Saturday, December 22, 2012

Comic-Con International Presents WonderCon Anaheim








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Friday, December 21, 2012

Kylie Minogue


Pop Icon & Breast Cancer Survivor Kylie Minogue's Story Told


Posted by Richard Boom on Dec 21, 2012
The diminutive singing sensation from Down Under's story is told in a new comic book “Female Force: Kylie Minogue”.  Kylie’s colorful experiences are brought to life as we follow the star’s ups and downs.  From capturing Australia’s hearts in “Neighbours” to the life & loves of a national treasure, and her brave struggle with cancer.
The single issue is out on December 26th.  Written by Steven Stone and drawn by Jill Lamarina.  “Working on the Kylie comic was a challenge but an enjoyable one. Kylie has had an iconic career that has touched so many people. I wanted to do her story justice. I hope you all enjoy It.,” said Stone.
Bluewater will be doing a digital 1st in comic books.  They will be giving exclusive digital covers to ITunes and My Digital Comics. Which will be revealed on December 26th by the fan site http://kylie-unlimited.com. Jon Woodard does both of the collectible “superhero” inspired covers.  Other digital locations will feature the mainstream cover by Fred Grivaud. “Kylie is so epic in her presence, she was perfect for comics,” said Jon Woodard.
“I love telling the stories of women who make difference in society, which is why we chose Kylie Minogue as the subject to the “Female Force” line”.  Said publisher Darren G. Davis “Not only is she an amazing music artist but story as well as the struggles about her breast cancer is inspiring.”  “We did a similar comic book for breast cancer awareness month with another Aussie Olivia Newton-John. It is great when we can educate as well as inform.“ said Davis
“Female Force: Kylie Minogue” may be purchased in print exclusively at Comic Flea Market (comicfleamarket.com) for $3.99. Digital copies will also be available for $1.99. Download the comic to your e-reader from iTunes, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, ComiXology, Google Books, DriveThru Comics, Wowio, iVerse, and more.
“My Digital Comics is excited to take part in this unique worldwide event about the inspiring life of music super-star Kylie Minogue! “ said Cameron Merkler from My Digital Comics.
Also there will be a 300-piece limited version of the comic book with a new cover by artist Jill Lamarina that can be had at Comic Book Flea Market for $9.99.
Bluewater launched the “Female Force” series in 2009 as a broad examination of strong and influential women who are shaping modern history and culture. In past issues, the monthly series has featured Michelle Obama, Cher, Madonna, Margaret Thatcher, JK Rowling, Julia Child and others.

The company produces three lines of biography comics: Female Force, Political Power and Fame. Each line has produced comics that have sold out of their original runs at a time in which independent comics companies are struggling to gain an audience. Upcoming comic book biography titles are FAME: Robbie Williams and Adele.
source file:- http://www.brokenfrontier.com


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Comic Con India Awards 2013 Nominations



