At the second edition of Comic Con India in Delhi,a host of new publication houses jostled with the popular ones for readers attention Over the uncharacteristically clement weekend,Dilli Haat saw a lot of unusual visitors. Supandi,Shambu and other doyens of the Indian comic universe mingled with Jedi knights,manga Samurais and the Avengers. Dressed up as their favourite comic characters,fans strolled around in packs,to much gawking and clicking with camera phones. Publication houses such as Diamond Comics,Marvel and Random House enjoyed a large amount of traffic at their stalls. But amidst the comic worlds glitterati,there were several smaller stalls fighting for their share of attention. The second edition of Comic Con India saw quite a few players emerge and try to break into the big,bad world of comic publication,pinning their hopes on quirky storylines and unusual characters. One such group is Untitled Creations. A collaborative effort of Aakshat Sinha,Bhanu Pratap and Anupam Arunachlam,Untitled released two comics at this years convention: 40 Winks and Munkey Thugs. While the former is a supernatural thriller,the latter is an urban adventure. At last years convention,the trio had launched Damned Book,an anthology of noir stories targeting a more mature audience,which was their first informal collaboration. With Untitled Creations,the young team is hoping to attract a dedicated readership,as well as more collaborators. While the comics are written by Arunachlam and drawn by Pratap,Sinha acts as the publisher. According to Sinha,Indian audiences arent that mature when it comes to comic books. They prefer to stick to old characters such as Chacha Chaudhary and Superman. Our work is much darker but were determined to break the stereotype. Meanwhile,Rovolt Entertainment is looking to tap into a more universal market. They have comics for children of all age-groups - from pre-schoolers to teenagers. In the kids category,the group has Tiggu the Tiger,an interactive book,which toddlers can read as well as draw in. Ashutosh Joshi,senior production manager of Rovolt,said,The company is also planning to launch Tiggu applications for Android and Apple Tablets and phones. For older readers,we have three titles: Aveon 9,Aren and Metafreakz. They are basically in the adventure and super-hero genre. Besides,there were other new comic houses such as Chariot Comics,Cyberwit.net and Ashee Media. (With inputs from Pallavi Pundir)
