CHENNAI: In 1984, 17-year-old S Vijayan entered the Tamil comics industry as a publisher. Today, 28 years later, he remains the lone standing publisher of comics in the state, with his Sivakasi-based Prakash Publishers. Popular among fans of this form of literature for having introduced memorable characters like Lucky Luke, Mike Blueberry, Steel Claw and The Spider under the banner of Lion Comics, Vijayan says that the Tamil comics industry is in an exciting state of rejuvenation now. Vijayan is the son of publishing veteran Soundara Pandian, who started publishing Muthu Comics, that was a rage in the 1970s. Yet, he began republishing this mild form of lit only in January this year. When asked why, he blames the expectations of retailers that publishers should sell comics on credit and the flooding of paperback novels in the early ’90s as the factors that affected this industry the most. “But now, regular fans of this medium do not have qualms in shelling out a few extra bucks to get hold of their favourite cowboy stories (Those who still read comics are adults who started out as young readers),” Vijayan says. Earlier, I would keep my cover price low, selling a `200 comic for `20 so that more people can buy it. But I’ve realised that it does not work that way,” he says. “We’ve switched to a new format and are printing the comics in quality, imported paper, using more colours and have raised the standards to cater to diehard comic fans.” Despite Vijayan thinking that Tamil comics have a bright future in the state, there is only one book store in Chennai that stocks these comics. M Vediyappan, managing director, Discovery Book Palace, KK Nagar, claims his to be the only store that has comics in Tamil adorning its racks, and says he saw a potential for these after they proved to be a sell-out in the recent book fair. “I brought in three titles and on the first day, eight copies were sold! I will stock more titles by the next week and am hoping for more business,” he says. “If more people read Tamil comics, more stores will stock them. Then again, if more stores have them, more people might have a chance to read them,” he explains. But Vijayan promises his loyal comic lovers one thing. “I don’t know about volumes or numbers, but will definitely bring out world-class comics in Tamil.” Most Tamil comics in the market are translations from French, Spanish or Italian. Vijayan analyses, “Size-wise, Tamil Nadu must not be too different from France. But over there, they are able to sell half a million copies of comics and the readers also have a number of titles to choose from. I think the basic habit of reading makes all the difference.” But could the fact that there are more translated comics than authentic Tamil ones here cause the mammoth difference in demand? “A couple of publishers tried doing local comics with Indian themes, but for starters, there was no quality of art,” he explains. Even if publishers have a promising group of target audience, when they can’t deliver art-wise. It’s a huge handicap. Even if we have good artists here, we cannot afford to pay them like the European or American industries can.”
Comments
0 comment