Indian Comics refer to those graphic interpretations of various stories that are related

with the Indian Culture. Indian comic books and graphic novels usually have bulky
publication, as the country has a lengthy custom of comic readership. Mythological
characters and legends have decorated the cover pages of Indian comics for several years.
Amar Chitra Katha is considered to be the first Indian comics that launched the comic
book industry in India in the 1960s. Its creator, Anant Pai, portrayed various tales from
ancient Hindu epics like the Ramayana and Mahabarata. But the recent trend has
evolved as the focus of the publishing houses has shifted from children to young adults
and teenagers. The contents have also improved to attract the new generation who are
usually followers of renowned western comics. Thus the modern Indian comics now
provide a stylish end-product which is artistically improved along with gripping plots. In
February 2011, the first Indian Comics Convention was held in New Delhi which
attracted several readers and followers.
Indian comics pertain to those comic books and graphic novels that are integrally
affiliated with the cultural ethos of India. Indian comics often owns and stretches to an
enormous publication, with long ways to traverse to make itself stand proudly by the
sides of countries like Japan, France or America. Comic books and cartoon strips in India
are available primarily in Hindi, but also published in English and several other regional
languages. The most authentic stylemark for Indian comics are its treasure of original
stories. Some of the most popular characters and tales incorporated are Akbar-Birbal,
Vikram Betaal Tales, Tenali Raman, Hitopadesha, Panchatantra, Ganesh Mahima etc.
History of Indian Comics
The origin of the history of Indian comics was rooted in the 1960s. Chandamama was one
of the earliest Indian comic magazines, which compiled various adaptations of the
Ramayana and the Mahabharata. In 1967, Anant Pai, editor of the India Book House,
launched the series Amar Chitra Katha, which conveyed various stories of historical and
religious figures. Aabid Surti was one of the early Indian comic authors who created the
immortal character of Bahadur for Indrajal Comics, which turned out to be quite popular.
Pran Kumar Sharma, popularly known as Pran, also contributed significantly to the
growth of Indian comics. He created various legendary characters like Daabu, like
Shrimatiji, Pinki, Billoo and the still popular Chacha Chaudhary during the 1970s.
Indian comics in regional languages also gained momentum during that period and it was
most evident in the state of West Bengal. Pratulchandra Lahiri had invested life onto two
strips on a regular basis, for Jugantar newspaper in Bengali and Amrit Bazar Patrika in
English. Narayan Debnath is perhaps the most famous Bengali comic-creator whose
strips were published as books from Kolkata. Amongst his notable creations, Nonte
Phonte, Batul-The Great and Handa Bhonda are very much still in circulation and have
also led to enthusiastic production of animated films. Mayukh Choudhury was another
comic artist and writer, who executed stories of action, adventure and historical genres,
published in Bengali. Alagar comics were the most famous in Tamil Nadu. In Kerala,
Comic digest books like Poompatta, Balarama, Balabhumi, Bobanum Moliyum and
Balamangalam are very popular amongst the readers.

