It has been brought to my attention that various blogs with "Desi" in their title exist already and it leads to confusion amongst the readers just discovering the blog. Moreover, the title itself was very ambiguous and did not tell the reader what the blog is actually about. Considering all this, I have decided to rename the blog to "Indian Comics' Criticisms" as it conveys the objective and purpose of the blog unambiguously. Sometimes, a clear meaning has more impact than a clever pun, I guess.
Thursday, June 11, 2015
Morality in Indian Comics
Morality has always been an important theme in literature, and this trend has continued itself into comics and graphic novels significantly. Starting from the clear distinctions between good and evil, many comics have also dealt with extremely delicate and nuanced issues like Power, Immortality, Desire etc. My favorite so far has been Alan Moore's works. "Watchmen" explores the ideas about how much power is a man justified in possessing (Dr. Manhattan is practically a God), how culling of human race is justified if it protects it from pushing its own self to extinction and so on and so forth. His graphic novel, "V for Vendetta", deals with Liberty, Freedom and Dictatorship along with ideas of terrorism and free will. As you can see, comics have clearly transcended their early roles as kid-friendly, trite fiction and have taken on the mantle of a genre with literary merit.
Indian Comics however, have been slow to jump on the bandwagon. Morality is one of the most under-utilized themes in India. In most comics, ranging across all the time-periods (the Golden, Silver and Contemporary ages) and publication houses, morality has remained practically black and white with the Villains clearly evil and the Heroes irreproachably good. This is in stark contrast with the American comics where even Superman, the poster boy for hope and virtue, isn't beyond reproach. Many story-lines have questioned how much power is justified in the hands of one person. The "Injustice : Gods Among Us" straight up paints him as a villain as he uses his near limit-less power to turn the Earth into more or less a police state by incarcerating or killing every villain. In the Marvel cross-over series, "Civil War" something similar happens as both warring factions, led by Iron Man and Captain America respectively, have justified motivations and arguments and there is no objective good or bad side and the reader is free to choose a faction that appeals to him to support without feeling any guilt for supporting the bad guys. No such comics have ever been published in India though. Comic Firms have sometimes pit its heroes against one another but there has never been any real conflict between them and more often than not, it has been a weak excuse to increase sales of cross-over issues. For example, Dhruv has an extremely strict no-killing policy while Doga executes crminals by the dozen in every issue and yet the two of them have never really clashed upon their ideological and operational differences beyond a cursory verbal acknowledgement of the fact.
Another important thing that we should address here is the flexibility of morality in Indian Comics. Morality isn't absolute across any comic Universe in India, with different characters having different morals that is held absolute in the universe of that particular character. This might seem like a good thing at the first glance as it reinstates our faith in the fact that the characters have their own personalities but it is not so much when you consider that the moralities are absolute in their respective universe. This does away with any possible ambiguity that can be utilized to write compelling story-lines. For example, in titles like Doga, Aatank Harta Nagraj, Dynamite (Diamond Comics) etc., killing villains isn't much of a big deal and the readers support the actions of these heroes simply because it is loud and clear by the tone of these comics that this is the only way to go about it. However, in titles like Dhruv and many others (across publication houses), killing is seen as morally wrong and the readers again support incarceration and legal punishment as the way to deal with criminals without a doubt. As a result what we get is a character universe which may have some brilliant questions to raise about morality but the questions are stifled as the morality in that particular universe is assumed as an objective truth, beyond any challenge.
Indian Comics however, have been slow to jump on the bandwagon. Morality is one of the most under-utilized themes in India. In most comics, ranging across all the time-periods (the Golden, Silver and Contemporary ages) and publication houses, morality has remained practically black and white with the Villains clearly evil and the Heroes irreproachably good. This is in stark contrast with the American comics where even Superman, the poster boy for hope and virtue, isn't beyond reproach. Many story-lines have questioned how much power is justified in the hands of one person. The "Injustice : Gods Among Us" straight up paints him as a villain as he uses his near limit-less power to turn the Earth into more or less a police state by incarcerating or killing every villain. In the Marvel cross-over series, "Civil War" something similar happens as both warring factions, led by Iron Man and Captain America respectively, have justified motivations and arguments and there is no objective good or bad side and the reader is free to choose a faction that appeals to him to support without feeling any guilt for supporting the bad guys. No such comics have ever been published in India though. Comic Firms have sometimes pit its heroes against one another but there has never been any real conflict between them and more often than not, it has been a weak excuse to increase sales of cross-over issues. For example, Dhruv has an extremely strict no-killing policy while Doga executes crminals by the dozen in every issue and yet the two of them have never really clashed upon their ideological and operational differences beyond a cursory verbal acknowledgement of the fact.