3rd Annual Indian Comics Convention will be flagged-off by honoring and felicitating the best Indian Comics and Comics Creators of 2012 with 2nd Annual Comic Con India Awards. Comic Con India Awards 2013 ceremony will be be held in the Capital at India Habitat Centre(IHC) on February 7, 2013.
The 3rd Annual Indian Comics Convention is to be held at Dilli Haat from February 8 - 10, 2013. Comic Con India established in 2011 is country’s only platform which gives boost to the comics and related industries in India.
Comic Con India Awards is an initiative of Comic Con India. CCI Awards aim to recognize the work of all the professionals of India's Comics Industry. It’s an attempt to bring into focus the novelty of this art form and acknowledge the efforts of numerous writers, artists & publishers in this field.
Jatin Varma, Founder, Comic Con India, says, “CCI Awards aim to recognize the work that the professionals in India's Comics Industry do.  This is where we honor and felicitate the best Indian Comics and Comics Creators, and give them the recognition they deserve, among their peers.”
Jatin added, “For the awards we are accepting nominations now and am sure jury will have a tough time deciding. Other than the competitive categories we have a special LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD given by Comic Con India. Last year at the 1st CCI Awards, it was given to Mr. R.K.Laxman and this year we will be giving the award to the iconic Indian Cartoonist, Padma Vibhushan Mario Miranda who is no more with us for his exemplary contribution to the industry.”
The jury consists of Mr. Neelabh Banerjee ( Author & Artist), Mr. Vaibhav Kumaresh ( Artist Animator), and Mr. Abhishek Sharma (Writer & Filmmaker). The jury will go through the entries submitted and eventually shortlist them.
NOMINATIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED IN THE FOLLOWING CATEGORIES:
  • BEST GRAPHIC NOVEL/COMIC BOOK OF THE YEAR  - (For Comic Book Series Only One Issue Is Eligible To Enter)
  • BEST PENCILLER/ INKER/ PENCILLER-INKER TEAM
  • BEST COLORIST
  • BEST COVER (Includes illustrated published covers of publications of any genre)
  • BEST WRITER  - (Includes Adaptations)
  • BEST CONTINUING GRAPHIC SERIES (Minimum 2 issues of the series should have been published during the year)
  • BEST GRAPHIC ANTHOLOGY
  • BEST CHILDREN’S ILLUSTRATED BOOK (Ages 13 & below)
  • BEST CHILDREN’S ILLUSTRATED BOOK (Ages 13 & above)
  • BEST PUBLICATION FOR CHILDREN
  • BEST WEB ONLY/ DIGITAL ONLY COMIC
  • BEST CHILDREN’S WRITER (Ages 13 & below)
  • THE COMIC CON INDIA GRANT FOR BEST UNPUBLISHED WORK - ELIGIBLE FOR ARTISTS AND ARTIST-WRITER TEAMS. WINNER(S) RECEIVES A Rs. 75,000 GRANT  TOWARDS COMPLETION OF THE PROJECT AND A PUBLISHING DEAL WITH COMIC CON INDIA.
Entries should be sent to Comic Con India Office. The deadline for receiving the submission is JANUARY 1ST, 2013.
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Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Amar Chitra Katha.


Amar Chitra Katha’s new entrant – Kubera

Amar Chitra Katha is a household name in India. Synonym with the visual reinvention of the quintessentially Indian stories from great epics, mythology, history, literature, oral folktales and with more than 400 comics in 20+ languages that have sold 90+ million copies to date, Amar Chitra Katha is a cultural phenomenon.
One of the newest addition to the legacy is Kubera, a tale of a wise and benevolent king of the yakshas, who once ruled over the city of Lanka. He would travel the world in his magnificent flying chariot, the Pushpaka Vimana, which had been gifted to him by his great-grandfather, Brahma. Lanka enjoyed an age of peace and prosperity under Kubera’s reign. But all that changed when his fearsome half-brother Dasagriva, the leader of the rakshasas decided to claim the city as his own.
Amar Chitra Katha pieces together from various sources in Indian mythology, the story of the Lord of Wealth. The 32 page comic book is written by Nimmy Chacko, Script Writer and Sub-editor at ACK Media. Sundira Moorthy has helmed the reins as chief artist for the book. Reena I. Puri, Editor at Amar Chitra Katha has headed the team of Kubera.
Speaking more on this, Reena I. Puri, Editor at Amar Chitra Katha stated, “Kubera is an important character in Indian mythology. The story deals with his birth, the boon he receives from Brahma to be the lord of wealth and his fight with his half-brother, Ravana, who displaces him from Lanka.”
“We had started working  on the book around 6 months ago, it was scriptwriter Nimmy Chacko who pitched me with the idea, she had read various mythological sources for stories related with Kubera and has pieced them together to create the final story. I quite liked it and saw a good potential in it and then we started working on it”
The book is priced at INR 50/- for every 32 pg book.
“I believe the character of Kubera is still relatively unknown to many in the modern era, there is a mystery and curiosity still around him. Kubera is described in some texts as having three legs and a not very pleasant appearance. We had to show him as the hero of the story and had to balance the image. That took some discussion and many trial images by Sundar before we hit on the one we thought worked the best. Ravana, the other character in the story, has a very strong personality. Kubera’s character had to show up clearly and positively against that. People associate him as the Lord of Wealth and we wanted to explore the world of Kubera with this book.”
The book was launched at the second annual comic convention at Mumbai, receiving an overwhelming response over the course of the two days.
Adding more to it she said,” The experience was tremendous; the response we got was overwhelming and surpassed our expectations. We had got a positive response at Bengaluru and Mumbai was just the icing on the cake.”
“We are a very small team of 4-5 people for but our commitment and dedication is no less than 12 people. We write for young people but our books are read by all age groups. The marketing department creates a plan for each release. From the creative side we interact with our readers through workshops and through social media like Facebook. Our aim is to offer diverse content with every book of ours. Amar Chitra Katha has always thrived to offer more to its readers and we hope that all our efforts would just add to its legacy.”
“Our latest book ‘Saraswati’ was recently launched in November and we are currently on a couple of books. You would hope to hear a lot more from us in the coming year.” he concluded.
Amar Chitra Katha is also launching these stories in animated, live-action and gaming formats for all screens – television, film, mobile and online.