During the 1980s, Detective Moochwala by Ajit Ninan and Gardhab Das, the singing
donkey, by Neelabh and Jayanto, became the most lovable characters. But it was with the
advent of Raj Comics that the entire scenario of Indian comics was transformed into a
whole new level. They developed various home-made superhero characters, like Nagraj,
Doga, Super Commando Dhruva, Parmanu and others, which were widely accepted and
praised by the readers. Another much venerated and prominent Indian comics was Tinkle
which became quite legendary and celebrated within a short span of time.
Development of Indian Comics
In 2006, Indian comics received its tremendous upheaval with the launch of Virgin
comics, a collaboration of Virgin group and Gotham Comics of India. They are
specialised in producing special series of Indian comics based in Indian mythology and
ancient history. Their major title included Sadhu, Devi and Ramayan 3392 AD. Recently,
a range of new comics have emerged in the Indian comics market, equipped with
advanced technologies, enhanced artworks and well formed plots and stories. The most
noteworthy among them are Arkin Comics, Vinamika Comics, Kriyetic Comics, Fluid
Friction Comics, Level10 Comics and Comix.India.
Arkin Comics, founded by Rohan Kapadia and led by Shamik Dasgupta, started in 2007
with their flagship title Irith and focused on creating custom comics as well. Vinamika
Comics, formed by Karan Vir Arora focuses particularly on Indian mythology with
stylish artwork and colours. Vinamika`s main titles, Dashaavatar, Moksha, The Sixth, I
am Kalki and Shiva, have become very popular in the country. Kriyetic Comics, founded
by Manojit Chattopadhyay, is a comic magazine based in Kolkata that focuses on telling
original stories, illustrated by talented local artists. The stories vary from children`s
stories to science fiction, horror and comedy. The stories of Punu and Shesh Juddha (The
Last War) were much admired by the readers. Fluid Friction Comics launched their
flagship title DevaShard in October 2008. Level10`s publication, Comic Jump, is another
magazine that includes stories like Shaurya, The Rabhas Incident, Daksh etc.
Web Comics in India
In the gushing and fast-paced era of computers and internet, it is obvious that Indian
comics will adapt itself to the sophisticated technologies. Thus, web-comics is also very
much in vogue. Badmash is in particular created by and directed at the Indian Diaspora.
This format is anticipated to enlarge due to ICT literacy, colossal numbers of white-collar
workers and internet permeation into India. Web comics indeed offer a superb platform to
artists who do not wish to distribute via the published media.
Graphic Novels in Indian Comics
In addition to the Penguin published Corridor, by Sarnath Banerjee, which was widely
publicised as India`s first graphic novel, a subsequent foray was also followed in the path
in 2007. However, a 60 page comic, named River of Stories, by Delhi based artist Orijit
Sen, was published in 1994 by Kalpavriksh. Yet another potential competitor is G.
Aravindan`s Cheriya Manushyarum, Valiya Lokavum (Small Men and the Big World).
Some of Deepak Chopra`s books, such as his reiterating of the Kama Sutra, or the life of
Gautama Buddha, are also looked at as partly graphic novels, due to their artwork,

produced by Virgin Comics. In addition, Kashmir Pending, a graphic novel by Naseer

Ahmed, and The Believers, a graphic novel by Abdul Sultan - both addressing sensitive
issues on Islamic militancy, were released by Phantomville in current times, Sarnath
Banerjee`s company, to irrefutable reviews.
In 2009, a new company named Campfire Graphic Novels entered the graphic novel
market which is based in New Delhi. Some of their most popular titles are Sita, daughter
of the earth, Ekalavya and the recently released Ravana.
Due to the recent development and increased popularity of Indian Comics, the first Indian
Comics Convention was conducted in New Delhi on February 2011.

6 ABD 2003 Vol. 34 No. 1

A Brief History
The realm of comics has evolved relatively later in India than
in the West. Around three decades ago comics were not much
in vogue in India. The selection that was available was in the
form of imported digests and books like Tintin (originally
French private detective), Asterix and Obelix (superheroes
of Gaul, erstwhile France), Archie and Commando (war stories
of World War II) etc. A costly product for an average Indian,
these comics were rather available to the children of the
wealthy.
The change came in the mid 60s when a leading newspaper
publication house of India launched Indrajal Comics. It
was the first serious effort directed towards the evolution of
comic culture in India. Well within the buying capacity of
middle class children, Indrajal Comics made foreign comic
heroes like Phantom- the ghost who walks, Mandrake the
magician, and Flash Gordon household names in India.
The immediate success of Indrajal Comics gave a further
boost to the indigenous comic industry and in 1967 came
the educational comics series called Amar Chitra Katha (Immortal
Picture Stories) by Anant Pai, who is also considered
the father of Indian comics. A welcome change, Amar Chitra
Katha effected a fusion of the rich treasure of folk tales and
exploits of mythical and legendary characters in comics. Each
of the comics in this series was devoted to a person or event
in Indian history, religion and mythology. Anant Pai conceptualised
all of these and wrote the scenarios for most of them.
With over 70 million copies sold in the last 40 years these
comic books are regarded as internationally successful.
Most Indian children have grown up with Amar Chitra
Kathas vast and rich treasury of Indian folk tales, the brave

