Why you should go to the Comic Con Express

Comic Con Express, the travelling version of the Indian Comic Con, a convention of comic lovers and creators, will be in Mumbai on Saturday and Sunday to bring the community together to explore the really diverse realm of Indian comic books. There is so much going on out there that a comics ignoramus would never have known otherwise. With an amazing number of genres and styles at one place, the convention will do much to bring comics out of their niche. Their prime motive, say the organisers, is to bolster the “nascent comic culture” in India. When: 22 and 23 October, from 10am to 8pm. Where: World Trade Centre, Cuffe Parade Ticket: Entry is free So land up in a costume, attend workshops, add to your stash of reads, pick up merchandise, attend workshops and be a part of the contests. Here is why you should go there: 1) To meet Batu Gaiden — the homegrown Manga hero: The creators of Batu Gaiden will introduce him in comic form as well as anime. Gaiden is the hero in a time when the gods have forsaken the Earth. It’s a crazy mishmash in which Japanese art meets asuras and Vanaras meets mystical bladea and the power orbs. [caption id=“attachment_113438” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Comic Con Express Mumbai poster”]  [/caption] 2) To encounter the esoteric heart of Islam in comic strips:  At the event will also be launched 40 Sufi Comics, a compilation of comic strips created by Bangalore-based Arif and Ali, based on Sufi teachings. Their blog says that “alongside each comic are verses from the Holy Quran & Traditions from the Prophet & the Ahlul Bayt, related to the topic of the comic”. You can even read them online. Nowhere in the strips would you see the face of Prophet Mohammad. Why? The duo tells Deccan Chronicle in an interview: “Whenever Islamic art has been done, faces of religious personalities are never shown. Firstly, it’s believed that only God has to be worshiped. Secondly, nobody really knew what they looked like. Whenever there’s a movie showing the Prophet, they always show him from behind or cover his face — it’s more of a tradition.” 3) To welcome old heroes back: Indrajaal Comics, that brought to you The Phantom, Flash Gordon and Mandrake, is bringing back the detective teenager and his grandfather in a relaunch of the Adventures of Timpa that were published around 1988-89. A fan fondly remembers the series on an internet forum:

Timpa’s comics were full of adventures & comic-relief at the same time. Where Timpa was generally busy in finding some clue or nab those thugs, his grandpa (OR fondly called as ‘dadu’) is responsible of all those comic-reliefs n what’s a timing! :-))….one who read Timpa will definitely agree with me…actually, i read his comics mostly for presence of his ‘dadu’, who being a lazy n easily-get-scared old man, always with Timpa, be in under the daylight or in the very late night adventures Retrograde by Pop culture publishing:

4. To step into a world with no Google:  Retrograde, to be launched by Pop Culture Publishing here, creates a world “where only the most rudimentary tech still worked.”  Its publishers write on their site: Retrograde was a concept born out of the question: What would we do if tomorrow the world shut down… What would humanity do? How would our world change? A group formed by chance is our prism to tell the story of this likely improbable but ever-so slightly possible tomorrow." 5) To fathom the complexity of Shiva: After Kalki and Dhashavtaram, comes Shiva – the legends of the Immortal, a graphic novel to be launched at the event. This is book number one in the series and tells the story of  the universe’s beginning and Lord Shiva’s marriage to Sati. 6) To meet not just another crime fighting duo; they are women and filmi as hell: Adhiraj Singh’s second book, Widhwa Ma Andhi Behen, is about a mother-daughter pair that goes out fighting crime in the dead of the night_ ._ It’s creator tells Mid-Day in an interview: “It draws inspiration from the movies of the ’70s where the mother and the blind sister were integral to most stories… The hero and villain fight, the hero romances the heroine, what do the hero’s mother and sister do?” The book will be launched at the two-day event. 7) To bring home 200 superheroes, no less: Lunched in 2010 at the New York Comic Con, War of the Independents that has taken its creator, New Jersey-based Dave Ryan five years to complete, will be unveiled here. The miniseries brings together more than two hundred characters, some very well known and some less so, to face off against one common enemy. Its creator tells comicbookresources.com about the logistics of bringing together so many characters in one book:

Every creator was contacted individually by myself and respectfully asked if they wished to participate or not. If they gave an OK, a form had to be signed. It took a while to get all the forms signed, as you might imagine, but everything is ready to go now.

8 ) To take on from where Munkeeman left off:  He was spotted in Delhi in 2001 and now you’ll see him in Munkeeman, created by Tere Bin Laden director Abhishek Sharma who makes his foray into the graphic novel genre. 9) To step into Mario De Miranda’s Goa of 1951: Less dystopian, dramatic or fast paced, this one should be a departure from the norm. 1951, is illustrator Mario De Miranda’s graphic diary put together when he was Goa in 1951. Laid-back, observant and cluttered, in his signature satiristic style, the artist sketches Goa’s social landscape. To be launched at the event. 10) Merchandise. Merchandise. Merchandise: Where else will you find so much of it, all together. Visit the convention’s Facebook page here. For schedule, go here.