Indian Comics: From Making History to Becoming History

Abstract

If one thinks of superhero comics today, one instantly thinks of Marvel and DC. For the past century these two American comics publishers have successfully established themselves all around the world however, in the late 80s and early 90s this was not the case. There were Indian comics publishers like Diamond comics, Raj comics and Tulsi comics which are credited for creating some iconic Indian superheroes and characters like Nagraj, Chacha Chaudhary, Angara etc. Many millennials have grown up reading these comics. From the 1980s to 1990s, Indian comics industry was at the zenith of its success. Indian comics once used to be an addictive craze for school-going children according to the data collected around its heydays. This industry successfully sold over five lakh copies during the course of its shelf life of several weeks. However, with digitalisation and other factors like lack of competition and technological updation, focusing more on quantity, lack of planning to cope up with changing readership and media came a period which was so detrimental for Indian comics that more than 50 publications were shut down.  This paper seeks to critically analyse the possible reasons behind the demise of Indian comics industry with a historical perspective.