Virgin Comics

I was a big fan of comics (Indian comics, that is. I wasn’t introduced to the western comics and manga until much later in life) back in the day. My favorite was [[wp>Super_Commando_Dhruva|Super Commando Dhruv]], followed closely by [[wp>Nagraj_(comics)|Nagraj]] and a [[http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/i/india.htm|bunch of others]] (special mention to [[wp>Fauladi_singh|Fauladi Singh]] for sparking my earliest fascination with the world of sci-fi).

{{ http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7c/Dhruva.jpg|Super Commando Dhruv}}

I haven’t followed Indian comics in a while now. But when I go back to India, I try to get my hand on some comics, and I find that //absolutely nothing// has changed in all these years. If anything, the plots have been made worse. In those days, I was impressed with the graphics of [[Fighter_Toads_(comics)|Fighter Toads]] when it came out (only to realize later that it was a cheap copy of the original [[http://www.ninjaturtles.com/|Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]. So naturally I was a bit disappointed to see that there have been no changes in either story telling or graphics. No new compelling comic heroes have come out, the country’s youngsters seem to be losing interest in comics (thanks to the Internet).

Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised (and relieved) when I read the [[http://www.virgincomics.com/pdf/virginfree.pdf|zeroth issue (PDF)]] from [[http://virgincomics.com|Virgin Comics]]. I have one word — superb! Go read it — the PDF is free to download. This is a preview issue — it introduces two of the story lines — [[http://www.virgincomics.com/N_devi.html|Devi]] and [[http://www.virgincomics.com/ramayan.html|Ramayana Reborn]]. The graphics are professional, catchy and oozing with style. The story lines are intriguing and take inspiration from the mystic and mythic side of India.

{{ http://www.virgincomics.com/images/gallery/devi/thumbnails/devi_01_clr.jpg}}

{{http://www.virgincomics.com/images/gallery/snakewoman/thumbnails/snake-woman-cvr-clr_light%20copy.jpg}}

About time I say! The comics are likely to be pricey and the captions are in English for now. But I don’t think thats going to the affect the target market or the popularity. If this doesn’t fly, nothing will. I truly hope VG will shake up the Indian comic scene. I think this particular market is severely under utilized, and a lot of money can be made with the right focus. Shekhar Kapur and company have made a good move with Virgin Comics and I’m really looking forward to their issues now!

{{http://www.virgincomics.com/images/gallery/sadhu/thumbnails/sadhu-1.jpg}}

They have a couple of other line-ups as well: [[http://www.virgincomics.com/N_snake.html|snake woman]], [[http://www.virgincomics.com/N_sadhu.html|sadhu]] and [[http://www.virgincomics.com/sevenbrothers.html|seven brothers]]. These characters make up the //Shakti// series in their portfolio. In addition to them, [[wp>Virgin_Comics|Virgin Comics]] will be rolling out two other series: //Director’s Cut// and //Voices//.

The only thing I don’t like about them is the website. It **sucks**. There’s too much flash, at times it doesn’t work, the flash is mostly useless and completely not user friendly, the website doesn’t comply by any web standards and can hardly be said to meet any accessibility standards. Mr. Kapur, kudos for your efforts, but please don’t spoilt everything with a crappy website — hire some //good// professionals to make your website as good as your comics!