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Friday, November 30, 2012

My Facebook Friends.


My Facebook Friends' a Picture Book in a Comic Book style by Kavita Singh Kale, Transmedia Artist and Co-Founder of Underground Worm Studio

If you want to meet different people from across the world, then ‘My Facebook Friends’ is the right book to look out for !
‘My Facebook Friends’ is a 44 pages picture book given a comic style by Transmedia Artist and Co-Founder of Underground Worm Studio, Kavita Singh Kale, a BFA degree holder in painting from College of Art, New Delhi and Post Graduate Degree Holder in Animation Film from National Institute of Design, Ahmadabad.
Kavita started her journey way back in 2006 with her first book ‘Avneet Aunty’s Mobile Phone’, written and illustrated completely by her. With constant self-exploration through video art, painting, sculpture and photography that gets extended to prospective commercial projects, Kavita is always on her toes for bringing out something fresh and best. As a filmmaker, illustrator, author and a visual artist, she believes in learning and experimenting- creating links with ideation and technique in conjunction with science and technology.
Her works have been recognized at coveted art shows and film festivals including video art at VAF@The Guild at The Guild in Mumbai, Film Festival at Hera Gallery in Rhode Island, Video Wednesday II at Gallery Espace in New Delhi; Sculpture/Paintings at Thinking Spaces at Exhibit 320 in New Delhi, Now Asia Contemporary at Uijeongbu Arts Center in Seoul, Circling the Confluence at Indigo Blue Art in Singapore, Roti Kapda Makaanat Ojas Art in New Delhi; and animated shorts at Annecy International Animated Film Festival in France, SIGGRAPH Asia in Singapore.
Targeted at audiences above 10 years and published by Tulika publishers, this book is composed with 10 stories about people who are Kavita’s friends and revolves around stories including a young monk who likes playing football, a professor who has been studying earthworms for 40 years, a textile designer with a passion for tap dancing and wedding planner, school teacher, filmmaker and several more.
Till date Kavita has worked on eleven books by different publishers with ‘My Facebook Friends’ being her second book as an author.
Speaking to Animationxpress.com’s Zeenia Boatwala about the driving factor behind ‘My Facebook Friends’, Kavita Singh Kale, shares, “My Facebook Friends” is about my ten friends. I am lucky enough to meet some very interesting people from around the world in different places, within the country and overseas. The idea of making a book for children emerged when I started compiling all the details of some friends, who were from diverse background doing very interesting things and more over – trying to push the limits of what they were really passionate about in life.”
The idea of creating this book struck Kavita in the year 2010 and the actual production of the book was started by the end of 2011.Kavita feels that My Facebook Friends is different because it talks about real stories of real people in a comic book format to 10+ kids and the core idea of this book is to give children a holistic view of selected individuals with the main emphasis on ‘People, Places and Objects.
Kavita informs on the process of executing ‘My Facebook Friends’, “With everything falling in place, production began where the layouts of all the pages were sent to the publishers. This included making thumbnails for each story, keeping in mind the importance of composition of the visuals that had to be supported by space allocated for speech bubble. Using the right word and sentences within each speech bubble helped in telling the story in the right manner- was another bit of challenge. The colored pages were sent across to the publisher as and when each story was completed.
Adding more on the inspirational aspect behind ‘My Facebook Friends’, Kavita, shares, “My painting named ‘Facebook’ inspired me to write this book and the entire format of the book is new.”
Kavita has executed the entire designing of layout and illustrations for this book with Niveditha Subramanian, who has been the editor for the book , Adds more, “ the overall look of the book touches the graphic novel feel, I’ve made use of watercolors to hand paint all the illustrations.”
The most attractive element of ‘My Facebook Friends’, according to Kavita is showing the daily activity page of each character, which takes the reader through a wonderful journey of different people.
Priced at INR 200, ‘My Facebook Friends’ is available at all bookstores in India and abroad where Tulika Books are available. Also, you can buy it from Flipkart by logging on to:  http://www.flipkart.com/my-facebook-friends-8181468244/p/itmddhmdrhnmwcac?pid=9788181468246&ref=beaaf1a8-c799-4bee-8990-a22057eccbd9&srno=m_1_1&otracker=from-search
Tulika Publishers express their view on the book by saying “My Facebook Friends, comes from Europe, America Africa and Asia, from big cities, from small towns and from tiny villages. With an appeal that cuts across countries, the book draws from the ubiquitous social network media, which young people everywhere relate to instantly. This book colorfully maps diverse lives and stories and explores the lives of real people beyond walls and status messages. For young readers who are free-spirited tourists of the world and need no passport to cross borders, this book has much to offer!”
“The reader can travel the world with ten stories of this book. All 10+ kids and young adults will discover many new things about different places and culture in it. It will also inspire them to travel and follow their heart to do what they really want to do in life”. Concludes, Kavita.
Source:-connect@animationxpress.com
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Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Aghori




Up Close wth Vivek, Creator of the Aghori Series

One of the new entrants in the Indian Comic Industry, Holy Cow Entertainment has quickly built up a promising library of titles with many more on the way. Launched at Mumbai Film and Comic Convention, their latest book ‘Aghori Book 2’ too seems to be another notch on the block.
Aghori is Holy Cow Entertainment’s First “flagship” offering which represents the comics debut of fantasy / sci-fi writer Ram V, featuring art by Industry Heavyweight Vivek Goel ( Ravanayan, Phantom – The Ghost Who Walks ), Colorist Yogesh Pugaonkar ( Ravanayan, Voltron ) and rising talent, Gaurav Shrivastav.It follows the journey of a man to the depths of hell, to save that which he holds dear.
Before the launch, Comic Con India had recently presented A Special Workshop With Holy Cow Comics in Association With Leaping Windows. The workshop was conducted by Vivek Goel, Founder & Lead Artist, Holy Cow along with Ram V, and Writer of the Aghori Series.
Speaking more on this, Vivek Goel, Founder & Lead Artist, Holy Cow Entertainment  stated,” Aghori is basically HCE’s 1st flagship character, Its writer Ram V who pitched me with the with the idea at the 2011 Mumbai comic con, we later exchanged some mails and then he showed me the synopsis in the meeting. I quite liked it and saw a good potential in it and then him and I started building the aghori universe with him as the writer and myself as the artist.”
“Aghori is a totally uncharted and unexplored territory, most of the laymen does not even have an idea that in order to become a successful aghori and to practice A-GHOR one has to go through 12 “kriyas”. We consider this topic/ book as more educative then entertaining.”
The Aghori Series is priced at INR 140/- for every 56 pg book (each book is a compilation of 2 issues )
“I believe that people need at least a matter for half hour to read for which I decided to fatten the format and compile 2-2 issues of aghori into 1 book and so we ended up with a fat 56 pg each book. Everything changed after that, more investment, more manpower resulting into more risk! But hard work always pays.”
The Aghori series would also be launched on the digital platform soon. The second part of the series was launched at the second annual comic convention at Mumbai, with over 250 copies sold in two days.
Adding more to it he said,” The experience was tremendous, the response we got was overwhelming and surpassed our expectations. We had got a positive response at Bengaluru for the Aghori Book 2 and Mumbai was just the icing on the cake.”
“We are a very small team of 4-5 people for the Aghori series but our commitment and dedication is no less than 12 people. I feel India is a perfect ground for comic series , they need something to hang on, a great cliffhanger that will make them wanting for more and they all love that . You need to plan things in a proper manner when it comes to a series, we are happy that people have given a thumbs up post reading book 2, we have roped a 3rd artist to do cover 3 and the biggest surprise will come with book 4, The cover is already done and its done by the top comic book artist India has ever produced, I am unable to reveal his names but it will be a crazy shock to every one. So, you see HCE will be witnessing a major artistic boom in the first half on 2013.” he concluded.
Their upcoming books include “The Skull Rosary” based on the dark side of Shiva and a 5 issue mini series on the adventures of 2 Bengal tiger cubs stranded on the serengeto plains of Africa.
The Aghori series are now available with flipkart.com and homeshop18.com.
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Monday, November 26, 2012

LION COMICS/ MUTHU COMICS Working on 456 Pages Tamil Comic Book ‘Never Before Special’
Bringing International comics for the Indian Tamil Audience has been the vision of Muthu Comics since 1972. Lion Comics, a sister publication of Muthu Comics came in to the picture in 1984 and together they bring the best of world comics to the Tamil readers today. Currently they are working on a Tamil comic book titled ‘Never Before Special’, in which one can read through a wide range of International stories including LARGO WINCH, WAYNE SHELTON, Lt.BLUEBERRY, CHICK BILL, GIL JORDAN + STEEL CLAW and JOHN STEEL.

Till date, Lion /Muthu Comics has reprinted numerous International comic titles in Tamil language, including British action comics, American super hero tales, Franco-Belgian classics,  Italian productions ,Dutch creations ,Western cowboy stories  while working on  genres like humor, action thrillers, dramas,  graphic novels,  war tales, horror thrillers ,.super hero stuff and more.
Published by Prakash Publishers, ‘Never before Special’ is being created to mark the celebration of Muthu Comics 40 year legacy in the Tamil comic book world. Lion/Muthu Comics started working on ‘Never before Special’ from September this year and it would be a 456 pages book priced at INR 400.
Speaking to Animationxpress.com’s Zeenia Boatwala about ‘Never before Special’, S Vijayan, Founder and Editor of Lion Comics shares, “Working with non-English original titles is always walking the tightrope. You can never convince yourself 100% about the story’s strong points with the translated scripts. We seldom create stuff on our own – except for maybe the filler pages. All our productions are reprints are of the best talent that the International Comics world has on offer”
According to S. Vijayan, the toughest part in making the Indian version of an international comic book is to match the expectations of the target audience.  “With internet making the world such a small global village, a comic fan has online access to the very best that the international comic’s world has to offer. So we need to live up to the constant comparisons of our translated editions against the original versions and present them with a wholesome reading package every time.”
S. Vijayan feels that a great amount of reading: research; is very necessary to select suitable stories for the Tamil language versions and also to understand in-depth about the International comic ratings and success.
Adds more, “Since most of our stories are reprints of French; Italian or Dutch originals, reading those originals and understanding the storylines is basically impossible. Hence a lot of stress has to be put on trial translations, conducting appropriate research on storyline and script of the international comics.”
‘Never before Special’ will see its launch on the 5th January Next Year and will be predominantly sold against Pre Bookings the Chennai Book Fair Website and on E-Bay too.
“LION COMICS carries on the tradition established by MUTHU COMICS – on a bigger; bolder canvas. More genres of comics were brought in from several top European publishing houses and together MUTHU COMICS + LION COMICS offer the very best of International comics !Comics for 7-77 is our motto !”, concludes, S. Vijayan.
Source:-
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Sunday, November 25, 2012