exploits of mythical and legendary charactersfrom Birbals

witty and lively stories to the endearing and didactic tales of
Jataka and Panchtantra. Amar Chitra Katha forms a storehouse
of books for all age groups in several Indian languages.
Like Anant Pai, cartoonist Pran has also made positive contribution
in the evolution of Indian comic culture. Pran broke
the monopoly of syndicated foreign comic strips and gave
India its first comic characters the teenaged Dabu and his
mentor, Professor Adhikari in 1960. He followed it up with
Shrimatiji, and in 1973 with Chacha Chowdhary and Sabu,
the duo who combine brain and brawn to fight the evils of
society. These characters like those of Anant Pai have proved
tough contenders for the foreign counterparts in their Indian
comic scenario.
Comics and Indian Children
Comics, with the rise of the Indian middle class and its purchasing
power and indigenous production, have gradually
become an integral part of the childrens world in India today.
Almost all Indian children, especially those belonging
to the lower middle class and above and living in urban areas,
grow up with comics available to them in a wide array
of choices.
Todays Comic Culture in India
Manan Kumar
Manan Kumar
At the World Book Fair in Delhi, India (photo courtesy of the author)
ABD 2003 Vol. 34 No. 1 7
According to A. C. Nielsen and the TNT-Cartoon Network
survey of almost six thousand 7 to 18-year-olds, termed New
Genre Asians, across 18 cities of the Asia Pacific in 1998,
the Indian child is an astute, observant and decisive individual,
who recognises school as the most important thing in
life. In terms of readership, the Indian child reads mostly
schoolbooks and comics.
The increasing craze for comics among Indian children can
also be gauged from the statistics of the Bible Society of India
and the United Bible Societies (UBS) that have managed
to spread awareness about Biblical characters through the
help of comics. During the period 1984-1989 they sold around
5.5 million copies of the Moses, David, Elijah, and Jeremiah
comics in the Heroes of Faith series. Between 1984 and 1994,
total Indian sales of all UBS comics was over 10 million.
Lately there has been an upsurge in the publication of indigenous
comics. Devoid of any superheroes or cult figures
like Superman, Spiderman or Tintin, the Indian children have
found their own heroes in the form of comic figures like Shaktiman

(person having powers like Superman), Nagraj (Snake

man), Tenali Raman (witty minister of a king), Motu-Patlu
(fatso and skinny), Chotu-Lambu (short and tall), Billoo
(naughty kid), Kapish (monkey having the power to lengthen
his tail), Chacha Chaudhary (intelligent uncle), Rajan-Iqbal
(detective friends), Mahabali Shaka (extremely powerful
man), Fauladi Singh (Iron man), Agniputra Abhay (son of fire)
etc.
However, many of these indigenously produced comics
are substandardnot only do they lack a proper storyline,
content, imagination and visual graphics but they also draw
heavily on characters from western comics like those of Superman,
Laurel and Hardy, and Dennis the Menace, etc.
Most of the indigenous substandard comic literature is
more popular in small towns and shanty areas of major towns
in the Hindi speaking belt. Available at very low price on hire
(Re. 1 per day to Rs. 2 per day i.e. 2 to 4 US cents) in private
libraries-cum-shops, they hook children at a very tender age.
As in the USA such comics have been responsible for children
attempting daring but foolish acts, hoping to be saved
by the superheroes. Many have lost their lives or have become
maimed for life.
Another section of middle and upper class children living
in urban areas more or less relate better to foreign comic
characters like Disneys Mickey and Donald, Tin Tin, Superman
and Archie, etc. But they are also avid readers of Indian
comics like Amar Chitra Katha and a magazine called Tinkle.
The popularity of Indian characters can be judged from the
following. One of the characters of Tinkle is called Suppandi
and the stories are sent in by readers and then drawn by
professional artists. The publisher gets about 56 thousand
letters with stories from their readers per week. (from the
India comics website created by World Comics, Finland, Dec
2000)
From Comics to Animation
With the advent of cartoons on television, comics in print
are facing a tough time. It all started with Jungle Books
Mowgli over a decade ago. After that Disneys characters took
the scene by storm. Now many channels have dedicated time
slots for cartoon shows. The viewership of Cartoon Network,
a dedicated 24-hour TV channel, is growing steadily among
Indian children as well as adults. However, these channels
lack Indian sensibility and Indian viewers do not relate to
some of their characters.
Cartoonist Pran regrets the deterioration. According to him,
the violence and mild sex, which is being served through

