The sun may have set on the Mumbai Comic Con 2017, but it’s still hard to shake off the euphoria that engulfed it. India’s comics community along with international comics artists and publishers were present in the festival dedicated to comics lovers. As they all said, it was the best place for not only showcasing their latest comics but also interacting with fans.
Animation Xpress caught up with several comic artists present at the venue, who talk about their publications, latest releases and of course, the comic con.
Vivek Goel (Holy Cow Entertainment founder)
What comics are you launching today?
It’s a duel release for us today. It marks a special occasion as Holy Cow generally doesn’t release more than one book at a time. But today, we are releasing two issues of our best selling titles – Age of Immortals and Caster.
Age of Immortals basically follows the best selling run of Holy Cow which is Aghori. Age of Immortals marks the third story arc. Caster is our first main-stream catholic superhero. Our readers come from all kinds of religions and ethnical diversities and we are trying to create comics for everyone. It is a one-time opportunity for us not to work on something which is very much Hindu to all of us and very mainstream.
Is Comic Con a good platform to launch comics?
I don’t think Comic Con is a good platform to launch comics. Infact, it’s the best possible platform! Because Comic Con aside, we just have the online sale. The Comic Con event brings the customers straight to us, give them discounts and get to know honest feedbacks face to face.
Who are the target audience?
My target audience is mostly teen and adults; people aged between 14 and above. I believe they are like a raw clay; something rigid. It’s better to make them think about things that aren’t appreciated by adults. They are at a pivotal stage and their minds can be remoulded as they are acceptable to changes.
Chariot Comics
What is Chariot Comics about?
Chariot Comics is more of action stuff. We’ve done stories on zombies, super soldiers, on dark magic etc.
How do you go about the marketing of the comics?
We are independent publishers and hence come to Comic Con to publish out books.
Your comic launches for the day?
We are here at the MCC only to sell our books and sketches. We ain’t launching anything today, but we do have something in the pipeline which is for the Delhi Comic Con.
Richie Maheshwari from Simon and Schuster, India
What are your plans for the Mumbai Comic Con?
Our only purpose is just branding and commercialising manga comics so that the end customer comes to know about our work. This is just promotion based.
Sumit Kumar (Bakarmax webcomics founder)
Could you brief our readers about Bakarmax and its creations?
Bakarmax is website dedicated for publishing comics. Although there were a few international websites to publish comics, none were domestic. So I created this so as to publish my work. We release new comics almost every week. Guide to Hipsters, State Bank of Comics are some of the prominent works. They are about day to day life but with a satirical take. The only superhero I’ve done is Daalman, whose only superhero is to convert one version of daal into another!
What’s the story behind Bakarmax?
I believe all this I’ve done is bullsh*t to the maximum extent! Hence the name.
Do you think web comics have a better chance of sales?
Absolutely! Print, these days, is dead. However, if people really love some of the comics, I’d go ahead to print it. The comic Amar Bari Tomar Bari Naxalbari was met with positive response on the web. Hence we went ahead with the print version of the same. So web comics becomes a testing version as such.
Which of your comics have been more popular?
Guide to Hipsters is one of the popular comics. I wrote it after visiting a hipster festival where all the people gathered were tucked away in funky and weird costumes. Then there’s another one on my father who used to work in State Bank of Patiala. Also Vicckkky did well too.
Abhijeet Kini (Abhijeet Kini Merch founder)
What are your launches for the MCC 2017?
“We are launching Rhyme Fighters, a comic humour with a rhythmic twist in an ode to some of the unsung heroes of our daily lives like the Mumbai dabbawallas, the traffic cops, the autorickshaw drivers etc.”
What do you have to say about Animation Xpress?
Animation Xpress have constantly provided us the platform to bring forth our work. It covered my latest publication Rhyme Fighters at it’s official launch too. We are really thankful to them for their constant support and coverage.
Nick Seluk (The Awkward Yeti co-founder)
Could you brief us about your publication ‘The Awkward Yeti’?
The comic is about our everyday decisions, what we do to arrive at those decisions, how does the logic part of our selves interact with our emotional part and how do you arrive at a conclusion. It’s related to something that we do everyday like eating, exercising etc.
When did ‘The Awkward Yeti’ come into being?
The comic has been going on for five years now.
What are your thoughts on the growing popularity of web comics?
Digital comics are really popular. People are liking the fact that the quality is getting better. It’s a very competitive field and difficult to earn a living, yet a pretty good job to do.
What’s your experience at the MCC 2017?
This is my first time at the Mumbai Comic Con and so far it’s been great!
Aishwarya Gupta (Amar Chitra Katha senior marketing manager)
How is Amar Chitra Katha associated with ‘Padmavati’?
Bhansali and his team read our story and liked it. So the concept has been taken from the original story. The comic was originally named as Padmini. But now we are changing it to Padmavati and launching with the 3D version of the comics by the end of this year.
Have you finished with Padmavati comics’ production?
It is currently under production and by it shall be out by 21 November 2017.
Are you launching new comics?
We have a new range of merchandises for the launch. T-shirts, apparels, fridge magnets, posters, mobile wallets etc are some of the merchandises up for sale here.
What’s your most popular character?
The most popular characters would be Suppandi and Shikari Shambhu.
