The second book of records in the world after Guinness Book of World Records, Limca Book of Records (LBR) had launched their 27th (2016) edition during the ’Make in India’ week, (MIIW) 2016. The book has successfully identified people who have the spirit to excel and follow their goal with single-minded passion. And Indian comic publishers have also made their entry in the 27th edition.
Tinkle got enlisted as the ‘First all-comic magazine for children’ whereas Amar Chitra Katha for its Krishna comic has been recorded as the ‘First comic book / series’. Not just the publication, the legendary cartoonist and creator of Chacha Chaudhary – Pran Kumar Sharma has been paid tributes. He passed away on 5 August, 2014. In 1994, he was chosen as one of the People of the Year by Limca Book of Records. LBR has proved that one doesn’t need to be big to get acknowledged by them.
The indie comic publisher AAN Comics has been recognised as the ‘First comic series on War Heroes’. LBR acknowledged AAN Comics for its initiative to create awareness about courage, valour and daring of the unknown brave soldiers and their contribution for the country through illustrated stories.
AAN Comic, founder, Rishi Kumar says, “Getting recognised by the Limca Book of Records was totally unexpected. One of my contacts told me about it and I applied for the records. LBR got back to me asking for details and proofs of my work.” The entire process took about a year and happened over the email and after verifying everything, LBR decided to honour AAN Comics by listing them in the LBR 2016.”
The annual publication that’s been around for 27 years has around 20 chapters that are more or less constant every year. Literature happens to be one of them. That is the chapter that AAN Comics has already been featured in as the ‘First Comic Series on War Heroes’ in the 2016 edition.
To know more about the procedure, we got in touch with Limca Book of Records, senior editor, Arthy Singh who explains, “People usually apply to us throughout the year or we get in touch with them if we come across something that seems to be record-worthy. The cycle for each year is 1 July to 30 June.”
By this, it means that all records that have been attempted from 1 July of any particular year upto 30 June the following year, will be considered for the coming edition of LBR. So for the 2016 edition, all records that were attempted from 1 July, 2014 up to 30 June, 2015 were taken into consideration.
As for the verification, “It goes on through the year. The four in-house editors take the call for 90 per cent of the entries. We do have experts in various fields to help out too.”
Not just the comic publishers and artists, this time a cafe also got listed in the LBR. It’s none other than the Leaping Windows cafe that’s set in Versova, Mumbai. It’s been recognised as the ‘First Comic Book Library’ as it’s not merely a cafe with a full menu, free wi-fi but is also a library with a collection of over 4,000 comic books that can be read by the hour or borrowed through a membership plan which delivers books to your home anywhere in Mumbai.
AAN Comics along with Amar Chitra Katha, Tinkle and Leaping Windows getting listed in the Limca Book of Records is heartwarming to observe the indie comic space getting recognition. This would help the india space to grow and reach out to the masses at a faster pace.
It would be interesting to see who gets listed in next year’s Limca Book of Records, so if you think your work can make it to the LBR list, go ahead and apply soon.