Another important thing that we should address here is the flexibility of morality in Indian Comics. Morality isn't absolute across any comic Universe in India, with different characters having different morals that is held absolute in the universe of that particular character. This might seem like a good thing at the first glance as it reinstates our faith in the fact that the characters have their own personalities but it is not so much when you consider that the moralities are absolute in their respective universe. This does away with any possible ambiguity that can be utilized to write compelling story-lines. For example, in titles like Doga, Aatank Harta Nagraj, Dynamite (Diamond Comics) etc., killing villains isn't much of a big deal and the readers support the actions of these heroes simply because it is loud and clear by the tone of these comics that this is the only way to go about it. However, in titles like Dhruv and many others (across publication houses), killing is seen as morally wrong and the readers again support incarceration and legal punishment as the way to deal with criminals without a doubt. As a result what we get is a character universe which may have some brilliant questions to raise about morality but the questions are stifled as the morality in that particular universe is assumed as an objective truth, beyond any challenge.
This trend needs to stop if comics have to gain acceptance as a form of literature with literary merit. Not questioning the morality of the actions of both the heroes as well as the villains (something I talked about in a previous post "Crime in Indian Comics") leads to flat story-lines and non-compelling characters. There has been an upward swing in the recent years but the progress has been far too slow. Writers like Abhishek Sagar ("Axe", "Alter Ego", "Genius" - Raj Comics) and Shamik Dasgupta ("Daksha" - Level 10) have incorporated characters into their stories which are grey and have justifiable and almost virtuous motivations but questionable actions which engages the reader without being pedantic or patronizing. The new generation of writers have shown promise in creating engaging story-lines with grey areas of morality but it is time that the trend takes an upwards swing or quick considering the Internet has introduced fans to work from all over the world and their tastes are swiftly becoming more demanding. With the meteoric rise of Marvel Studios, comics are experiencing a resurgence in popularity in the mainstream and this the perfect time for comics to make a mark for themselves in the mainstream. This can, however, happen only the quality of the comics in India can give competition to the more established titles, something I believe can happen. The Indian comic community has a lot of talent and potential, what it lacks is a tendency to take risks and monetary returns. I will deal with these problems in some later post. But for now, it is my highest recommendation that writers step out of the crib and create stories that not only entertain the reader but also force him to contemplate and maybe, even confuse him about what he/she knew to be true for a fact.
Sunday, June 7, 2015
Nature of Crimes in Indian Comics
Crime, due to the nature of the genre of Superhero comics, has always been one of the defining and most prominent themes of comics. Some of the most loved characters in comic books are villains and anti-heroes, a trend which is observable even in Indian comics to some extent (Doga, one of the most identifiable character in Indian Comics). Joker, the arch-enemy of Batman, is one of the most iconic and recognizable characters across all mediums and formats. The buck however does not stop there as there are a whole lot of other characters that are memorable and loved inspite of being the bad guys in a format of story-telling primarily aimed at catering to kids.
It is a clear trend in comics in the western hemisphere that the villains are usually grey characters instead of black. Joker's origin story included him being disfigured and rendered insane after falling into a vat of toxic chemicals the same day his wife died. Dr. Freeze's crimes are motivated by his quest to revive his wife and find a cure for her illness. Kingpin (Marvel Universe, Spiderman / Daredevil), inspite of being a crime lord has a soft spot for his wife Vanessa which makes the character a lot more human. The case however is not so ambiguous in Indian comics.
The villains in Indian comics are evil. End of discussion. There is no moral ambiguity, no shades of grey and no motivations beyond money and/or power. Attempts have been made a few times to give justifiable motivations to characters but they are not significant enough to be mentioned and certainly no such villain has come even close to being iconic. Most of the villains aren't even given a proper back-story. Majority of the villains have a life of one or two issues followed by their convenient vanishing or incarceration. Out of all the villains featured in Super Commando Dhruv comics, only Grandmaster Robo has appeared in more than 10 stand-alone issues. Nagraj's villains have a better rate of re-appearances but the motivations there are flimsier than the villains in Dhruv. Nagpasha simply wants the treasure, Nagina wants to rule Nagdweep etc. In the recent years, there have been attempts to retrofit the villains with sympathetic backstories but the efforts have usually fallen flat in the eyes of the general readership, with absolutely no increase in the liking or sympathy towards the character.
It is also noteworthy that the villains in Indian comics, like many of the heroes, have been influenced by the more iconic villains from the USA but their backstories have still been left out. Robo's backstory sounds suspiciously similar to Wilson Fisk's and he is the only character in Dhruv's comics who is even given an origin story. The other major villains like Chumba (Magneto), Bauna Vaman (Toyman) and Dhwani Raj (Banshee) have not even been graced with those. They are evil because they are, end of discussion.
One of the obvious reasons is the same old demographic argument. The comics were written for kids and therefore the villains had to be unambiguously bad for the kids to know who to root for. However, the argument is not so strong when you consider the amount of violence depicted in the comics. People have been literally torn apart, burnt alive, beheaded with wooden swords and much worse in these comics. So obviously the writers had more faith in the wisdom of the kids back then to differentiate between fictional and real violence than they do now.
The primary reason I believe is the lack of characterization. The comics, during their early days, were severely plot driven. Very little time was spent on minor, or even secondary characters as the writers had a lot of ground to cover in the usual 30 odd pages. It is clear in the Golden and Silver Age comics which had exposition, 2-3 fight scenes with minions and then an exciting and drawn out climax with the main villain. With such a packed story-board the writers could not squeeze in musing on the morality of the actions of the villains, it was much easier to allow the villain to simply be bad to save space. This trend has been changed to some extent in the contemporary age, with writers focusing on stories spanning multiple issues, giving them more space to deal with fleshing out of characters but as the influences of the new generation of writers has been the golden and silver age comics, the morally ambiguity is not as pronounced as it has been for many of the iconic characters in the west.
The independent comics scene however, has seen a rising trend in the recent years. For example, "Ravanayan", a graphic novel series published by Holy Cow Entertainment, treats Raavan, the quintessential Indian villain, as the protagonist and focuses on his motivations. There have been other titles too, which focuses on anti-heroes, characters whose actions lie in moral grey area but as they are the protagonists, we, the readers, end up rooting for them anyway. "Odayan" and "Aghori" are relevant to an extent (published by Level 10 comics and Holy Cow Entertainment respectively).
In conclusion, during the Golden and Silver age, the villains were bad without spelling out any reasons whatsoever, do which could have ended up in the reader possibly sympathizing with the villain. carried the risk of the villains being sympathized with. The reason was usually the plot-driven stories and the limited frame space available and to an extent self-righteous censorship by the writers and publishers. The trend however has seen some changes in the recent years, with a rise in negative characters, anti-heroes and morally ambiguous and even likable villains. These comics usually are aimed at teenagers and adults and in the comics aimed at kids, the villains still remain morally and inexplicably bad to this day. But in order for the comics to truly have memorable and iconic characters, a lot more needs to be done in order to make these characters appear humans instead of villains.
It is a clear trend in comics in the western hemisphere that the villains are usually grey characters instead of black. Joker's origin story included him being disfigured and rendered insane after falling into a vat of toxic chemicals the same day his wife died. Dr. Freeze's crimes are motivated by his quest to revive his wife and find a cure for her illness. Kingpin (Marvel Universe, Spiderman / Daredevil), inspite of being a crime lord has a soft spot for his wife Vanessa which makes the character a lot more human. The case however is not so ambiguous in Indian comics.
