During the visit, I decided to also explore the culture of Manga comics. I found a few in English and started reading them. The stories were amazingly engrossing. Thedrawings are black and white line art, and some of the comic books are also quite edgy.
Seeing the craze for Manga made me think about Comics in India. I, like many others, grew up on a regular dose of comics. It started with Amar Chitra Katha – buying their new comic every two weeks as soon as it was published. Then, when I was old enough to make my own buying decisions, I ‘graduated’ to Phantom, Dennis, Mandrake, Bahadur (remember Indrajal Comics?), and the like. I also remember reading a lot of the Commando comics (stories from the World Wars). Most of these comics were rented from a nearby library. I later explored Tintin and Asterix, but never quite got into them.
Somewhere, through the years, the craze for comics in India has reduced. I hope that changes. Perhaps, if we can simplify the drawing to a variation of the Manga style (eliminating the need for colouring), we can open up new markets within India.
