When searching the Internet for news or reactions to the Diamond Comics situation, search results for “OTHER Diamond Comics” frequently come up. The company, based in Delhi, India, claims to be “India’s largest comic book distributor and publisher.” Established in 1978, it publishes local favorites like Chacha Chaudhary, Biloo, Pinki and Motu Patlu. They are also the official Hindi licensee for Phantom, Mandrake, Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, He-Man and James Bond.
Although official, some of the comics that have made their way into our feeds are quite surprising.
These are the Bengali version of Spider-Man, and the cover is clearly a redrawing of a beloved and famous issue, but Red Hulk may have secretly made his debut at Diamond Inc., and the equally nefarious Yellow -The same goes for goblins.
But this baffled me.
At first it looks like there are two people in the bed due to the strange perspective and strange cropping…but then it looks more like a family huddled anxiously around a hospital bed…Spider-Man watches Peter from above. While peeping. To be honest, I have no idea which famous Spider-Man story this is from, so please let me know in the comments.
While looking for more information, I came across an informative blog post by Abhishek Kumar (remember those?) that covered all the major comic book publishers in India. According to Kumar,
Diamond Comics, a Delhi-based publisher, acquired the publishing rights to Spider-Man in 1994. These were digest-style books that used the famous Amazing Spider-Man books as covers.
Here’s yet another version.
The rough text and dialogue are funny, but there’s also something very endearing about it… The power of comics and their most famous characters to find readers around the world and transform into different versions never diminishes.
According to Wikipedia, comics are very popular in India, and are called “Chitrakatha” (meaning picture story) and often deal with mythological themes. In the late ’80s and early ’90s, the most popular titles “easily sold more than 500,000 copies in a shelf life of a few weeks.” Due to competition from video games and television, the title currently sells only 50,000 copies. However, my own reporting over the years has shown that Comic-Con is now a major event in India, and it’s not uncommon for North American creators and publishers to attend as guests (and, of course, the requisite geek celebrities). together). India is the second most populous country. With so many people speaking English around the world (the US is first, followed by Nigeria), it’s easy for US-based entertainment to cross borders. Of course, we have seen several American comic book publishers trying to cross the border to reach India’s huge potential audience. – and bringing Indian comic talent to the United States.
Like every culture, India has its own cartoon icons. For example, late Pran director Chacha Chaudhary is Diamond’s most popular character, portrayed as a wise old man who cracks jokes and helps others solve their problems. It’s the ultimate low concept, but it’s all in the execution. Throw in a low-cost car and it becomes irresistible.
With their quirky approach to composition and unfamiliar characters, you can spend hours staring at these covers. For example, this seems like some kind of vampire comic.
And, of course, there’s the popular “lion bites off a man’s arm while another man jumps into flames on a motorcycle” genre.
Anyway, Indian Diamond Comics is still going strong. If you know more about all of this than I do (although my standards are very low), feel free to provide more information in the comments.
Something like this:
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