century, but since the 2000s, cable systems have been upgraded to digital cable operation. James VanDamager invented CATV in 1948 in Milpitas, California.

Viral phenomena are objects or patterns that are able to replicate themselves or convert other objects into copies of themselves when these objects are exposed to them. They get their name from the way that viruses propagate. This has become a common way to describe how thoughts, information, and trends move into and through a human population. "Viral media" is another common term whose popularity has been fueled by the rapid rise of social network sites. Different from the "spreadable media", "viral media" uses viral metaphors of "infection" and "contamination", which means that audiences play as passive carriers rather than an active role to "spread" contents. Memes are one known example of informational viral patterns.

<i>Arbit Choudhury</i>

Arbit Choudhury is a coming of age webcomic run in the format of a comic strip from India.

Success of Indian webcomics is frequently measured by a subscriber-count, though the most prosperous webcomics display their status by selling merchandise such as prints, post cards, and T-shirts. [1] However, very few webcomic creators in India are able to do so professionally: most Indian webcomic creators work on comics in addition to working their day job. [5]

The subscription business model is a business model in which a customer must pay a recurring price at regular intervals for access to a product or service. The model was pioneered by publishers of books and periodicals in the 17th century, and is now used by many businesses and websites.

Themes

"Most webcomics today are satires and the format is suited for it."

–Shantanu Adhicary [1]

Tarishi Verma of the Hindustan Times stated that the young generation of Indians use webcomics as a tool for "underlining their absurdity [of] current ills of Indian society." Usually of a satirical nature and intended for adult audiences, Indian webcomics explore a variety of themes, such as "Indians and Indian-ness, Bollywood, existential angst, politics and feminism." Many webcomics in the country are opposed to the status quo and existing unjust social norms. [3]

Satire Genre of arts and literature in the form of humor or ridicule

In fiction and less frequently in non-fiction, satire is a genre of literature and performing arts, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, corporations, government, or society itself into improvement. Although satire is usually meant to be humorous, its greater purpose is often constructive social criticism, using wit to draw attention to both particular and wider issues in society.

Bollywood Hindi language film industry

Hindi cinema, often known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is the Indian Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai. The term is a portmanteau of "Bombay" and "Hollywood". The industry is related to Cinema of South India and other Indian film industries, making up Indian Cinema – the world's largest by number of feature films produced.

Feminism Movements and ideologies aimed at establishing gender equality

Feminism is a range of social movements, political movements, and ideologies that share a common goal: to define, establish, and achieve the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that societies prioritize the male point of view, and that women are treated unfairly within those societies. Efforts to change that include fighting gender stereotypes and seeking to establish educational and professional opportunities for women that are equal to those for men.

For example, Crocodile in Water, Tiger on Land (2010) satirises socio-political-economic issues such as the 2015 Bihar cheating scandal. Digital politics-researcher Sriram Mohan described the webcomic as progressive, liberal and pro-poor, saying that "it wasn't always so political. I really like it more now. It's certainly top of the pile." Other webcomics, such as Rachita Taneja's Sanitary Panels , specifically focus on gender issues in the country. Many webcomic creators, including Taneja, follow the news closely so they can follow up on current events. [3]

Some Indian webcomics present traditional aspects of the country's culture. Meenakshi Krishnamoorthy's Kinnari is highly influenced by Indian mythology, creating unusual spins on ancient literature. To involve foreign readers more, Krishnamoorthy incorporates footnotes explaining the source material of her comics. [2] Aarthi Parthasarathy and Kaveri Gopalakrishnan's Urbanlore, meanwhile, highlights the culture and history of urban Indian cities. [6]

American influences

American webcomics such as Cyanide and Happiness have also found a large amount of popularity in India. Cyanide and Happiness co-writer Rob Denbleyker has noted that the webcomic's readership in India came as a surprise to him. DenBleyker has gone to multiple India-based comic book conventions since. [7] [8] American works have influenced various Indian webcomics: Dalbir Singh created SikhPark based on the crude political humour of American television series South Park , [9] and Aarthi Parthasarthy based the concept of The Royal Existentials on David Malki's Wondermark , using Mughal miniature paintings instead of Victorian art. [3]

Related Research Articles

Webcomics are comics published on a website or mobile app. While many are published exclusively on the web, others are also published in magazines, newspapers or in comic books.

Sprite comic Type of webcomic

Sprite comics are webcomics that consist primarily of computer sprites from video games. Popularized by Bob and George, the style is considered relatively easy for amateur cartoonists to get involved in, but sprite comics are generally looked down upon for being of low quality.

Pran Kumar Sharma, better known as Pran, was an Indian cartoonist best known as the creator of Chacha Chaudhary (1971). He also created other characters like Shrimatiji, Pinki, Billoo, Raman, and Channie Chachi.

Indian comics are comic books and graphic novels associated with the culture of India published a number of Indian languages and English.

<i>Badmash.org</i>

Badmash.org is a website which hosts animations, sketches and video clips, as well as a regular webcomic. A weekly email and print-media newsletters reach over a million people. The works on Badmash.org have a mix of political and social satire. The website was started by three friends, Sandeep Sood, Nimesh Patel and Sanjay Shah.

