 "Opening doors to Comic Con India- Delhi chapter gets bigger, better")
Comic Cons all over the world have become a rage that can be termed as the one of the most happening and colourful event. It has a fusion of all kinds of comics from all over the world, graphic novels, action figures, merchandise, Cosplays, gaming, comic writers, artists and illustrators. After stupendous success over the past three years, the fourth edition of Comic Con India is back to enthrall lovers of illustrations, speech bubbles and superheroes.
The three-day exclusive event, from February 7 to February 9, promises to be of a larger scale than ever before with stalwarts from the comic industry from India and all over the world. From the big and famous comic writers such as Mark Waid of Captain America fame, to David Lloyd knows for illustrating V for Vendetta, to Pran Chowdhury of the popular and indigenous comic brand of Chacha Chowdhury, the whole fantasy world would be under one roof for its fans and followers.
This year the razzmatazz about Comic Con has grown as various foreign comic publishers and distributors are gradually discovering an emerging market in India. The event would exhibit comic books and graphic novels in more than 100 stalls by Indian publishers including Amar Chitra Katha, Orange Radius, Abhijeet Kini, Pop Culture Publishing, Random House, Campfire Graphic Novel, Holy Cow Entertainment, HarperCollins Publishers,Vimanika Comics, iComics, Manta Ray Comics, DC, Vertigo & Kodansha Comics By Random House India, Viz Media by Simon & Schuster India, Blaft Publications, Chariot Comics, Scholastic India, Meta Desi Comics and many more. There would be plenty of foreign players too, such as British publisher 2000AD of the Judge Dredd series; Toynk.com; Marvel & Image Comics By Diamond Book Distributors; Cyanide & Happiness; Knockabout; Fanfare; Comixology, and many more, enough to make comic fans loosen their pursestrings for fantastic international content.
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Ku-Yuo Liang, Vice-President, Diamond Book Distributors, told Business Standard, “There is a growing but volatile market in India for comics, as there hardly any comic bookstores for exclusive sales. Yet at events like this, we look forward to attract more and more towards this industry. The scope is huge. We are bringing comics and toys of all over the world, like Japanese action figures and dolls, and many more superhero merchandise and books. Hopefully in the future, we can take things from India and market them abroad. I am a big fan of Indian mythological heroes, like Rama and Krishna. It could be a wonderful global fushion.”
Not just comics and merchandise, Indian graphic novel industry is also trying to hog some lightlight with the launch of “World War One: 1914-1918 The War to End all Wars” and “Magical Animals” by graphic novel publisher Campfire, “In Chakrapur’s clutches” and many more.Girija Jhunjhunwala, director of Campfire said she was looking forward to such a platform that could popularise the graphic novel industry. “ We hope people in India could appreciate the thin line of difference between graphic novel and comics. Our industry helps to illustrate historical events, biographies and classics in an interesting, emotive and appealing way in order to keep the interest levels for reading alive. This is our aim, and this is what we wish to achieve through exhibiting in Comicon.” She also added that market for graphic novel is yet to cover a long distance in terms of appreciating the seriousness of the genre and investing in them.
Comic Con India will also be organising interative sessions and panel discussions with all the big guns of the industry such as Mark Waid, David Lloyd, Gabriel Ba, Fabio Moon and Mohammad Faisal. The idea of Digital Comics would be introduced and mega market of comic merchandise such as t-shirts, mugs, toys, posters etc would be ready to woo the visitors. Jatin Verma, founder, Comic Con India has his fingers crossed over the success of this event. “ The response to this event has grown massively and we are very happy with it. This year we have plenty of activities going on every day, that could keep you busy easily for six hours. The dream is to make this genre part of the popular culture like Bollywood movies and sitcoms. At this point, I can definitely see that happening in the future.”