Indian Comics Magazines include those comics series that publish a collection of short stories and illustrations instead of a separate series. These are usually anthology series that contain short stories and novels from different genres in the medium of comics which are too undersized for a standalone book. The stories vary from Indian mythology, history, biography, action, mystery, horror, science fiction, fantasy and mystery genres. The most popular Indian comics magazines that emerged during the formative years of Indian comics are Amar Chitra Katha, Chitra Bharati Kathamala, Chandamama, Madhu Muskan etc. These comics helped in spreading awareness amongst the readers and created the base for the medium in India on which the contemporary Indian comics are evolving and expanding. Modern anthology series like Tinkle, Kriyetic Comics 100 Pages, Level10 Comic Jump, and Comix.India, are taking the genre to the next level. They aim to attract and inspire young readers to create better comics and thus develop the Indian comics magazine medium.
The most prominent Indian Comics Magazines are mentioned below-
Amar Chitra Katha
Amar Chitra Katha, published by India Book House and created by Anant Pai, is amongst the largest selling comic book series in India. It is available in 20 regional languages and includes stories from Indian mythologies and epics, fables, folklore and history, in a well illustrated comics format. Amar Chitra Katha is now available online and can be accessed from mobile as well. Recently it has launched an animated show that is aired on Cartoon Network India.
Chandamama
Chandamama is a renowned Indian comics magazine which constitutes illustrated tales from Indian epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata as well as educational comics, caricatures and superheroes. The magazine is published in different languages, namely Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and English. In November 2008, Chandamama was invented in terms of content, artwork, presentation and language.
Madhu Muskan
Madhu Muskan was a comic magazine that was published weekly during the late 1970s. The magazine contained graphically illustrated stories, which were mostly funny and comical. Madhu Muskan featured many characters like Daddy Ji, Babloo, Popat-Chaupat, Sustram-Chustram, Minni, Dakoo Paan Singh and others that were mostly humorous. Other than these, it contained stories like other magazines as well.
Indrajal Comics
This Indian comics magazine was published by Bennet, Coleman & Co in 1964. The issues contained various stories based on popular western characters like Phantom, Mandrake, Flash Gordon, Buz Sawyer etc. The Indian comic hero Bahadur was also featured in Indrajal Comics.
Chitra Bharti Kathamala
Chitra Bharti Kathamala was one of the most renowned Indian comics magazines that reached its peak during 1980s. It was published in both in Hindi and English on every fortnight and a total of 24 issues were released in a year. Some of the characters that were regularly featured are Secret Agent 005, Private Detective Kapil, Manasputra, Chandru. Other than these, several stories on themes like fairy tales, humour, social, history etc were also featured.
Lion Comics
Lion comics is a comics magazine published in Tamil, along with its sister publication Muthu Comics. Most of the stories were Tamil translations of popular American and European comic books.
Tinkle
Tinkle is a monthly comics magazine published by the India Book House. Founded by Anant Pai, it was first launched in 1980 and the brand was obtained by ACK Media in 2007. It comprises of comics, stories, puzzles and contests, mainly aimed at children but also attracts adults as well. Tinkle is available in English and other languages like Malayalam.
Some of the other Indian Comics Magazines of that period are Radha comics, Manoj comics and Nutan comics. Recently few comics brands have been launched that follow the magazine format for showcasing illustrated stories, like Kriyetic Comics 100 Pages, Level10 Comic Jump and Comix.India.
Kriyetic Comics
Kriyetic, launched in 2007, is a comics magazine that publishes short stories written and illustrated by local artists. It is published in Bengali as well as in English. Kriyetic Comics 100 Pages include various short stories on several genres like fantasy, humour, action, science fiction, horror, adventure and other children`s stories. Some of its most popular stories include Man in the Mirror, The Hunt, Punu Series, Chor Police Series, Shesh Juddho etc.
Comic Jump
Level10`s Comic Jump is an anthology comic magazine that is published on a monthly basis. It was first published in 2010 with aim of serving teen and matured readers. Comic Jump initiated with the titles Shaurya, The Rabhas Incident and Northern Song. Now it also includes Daksh and Batu Gaiden.
Comix.India
Comix.India is an anthology comics magazine that is published online at Pothi.com and operates on the model of print-on-demand. It is a 250 page self-published black and white comics which is released independently. Comix.India provides a platform for presenting the works of both experienced and new comics creators.
