Indian comic titles

written by Tadam

So, as promised, i am back with some more itty-pitty information about Indian comics publishers- both established and independent. but first, let me clearify what Independent publisher actually refers to, as i guess some of you may not be aware of this word.
   Independent publishers are usually run by a single man or two basically. If it is run by a single man, then he is the sole owner of the company who looks after and arranges everything from stories to artworks to colors to printing to distribution. If thy are two men, then the other one is usually someone who supports the main owner both financially and in other works like to arrange for artists or script writing etc. These publishers are none other than those avid readers who dream to make their own comics and characters (almost every comic geek's dream ;) ). They come up with innovative ideas paired with jaw-dropping artworks and quality.
   In the last few years, there has seen a massive growth in Independent publishers. Companies are sprouting out like never before, fully armed with compelling storytelling and artworks which are just impossible to be ignored by the readers. Its only because of their Numero uno quality they are surviving and seeing growth in readers. These Independent publishers are also helping those talented artists who were unkwon to us because Established publishers were too filled by highly skilled professionals.
   Many owners of such indie companies left their high paying jobs just to pursue their passion of creating new age-original comic contents. While some are still duelling with their day jobs to make money to cover the expenses.
   Now that i think you have knwon enough anout these indie publishers, let us come to the main topic that is the flagship series of these publishers. The titles of such series are following-
Aghori (holy cow entertainment)
V.R.I.C.A (chariot comics)
Parshu (Orange radius
Kaal (Aayumi productions)
TNT -Taranath tantrik (Speechbubble entertainment)
The legends of aveon 9 (Rovolt)
Mahatma (Gravity comics)
All the names above are highly successful titles which have taken the companies to new heights and brought a huge fan following for them. But other than these,there are some companies which publish graphic novels - a hybrid novel of illustrations and stories which usually dont go further than one tale.
  Some of the titlaes of graphic novels are following-
The Caravan, bloodwar, Devi chodhurani (Yali dream creations)
Were house, The Skull rosary (Holy cow entertainment)
The Train of thoughts, Wreck age (Crimzon studios)
   Graphic Novels (GNs) are the best option to someone who want to read comics but like them to end in one book. Graphic novels usually dont have sequels but occasionally they do, as the srory demands. Graphic Novels are also generating a massive wave of readers to get into comics reading.
   Something other than Comics and graphic Novels is also making a silent space in comics medium, that is - Comics Anthology. These books have several stories in a single book, all in different styles. They are ideal for those who want to have mixed fun, several stories in one go(sounds like airtel DTH recharge plans doesnt it :P ). Anthologies are something that have seen very less dissappointment. As per i know, Every anthology title was a huge success.
   Below are some names of such anthologies-
Comics Jump (i think the first Indian comics anthology- if we dont take tinkle as anthology- published by Level Ten comics)
Ground Zero (Highly successfull. Published by meta desi comics)
Blind spot (One of the masterpieaces by Orange radius arts.)
Were house (This is an anthology as well as GN. published byholy cow entertainment)

   All of the above mentioned titles are unique in its kind and every compnay publuhing them are with different dreams but their goal is the same- To bring back the Golden Age of Indian comics. And if we see their products, which they are churning out in such opposite situations, then its not hard to believe that they can compete with International Heavyweights like Marvel, DC and Dark horse once they get the full suppost of readers.

[In the next post, i will try to tell you the hardworks and brainstomrings creators need to do before a full comics is made ]
ps- If some publishers are missed then i duely apologise. I tried my best not to miss any existing active publisher.
Thanks for reading. :)

Indian comics- scenario and publishers

Indian Comics - publishers( part one)
author- Tadam
Comic books have been a great medium of entertainment for numerous decades.
Comics is the way where one can tell his stories in the best way with less investment.
one thing that makes comic books unique are its two factors,which are words and pictures unlike the movies and novels, which have only one factor each.
The comics were popular in western countries around half a century ago. But They are popularand could be found in almost every part of the world because of its immense power of attractive graphics and mesmerizing stories. India is one of such countried where comics books could be found.
India is home to many establisheded and independent publishers who are bringing out the best books possible. India now even has its own comic con which is organisedfour times in four different places every year( Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Mumbai).
And every year the number of comics publishers is increasing by one or two new comers.  There are plans being made of a movie to be produced on popular comics character of Industry giant RAJ COMICS which will be directed by Hatke filmmaker Anurag kashyap. this is the present scenario of Indian comics.
Now let us go back to a few years back in the past-
The 90's are considered to be the golden age of Indiancomics by readers when publishers like Raj, ACK, Manoj,Tulsi, Nutan and many others were ruling the indian comic market. They used to sell around 50,000 - 100000 copies in a month.
and every new issue seemed to be a masterpiece to be collected by the fans.
but as the decade came to an end, new ways of entertainment, which were technologically advanced knocked the lives of young ones who were not as keen as their elders to read comics. They were too lazy to work their mind on reading.
they would rather watch cartoon shows on tv and play video games or listen to music.
the situations changed drastically and about all the major and minor publishing houses lost their readers immediately. They could not make new readers and old one were not sufficient to keep them running. Thus, this resulted in a sudden closedown of 90% of the publishers among which were popular names like Manoj comics and tulsi comics.
Only Raj comics and Amar chitra katha and a few more survived those years somehow
Raj comics and AMAR CHITRA KATHA found their own ways out to survive in this age of technology. Amar chitra katha converted their comics and E format first. Then it brought out DVDs of its popular mythological characters.
Raj comics brought out issues which were masterpieces. They gave best stories and artwork of those days in India. They even produced a three episode serial on their Flagship character Nagraj and made an animated movie on him.
Later they launched their own website and E-store which allowed fans to connect with the creatives thus re-uniting the readers also. they started selling their books online and they have shown a great development in their services thus increasing their readership.
In the past few years, social media such as facebook and twitter had played a very crucial role in promotions of comic books. fans now connect and help each other through facebook. they even gift each other on their birthdays.
When Raj and other survivors were reviving slowly, Indiancomics industry sawmany new independent publishers sprouting out with new age content. They had experimentak stories, mostly based on indian mythology and they got a very impressive respinse from readers.
VIMANIKA COMICS, HOLY COW ENTERTAINMENT, ORANGE RADIUS, CHARIOT COMICS, YALI DREAM CREATIONS, AAYUMI PRODUCTIONS, ARKIN COMICS, ROVOLT ENTERTAINMENT, META DESI COMICS, FENIL COMICS, SPEECHBUBBLE ENTERTAINMENT, LEVEL TEN COMICS and GRAVITY COMICS are the names of publishers which came up with most exciting and ppromising contents.
Most of them have found a huge base of readers and are now stepping towards huge success in and across India.
COMICS CON INDIA is giving a boost to independent publishers, where they can showcase their books and make humongous sales. Its likely that indian comics market will touch the heights of its past very soon.
(will come up with the next past soon where i will tell about the popular characters and series of comics which have made a huge fan base in short time)