Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | Friday Review | Young World | Property Plus | Quest | Folio |

The big bad world of comics

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 these from what fans call a faithful movie version of the cult graphic novel series Sin City certainly 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.

For adults

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 usually Tinkle or Amar Chitra Katha. The rest are read by teenagers and adults, even people who are as old as 35 or 40."

You did read the ages right; 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 these fans purchase and the reasons to do so.

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, usually 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 primary 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 have gone from reading anything they can lay their hands on to 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 away to radically new and different storylines and art forms.

Vertigo, DC Comics' sub-company that creates graphic novels specifically for adults, is gradually gaining ground with fans 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 the Hollywood film scene, you're likely to find many of the names similar, and are probably wondering if Hollywood, with its ingenious ability to pervade our consciousness has propelled this genre forward. Ganesh Natarajan, another fan of comic books, admits that films do bring some amount of publicity to comics, but argues that this doesn't necessarily 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. Satyajit has a firmer stand on Hollywood movies.

"There are not many Hollywood movies that can take an adult theme and make something believable out of it, primarily because censorship crimps storytellers, and certain topics just do not `sell'." 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. And these low-cost editions make more sense for retailers because they have no real expiry date, 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 really 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, and the number of comics and comic memorabilia on sale at a given point of time would seduce even a hardened miser."

The comic book might have begun as bunches of hilarious caricatures, but it's not funny business anymore.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail