[Dean's World] G. Willow Wilson: Comics Gone Global

[notify at powerblogs.com]

Posted by G. Willow Wilson:
Comics Gone Global
http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1179089165.shtml


   When I tell people in Egypt I write comics, they usually smile at me
   brightly and ask "Spiderman or Mickey?" In other words, they assume
   the medium is restricted to colorful moralizing children's lit. Comics
   targeted to older audiences--young adults and adults--haven't quite
   made it to this part of the world yet, at least not as a visible
   sea-change. The US, Europe, Brazil and Japan are the big consumers of
   comics with more mature, complex, harder-to-digest themes. However, in
   five years that demographic could be very different.

   The dark horse of the comics industry is the newly launched Shakti
   line of [1]Virgin Comics for Parabola Magazine. All of the comics in
   the Shakti line are based on the bewilderingly diverse mythology of
   the Indian Subcontinent, and its creators have drawn heavily on the
   big-name talent of the region--including both, count them, both
   Chopras (Deepak and Gotham)--as well as recruiting newcomers. Among
   the latter is [2]Saurav Mohapatra, with whom I've been emailing back
   and forth in recent weeks as reviews and reactions to Shakti pour in.
   (He's very funny, check out his stuff.) With a potential audience in
   the billions, this and similar comics endeavors have an unprecedented
   opportunity to reach new readers and break new ground.

   The globalization of comics: trend to watch.

References

   1. http://virgincomics.com/
   2. http://www.mohaps.com/