Most North American fans associate the international comic book market with Japan and the United Kingdom, and possibly the Wu Xia titles from Hong Kong. Indian comics rarely come into the conversation, but Indusverse co-founder and CEO Arunabh Kumar wants to change this trend in India and abroad.
Kumar (according to an interview with The Indian Express) intends to “empower artists and writers from India to tell stories that will showcase Indian culture and history to the whole world and also transcend across media”.
Kumar comes to the world of comics as a long-time fan and someone with experience getting new media off the ground. His successful Youtube streaming channel TVF (otherwise known as “The Viral Fever” which boasts over 7 million subscribers) taught him how to “tell contemporary stories” in a new way and he sees the Indusverse as a “…natural progression of taking the idea of creating contemporary stories to the next level”.
Along with partners Alok Sharma and Saumin Patel, Kumar is looking to bring Indian comic books back to the popularity levels they saw in the 1980’s when India experienced a home grown comic Renaissance. Kumar is realistic however and understands that the audience for physical comic books has shrunk in India (and worldwide) since the 1980’s, but he hopes that “The comic book culture in India is going through a slow yet steady revival. The audience may be limited but there is a vibrant range of comics being created by indigenous creators.” Kumar envisions each of their titles mirroring the pacing of television series with story arcs similar to the way that Western comic books focus on five to six part stories that can be easily collected into graphic novels.
The three launch titles from Indusverse include #the Beginning, Stunt, and Outrage, which are primarily superhero and action-based, and have garnered some notable attention from writers Mark Millar and Chuck Dixon. Millar called Stunt “completely brilliant” and Dixon praised Outrage for “…masterful comic book storytelling”.
According to a recent twitter post on June 3, plans for distribution worldwide should be announced soon, and you can check out the Indusverse website for a preview of the first three titles. Stay tuned to Conskipper for more news on the Indusverse in the coming months.