cable television cartoons, is having a very bad impact on the

childs mind and the remedy for many publishers seems to
lie in introducing more blood and gore into comics.
The fact that the Indian television viewers are more interested
in Indian versions of comics and cartoons can be ascertained
from the roaring success of the animated Jungle
Book, Ramayana, Chacha Chowdhary, Pandavas and Tenali
Raman.
Although Indias exposure to cartoon animation is meagre,
many companies are fast offering quality work. The success
of animated Indian epics and stories has prompted big foreign
companies to concentrate on India, and Indian comics
are all set to take over cartoon shows on television channels,
thanks to a local acquisition drive by international cartoon
networks and outsourcing of animation works to India by
foreign companies. This has also been prompted by global
recession, which caused considerable damage to some international
cartoon animation firms.
India thus has become an important place where work can
be outsourced. Though China is a big competitor, India has
the edge thanks to its command over English.
According to a recent industry survey, the Indian animation
industry, which is now pegged at US$550 million, is expected
to grow at 30% annually in the next couple of years
and reach US$15 billion by 2010.
To meet both domestic and export demand, around 40 Indian
companies are venturing into the 2-D and 3-D animation
market. Indian entrepreneurs have set up state-of-the-art
special effects studios in cities like Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi,
Hyderabad, Mumbai and Thiruvananthapuram to garner
a major chunk of the global business.
The fast-paced changes in the last decade have proved
beneficial for comics in India. Besides being in print, the Indian
comics have now started getting their due share on the
television also. With companies moving in top gear and indigenous
comics getting huge appreciation, comic culture
in India is all set to take a giant leap in the near future.
Manan Kumar
Born in Dehradun, capital of hill state of Uttaranchal, in 1966. He got
interested in Journalism as it is a tool to transform the world for better.
He worked for various publications like Sun, a youth magazine, English
daily Pioneer, Hindi edition of Reader's Digest. Currently, working as a
correspondent in leading Indian English newspaper Hindustan Times.
He likes writing on developmental issues and features. His hobbies are
travelling, reading, writing and photography.

Manan Kumar, Correspondent, Hindustan Times, (home) 17-A/60

Western Extension
Area, Karol Bagh, New Delhi 110005, India, e-mail:
manan24@rediffmail.com

Our Characters
Shikari Shambu

Shikari Shambu is one of Tinkle's most loved characters, a bumbling jungle explorer who
is scared of everything, from spiders to elephants. Shambu tries his best to avoid trouble
and is happiest when he is lazing in his hammock and doing nothing. Unfortunately for
Shambu, trouble finds him wherever he goes. Dealing with poachers, wild animals and
pirates he manages to come out on top, in spite of himself. Children have been following
his adventures for decades and enjoy reading about his latest exploits.
Suppandi

Suppandi is Tinkle's most popular character, a lovable goof who gets into trouble all the
time. His antics leave his bosses speechless and the readers in splits. He is the kind of
everyman that kids relate to and they love reading about his misadventures.

Tantri the Mantri

Scheming, cunning and devious. That's Tantri the evil Mantri! He is the Chief Minister
and dreams of capturing the throne and spends all him time carefully laying plans to get
rid of King Hooja. Crocodiles, catapults and booby traps, he has tried them all.
Fortunately for King Hooja, the plans always backfire and Tantri has to go back to the
drawing board.
Kalia, Doob-doob and Chamataka

Doob-doob the crocodile, Chamataka the fox are the kings of the forest or so they
think. In reality, Kalia the crow is the one who calls the shots. No matter how hard Doobdoob and Chamataka try, Kalia always foils their plans. Whenever the smaller animals are
in danger from Doob-doob and Chamataka, its Kalia to the rescue!
Anwar

Anwar is a mischievous and intelligent little boy who isn't afraid to say what he thinks
when he thinks it. Children relate to his exploits and enjoy his playful and quick-witted
interactions with his parents.

Pyarelal

Pyarelal is a good-natured farmer with a very kind heart. Cheerful and easygoing, his
homespun charm appeals to children. Pyarelal often comes up practical yet inventive
farming methods that inspire others to consider eco-friendly solutions themselves.
Although he sometimes makes mistakes, he comes out of every situation with his
enthusiasm and positive attitude intact.