The villains in Indian comics are evil. End of discussion. There is no moral ambiguity, no shades of grey and no motivations beyond money and/or power. Attempts have been made a few times to give justifiable motivations to characters but they are not significant enough to be mentioned and certainly no such villain has come even close to being iconic. Most of the villains aren't even given a proper back-story. Majority of the villains have a life of one or two issues followed by their convenient vanishing or incarceration. Out of all the villains featured in Super Commando Dhruv comics, only Grandmaster Robo has appeared in more than 10 stand-alone issues. Nagraj's villains have a better rate of re-appearances but the motivations there are flimsier than the villains in Dhruv. Nagpasha simply wants the treasure, Nagina wants to rule Nagdweep etc. In the recent years, there have been attempts to retrofit the villains with sympathetic backstories but the efforts have usually fallen flat in the eyes of the general readership, with absolutely no increase in the liking or sympathy towards the character.
It is also noteworthy that the villains in Indian comics, like many of the heroes, have been influenced by the more iconic villains from the USA but their backstories have still been left out. Robo's backstory sounds suspiciously similar to Wilson Fisk's and he is the only character in Dhruv's comics who is even given an origin story. The other major villains like Chumba (Magneto), Bauna Vaman (Toyman) and Dhwani Raj (Banshee) have not even been graced with those. They are evil because they are, end of discussion.
One of the obvious reasons is the same old demographic argument. The comics were written for kids and therefore the villains had to be unambiguously bad for the kids to know who to root for. However, the argument is not so strong when you consider the amount of violence depicted in the comics. People have been literally torn apart, burnt alive, beheaded with wooden swords and much worse in these comics. So obviously the writers had more faith in the wisdom of the kids back then to differentiate between fictional and real violence than they do now.
The primary reason I believe is the lack of characterization. The comics, during their early days, were severely plot driven. Very little time was spent on minor, or even secondary characters as the writers had a lot of ground to cover in the usual 30 odd pages. It is clear in the Golden and Silver Age comics which had exposition, 2-3 fight scenes with minions and then an exciting and drawn out climax with the main villain. With such a packed story-board the writers could not squeeze in musing on the morality of the actions of the villains, it was much easier to allow the villain to simply be bad to save space. This trend has been changed to some extent in the contemporary age, with writers focusing on stories spanning multiple issues, giving them more space to deal with fleshing out of characters but as the influences of the new generation of writers has been the golden and silver age comics, the morally ambiguity is not as pronounced as it has been for many of the iconic characters in the west.
The independent comics scene however, has seen a rising trend in the recent years. For example, "Ravanayan", a graphic novel series published by Holy Cow Entertainment, treats Raavan, the quintessential Indian villain, as the protagonist and focuses on his motivations. There have been other titles too, which focuses on anti-heroes, characters whose actions lie in moral grey area but as they are the protagonists, we, the readers, end up rooting for them anyway. "Odayan" and "Aghori" are relevant to an extent (published by Level 10 comics and Holy Cow Entertainment respectively).
In conclusion, during the Golden and Silver age, the villains were bad without spelling out any reasons whatsoever, do which could have ended up in the reader possibly sympathizing with the villain. carried the risk of the villains being sympathized with. The reason was usually the plot-driven stories and the limited frame space available and to an extent self-righteous censorship by the writers and publishers. The trend however has seen some changes in the recent years, with a rise in negative characters, anti-heroes and morally ambiguous and even likable villains. These comics usually are aimed at teenagers and adults and in the comics aimed at kids, the villains still remain morally and inexplicably bad to this day. But in order for the comics to truly have memorable and iconic characters, a lot more needs to be done in order to make these characters appear humans instead of villains.
Saturday, May 30, 2015
Nationalism in Indian Comics
Nationalism has always been one of the major themes of the comics published in India throughout all the different phases. One of the major reasons is that the target demographic of the comics was children, usually pre-teens, and so to simplify the motivations of the characters, nationalism became a handy tool. Nationalism could spare the children's impressionable minds of the intricacies of morality and tell them unambiguously who the good guy and bad guys were. Also, publishing houses in their early days, were self-righteous in a way, and believed it to be their moral responsibility to impart good values and morals to children. Of course, on later readings, usually as adults, this leads to a great many number of plot holes and flimsy characterization but it did qualify wonderfully as the simple story-telling that children are attracted to. This has changed however in recent years and we will return to these points in much greater detail later on and possibly in later posts as well.
