Reading comic books is a pretty much dead trend nowadays in
India. The number of people who read comics today is quite miniscule to the number
that used to exist about twenty years back. Our entire childhood and early
teens went away in the pursuit of collecting as many of the best comic book
titles that were available back then.
Comic book reading as a hobby thrived throughout the 90s
decade and died a slow but gradual death in the 2000s with the advent of
internet and wider medium of entertainments along with it. In the last one
decade, I have not come across one child who reads comic books. The few ones
who do only do so because they happen to have a few stray copies in their
possession or they came across older issues that were preserved by their
parents or older siblings. But in my opinion, active comic book reading as a
hobby has pretty much died out in India. Comic book reading exists today among
a small group of enthusiasts throughout the country. Most of these readers are
familiar with American titles from publishers such as DC and Marvel. The yearly
holding of Comic Cons in various metropolitan cities does help keep the spark
alive. But it is no longer the rage it used to be.
Most of the classic comic book characters have died out from
public memory and the newer generation is pretty much unaware of them.
Characters like Phantom, Mandrake, Flash Gordon, Garth, Rip Kirby, etc used to
be widely popular among the masses during the 70s and 80s due to the
publications of the legendary Indrajal Comics. Once that brand died out in
1990, these characters faded away. Diamond Comics continues publishing Phantom
and Mandrake issues during the 90s, but the others just vanished after that.
Along with these, the advent of the 90s saw the death of certain comic book
characters that were indigenous to our country. Two of the most popular
characters in this category are Inspector Vikram and Bahadur. While the
inspector’s adventures centred on combating dacoits in the notorious Chambal
valley, Bahadur too battled dacoits and other forms of organised crime as well.
It is safe to assume that because of the existence of these characters, we saw
the emergence of more popular comic book heroes such as Nagraj, Doga and even
Chacha Chaudhary in the 90s.
While characters from DC and Marvel may be the favourites
during the 90s and today as well thanks to Hollywood’s current infatuation with
them, back in the 70s and 80s, most of the Indian youth rocked to the
adventures of the Indrajal heroes. These comics were the first foreign origin
ones to be translated into vernacular languages such as Hindi, Bengali, etc.
While famous cartoon characters like Tintin and Asterix also got translated
into vernaculars around the same time, they never reached out to the mass
readers the way the Indrajal heroes did. Their reach extended to far flung
areas of the country and influenced youngsters into being a part of the greater
pop culture that Indian youth was experiencing back then. In several areas of
the northeast, Indrajal Comics sold like hot cakes upon their arrival. The
English, Hindi and Bengali versions were big hits in the towns of Assam and
most of the older generations who grew up in the 70s or 80s identify solidly
with Phantom just as 90s and today’s youngsters identify with characters like
Batman or Superman.
The effect of these comics in remote areas such as northeast
was immense. Back in the 70s and 80s, communication was quite backward in most
of the region. TV had not yet made a dent into the homes here and radio was
widely popular but lacked in the visual medium. These comics became the source
of entertainment for millions of youngsters who sought adventure and icons
among characters such as Phantom and Mandrake. When I browse through the old
issues of these comics, I find that there are several instances where letters
of fans from states such as Assam, Manipur and Mizoram appear in the ‘letters
to editor’ sections. This clearly shows the wide reach these comics did in even
remote areas of the country. Sadly, this open indulgence of fans from India’s
remote northeast quite vanished once Indrajal shut down shop in 1990.
These comics also began the trend of introducing their
heroes in vernacular languages. The one character that benefitted the most from
this translation game was Phantom, who became famous in most households as ‘Betaal.’
Most of the non-English reading masses made Betaal a cult figure that many of
the older generations still remember. In the 90s, Diamond Comics translated
most of the Phantom and Mandrake issues into vernaculars. Thankfully, Assamese
made it to the list as well and we no longer had to do with the Bengali comics
any more.
The comic trend that was kicked off by Indrajal in the 70s
and 80s was picked up by other publishers such as Manoj Comics, Kiran Comics
and most notably, Amar Chitra Katha, which reintroduced Indians to Hindu
mythology and Indian history in illustrated comic format like never before. The
AMC’s Tinkle comic book magazine was an absolute rage during the decade of 90s
and it was a weekly affair for every child to covet the latest edition of the
magazine.
The 90s saw the rise of the Indian superheroes with the
advent of Raj Comics in the late 80s. Their characters such as Nagraj, Super
Commando Dhruv, Doga and Tiranga ruled the roost in the 90s among Indian comic
book fans. While there is no denying that most of these characters were just
rip offs of some of the world renowned superheroes from the DC and Marvel
comics, Indian comic book fans finally got a range of home bred superheroes. The
Indian comic book superhero reached a stage of maturity where writers and
illustrators did not shy away from showing matured content and complex storylines in their issues.
Diamond Comics also sparkled the 90s era with beloved comic
characters such as Chacha Chaudhary, Sabu, Billoo, Pinky, Raman, etc. They also
had their own range of superheroes such as Fauladi Singh, Agniputra-Abhay and
Tauji. The brand became the only source for the older generations from the 70s
and 80s to read Phantom and Mandrake comics in the 90s after the demise of Indrajal.
The deep rooting of TV throughout India during the early 90s
and also the coming of cable TV brought Indians into newer avenues of
entertainment. Children were exposed to various cartoons from foreign shores
and also foreign comic brands like DC and Marvel began to aggressively push
sales in a vast country like India. The onslaught of this foreign assault was
too much to be borne by our Indian comic book publishers. The new millennium saw
a spark in the sale of foreign comic books in comparison to the Indian ones.
Characters like Batman, Superman and Spider-Man took centre stage among Indian
comic readers rather than the home bred ones. Somehow I feel Indian comic book makers
could not reinvent themselves to the needs of the changing times that the new millennium
brought in with it.
While Raj Comics and Diamond Comics still continue to
publish their titles, they are no longer the rage today anymore among the
youngsters. Sadly, the comic book reading culture among young Indians has died
out today after the advent of internet and various options available in the
visual medium. Comic book reading is an almost dead hobby in India today, much
like stamp collecting. Though a sizeable number of comic book readers still
exist, they are nothing compared to the huge numbers that once existed
throughout the country about twenty years ago.
Comic book reading culture saw a rising phase throughout the
70s and 80s and reached its golden climactic era in the 90s. The comic books we
see today are but remnants of that bygone era that we have lived as children during
the 90s. It is rather difficult for me to explain to today’s youngsters how
important characters like Phantom and Mandrake mattered to young Indians once.
Or how cool it was to own comic book issues of Indian superheroes such as
Nagraj and Doga.
Today’s youngsters mostly call themselves fans of characters
like Batman and Superman only after watching the movies or going through their
animated series on the TV or internet. But most of them have sadly missed out
the larger fun of picking up their comics and discovering them panel by panel
in an illustrated comic book format.
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