Comic Con India Awards


2nd Annual Comic Con India Awards to Honour the Comics Industry of India
BRING YOUR BEST WORK FORWARD – ENTRIES ARE NOW BEING ACCEPTED FOR THE COMIC CON INDIA 2013 INDUSTRY AWARDS TO BE GIVEN TO THE BEST COMICS/GRAPHIC NOVELS, ILLUSTRATED BOOKS AND CREATORS OF 2012.
COMIC CON INDIA LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD 2013 – A Posthumous award for LATE MARIO MIRANDA, an iconic Indian Cartoonist
3rd Annual Indian Comics Convention will be flagged-off by honoring and felicitating the best Indian Comics and Comics Creators of 2012 with 2nd Annual Comic Con India Awards. Comic Con India Awards 2013 ceremony will be be held in the Capital at India Habitat Centre(IHC) on February 7, 2013.
The 3rd Annual Indian Comics Convention is to be held at Dilli Haat from February 8 – 10, 2013. Comic Con India established in 2011 is country’s only platform which gives boost to the comics and related industries in India.
Comic Con India Awards is an initiative of Comic Con India. CCI Awards aim to recognize the work of all the professionals of India’s Comics Industry. It’s an attempt to bring into focus the novelty of this art form and acknowledge the efforts of numerous writers, artists & publishers in this field.
Jatin Varma, Founder, Comic Con India, says, “CCI Awards aim to recognize the work that the professionals in India’s Comics Industry do.  This is where we honor and felicitate the best Indian Comics and Comics Creators, and give them the recognition they deserve, among their peers.”
Jatin added, “For the awards we are accepting nominations now and am sure jury will have a tough time deciding. Other than the competitive categories we have a special LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD given by Comic Con India. Last year at the 1st CCI Awards, it was given to Mr. R.K.Laxman and this year we will be giving the award to the iconic Indian Cartoonist, Padma Vibhushan Mario Miranda who is no more with us for his exemplary contribution to the industry.”
The jury consists of Mr. Neelabh Banerjee ( Author & Artist), Mr. Vaibhav Kumaresh ( Artist Animator), and Mr. Abhishek Sharma (Writer & Filmmaker). The jury will go through the entries submitted and eventually shortlist them.
NOMINATIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED IN THE FOLLOWING CATEGORIES:
  • BEST GRAPHIC NOVEL/COMIC BOOK OF THE YEAR  - (For Comic Book Series Only One Issue Is Eligible To Enter)
  • BEST PENCILLER/ INKER/ PENCILLER-INKER TEAM
  • BEST COLORIST
  • BEST COVER (Includes illustrated published covers of publications of any genre)
  • BEST WRITER  - (Includes Adaptations)
  • BEST CONTINUING GRAPHIC SERIES (Minimum 2 issues of the series should have been published during the year)
  • BEST GRAPHIC ANTHOLOGY
  • BEST CHILDREN’S ILLUSTRATED BOOK (Ages 13 & below)
  • BEST CHILDREN’S ILLUSTRATED BOOK (Ages 13 & above)
  • BEST PUBLICATION FOR CHILDREN
  • BEST WEB ONLY/ DIGITAL ONLY COMIC
  • BEST CHILDREN’S WRITER (Ages 13 & below)
  • THE COMIC CON INDIA GRANT FOR BEST UNPUBLISHED WORK – ELIGIBLE FOR ARTISTS AND ARTIST-WRITER TEAMS. WINNER(S) RECEIVES A Rs. 75,000 GRANT  TOWARDS COMPLETION OF THE PROJECT AND A PUBLISHING DEAL WITH COMIC CON INDIA.
Entries should be sent to Comic Con India Office. The deadline for receiving the submission is JANUARY 1ST, 2013.
FOR QUERIES Regarding the awards pls feel free to E-MAIL at-awards@COMICCONINDIA.COM
For Queries regarding the grant please free free to E-MAIL at - grant@comicconindia.com
WEBSITE: WWW.COMICCONINDIA.COM

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Sudershan (Chimpanzee) – A graphic novel by Hachette India


Sudershan (Chimpanzee) – A graphic novel by Hachette India
Launched at the recent Mumbai Film and Comics Convention, Hachette India’s latest offering, Sudershan (Chimpanzee) is a deeply moving and darkly comic tale of a chimp in Bollywood and the creatures – human or otherwise – in his life.
The 124 page graphic novel is written by Mumbai based writer Rajesh Devraj who has previously written The Art of Bollywood (2010) and was the screenwriter of Quick Gun Murugun and Arjun: The Warrior Prince.
The novel is created by Meren Imchen, an animator and illustrator by profession; he has also directed the 2007 National Film Award winner for Best Animation and Direction ‘Nokpoliba’.
The storyline of Sudershan (Chimpanzee) is set in the Hindi film industry of the sixties, when there was a vogue for jungle movies and animal stars. It traces the life of a chimp in this B-movie world, his rise from the circus to Bollywood stardom, his complex relationship with his mentor, and the joys and sorrows and heartbreaks that come his way in this journey.
Speaking to Animationxpress.com’s Ishpreet Chandock  about the birth of Sudershan (Chimpanzee), Rajesh shares, ”Sudershan first appeared as a six-page comic in Man’s World magazine in their September 2005 issue – this was a kind of preview to the story. A few years later, I showed these pages to an editor at Hachette, who commissioned the book that has now come out. It’s been in the making from 2009, basically because Meren and I have worked on it between many other projects.”
Rajesh has also worked with Channel V‘s Toofan TV, a show on Indian B-movies which was directed by the late Pankaj Advani.
Emphasizes further, “I’ve also written a book on poster art, The Art of Bollywood, where I had uncovered a great deal of B-movie imagery as well. Also, I’ve researched on the various aspects of the Bollywood scene over the years. This book is more a work of imagination, but its background is based on what I’ve learned from my earlier research. Here and there, I’ve also drawn on the filmy characters I’ve met, all the funny, tragic, hilarious stories I’ve heard from them.”
“A book like this requires the artist to put in a great deal of time and effort, which obviously cannot be covered by the kind of advances publishers offer. So in the end, you do it between other projects, using your down-time, and naturally, it takes longer to finish. The challenges then are not to let your commitment waver, not to get bored or jaded, and settle for second-best.”
Sudershan (Chimpanzee) was launched with much fanfare at the recent Mumbai Film and Comic Con, sharing his experience at the convention he said,” I wasn’t sure what response we’d get at Comic Con, because the event is focused more on traditional comics than on literary graphic novels such as mine – in fact, someone pointed that my book was the only one from a mainstream publisher of literary fiction. But we went ahead with Comic Con because I thought my book could reach out to all kinds of readers, not just the literary kind, since it deals with a fairly popular subject and is partly in Hindi. So this was an experiment and I’d say it succeeded to some extent.”
Sudershan (Chimpanzee) is priced at Rs 550 and is available across leading book stores.