Even though nationalism has remained a constant theme (Tiranga being a superhero with the Indian National Flag as his costume and general theme and Modus Operandi), the nuances themselves have changed quite often and significantly over the years. Again, I will be focusing my analysis on the characters from Raj Comics publication simply because they have dealt with the issue most extensively and have the most material for me to draw from. I will touch upon other publications too but the basic tone has remained more or less consistent across publishing houses during any given period of time and so I will not address them exhaustively.
During the golden age, when Nagraj had been a newly created character, he was an international crime-fighter who roamed the world fighting terrorism. This was changed later on in the timeline of the character when he settled down in the fictional city of "Mahanagar" (and later brought back in an alternate universe title called "Aatankharta Nagraj"). In these story-lines, Indian nationalism and Identity formed an important part of Nagraj's character. He was hailed within the comics not only as an accomplished crime fighter but also as some sort of a brand ambassador of the values traditionally India stood for. Spirituality was treated as an inherently Indian concept and the stories always had undertones of religion and spirituality with Nagraj chanting "Jai Baba Gorakhnath" (Hail Sage Gorakhnath) almost in every issue, usually before undertaking a fool hardy endeavor. There have been many instances in the comics where Nagraj passed off his virtues as being bequeaths to him by his Indian heritage. Therefore, we can safely conclude that the idea of Indian Nationalism and Identity have been around for a long time in Indian comics.
Next came the Silver age, where the face of Indian nationalism changed slightly. These were troubled times in the country and the Kargil war had fallen right in the middle of the Silver age leading to widespread mistrust and dislike for our neighbors in the North West. As a result we see that on many occasions, Pakistan as well as official Pakistani agencies were cast without any attempts of camouflage whatsoever as the antagonist, usually cruel, barbaric or in the case of comedic titles, inefficient (Fighter Toads' Nayi Dilli).
It was not till the arrival of the contemporary age of Indian comics that names were changed and the antagonists, instead of being countries, again became terrorists and rogue agencies etc. Some of the comics that showcased this more politically correct form of story writing were "Pakistan Zindabad" ("Long Live Pakistan") and the Chumba series featuring Super Commando Dhruv with the neighboring country named "Paastan". The comics went out of their way to insist that no country is inherently bad in itself but it were the bad people in those country that harm all humanity, which was a fitting moral to be given to children.
Many of the other titles had always been reluctant to overtly name names and usually stuck to setting controversial story-lines in fictionalized versions of actual countries after thinly veiling them. As a result, Nepal became "Mapal" in Super Commando Dhruv's "Ruho ka Shikanja" (Vice-grip of the Souls) among several others. It is noteworthy though that this veiling was done only for the SAARC nations. Countries, usually the powerful ones like China, Russia and USA were often featured by their true names with surprisingly generic names for the characters hailing from them. However, the earlier stories of Nagraj were a clear exception and the countries mentioned therein were not renamed for dramatic or clandestine purposes. Later though, in the second run of the character after his settling down as the protector of Mahanagar, the real names were slowly phased out and were not used until absolutely necessary. This wasn't so difficult anyway as Nagraj's storylines began dealing with the Supernatural a lot more often than international terrorism.
Diamond comics, which were aimed at younger audience still, did not engage in aggressive nationalism though. They kept their primary focus on national pride and used the comics as a medium to promote a sense of belonging to the nation instead of painting another nation as the antagonist. The villains in these stories were usually terrorists or independent agents acting without any affiliations to any countries whatsoever.
In conclusion, Indian Nationalism has always been a prominent theme in Indian comics. Starting from promoting Indian pride to sometimes being overtly critical of inimical forces, they have always striven to educate children, which were their primary audience back in the day, of the ideas of nationalism and patriotism and instill these values in them. The form of expression of these ideas have changed over the years but never have they ever gone critical of the idea of India itself. For most parts, India has remained absolutely above reproach and any short comings are a product of the vile elements present in the society. This idea, in recent years, has been extended to all the countries of the world (discounting the nuances of national interests and diplomacy) and led to a more humane world view of the people of the world as being simply good or bad, irrelevant of where they come from, which is, in my view, the perfect lesson to be taught to children.
