Sequential Storytelling in India: Pioneers and Flag-bearers #3 - Diamond Comics
In the heydey of the Indian comics industry, various publishers tried to dominate the market. Amongst them, 'Diamond Comics' remains the undisputed winner.
Diamond Comics was founded in 1978 by Gulshan Rai. Like many other publishing houses, earlier they used to publish Hindi novels, storybooks for kids and family magazines. But comics proved to be the real gamechanger for them.
The key reason for their success lies in their reach to each and every corner of the nation. In the 90s and 00s, you could easily find Diamond Comics even in the bookshops of a small town. This attributed to creating a strong fan base and the sale of millions of copies. Their competitors failed to achieve this level of distribution which resulted in their eventual downfall.
Since the beginning, they have been producing comics in Hindi, English and various regional languages. In a multilingual country like India, the significance of such diversification cannot be stressed enough.
Anurag Jawale
The stories were primarily targeted towards small children. Graphic violence was therefore toned down. This motivated parents to choose Diamond Comics over other publishers and pushed the sales further.
Diamond Comics is best known for its flagship character Chacha Chaudhary, the most identifiable Indian comic book character. He was created by Cartoonist Pran aka Father of Indian Comic Books. Along with Chacha Chaudhary, his other characters like Sabu, Billoo, Pinki, Channi Chachi, Shrimatiji and Raman etc. constitute most of the Diamond Comics universe and contribute to most of the sales. Almost all of the stories containing these characters belong to the funnies category.
Apart from these, Diamond Comics published characters by other creators in this similar genre as well. They also experimented with superhero characters like Fauladi Singh, Agniputra-Abhay etc.
For a long time, they have been acquiring the rights of western superheroes and reprinting their tales for Indian readers. The list includes popular heroes like The Phantom, Mandrake, James Bond, He-Man, Spider-Man, Tarzan etc.
With the regular publishing of new books and the success of the live-action and animated adaptations of their characters, Diamond Comics seems determined to entertain the coming generations for years to come.
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