If you have grown up with Calvin And Hobbes, Hagar The Horrible and Garfield, then you are much like us. There’s something calming about a good old comic book, from the DC and Marvel world to the Amar Chitra Kathas and Raj Comics closer home. Or even that black-and-white strip in the papers. And taking the art of comics to the digital world, Indian writers and illustrators are switching things up a bit. Making the subjects more relatable and with a dose of India-centric humour, here’s our pick of new age web comics, that originated on home turf.
7 Indian Web Comics To Bookmark Right Now
Brown Paper Bag
Satire that appeal to the young and the old, Brown Paper Bag is a series that will make you giggle at each chapter. The mastermind behind the series is Sailesh aka Saigo, a 20-year-old Bangalorean. Blending humour with daily life, you can expect topics like opening the door in the wee hours of the morning for house help, being left handed in India and even using profanities in front of parents.
Find it on Facebook here.
Check out the website here.
UrbanLore
Created by Kaveri Gopalakrishnan and Aarthi Parthasarathy, UrbanLore reflects upon urban lifestyle. It’s a humorous take on women’s restrictions, convincing auto wallahs to you to a particular destination {most relatable of all!} and even give your a glimpse into conversation at good old Koshy’s. While Aarthi pens down the text, Kaveri illustrates them. The pair graphically and humorously capture the growth of our beloved city, and we can’t get enough of it.
Find them on Facebook here.
Check out their website here.
Crocodile In Water, Tiger On Land
Addressing social and political matters, this satirical comic web series is a must-read. While humour may not be in your face, their narrative style stands out. Written and illustrated by an anonymous artist, the series is meant to be thought provoking. With minimal action, and a lot of information, each episode has a character {sometimes with a voiceover} narrating and buckling down on socio-political contexts, such as the Gulbarg Society Massacre and the reservation system. We recognise a Persepolis 2.0 {the anonymous version that got inspired by Satrapi} vibe and we are hooked.
Find them on Facebook here.
Check out their website here.
Sanitary Panels
Although not much of a breakthrough when it comes to the artistic aspect of it, Sanitary Panels makes up for it with giggle-worthy humour. Reflecting up on gender roles, personal life and social interactions, the series is great for quick reads. Rachita, the artist {who is also a human rights activist} dabble in rational and situational humour for her main material.
Find them on Facebook here.
Homewards
More a graphic novel than a comic strip, we’re adding Homewards to this list for its narrative technique. It’s a story about a boy’s reluctant return to his hometown Guwahati. Forced to leave his friends and memories in Delhi, you follow him on his journey back home while catching glimpses of his childhood. Although it may drag on a bit, it an amalgamation of interesting stories. All the stories are based on true events of Siddharth Sengupta, the co-creator along with Arjun Jassal, as part of The BlueAnt Digital Intelligence which works with people, media and technology interactions, to promote the art of graphic novels.
Find The BlueAnt Digital Intelligence on Facebook here.
Check out their website here.
Green Humour
There are more than 250 comics by Green Humour that have wildlife animals and birds taking centre stage. They target wild life and nature conversations, with a sense of humour and a solid agenda. Created by Rohan Chakravarty, a Delhiite who gave up his career in dentistry to pursue cartooning, the web series brings to light a lot of environmental issues using the creative appeal. A definite thumbs up for this one!
Find them on Facebook here.
Check out their website here.
The Testimonial Comic
Definitely a Game Of Thrones fan, Nishant Jain, a Calcutta boy, draws up political satires {sometimes even using actual characters from the hit television series} and situational humour in this series. What we enjoy with this one is it’s breezy format. There’s no specific plot as Nishant writes and draws as he pleases, drawing on current times for inspiration. You can count on anecdotes, Bollywood and anything in daily life to be part of the tales. Using stick figures and sometimes elaborate detailed characters, his little anecdotes are witty and make for a great pass time.
Find them on Facebook here.
Check out their website here.