Even though nationalism has remained a constant theme (Tiranga being a superhero with the Indian National Flag as his costume and general theme and Modus Operandi), the nuances themselves have changed quite often and significantly over the years. Again, I will be focusing my analysis on the characters from Raj Comics publication simply because they have dealt with the issue most extensively and have the most material for me to draw from. I will touch upon other publications too but the basic tone has remained more or less consistent across publishing houses during any given period of time and so I will not address them exhaustively.
During the golden age, when Nagraj had been a newly created character, he was an international crime-fighter who roamed the world fighting terrorism. This was changed later on in the timeline of the character when he settled down in the fictional city of "Mahanagar" (and later brought back in an alternate universe title called "Aatankharta Nagraj"). In these story-lines, Indian nationalism and Identity formed an important part of Nagraj's character. He was hailed within the comics not only as an accomplished crime fighter but also as some sort of a brand ambassador of the values traditionally India stood for. Spirituality was treated as an inherently Indian concept and the stories always had undertones of religion and spirituality with Nagraj chanting "Jai Baba Gorakhnath" (Hail Sage Gorakhnath) almost in every issue, usually before undertaking a fool hardy endeavor. There have been many instances in the comics where Nagraj passed off his virtues as being bequeaths to him by his Indian heritage. Therefore, we can safely conclude that the idea of Indian Nationalism and Identity have been around for a long time in Indian comics.
Next came the Silver age, where the face of Indian nationalism changed slightly. These were troubled times in the country and the Kargil war had fallen right in the middle of the Silver age leading to widespread mistrust and dislike for our neighbors in the North West. As a result we see that on many occasions, Pakistan as well as official Pakistani agencies were cast without any attempts of camouflage whatsoever as the antagonist, usually cruel, barbaric or in the case of comedic titles, inefficient (Fighter Toads' Nayi Dilli).
It was not till the arrival of the contemporary age of Indian comics that names were changed and the antagonists, instead of being countries, again became terrorists and rogue agencies etc. Some of the comics that showcased this more politically correct form of story writing were "Pakistan Zindabad" ("Long Live Pakistan") and the Chumba series featuring Super Commando Dhruv with the neighboring country named "Paastan". The comics went out of their way to insist that no country is inherently bad in itself but it were the bad people in those country that harm all humanity, which was a fitting moral to be given to children.
Many of the other titles had always been reluctant to overtly name names and usually stuck to setting controversial story-lines in fictionalized versions of actual countries after thinly veiling them. As a result, Nepal became "Mapal" in Super Commando Dhruv's "Ruho ka Shikanja" (Vice-grip of the Souls) among several others. It is noteworthy though that this veiling was done only for the SAARC nations. Countries, usually the powerful ones like China, Russia and USA were often featured by their true names with surprisingly generic names for the characters hailing from them. However, the earlier stories of Nagraj were a clear exception and the countries mentioned therein were not renamed for dramatic or clandestine purposes. Later though, in the second run of the character after his settling down as the protector of Mahanagar, the real names were slowly phased out and were not used until absolutely necessary. This wasn't so difficult anyway as Nagraj's storylines began dealing with the Supernatural a lot more often than international terrorism.
Diamond comics, which were aimed at younger audience still, did not engage in aggressive nationalism though. They kept their primary focus on national pride and used the comics as a medium to promote a sense of belonging to the nation instead of painting another nation as the antagonist. The villains in these stories were usually terrorists or independent agents acting without any affiliations to any countries whatsoever.
In conclusion, Indian Nationalism has always been a prominent theme in Indian comics. Starting from promoting Indian pride to sometimes being overtly critical of inimical forces, they have always striven to educate children, which were their primary audience back in the day, of the ideas of nationalism and patriotism and instill these values in them. The form of expression of these ideas have changed over the years but never have they ever gone critical of the idea of India itself. For most parts, India has remained absolutely above reproach and any short comings are a product of the vile elements present in the society. This idea, in recent years, has been extended to all the countries of the world (discounting the nuances of national interests and diplomacy) and led to a more humane world view of the people of the world as being simply good or bad, irrelevant of where they come from, which is, in my view, the perfect lesson to be taught to children.
