Amar Chitra Kathas

cynic

As someone who has grown up on a heavy dose of Amar Chitra Kathas, Indrajal Comics, Tinkles, and the likes; it is disturbing to see the Indian comic books are practically unavailable now in book stores. We discussed the market for hindi and regional books a few days back. Is there no market for these either? I get that with every other show on TV is a mythological or a historical. But those are skewed versions to put it politely.

Thoughts?

Silent members, please join in with your views.

Mousetrap

Mousetrap 1-5-2018 12:12 PM
I was a huge fan of Target! Yes, Ajit's Funny World made my day. Loved Gardhab Das and Detective M ...

By the way I uploaded a Target issue sometime back. I don't know if it's alright to share links in this forum, but here goes:

http://8ate.blogspot.in/2008/08/ ... 8-annual-issue.html

Meself

jhsurti 29-4-2018 06:29 PM
You are probably right. TV, Internet, Smartphones - Nails in the coffin?

Add to it the kids these days who think comic is so last decade.

Meself

cynic 27-4-2018 11:46 AM
I did read about Liquid comics. That was so disappointing.

Again, I feel it is about marketing. A ...

Also they don't have that kind of money to invest into their work. Graphic Indai was producing the series on Mahabharat on YouTube but they have had to take a back seat as there rarely is enough money to put into it.




It's extremely sad. Their work is brilliant but they don't have the kind of response that would force them to come up with more of their works. Their Baahubali series is working hecabec of backing of Arka Media otherwise even that would have been a dud.




I badly want Devi and Ramayana 3392 A.D.  to be continued again. It was freakin' awesome.

Mousetrap

But they are available in Amazon and Flipkart, right? My thought is that many bookstores and magazine stalls closed down after the arrival of online shopping sites. Landmark stores in Chennai closed soon after Flipkart and amazon gained popularity. Online versions of comics and magazines are also readily available these days and pretty much everyone having a tablet or smartphone.

Comics are a big hit with all age groups - it's difficult to imagine them not having an audience. But I do see your point - when I was a kid, magazine stalls in railway stations as well as secondhand book shops were full of all kinds of comics, especially Chacha Chaudry and Tinkles. Maybe the craze has mellowed down a bit among this generation kids? Or maybe they don't have the time that we did as kids?

cynic

Mousetrap 26-4-2018 05:07 PM
But they are available in Amazon and Flipkart, right? My thought is that many bookstores and magazin ...

Yes they are available online but not much in demand. I was referring to bookstores. You would find the latest pop culture ones there, even marvel comics, but no Amar Chitra Kathas.

Marvel comics are a big hit. And comic cons add to the charm. We all know the popularity of Mangas. Are the Indian ones losing due to insufficient marketing?

As for kids these days, they are quite a busy bunch.

Meself

I think the market for Indian comics have really shrunk. Add to it the fact that Indian comics don't get as much of exposure as their Western counterparts. I mean look at Marvel and DC; they are huge. They own studios and any new drop from them sends people in frenzy. Unfortunately that trend isn't visible here.




There are a few good comic production houses like ACK, Liquid Comics, Holy Cow and Graphic India. Also they boast some big names in the world of graphic designing like Mukesh Singh, who is the only Indian graphic designer to work for DC. The problem is we never had a fanbase for this artistry in India because of which they never got their due or were given patronage. Graphic India had to abandon so many projects just because they never had enough funds and it's painful. Even Liquid Comics had to abandon their Ramayan series because they had no funds or support for it. And it's a shame because the comic series was fantastic.




It's very unfortunate that in a land, that has stories in every nook and corner, doesn't have an appetite for comics which which add to storytelling.

cynic

Meself 27-4-2018 12:39 AM
I think the market for Indian comics have really shrunk. Add to it the fact that Indian comics don't ...

I did read about Liquid comics. That was so disappointing.

Again, I feel it is about marketing. And also about the elitist attitude of readers.

Mousetrap

For some reason, comics and magazines has a very weak market in India. I was associated with a children's magazine some years back and it was slowly but definitely dying. Remember Target magazine that was popular in the 80s and 90s? That flunked too. Chandamama is gone. I wonder how well ACK publishing house is faring currently? Sad.

cynic

Mousetrap 28-4-2018 05:15 PM
For some reason, comics and magazines has a very weak market in India. I was associated with a child ...

I would say television and later internet killed the Indian comics and magazines. Growing up, we had very limited TV shows to watch like Giant Robot. Comics and books were our go to for summer holidays. Kids today have a lot of options.

jhsurti

cynic 29-4-2018 11:59 AM
I would say television and later internet killed the Indian comics and magazines. Growing up, we ha ...

You are probably right. TV, Internet, Smartphones - Nails in the coffin?