When I scour the web for news and reaction to the Diamond Comics situation, my searches often turn up other Diamond comics. The company, based in Delhi, India, calls itself “India’s largest comics distributor and publisher.” Founded in 1978, the publishing house publishes local favorites such as Chacha Chaudhary, Billoo, Pinki, Motu Patlu and many more. They are also official Hindi language license holders Phantom, Mandrake, Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, He-Man and James Bond.
While they may be official, some of the comics we’ve seen are pretty surprising.
These are the Bengali versions of Spider-Man, and the cover is clearly a repaint of the much-loved and famous creation – though the Red Hulk may have made a secret debut at the Diamond Show, as did the evil Yellow Goblin.
But this stumped me:
At first, the weird perspective and odd cropping make it look like two people in bed… but instead it appears to be a family anxiously gathered around the hospital bed… with Spider-Man playing Peeping Peter from above. I admit, I have no idea which famous Spider-Man story this is, so please help me in the comments.
While searching for more information, I came across this informative blog post (remember those?) Abhishek Kumarcovering all major comics publishers in India. According to Kumar,
Delhi-based Diamond Comics acquired the publishing rights for Spider-Man in 1994, and these were digest-format books with the famous Amazing Spider-Man books as covers.
Here’s another variant:
While the rough fonts and dialogue are funny, there’s also something very endearing… The power of comics and their most famous characters to find audiences around the world and evolve into different versions never fails.
Wikipedia tells us that comics were popular in India called Chitrakatha (meaning picture stories) and often covered mythological themes. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the most popular books “easily sold over 500,000 copies within a few weeks of shelf life.” With competition from video games and televisions, the game has now sold only 50,000 copies. However, from what I’ve reported over the years, comics fairs are now a major event in India, and it’s not uncommon to see North American creators and publishers as guests (along with the requisite nerds, of course). America, followed by Nigeria), so American entertainment easily crosses over, and of course we’ve seen several American comics publishers try to cross over into India’s huge potential audience – and bring Indian comic talent to the United States.
Like all cultures, India has its own comic icons. For example, the late Chacha Chaudhary take Diamond’s most popular character is described as a wise old man who cracks jokes while helping others solve their problems. The ultimate low concept, but it’s all in the execution. When you invest in a low-priced car, it’s irresistible.
I could spend hours looking at these covers, looking at their strange compositions and unfamiliar characters. For example, this is some kind of vampire comic, apparently:
Of course, there’s also the popular “lion bites off a guy’s arm while another guy jumps into flames on a motorcycle” type.
Regardless, Indian Diamond Comics is still going strong. If you know more about this than I do (the bar is very low), feel free to provide more information in the comments.
