In a new Comic Con India initiative, Online digital content marketplace Readwhere has partnered with Comic Con India to launch a new initiative called ‘Free Comic Book Weekend‘, to allow Readwhere users to download Indian comics for free on May 4-5, 2013.
The Free Comic Book Weekend features titles from Diamond Comics Pop Culture Publishing Campfire Graphic Novels, Level 10 Comics, Chariot Comics, Amar Chitra Katha and Sufi Comics.
As a part of the weekend, Readwhere is offering a variety of comic titles like Tinkle and Pandavas, Odayan, Ten Masters, Panchtantra and titles from comic characters like Pinki and Chacha Chaudhary. Users can claim any five comic books from the list of books offered. These comics can be viewed on Readwhere website or across its iOS, Android and Windows 8 apps.
Talking to Animationxpress.com’s Ishpreet Chandock in a chat about the new initiative Jatin Varma- Founder, Comic Con says,” India’s first Free Comic Book Weekend from May 4 to 5 give fans a chance to download comics from any part of the country over a period of two days, absolutely free.”
“The idea is to promote Indian comics and create a buzz around them. Internationally, it’s held only for a day, and fans can enter comic bookstores and pick up free, exclusive stuff from various publishers. Since, there are no such stores in India, we decided to partner with Readwhere and use their digital platform to reach out to readers in every nook and corner. Also, instead of just one day of free comics, we are extending it and having it on two days. This will be our first year and we hope to expand on this in the coming years.”
“While there are no exclusive editions this year, each of the participating publishers has shared some of their most popular titles to be given out free digitally this coming weekend. We are hoping in the coming years not only will we have more to offer, but we will also have exclusive editions and comics.” He concludes Readwhere is a Global Reading and Publishing Hub. It is a free platform for Publishers and readers across the globe.
Adding his thoughts on the same, Manish Dhingra- Director, Readwhere, says, “It’s probably the first time in India and maybe the world that an event celebrating comics is being embraced digitally.”
“Readwhere.com has been present at Comic Con since the inception of the site. We have some of India’s largest comic book publishers who have their digital comics on readwhere. Going Digital takes the pain out of reaching the masses, including people and comic book enthusiasts in tier 2 and tier 3 cities of India.”
“In a country like India, where there aren’t many brick and mortar comic book stores, Digital Comics allow you to transcend all borders and geographical barriers.”
“It allows discovery of several out of print comics, which can now be bought, and read online on web, mobile and tablets. We are very happy and proud to associate with Comic Con India, to be the first to being free comic book weekend to India, and even more proud that we are leveraging this for a future trend of Digital Comics.” Concludes Manish.
Comic Con India is the comic-based convention held in India, main edition held annually at New Delhi and express editions annually at Mumbai and Bangalore.