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Akshay Dhar


One on One with Akshay Dhar – Creator of Retrogade series
Imagine waking up to a world where only the most rudimentary tech still worked – What would humanity do? How would our world change? Does a world-changing disaster only affect us when it hits, or do the repercussions carry on, changing lives and people for ever after?
See what people would do to keep themselves, and their humanity alive in Retrograde.
That’s the new offering by Pop Culture Publishing, a Publishing Division of Twenty Onwards Media (P) Ltd.
Retrogade Volume 2 is the second installment in the Retrogade series, the book kick starts from where its predecessor ended.
The comic book was launched at the Mumbai Film and Comic Convention last month by Pop Culture Publishing with creator Akshay Dhar. Priced at a reasonable amount of 150 (combined volume), the comic book is surely going to bring a happy smile on the face of its makers.
Talking about his new book with Animationxpress’ Ishpreet Chandock is Akshay Dhar, who is the writer and creator of the comic book series.
An Alumni of the University of Bradford, Delhi based Akshay is the Editor-In-Chief + Columnist/Writer at Comic Addicts and an Officer at Daurala Organics.
Here we have the excerpts of the conversation with Akshay, talking about his new book, his expectations and more…
Akshay, first and foremost ,thank you for taking the time to speak with us andcongratulations on the launch of your new book Retrogade Volume 2, can you tell us more about your big idea behind creating Retrogade ? How did the idea of Retrogade come to you? 
To tell a story in India, with people like those we actually find in our lives and
When we travel around the country – but most importantly, to try and do something
That had not been done before. The concepts we use in this story as our premise are
a mix of old and tried with twists that have not been explored much.
Basically I realized I wanted to play to my strength as a writer (or so I’ve been
told) and tell an action adventure story, but keep the focus on the characters. More
importantly I wanted it to be more real and so it is about a GROUP rather than a
hero/heroine and each and every person is important to how things develop.

