SpeechBubble Entertainment, an independent Indian publishing house, has produced some ground-breaking work in the graphic novel medium. The latest addition to its cart is Taranath Tantrik (TnT) and City of Sorrows#3. It is a series on a city-based tantrik-detective. The story line is a horror-mystery which unfolds in the metro rail of Kolkata with a flashback political backdrop of 1970s; where the passengers get a text message, after which they turn into ghouls.
“Sreepriya and I were in discussion with Shamik Dasgupta, who is the writer of TnT in a coffee shop and were brainstorming ideas. It was then proposed by Shamik and later endorsed by Sreepriya and me to pursue a plot which would weave both horror and mystery. Hence the name of an age old character by Bibhuti Bhushan Bandopadhyay of Pather panchali fame popped up. The story is completely new, it’s our tribute to Mr Bandopadhyay,” reveals SpeechBubble Entertainment, co-founder Joy to AnimationXpress.com.
TnT Volume 1 will be released in four parts (City of Sorrows part 1-4) each of 30 odd pages and will be priced at Rs 140 each. It’s a team effort of many artists like Shamik Dasgupta (writer), Tamal Saha (illustrator), Tazeen, Sumit Kumar, Abhishek Singh, Bikash Satpathy and Viswa Manokaran.
Currently their target audience is 15+ and they market their venture via social media and comic cons. Joy explains: “Next up is the Kolkata International Book-fare. The response has been tremendous at the Bangalore and Mumbai Comic Cons. We have sold over 500 copies with zero marketing. Our comic books have been adjudged as the best release, scoring top points by – Bleeding Cool (comic website). Few fans also came dressed as the TnT character in the Mumbai comic con which speaks volumes about the book. Global distribution is something we have planned for 2016.”
The founder directors are funding all their titles at the moment and are in talks to expand. The comics are available at Raj Comics, Doordeals and Flipkart. The books are accessible in print format and will also go digital by mid 2015.
Right now the team is focusing on TnT and another graphic novel called Kolkata Kaleidoscope by Harsho Mohan Chattoraj, which is a fresh take on a city via the graphic novel medium. This novel will also be released during the Kolkata book fare.
“We have plans for an international project with a team in London which we shall be disclosing at a later date this year. This business can’t generate millions overnight, but takes time to build and the characters evolve,” ends Joy.