Wednesday, May 27, 2015
Law Enforcement in Indian Comics
In many of the superhero comic titles around the world, one of the major conflicts is between the protagonist, generally a masked vigilante working outside the boundaries of law and the law itself. The protagonist generally deems the law as insufficient for making a difference (eg. Batman, Punisher, Daredevil) or sees it as his/her moral responsibility to try and help people (eg. Spiderman, Captain America) and thus operates without sanctions of the law to impart justice, more often than not by violence. The law however does not usually support this and as a result we see a constant conflict between law enforcement and the protagonist.
Indian Superheroes however, have had very little to no trouble at all with the law. In fact many of the Indian crime-fighters have been endorsed by the government (Super Commando Dhruv's Commando Force is recognized by the government as a crime fighting body). Only notable exception has been Doga whose early storylines included a constant stand off with the Law. Of late however, during the contemporary era, the police stand off stories have taken a backseat and Doga spends his time fighting crime almost exclusively. Let us take a moment to understand why is there such a stark difference in the treatment of an almost similar plot point in both these styles of writing.
In the comics from the developed world, superheroes and crime fighters are essentially alternate dispensers of justice. They usually operate outside law and as a result end up competing with the law enforcement agencies to enforce it. The highly efficient law enforcement agency of the developed countries with access to resources and skills to get the job done takes offense at this vigilantism and uses its resources to combat it. The characters that are supported by the police however, either come from the government in one or the other, or live and operate in a city which has a bleak environment. Superman is USA's poster boy and so the cops do not hate him whereas it took decades of hopelessness and despondency to get Gordon to support Batman. Spiderman operating in New York receives no such support from the police or the media in his efforts while Daredevil operating in the crime ridden Hell's Kitchen has favor with the cops.
So we can see a clear correlation between the hero's precinct of operation and the support, official or otherwise, that he receives from the law enforcement. Vigilantes working in safe, happy environments never receive any substantial help and often meet resistance from the law enforcement while characters operating in bleak, crime ridden settings often are supported by the officials.
This is what ties into the attitude of law enforcers in Indian Comics about vigilantism. During the Golden and Silver Ages of Indian comics, trust in the police was waning and the situation of law in India was bad in general. The police was viewed as corrupt and inefficient amongst the masses and was generally mistrusted. As a result they were effectively written off from the story lines. This reflects in Indian comics as the police's role being negligible. Parmanu's alter ego is that of a police officer but even then we see very few glimpses of the police working a case. Most of the crimes are handled by the super heroes while the police are merely concerned with detaining the criminals and keeping them in the prison (something they are hilarious ineffective at for obvious purposes). The police even when appearing in these comics were almost exclusively used as a comic relief and were often shown as cowardly and bumbling fools who could not get anything done to save their lives, literally.
You could argue that the police handles the lower level crimes but we see in many comics characters like Dhruv or even Nagraj dealing with pickpockets, muggers and general low life thugs, something which is way below their usual job profile of saving the universe every other thursday. Another argument that can be made in opposition is that the writers could not factor in police subplots into the 32 or 64 page comics which were the norm back then. This however can be denied as one of Doga primary antagonist back during its early years was Inspector Cheetah and we often saw Cheetah on Doga's tail (pun intended) in something almost resembling a subplot.
One major counter example however is that of Diamond Comics' Chacha Chaudhary. In Chacha Chaudhary comics, the police are shown neither as ineffective nor as irrelevant. They do however seek Chachaji's help on crimes they can't solve. It is also noteworthy that Chacha Chaudhary himself isn't as much of a crime fighter than he is a consulting detective. He is an old man incapable of running around, fighting criminals and so he outsources the justice dispensing to Sabu or almost as often the police. Therefore in Chacha Caoudhary comics, the police play a somewhat important role and have not been relegated to being nobodies.
