World Comics India

Comics tell stories through a combination of both the pictorial and verbal formats. Their popularity comes from the fact that they are a powerful medium of story telling. Comics are often seen as trivial, as "something for children", and, of course, a big part of the mainstream comics sold today are just that. But comics, in a nutshell, are a visual form of storytelling, where texts and effects are added to extend meaning to the visual narrative.
Comics can perhaps be compared with a film that stops at intervals. What we see in the panels (boxes) of the comics is a still image from the story. What is outside the picture and what has happened between the two panels is left to the reader to imagine and fill out. They can be serious, funny, thought provoking entertaining and have an intrinsic energy of their own, they also have the power to stimulate, provoke and urge one to action. So far in India, this medium has been restricted to professional comics artists, who have used the techniques to express themselves in popular mainstream comics that deal with mythology, adventure or basic humour, eg Amar Chitrakatha, Lotpot, and the Indian reprints of Phantom, Tarzan, Superman, Spiderman, Tintin, Asterix etc.


Chekout World Comics India (WCI), a conglomeration of artists, media persons, social activists and grassroots people who are formulating a social movement that identifies comics as a powerful tool to perpetuate social change