Bangaloreans get hooked to comic books

Bangalore, Sept 10: Bangaloreans love comic books. Their love for comic books was well-proved when thousands of Bangaloreans thronged the two-day-long

Con Express Bengaluru, organised by Comic Con India in Bangalore. The Comic Con Express, a travelling comic book exhibition ended on an enthusiastic note on Sunday, Sept 9. Organisers say around 30,000 people visited the comic book exhibition. This is for the first time Bangalore had hosted an exhibition solely dedicated to comic books.

The exhibition was first hosted in Delhi and Mumbai before it came to Bangalore. The travelling comic book exhibition has been packaged on the lines of hugely popular Comic Con held in USA.

Jatin Verma, founder of Comic Con India, a Delhi-based company said that he was extremely happy with the kind of reception they had received in Bangalore.

"Bangaloreans have given us a warm welcome. We are thrilled by the reception. We hope to come back next year with renewed vigour to Bangalore," added Verma.

The comic book exhibition hosted around 110 stalls. The organiser said around 85 participants took part in the event. The participants mostly included comic book publishers, gaming companies and individual illustrators. Most of the stalls exhibited comic books published by Indian publishers.

Comic Con Express also launched around 20 new comic books.

Visitors had a lot of fun at the exhibition. Many also turned up dressed as their favourite comic book characters, adding colour to the entire ambiance.

Organiser said they hosted one special show at the exhibition, where around 116 people attended the event dressed in comic book characters. Comic book lovers were seen dressed as Spider-Mans, Grand Theft Auto characters, animation characters and even people dressed in costumes inspired by Halo video games.

Comic enthusiasts said the event was a perfect platform for illustrators and artists. They also feel the exhibition helped in enlighting people about the genre of comic books among the uninitiated.

"We have a large number of illustrators and artists in India and Bangalore too. Till recently comic books were not very viable business option for publishers, due to lack of buyers. But the popularity of comic books are on the rise and Indian publishers are helping newcomers to publish their work," said Rohan M, a self-confessed comic book lover.

OneIndia News