In conclusion, in Indian comics, most characters do not face any trouble with the law enforcement. This is an effect of the general perception of the police being ineffective by the Indian population in real life which manifests itself into the storylines causing the police to take a backseat and their faults appearing as exaggerated versions of themselves, with the force usually being portrayed as irrelevant and almost useless in fighting crime. There has been a shift of late in the contemporary age where the police have been given some amount of recognition but the change is still too slow and too little to be of any significance.
Indian Superheroes however, have had very little to no trouble at all with the law. In fact many of the Indian crime-fighters have been endorsed by the government (Super Commando Dhruv's Commando Force is recognized by the government as a crime fighting body). Only notable exception has been Doga whose early storylines included a constant stand off with the Law. Of late however, during the contemporary era, the police stand off stories have taken a backseat and Doga spends his time fighting crime almost exclusively. Let us take a moment to understand why is there such a stark difference in the treatment of an almost similar plot point in both these styles of writing.
In the comics from the developed world, superheroes and crime fighters are essentially alternate dispensers of justice. They usually operate outside law and as a result end up competing with the law enforcement agencies to enforce it. The highly efficient law enforcement agency of the developed countries with access to resources and skills to get the job done takes offense at this vigilantism and uses its resources to combat it. The characters that are supported by the police however, either come from the government in one or the other, or live and operate in a city which has a bleak environment. Superman is USA's poster boy and so the cops do not hate him whereas it took decades of hopelessness and despondency to get Gordon to support Batman. Spiderman operating in New York receives no such support from the police or the media in his efforts while Daredevil operating in the crime ridden Hell's Kitchen has favor with the cops.
So we can see a clear correlation between the hero's precinct of operation and the support, official or otherwise, that he receives from the law enforcement. Vigilantes working in safe, happy environments never receive any substantial help and often meet resistance from the law enforcement while characters operating in bleak, crime ridden settings often are supported by the officials.
This is what ties into the attitude of law enforcers in Indian Comics about vigilantism. During the Golden and Silver Ages of Indian comics, trust in the police was waning and the situation of law in India was bad in general. The police was viewed as corrupt and inefficient amongst the masses and was generally mistrusted. As a result they were effectively written off from the story lines. This reflects in Indian comics as the police's role being negligible. Parmanu's alter ego is that of a police officer but even then we see very few glimpses of the police working a case. Most of the crimes are handled by the super heroes while the police are merely concerned with detaining the criminals and keeping them in the prison (something they are hilarious ineffective at for obvious purposes). The police even when appearing in these comics were almost exclusively used as a comic relief and were often shown as cowardly and bumbling fools who could not get anything done to save their lives, literally.
You could argue that the police handles the lower level crimes but we see in many comics characters like Dhruv or even Nagraj dealing with pickpockets, muggers and general low life thugs, something which is way below their usual job profile of saving the universe every other thursday. Another argument that can be made in opposition is that the writers could not factor in police subplots into the 32 or 64 page comics which were the norm back then. This however can be denied as one of Doga primary antagonist back during its early years was Inspector Cheetah and we often saw Cheetah on Doga's tail (pun intended) in something almost resembling a subplot.
One major counter example however is that of Diamond Comics' Chacha Chaudhary. In Chacha Chaudhary comics, the police are shown neither as ineffective nor as irrelevant. They do however seek Chachaji's help on crimes they can't solve. It is also noteworthy that Chacha Chaudhary himself isn't as much of a crime fighter than he is a consulting detective. He is an old man incapable of running around, fighting criminals and so he outsources the justice dispensing to Sabu or almost as often the police. Therefore in Chacha Caoudhary comics, the police play a somewhat important role and have not been relegated to being nobodies.
In conclusion, in Indian comics, most characters do not face any trouble with the law enforcement. This is an effect of the general perception of the police being ineffective by the Indian population in real life which manifests itself into the storylines causing the police to take a backseat and their faults appearing as exaggerated versions of themselves, with the force usually being portrayed as irrelevant and almost useless in fighting crime. There has been a shift of late in the contemporary age where the police have been given some amount of recognition but the change is still too slow and too little to be of any significance.
Hello World!
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!
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