Today the very first Indian annual comic convention was held at Delhi Haat. Although I don't read comics anymore but I decided to make a trip to comic convention along with my sister to see what's new with the Indian comic scene. I used to read lots of comics as a child and each one of those comics is still sitting pretty inside packed boxes in my cupboard. I was hoping to meet my old buddies Chacha chaudhary, Sabu, Super Commando Dhruv, Bankelal and the mythical characters of Amar chitra Katha. When I reached there I noticed a lotta crowd, to my surprise, I may add. With the computer games and a band of cartoons on TV, I wasn't sure if many children would be there. So with my hopes soaring high we took tickets and marched ahead.
There wasn't a trace of comics until we reached the far end of the place. There were hardly some 8-10 comic stalls but disappointingly Raj comic was not there. I did notice a couple of new publishers on the scene such as Vimanika & Wilco who had some good titles on mythology, religion, ancient tales and political leaders. To make the event more appealing a costume contest was also organised but I didn't see any partipants. There weren't many comic enthusiasts or kids either. Most of the crowd looked more interested in handicraft/clothes and food rather than the comic convention itself. It didn't look that this event was publicised widely in schools or maybe children now a days are not that much into comics. I would have loved to see more school kids there, more publishers participating, and most importantly more of comics. I guess the target audience this time around were artists, illustrators, writers, publishers and not the readers. Whatever maybe the reason, the comic scene looked rather grave. Having said that, it was an admirable attempt to rejuvenate the Indian comic industry. I did buy a couple of titles for my neice and headed back.
On my return I happened to hit the Teen murti marg where Nehru Planetarium is located. As I drove past it, nostalgia set in. This is one place where I used to come with my father a lot during my school days. This was almost after a decade that I was here. The place is exactly the same; Sky theater shows, Nehru museum & Nehru library. I couldn't catch the space show but did manage to visit the library and museum. It was fun.
There wasn't a trace of comics until we reached the far end of the place. There were hardly some 8-10 comic stalls but disappointingly Raj comic was not there. I did notice a couple of new publishers on the scene such as Vimanika & Wilco who had some good titles on mythology, religion, ancient tales and political leaders. To make the event more appealing a costume contest was also organised but I didn't see any partipants. There weren't many comic enthusiasts or kids either. Most of the crowd looked more interested in handicraft/clothes and food rather than the comic convention itself. It didn't look that this event was publicised widely in schools or maybe children now a days are not that much into comics. I would have loved to see more school kids there, more publishers participating, and most importantly more of comics. I guess the target audience this time around were artists, illustrators, writers, publishers and not the readers. Whatever maybe the reason, the comic scene looked rather grave. Having said that, it was an admirable attempt to rejuvenate the Indian comic industry. I did buy a couple of titles for my neice and headed back.
On my return I happened to hit the Teen murti marg where Nehru Planetarium is located. As I drove past it, nostalgia set in. This is one place where I used to come with my father a lot during my school days. This was almost after a decade that I was here. The place is exactly the same; Sky theater shows, Nehru museum & Nehru library. I couldn't catch the space show but did manage to visit the library and museum. It was fun.
