While 2016 goes down globally as one of the most hated years in the cultural zeitgeist; for the Indian Comics Industry – it will be counted as a hallmark year, me thinks.
Why? Well, because for starters, 2016 will be the year where those of who survived the initial gestation period that comes with any new independent and creative movement, headed forward into the new year, with a sense of optimism and confidence, for the first time.
This was also the year where we realised what we were worth, what our work meant to so many people and what we meant to organizations that have supported us and rallied around us like Comic Con India (and even AnimationXpress!).
So to sum up 2016 for Indian comic books, here’s a listicle of top “10 things that happened in 2016 to Indian Comics Industry in 2016”
#1. Comic Con India expanded to a new City – Pune was a delightfully surprising addition
The year kicked off with a successful Pune Comic Con Express 2016. Since it was an Express edition, the venue was understandably smaller, but the audience more than made up for it. The response was enthusiastic, people were buying comics and generally excited to see the plethora of titles from the Indian indie and other mainstream publishers.Thanks to Pune, as publishers, we are more enthused to go to newer cities, along with Comic Con India.
#2. The Indie Publishers got tons of support as from Comic Con India and Others
Pune Comic Con marked another milestone. Comic Con India decided to start its program to encourage independent publishers and gave us our stalls (nicely pre-fabricated) free in exchange for launches and a confirmed presence at all editions. They also expanded their Artist Alley – encouraging local talent to come up and sell their individual talents. All in all, worked out pretty well for everyone involved.
#3. From Workshops to smaller events – a year of fun interactions!
With the deal mentioned above came the commitment to attend workshops around the country – and boy was that fun! I had the privilege to conduct a small workshop on comic books in IIM Kolkata and IIM Shillong (one as part of the Free Comic Book Week) and another two-day long workshop with Katha on folk-tale based comic books. It was fun to meet a young bunch and indoctrinate them! <insert evil laugh>
Shamik Dasgupta (Yali), Vivek Goel (Holy Cow), Akshay Dhar (Meta-Desi) and Abhijeet Kini (Kini Merch) conducted workshops across the country as well – from the looks of it, everyone involved enjoyed those!
#4. Brand new Titles – new characters, new formats!
This year a lot of us decided to break open the market in terms of varied content. Multiple launches, new characters, and new stories marked the year from the indie publishers. At Chariot Comics, we rebooted Damned with a new #1 and laid the foundation for our shared universe. Holy Cow also started their shared universe with their Age of Immortals line-up, while Yali introduced Rakshak, a new superhero title and Meta-Desi continued their comedy romp with Holy Hell #3. Abhijeet Kini’s Fanboys was a stand-out title as well.
There were new players in the game as well like TBS planet who launched The Flying Jatt and Shivaay apart from their own original titles.
#5. Digital might have a future
Let’s be honest, the Indian audience doesn’t pay for the digital formats of the comics in general – and that’s tragic, since that would allow us to create so much more content, easily. But this year (2017), with the home-grown Raconteur launching its App – I think all that might change soon. Just see what they’ve done with some of the Valiant titles in a motion comic format and you’ll know what I mean. The digital future is coming for comics and Raconteur will spearhead that. Mark my words.
And let’s not forget the growing webcomics market with my favorites like Stripteasethemag, Papercube, uglysweatercomics. Garbage Bin and Sikh Park.
#6. Money wasn’t all that bad! Revenues were up, Demonetisation wasn’t as bad as we thought!
When demonetisation hit, we still had two major Comic Cons left – Bengaluru and Delhi and we were worried. But Comic Con India enabled a central digitised payment system (along with all the tax formalities) and that helped us tide over the cash-crunch! In fact, that worked as a bonus since we could tap customers who wanted to usually pay by card. That managed to bump sales up a little bit.
#7. Cutting out the online middle-men; many publishing houses became self-dependent
Till now, as publishers we were dependent on Amazon and Flipkart to make online sales (along with their hefty margins). I think this year, most of us said “F**K it” and set up our own websites – enabling us to sell directly to the audience. This has worked out well for us (www.chariotcomics.com), Yali (yalidreamcreations.com), Fenil Comics (www.fenilcomics.com) and Holy Cow (www.holycow.in); since players like Amazon and Flipkart weren’t pushing our titles too much anyway.
#8. Held our own against Merchandisers!
Every year you hear that gripe about Merchandise vs. Comics. This year we held our own against them and made money.
IN YOUR FACE, 17th PHOTOSHOPPED VERSION OF THE SAME JOKER POSTER!
#9. New Audiences and some of the old
This year, speaking from Chariot and Meta-Desi, point of view – we saw a much larger and receptive new audience. What worked out even better was the number of repeat customers we got – looking for the next issue or volume.
#10. The future looks sustainable and brighter
Honestly, if the support we got from Comic Con this year continues, along with some of the other 2016 trends which I mentioned earlier – the future of Comics in India is going to be sustainable and brighter. If we optimise costs, generate content, and expand our reach; I predict the future will be bright.
In 2017, I predict an upswing in the normally gloomy story of the comic books market. The audiences are getting used to us and the uptake on new, original, Indian content is increasing. If the sell-out shows that many of us had, is any indication – we may have been right in holding on and being optimistic all this while!
Onwards & Excelsior!
(These are purely personal views of Chariot Comics, founder, Aniruddho Chakraborty and AnimationXpress.com does not necessarily subscribe to these views)