Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to DeSi Comics (DeSi - DC, geddit?), a blog dedicated to analyzing and critiquing Indian Comics and giving them the academic attention that has been denied to them for way too long.
India has had a vibrant community for comics for over 25 years now but it has never been recognized by the mainstream as a form of literature. It has been viewed, and often dismissed, as intended for kids. In the recent years, due to the advent of internet and increasing popularity of superheroes in Hollywood, there has been some upward swing but the Indian comics community still remains restricted to a small number of extremely dedicated fans.
This blog is dedicated to analyzing the themes, motifs and symbolisms that are common place in Indian comics and their implied meanings. However, a lot of this blog will deal with characters from the Raj Comics universe as it has the biggest roster of characters hands down and the characters have had long enough runs in print for their personalities and ideologies to have surfaced unambiguously. Other characters like Diamond's Dynamite and Agniputra will be dealt with later on but they have not enjoyed anywhere near as much popularity as Nagraj and Super Commando Dhruv. Moreover, the number of issues printed for these characters is no where near the RC bibliography and so clearly less can be said about them.
Now, as it is with every form of literature, we need to divide the comics' history into some rough time frames to recognize the themes. I choose to divide the Indian Comics Industry intro 3 stages, The Silver Age (1985-1991), The Golden Age (1992-2002) and The Contemporary (2002-). These ages are separated not just by their styles of arts but also the stories that are featured in these comics and the themes and motifs explored therein. I, as a reader and critic, am a bit partial to the character Super Commando Dhruv so I would be drawing upon examples more often from his comics however for other themes I will draw upon from other characters as well, especially for ideas about morality and law and justice from Doga and nationalism from Tiranga.
We will also try to contextualize some other secondary ideas and situations that often creep up in these comics. Some of the things said therein would not be the most politically correct things to say in the present day and age but we need to understand the climate of the country, both culturally and politically to understand the significance of these dialogues. For example, Pakistan featured as an antagonist in many of the comics of the 90s and the early 2000s and had character portrayals that may be deemed offensive in today's socio-political climate. We will be talking about these phenomena at length as well.
Lastly, I would like to invite the readers to engage in civil, informative discussions over the ideas presented over the course of this blog, which is after all, the main aim of this blog in the first place, to promote and cultivate the academic attention the comic culture in India deserves. All of this said and done, let's begin! Hope you have fun!
India has had a vibrant community for comics for over 25 years now but it has never been recognized by the mainstream as a form of literature. It has been viewed, and often dismissed, as intended for kids. In the recent years, due to the advent of internet and increasing popularity of superheroes in Hollywood, there has been some upward swing but the Indian comics community still remains restricted to a small number of extremely dedicated fans.
This blog is dedicated to analyzing the themes, motifs and symbolisms that are common place in Indian comics and their implied meanings. However, a lot of this blog will deal with characters from the Raj Comics universe as it has the biggest roster of characters hands down and the characters have had long enough runs in print for their personalities and ideologies to have surfaced unambiguously. Other characters like Diamond's Dynamite and Agniputra will be dealt with later on but they have not enjoyed anywhere near as much popularity as Nagraj and Super Commando Dhruv. Moreover, the number of issues printed for these characters is no where near the RC bibliography and so clearly less can be said about them.
Now, as it is with every form of literature, we need to divide the comics' history into some rough time frames to recognize the themes. I choose to divide the Indian Comics Industry intro 3 stages, The Silver Age (1985-1991), The Golden Age (1992-2002) and The Contemporary (2002-). These ages are separated not just by their styles of arts but also the stories that are featured in these comics and the themes and motifs explored therein. I, as a reader and critic, am a bit partial to the character Super Commando Dhruv so I would be drawing upon examples more often from his comics however for other themes I will draw upon from other characters as well, especially for ideas about morality and law and justice from Doga and nationalism from Tiranga.
We will also try to contextualize some other secondary ideas and situations that often creep up in these comics. Some of the things said therein would not be the most politically correct things to say in the present day and age but we need to understand the climate of the country, both culturally and politically to understand the significance of these dialogues. For example, Pakistan featured as an antagonist in many of the comics of the 90s and the early 2000s and had character portrayals that may be deemed offensive in today's socio-political climate. We will be talking about these phenomena at length as well.
Lastly, I would like to invite the readers to engage in civil, informative discussions over the ideas presented over the course of this blog, which is after all, the main aim of this blog in the first place, to promote and cultivate the academic attention the comic culture in India deserves. All of this said and done, let's begin! Hope you have fun!
A commendable effort indeed. Congratulations.
ReplyDeleteI too wish that the Indian Comicbook medium (Hindi, mostly) is recognized as a form of literature. It may not be compared to Premchand or his likes, but it must be given its due. Afterall, it was the single most important thing that caotured the imagination of every child growing up in the 90s.
But Siddhant, you missed out Manoj Comics which was, in its peak days, neck to neck with RC in terms of popularity.
I agree I have missed out some important publications.. I will get to them in due course of time.. I have not read too many titles published by Manoj Comics to be honest and as a result my knowledge is the most extensive in RC... However, I intend to take care of that soon and I will research thoroughly before talking about those publication houses... Thanks a lot for your kind words... :)
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