In India people like me are rare... or so I thought when I first started reading comic books back in the late 1970s and then on through the 1980s and 1990s. Hardly did I come across anyone else who shared my passion for reading and collecting comic books in my city.
I have been collecting comic books from 1982; starting with the local Indrajal comics and Amar Chitra Kathas. Marvel and DC were the two big publishers then and some of their releases made it to India that too in poor condition and were rather expensive. Rs 5 each was expensive back then in the 1980s, especially to a school-going kid. Now of course it is different.
There is a whole nation load of Indian comic book readers and quite a few serious collectors. Comic Books are also much easier to acquire today but no less expensive though. That is if you want to collect an entire series or some of those awesome Graphic Novels you see at the LandMark and Crossword Stores across India.
Bangalore based GOTHAM Comics did start of well, bringing a lot of hope and joy to the average comic book reader in India, both in content and pricing, but alas they fizzled out and died rather tamely. And it was definitely a major letdown by Gotham Comics to have left a lot of titles with story lines hanging and shut shop like that. However the number of specials they released was commendable.
Presently I’m back to square one, ie, acquiring comic books the way I used to – by browsing around the old bookshops in the city. You can also order them on the Internet… but you see, paying close to Rs 250000 for the entire Conan Collection to be shipped here from the US is pretty darn expensive!
DarkHorse's Conan started off well with Busiek, Nord and Stewart... but it's gone a bit downhill since.
300 and Kingdom Come in their original US print are a must buy for any serious collector. The Star Wars Clone Wars entire set is available at the big bookstores now for less than 5000 rupiah; and it is worth every paisa.
Gotham Comics at Bangalore has started reprinting the thin monthlies again and I sure hope they reprint the specials too. There are a lot of loose ends they left hanging… but then that’s a common situation for a comic book collector in India to suffer.
Hoping to make some profit out of any kind of books collection in India is a pipe dream, but then sometimes it pays off. Funnily I have sold off most of my Archie series collection at a profit. As well as some of the old Tintins and Asterixes and also the OmPapas and Lucky Lukes. But as far as the real good stuff is concerned, as in Marvel, Image, DarkHorse and DC, etc. you’d be lucky to get back half the price you paid.
I have been collecting comic books from 1982; starting with the local Indrajal comics and Amar Chitra Kathas. Marvel and DC were the two big publishers then and some of their releases made it to India that too in poor condition and were rather expensive. Rs 5 each was expensive back then in the 1980s, especially to a school-going kid. Now of course it is different.
There is a whole nation load of Indian comic book readers and quite a few serious collectors. Comic Books are also much easier to acquire today but no less expensive though. That is if you want to collect an entire series or some of those awesome Graphic Novels you see at the LandMark and Crossword Stores across India.
Bangalore based GOTHAM Comics did start of well, bringing a lot of hope and joy to the average comic book reader in India, both in content and pricing, but alas they fizzled out and died rather tamely. And it was definitely a major letdown by Gotham Comics to have left a lot of titles with story lines hanging and shut shop like that. However the number of specials they released was commendable.
Presently I’m back to square one, ie, acquiring comic books the way I used to – by browsing around the old bookshops in the city. You can also order them on the Internet… but you see, paying close to Rs 250000 for the entire Conan Collection to be shipped here from the US is pretty darn expensive!
DarkHorse's Conan started off well with Busiek, Nord and Stewart... but it's gone a bit downhill since.
300 and Kingdom Come in their original US print are a must buy for any serious collector. The Star Wars Clone Wars entire set is available at the big bookstores now for less than 5000 rupiah; and it is worth every paisa.
Gotham Comics at Bangalore has started reprinting the thin monthlies again and I sure hope they reprint the specials too. There are a lot of loose ends they left hanging… but then that’s a common situation for a comic book collector in India to suffer.
Hoping to make some profit out of any kind of books collection in India is a pipe dream, but then sometimes it pays off. Funnily I have sold off most of my Archie series collection at a profit. As well as some of the old Tintins and Asterixes and also the OmPapas and Lucky Lukes. But as far as the real good stuff is concerned, as in Marvel, Image, DarkHorse and DC, etc. you’d be lucky to get back half the price you paid.
