Comic creator Abhijeet Kini discusses how comic-making has changed over the years


It has been quite sometime since the words “Zap!”, “Bam!”, “Pow!”, and “Ka-Boom!” in comics were replaced by their electronic counterparts — the special effects and the sound mixing — in superhero-animation-fantasy movies. But the good old art form has not been lost entirely as was evident from the encouraging participation in a recent Comic-Con-supported workshop in the city, the first of its kind here.
Organised by Comic-Con India and Saarang, the cultural festival of IIT Madras, the workshop saw a large turnout.
The workshop was conducted by renowned comic creator and illustrator Abhijeet Kini of Butterfingersin Tinkle and Angry Maushi of fame.
A fun, and casual session, much like the convention itself, the workshop saw many enthusiasts of comics coming forward with their work.
Mr. Abhijeet explained how the making of a comic strip works. Emphasising the importance of script-art harmony, he detailed how comic-making has changed over the years.
After his talk, he got the participants to make their own comics and urged them to share their works through social media and use hashtag such as #ComicCon, #ComicConIndia and #ComicBookCeleberationWeek so that Comic-Con India would respond with an event in Chennai itself.
Mr. Kini said: “Although comics form a great means of social reflection, the Indian socio-cultural situation is yet to provide a conducive environment for satire.”
An annual convention held in the cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad, Comic-Cons aim at expanding the pop culture scene in India.
Known for cosplaying, book releases, fandom merchandise sales, and celebrity presence, the event has a huge fan following across the country. With the rise of fan-following of pop-culture in Chennai, fromThe Man of Steel to Game of Thrones to Harry Potter to Rajinikanth, the next big Comic-Con in India is almost here.