The enthusiasm is spreading, and there’s a growing buzz about the first ever comic convention in India, to be held at Dilli Haat from February 19 to 20.
The organiser, Jatin Varma of Twenty Onwards Media, is happy to see the eagerness among people. He thinks the comic convention will bring people from different places working on the development of comics in India on one platform. He shares, “When we first conceptualised it early last year, it didn’t sound easy. A lot needed to be done for a good execution of an event like this. But now when we look back, it wasn’t that tough. Many people associated with the comics industry joined hands with us almost instantly.”
When Varma says many people, he literary means it. The event will witness the participation of many comic book publishing houses including Vimanika Comics, Amar Chitra Katha, Level 10 and Campfire. Besides, international names like Marvel and DC would be showcasing their new books and a few known publishing houses would be coming with their graphic novels.
The event also has a lot more on offer like workshops on comics with well-known comic artists, panel discussions on various topics including the future of comics in India and screening of the documentary movie Chitrakatha: Indian Comics Beyond Balloons and Panels by independent filmmaker Alok Sharma.
“The movie documents the history of Indian comics from the time of Indrajal Comics to the recent Virgin Comics,” says Sharma, who is a self-proclaimed comics fan, has worked with Disney and has also written and drawn comic books.
While Sharma is happy about such a platform, he also thinks it would have been better had such a thing come up in the 90s. “In the late 80s and early 90s, young India was comics crazy. A convention then would have led the Indian comics industry to more success,” he says, pointing out the fact that other parts of the world are promoting comics in every possible way. “They have TV shows based on comics, movies are being made inspired by comic books, comic writers are also writing scripts. And look where we are. We need to improve a lot on this front,” he remarks.
However, things are not as dark as they look. The convention has given many young creative heads a chance to progress. Freelance writer Akshay Dhar’s first comic book series, Retrograde would be launched at the convention. He is happy that though a bit late, there’s something for people like him who were struggling to find a good platform.