Where are our Indian super heroes?

Oh if only we had saved our old comics of Phantom and Mandrake! We would have become lakhpati’s with no effort.

Yes, that is the value of the old Indrajal comics today. Even till a few years ago, we used to come across some old Indrajal comics and even old Amar Chitra Kathas. But today, even the roadside vendors know that their value. If at all they have these old treasures, they sell it from anywhere ranging from Rs.3000 to Rs..50,000 per comic, depending on the condition of the comic. The super heroes of India – Bahadur and then Phantom, Mandrake and the fascinating world of Tinkle and Amar Chitra Katha, these have become a part of folklore.

We have advanced so much in terms of movie making and all that which accounts for entertainment, yet, like the olden times, we do  not have a single homegrown super hero . We now have children reading or seeing Batman, Spiderman and the likes. Or else you have the Oriental, Shinchan and the docile Dora. Were are our Indian super heroes? We do not have them even in comics?

Comics is a very easy way of helping develop the habit of reading. And it’s a pity that we do not have too many in this space. At Comic Con India, the annual comics convention held in the country since 2011, the median age of visitors is 21 and children are hardly seen here.  Unlike in Japan and Europe, comics in India have not mirrored the growth of the media and entertainment sector. Hope the publishers see this wide gap, get more comics and Indian super heroes and help build the children of today also a world of fantasy.