Comicon India: Live updates

If you are missing on comicon India this weekend… let us bring comicon to you!..

Keep refreshing hourly for comicon updates right here!! Cheers

– We have reached the comicon venue.. stalls are being set up.. people starting to come in.. its an amazing feeling to be a part of India comicon!! Pictures would be following shortly! Stay tuned..

– The day begins with Vimanika inaugrating comic con

-I can see so many stalls , merchandise from Avenger toys , happily unmarried, Buzzinga…..

– Comic Publisher stalls – Diamond , Amar Chitra Katha, Vimanika, Manta ray, Level 10 … so many to explore

– I am missing Raj Comics.. I wanted Nagraj to be here..

-Did an interview with Campfire Editor in Chief – Andrew… Look for it on the blog sometime soon..

– Holy crap.. people are actually dressed in costumes.. i just met two rorscharch’s, Jaffar (Alladin’s villain) and Ichigo (Bleach!).. There was some swordplay involved as well. zanpoktu style… This is getting exciting..

– Workshops happening on the event floor.. Abhijeet Kini on floor right now.. talking about making comics

—– to be updated  as and when we can..

India Ink: What’s cooking in the indian comic scene

-By Manks

Mumbai Convention Watch:

I understand an American wrestler from the famed WWF may be coming to India to launch his comics in the mumbai comicon.  The talks are on !!

I also understand that an editor of a youth magazine in india is also planning to launch a comic there..The comic is in Marathi and in English.

Jump Watch
The brain trust behind the Jump is amongst the final three of “The Pitch” on UTV Bloomberg. The prize is 5 crores (approx 1 million US dollars). Imagine how many comics that could mean.. We are rooting for you to win! Go team Level 10.

Top Cow Pinups

In the last India Ink we showed you a Pin up by Indian artist duo – Abhishek and Shashank for the Top Cow property Witchblade.
I now understand Top Cow has a few more Indian artists lined up for Witchblade annual Pinups. Expect an announcement from Top Cow very soon.

Bahadur Watch
The first Indian Hero Bahadur (created by Aabid Surti) returns to us through online medium.
Click here to learn more about it.

You can visit : http://www.bahadur.in/  to catch the Bahadur saga as it unfolds online

Raj Comics
Raj comics are the lone superhero comics standing from the golden era ( as I call it ) of comics in India.
For this edition, I thought I would showcase some of the powerhouse talent from Raj comics. I cant be blamed for wanting a team up between Marvel and Raj comics now can I ?
Who knows if The 99 can do a crossover with DC Comics characters, Raj comics might yet do it ..

Kobi by Dheeraj Verma

Nagraj by Lalit Kumar Sharma

Nagraj by Hemant Kumar

India Ink – Talking Indian comics

Thanks for a great feedback on the previous article on Indian comic scene…. as promised the beginning of exclusives from the Indian comic scene….

What’s Hot?
In last article we discussed Virgin comics. What we missed out on was that Virgin comics had shut down in 2008 (Thanks to Alok for pointing that out ) and has presently been reformed as Liquid comics with the same management. One of the writers of erstwhile Virgin comics – Shamik Dasgupta (Ramayan 3392 AD/Reloaded, Virulents, Sadhu) – is getting ready to launch his own creator owned series in India.  Here is the Teaser poster for it.

Details on the comic itself are sparse, but insider info is that this type of comic has never been done in India before. I also understand that this is going to be a one off initially, possibly followed by a five issue miniseries and would then become a regular depending on the demand. The best piece of news about this comic is that a twenty-one year old Indian boy has done the art, and it is rumored that this guy is going to surprise a lot of people when the comic comes out! I have had the opportunity to look at a couple of interior pages, and let me tell you they are Fantastic!

Warms my heart to see such bold experimentation being done in India.

This is going to come out by end of December and the publisher is just about getting ready to announce this title. Watch this space for more on this

Comic Convention
Last time we discussed a possibility of a comic convention happening in Mumbai. Well that has just been confirmed. I understand that the organizers are in final discussion with the dean of a reputed college in Mumbai. We may get this event as soon as January! This would be a milestone in Indian comic scene if this happens. I am cheering for this. Hope this is a big success

Comic Watch

Comic to read this month is Jump #5. This is the season finale of the comic anthology produced by Level 10 studios. And let me tell you, the twist at the end of “Rabhas incident” ( one of the series running here) makes this a must buy! This is how comics should be. Kudos for Level 10 for introducing new concepts in Indian market.
I would be doing an in depth comic review of Jump, and tell you why they are so important to the Indian comic scene.

Publisher Watch

Vimanika Comics is going global! They are launching their comic series – Moksha and Kalki at Twelve Gates Art Gallery, Philadelphia, USA. Always good to see Indian comics make a mark outside India. I wish them all the best in their endeavor. Catch the review of their comic Kalki soon on my blog.
For more information you can visit the link. 

This wraps up the quick 10 minute tour of Indian comic industry.I would be very interested in hearing from you all. What are your thoughts about this initiative and if there is anything specific you want to see via this column?