Take us through your process when it comes to creating your artwork especially for Retrogade?
It’s not a deeply researched project in the sense that it is tied to “current” trends and
topics. There are things that are based around the real world, we researched things
like the kinds of weapons that would be had, artistic references for such things and
I had to brush up a little on the science that I was warping to create my doomsday
scenario – but as a reader I think most everything is easily understandable since
we’ve tried not to be too heavy with data.
If people enjoy it, hopefully we’ll be able to introduce more concepts and newly
evolved technology for this new age as we go further down the rabbit hole.
Competing with your previous work is always a challenge and sequels are always a task as to bringing out something better and something new, according to you what’s the special ingredient you have spread on the table with Retrogade Volume 2?
It caters to people of multiple genres (sci-fi, action, adventure, drama, etc) while not
sticking only to one. Retrograde is a fun and simple read if you want it to be but
there are references and little details that can be found if you want a more detailed
story – but whichever your leaning, there is no reason you should not be able to
enjoy the comic as a whole.
This is something I want to see more of from Indian creators and hope that if
our effort is successful, the market for this in India would open up and fans and
creators will move away from the same-old-same-old stuff that we stick to because
it’s a safe bet.
Where can we find you promoting the book? Do you have any convention appearances or store signings planned? 
We have been focusing on selling it online and especially at the conventions.
Though copies are available at leading book stores, but we focus more on e-
commerce sites as well as events.
What do you take back from your launch at Comic Con Mumbai 2012? How did you find interacting with your fans in such an environment? 
Oh man! Comic Con Mumbai was insane! I was there for the first and the second
just upped the stakes for future conventions with a great crowd and response and
people clearly having more of an interest in what was around them.
For me, it was beyond tiring but one of the most satisfactory experiences I’ve had
as a writer. The response was overwhelming, so much so that at the end of day-1
we were actually worried that we had not done a large enough printing of the new
book. People who knew it were enthusiastic and those who didn’t were genuinely
interested and curious.
On a more personal level, the number of people that asked me to sign their books
and being able to talk to and interact with fans was amazing and I loved it! I just
hope that people continue to be less shy and share with folks like me, what it is
they want to see in comics in the future.
Every journey has its share of hurdles; can you share with our readers the difficulties you face in the making?
Partway through the initial scripting, I had several brainwaves and Jatin and
his team were understanding enough to give me time and space to make some
dramatic changes – we went from a gory, zombie, shoot-em-up to a more subtle,
human story with a sci-fi twist.
Basically I scrapped almost everything, starting almost from scratch. I cannibalized
my original story and kept the things I really wanted to keep at all costs. The rest
was thrown out and a whole new premise was crafted from the ground up and then
built to include the things we kept from the first avatar.
This kind of wholesale revamping can, I think, be as hard if not harder than coming
up with a story from scratch. It also put us considerably behind our original
schedule – the initial launch for #1 was meant to be at the first Delhi Comic Con
but was pushed back to the following Mumbai Convention.
There were several rewrites and such as well (as can be expected) and this was the
first purely solo project I worked on and though it got easier with experience, it
was a tough but rewarding learning experience for me.
Did you have any creative dispute or demur while creating Retrogade 2?
Most of the dilemmas I’ve already explained in the question before this, but maybe
the single biggest challenge was the art.
I always had a very distinct and dirty/gritty feeling I wanted in this book and
black and white made it all the more specific. There was an artist I had been lazily
working on the original horror version with who was based in Croatia, but we
were not able to come to a workable deal once I tied up with Pop Culture due to
his scheduling limitations and paying someone across borders at the time. So we
started looking closer to home and spoke to and “auditioned” several artists but it
took quite a while before we could find the artist who was willing to commit the
time we needed to develop this properly and at the same time had the skill to create
this world and its people.
In this regard I think I was very lucky to have Avik come on board, we found
a great vibe between us as we worked – he was in the Netherlands for 80% of
the first issue at least, so we were working almost entirely over emails and the
occasional Skype or phone chat and this was another challenge that I think we
adapted to and worked with pretty well in the end.

What’s next for you? Is there anything else you would like to work on that you’ve not yet had the opportunity to? 
A lot actually, I’m happy to report.
First and foremost (obviously) I hope that over the next couple of months to
continue the good feedback on Retrograde and produce more of that.
For those that follow my goof-ball page on facebook and my blog, I’ve been
working for Holy Cow Entertainment on a 5-part mini-series called “Serengeti
Stripes” which is a kind of fish-out-of-water story and in which we’re trying to
create a real story starring some amazing animals and all told through them – no
people at all.
Beyond that, I’m working with about 5 different artists and creating a set of comic
shorts to be produced as a multi-part anthology and hope to invite more of the
Indian comic talent to contribute if it picks up. It has Sci-fi, Fantasy, Action and
Comedy stories in it and is looking gorgeous as of now. I hope to have this ready
by the Delhi Convention in February.
Then there’s the non-comic creating projects like the Geeky podcast over at
Popcracker which is a riot to do (and I hope to listen to) with Rajat and Anant
Singh. Plus I’m just starting to talk to a couple of people about maybe making a
live-action story, not Bollywood, but more independent and off-beat stuff.
I’m also, of course, continuing my role as E-I-C for comicaddicts.com where we all
drive each other crazy and bring fans comic news of all shapes and sizes.
You and Pop Culture Publishing have formed a winning combo of sorts, how was it working with them again? Are there still disagreements in the creative process?
It’s been great actually. There may well have been reasons for me to mutter
under my breath or something, but on the whole they’ve been so understanding,
accommodating and helpful throughout this process that I have no real complaints.
I hope that they do well and I can continue to write for them for a long time to
come, regardless of whatever else I may do in the future.

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