Cyanide & Happiness (C&H), also known as Cyanide and Happiness, is a webcomic written and illustrated by Rob DenBleyker, Kris Wilson, Dave McElfatrick and formerly Matt Melvin, published on their website explosm.net. It was created and started running daily on January 25, 2005. It has appeared on social networking sites such as Myspace, Quora, LiveJournal, and Facebook, where, in April 2006, it had generated more than a million visits per week. The comic's authors attribute its success to its often controversial nature, and the series is noted for its dark humor and sometimes surrealistic approach. Cyanide & Happiness characters were used in the television advertisements for Orange Mobile's Orange Wednesdays.

Comic Con India series of annual comic-based conventions held in India

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 and Hyderabad. There are annual comic cons now in all these cities. Cumulatively these five cities attract over 200,000 visitors with over 1200 exhibitors. Jatin Verma, the founder 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 Reed Exhibitions (ReedPOP), the organisers of the New York Comic Con and the MCM London Comic Con.

<i>The Cyanide & Happiness Show</i> animated web series

The Cyanide & Happiness Show is an animated comedy web series created by Rob DenBleyker, Dave McElfatrick, Matt Melvin and Kris Wilson, based on their webcomic Cyanide & Happiness. Each episode consists of a few short stories that have little to no connection to each other. The creators described the goal of each episode to be "to extract the human excretion known as laughter from your face hole via fast-paced weird comedy."

East India Comedy Indian stand-up comedy group

East India Comedy is a group of Indian stand-up comedians that performs comedy shows, organizes comedy workshops, corporate events and scripts, movies and television shows. The group claims to be India's busiest comedy company with a record 130 shows across the country in the calendar year 2013. East India Comedy maintains a YouTube channel that shows their comedy stints and satires on topics like politics, religion and the Indian film industry. Much of their reputation was initiated through their online presence. The group hosts India’s version of the Golden Raspberry Awards (Razzies), the Ghanta Awards.

The history of webcomics follows the advances of technology, art, and business of comics on the Internet. The first comics were shared through the Internet in the mid-1980s. Some early webcomics were derivatives from print comics, but when the World Wide Web became widely popular in the mid-1990s, more people started creating comics exclusively for this medium. By the year 2000, various webcomic creators were financially successful and webcomics became more artistically recognized.

Gender and webcomics Webcomics are primarily created by women and gender-variant people

In contrast with mainstream American comics, webcomics are primarily written and drawn by women and gender variant people. Because of the self-published nature of webcomics, the internet has become a successful platform for social commentary, as well as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) expression.

Notable events of 2014 in webcomics.

Crocodile in Water, Tiger on Land is an Indian webcomic series by an anonymous writer and illustrator duo. The webcomic launched in 2010 and is named after a Bengali saying similar to "being caught between the devil and the deep blue sea." It uses visual metaphors in order to communicate ideas related to the Indian social and political system, as well as the "absurdity of modern life." A physical collection of the webcomic was printed in 2015.

The business of webcomics involves webcomic creators earning a living professionally through various revenue channels. Webcomic artists may sell merchandise based on their work, such as T-shirts and toys, or they may sell print versions or compilations of their webcomic. Many webcomic creators make use of online advertisement on their websites, and some have undergone product placement deals with larger companies. Crowdfunding through Kickstarter and Patreon is also a source of income for webcartoonists.

Matt Melvin is an American webcartoonist, known for his work as one of the original creators of Cyanide & Happiness.

Royal Existentials is an Indian webcomic written by Aarthi Parthasarathy and further produced by Chaitanya Krishnan. Using Mughal miniature paintings with overlaid dialogue, Royal Existentials comments upon contemporary politics, social issues, and philosophy.

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.

Sanitary Panels is an Indian webcomic by activist Rachita Taneja. Taking a distinct feminist angle, Sanitary Panels comments upon social justice topics ranging from discrimination to victim blaming. Taneja started her webcomic on Facebook in June 2014 and has since accumulated over 50,000 followers.

Brown Paperbag is a slice of life webcomic by Mumbaikar cartoonist Sailesh Gopalan that began in June 2016.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Arora, Kim (5 September 2010). "Strip tease: Indian webcomics make a mark". The Times of India .
  2. 1 2 Biswas, Sreejita (24 January 2016). "URLs of mass distraction: Five Indian webcomics to be read regularly". Scroll.in .
  3. 1 2 3 4 Verma, Tarishi (26 April 2015). "Laughing through our worries: The Indian web comics". Hindustan Times .
  4. ↑ Unudurti, Jaideep (1 January 2016). "India today, in doodles". The Hindu Business Line .
  5. ↑ Bangeera, Aneesha (20 March 2016). "The new online avatar of today's comics". The Hindu .
  6. ↑ Kumar, Shikha (19 October 2015). "Urbanlore, a new webcomic series traces a changing urban India". The Indian Express .
  7. ↑ Arora, Kim (7 December 2015). "City in pursuit of dark humour with Cyanide and Happiness". The Times of India .
  8. ↑ Moray, Deepali (5 December 2015). "Delhi Comic Con 2015: Webcomics make it easier for artists to get their work noticed". IBN Live.
  9. ↑ Joshi, Sonam (7 December 2015). "India gets its own 'South Park' with 'SikhPark'". Mashable.
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