Comicology: comic books as culture in India

Abstract

Building upon the intersection of anthropology's and Indian comic books' focus on ‘culture’, this article addresses two questions: How do comic books in India represent culture? And, what insight about mass media, representation and interpretation can be gleaned with the comic book reader's emerging role of creator? To trace continuities and shifts in comic books' engagement with culture and to convey the ‘different scene’ contemporary readers' experience, this article focuses on the comic brands Amar Chitra Katha, Indrajal Comics, Liquid Comics and Vimanika. Indian comic books highlight distinct cultural globalization processes and social media networks as a space for history, and for pedagogy that teaches how to read comics and how to make comics.