India's comic industry began in the mid-1960s when the leading newspaper
The Times of India launched
Indrajal Comics. The industry evolved later in India. Up until the late 1960s the comics were only enjoyed by the children of wealthy parents. But from that time until the early 1990s they established themselves in the market. In the 1980s, at least 5.5 million copies of comics such as Heroes of Faith series were sold in India. which were launched by
Comix Theory to promote comics digitally and bring out various topics of discourse in mainstream comics which had not been present before, like philosophy, history, fine art, theatre, and new artists under the exegesis of creative and independent research scholar
Shambhu Nath Mahto. A dedicated news portal, Comics Byte, has covered Indian comics and activities related to them. Recently,
VR- and
AR-enabled comics were seen as being distinct from the long-exploited 3D comics of the past.
TBS Planet Comics released VR comics in which a hidden treasure box can be discovered by holding a smartphone over the pages of comics. West Bengal based Kolkata Comics also published AR-capable comics and translated comics from
Bengali to
English for viewing on mobile devices.
Webcomics have been a popular medium in India since the early 2000s.
Indian webcomics are successful as they reach a large audience for free and they are frequently used by the country's younger generation to spread
social awareness on topics such as
politics and
feminism. These webcomics receive a large amount of exposure by being spread through
social media. There were also publishers solely dedicated to bringing licensed content into the Indian comics market. From around 1997 to 2008, Gotham Comics published
Spiderman: India, a version of the character
Spider-Man.
Dolton Comics, courtesy of
Chandamama, had many
DC characters published in India in various languages, mainly
Superman and
Batman were staple products. The publication of licensed characters by Indian comics publishers has a long history, which includes publishers like Amar Chitra Katha,
Madhumuskan,
Gowersons,
Lion Comics, Egmont,
Euro Kids, and in recent years after 2020,
Regal Comics,
Fenil Comics,
Shakti Comics, and many more. , illustrated by Pratap Mullick. India hosted its first ever
comics convention in February 2011. According to 2012 estimates, the Indian comic publishing industry was worth over 100 million dollars. Diamond Comics,
Manoj Comics, Raj Comics, Diamond Toons, and
Tulsi Comics have gained immense readership and fanbases in north India since the 1980s because of their popular characters, like
Chacha Chaudhary,
Billoo,
Pinki,
Nagraj,
Super Commando Dhruva,
Hawaldar Bahadur,
Angara,
Jamboo and many more. Creators like
Anant Pai,
Abid Surti,
Pran,
Pratap Mullick,
Enver Ahmed,
Anupam Sinha, Manu,
Ved Prakash Sharma,
Parshuram Sharma, and many more are well known in north Indian comics for creating various comics characters and producing volumes of works during their active period. From 2005 up to recent times, there have been many attempts by recently ventured and old comics publishers to revive the Indian comics industry, including initiatives from Level 10 Comics,
Yali Dream Creations, Cheeseburger Comics,
Holycow Entertainment, Chariot Comics,
Ayumi Comics,
Red Streak Comics,
Rovolt Comics,
Vimanika Comics, TBS Planet Comics, UFC,
Dream Comics,
Swapnil Comics,
Vaishnavi Comics, Fenil Comics,
Dhaansu Productions and the surviving Raj Comics itself. Amar Chitra Katha, Raj Comics, Diamond Comics, and Diamond Toons have ventured into other entertainment media, like feature films, web series, games, and mobile applications since the late 1990s, and have continuously attempted to widen their impact on the comics-reading population. From last 2 decade, there has been a notable rise in manga and anime as part of global trend. Around 2005 to 2010 many Indian creators, e.g., Jazyl Homavazir and independent comics publishers, e.g., Illustrated Orchid, began releasing manga comics. The popularity of
manga and
anime in India has led to
Japanese manga-inspired comic books, such as
Mythology, a comic book based on
Hindu mythology that has been released in India,
Singapore,
Malaysia and
Europe.
Batu Gaiden is a manga fantasy series which incorporates
cricket into mythology. In more recent years from 2020 and afterwards, Cosmics (with published titles Nirvana, Soul Contract and Whispers of Void), Qissa Comics (with their published titles The Worlds Beyond, Six Paths, and PowerPlay)., bullseye, Zodiac ( with published titles Yudhishter) is following the way and bringing their new contents base on varied themes of Indian mythos and epics, modern age themes, and global trends for their audiences. Apart from this, there are also some big giant publisher and companies who are grabbing the manga and anime trend, e.g,
Pratilipi and
Toonsutra of
Graphic India, who are exploiting AI in full-scale for creating their contents. == Indian comics publishers ==