Comic books fading out
By Nalin Kulshreshtha
HALDWANI: With the rise oflive action movies , comic book sales are declining every day, mainly the comics published in Hindi.
“Comic book sales have decreased drastically in the last decade. Before 2010, there was a huge demand for them and the readers used to pre-order the comics that they wanted to read and would buy 5-6 comics in a visit,” says Mohit Tiwari, a bookstall owner near Durga city centre in Dehra Dun.
Talking about the reason for the declining interest of people, said: “It can be because the comic books are now available for free download in PDF format that are illegally put on websites. People now don’t really like reading as there are many movies and web shows that are based on comic book characters, which they like watching”.
Suresh Newalia, a local book publisher and owner of Aadharshila Publishing, says, “We rarely publish comics now, as the demand is negligible.” Asked about the sale before 2010, he said: “At that time, we were publishingRaj Comics , Diamond Comics and many more Indian comics in Hindi. The demand was so high that we used to run out of stock. But things have changed now.”
Manas Negi, an IIT Delhi aspirant and a former comic book enthusiast, said he has long stopped reading comic books. “I was a Raj Comics fan. I stopped reading them not because I didn’t want to but because there were no comic books available in the market.”
Aks Gupta, a Class 7th student said he had no knowledge about Indian comic books and their characters. “I've only heard about superheroes like Spiderman and Batman. I don’t know anything about Indian comic book characters,” he added.
Chandan Mishra, a retired engineer has fond memories of reading comic books. “I still remember I used to read Tinkle comics which were priced around 50 paise back then. They were full of new information and were very entertaining. Today’s comics are vulgar and overpriced”, he said. “I remember readingNagraj Comics when they were first introduced. I’ve also read Shaktimaan Comics”, he added.
Class 12th student Srishti Tiwari doesn’t like comic books and has never read them.”I am more into Batman and Spiderman, but those too on the big screen,” she said.
The early 80s brought up a rich comic book culture in India with introduction of characters like Nagraj, Doga and Shakti. The market saw many players like Manoj comics and others who had to shut down operations. Due to the worsening sales and little funding, the India comic book industry is now on the verge of extinction.
The story first appeared in The Times of Bennett, the lab newspaper produced by the first semester students of The Times School of Media.
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HALDWANI: With the rise of
“Comic book sales have decreased drastically in the last decade. Before 2010, there was a huge demand for them and the readers used to pre-order the comics that they wanted to read and would buy 5-6 comics in a visit,” says Mohit Tiwari, a bookstall owner near Durga city centre in Dehra Dun.
Talking about the reason for the declining interest of people, said: “It can be because the comic books are now available for free download in PDF format that are illegally put on websites. People now don’t really like reading as there are many movies and web shows that are based on comic book characters, which they like watching”.
Suresh Newalia, a local book publisher and owner of Aadharshila Publishing, says, “We rarely publish comics now, as the demand is negligible.” Asked about the sale before 2010, he said: “At that time, we were publishing
Manas Negi, an IIT Delhi aspirant and a former comic book enthusiast, said he has long stopped reading comic books. “I was a Raj Comics fan. I stopped reading them not because I didn’t want to but because there were no comic books available in the market.”
Aks Gupta, a Class 7th student said he had no knowledge about Indian comic books and their characters. “I've only heard about superheroes like Spiderman and Batman. I don’t know anything about Indian comic book characters,” he added.
Chandan Mishra, a retired engineer has fond memories of reading comic books. “I still remember I used to read Tinkle comics which were priced around 50 paise back then. They were full of new information and were very entertaining. Today’s comics are vulgar and overpriced”, he said. “I remember reading
Class 12th student Srishti Tiwari doesn’t like comic books and has never read them.”I am more into Batman and Spiderman, but those too on the big screen,” she said.
The early 80s brought up a rich comic book culture in India with introduction of characters like Nagraj, Doga and Shakti. The market saw many players like Manoj comics and others who had to shut down operations. Due to the worsening sales and little funding, the India comic book industry is now on the verge of extinction.
The story first appeared in The Times of Bennett, the lab newspaper produced by the first semester students of The Times School of Media.
Join exciting programmes offered by Bennett University
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