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Big bad comic world

Gone are the days when comics meant Tinkle and Amar Chitra Katha. Teens and adults today are hooked to a darker, newer and more graphic genre, says RAKESH MEHAR

AGELESS APPEAL Comics are popular among people, young or old PHOTO: BHAGYA PRAKASH K.

"... And when his eyes go dead, the hell I send him to will seem like heaven after what I've done to him."

Lines like this from what fans call a faithful movie version of the cult graphic novel series Sin City wouldn't appear in any edition of Tinkle comics. If they did, Uncle Pai would probably have a shock, and all the Amar Chitra Katha mothers would take to the streets in protest.

Increasingly, however, lines like this aren't being written for children. As Yahya Sait, who runs a bookstore, says, "Kids rarely buy comics today, and even if they do, it's Tinkle or Amar Chitra Katha. The rest are read by teenagers and adults, even people as old as 35 or 40."

Unlike in the past, there exists no concept of outgrowing comic books for a significant section of adults. The only change comes in the kind of comic books they purchase and the reasons.

Satyajit Chetri, a comic book connoisseur, says there are primarily three kinds of adult comic book readers. The first, and what most people believe to be the only kind, are the nostalgia-driven readers. "These are the ones paying Rs. 20 for the old Indrajal comics." Then there's the art crowd, consisting of advertising or mass media professionals who are in it for the artwork or imagery. "The third kind is the `hardcore' comic fan, who knows the difference between a Grant Morrison story and a Chuck Austen title."

Whatever their reasons for buying, one of the differences between comic book fans of the 1980s and early 1990s and those of the present is a high level of exposure. As awareness has grown, comic book fans are treating this genre with the same kind of analytical eye that other literature is subjected to. Although most comic book readers still stick to superheroes, there is a growing number that is moving to radically new storylines and art forms.

Movie vs. book

Vertigo, DC Comics' sub-company that creates graphic novels for adults, is gaining ground with publications such as V For Vendetta and John Constantine: Hellblazer. So too are smaller "Indie" publishers like Dark Horse who publish series such as Star Wars and Frank Miller's Sin City titles, says Satyajit.

If you've had a pulse on Hollywood, you're likely to find many of the names similar, and are probably wondering if Hollywood has propelled this genre forward. Ganesh Natarajan, another fan of comic books, admits that films bring some publicity to comics, but argues that this doesn't translate into sales. "Even though the Spiderman movies were wildly successful, I'm not sure if more people bought Spiderman titles in India," he says. Excellent testaments to this come in the form of films like Constantine and V For Vendetta that fans say aren't a patch on the original graphic novels.

One of the biggest pushes for comic books has come from a venture by Gotham Comics, which sells reprinted editions of the U.S. originals at throwaway prices. Ganesh, for instance, got into comics with the reprints of a famous Batman series called Hush, which he bought at Rs. 10 per issue. The "super specials" offer an even better bargain, with a pricing at around Rs. 90 as against the $10 to $15 that the originals cost. And these low-cost editions make more sense for retailers because they have no real expiry date, unlike most other periodicals, explains a manager at Landmark.

For the true comic book lover, though, contentment doesn't come with cheap reprints or even commonly found original prints. Comic book collecting is where the excitement lies. The first edition of a superhero's appearance would normally sell for a few thousand dollars, while the average price of many "original art" pages is around $8,000 to $10,000, says Ganesh.

In all this, points out Satyajit, the internet has taken over from the grim reaper as the great leveller. "If you have money and a bit of passion, eBay is just a click away." Satyajit has himself purchased works of noted artists like Phil Hester, Steve Bissette, and Frank Quitely and plans to buy much more. Anant Jain, a software developer, has friends who go to the extent of buying Belgian comics written in French simply because they love the artwork so much.

Leaf through the latest issue of Heavy Metal, and you cannot help but appreciate the gravity of the graphic novel, and the maturity of content and form it has acquired over the years. The comic book might have begun as bunches of hilarious caricatures, but it's not funny business anymore.

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