The second day of Comic Con India was probably the busiest of all three days. The crowds were more difficult to navigate through and there were more kids with little or no idea about what was going on – jumping to look at people in costume and their favourite characters from popular books. The third day was a little bit more serious and there was a greater turn-out of people who were there to see Robert Crumb.
A hippie from Holland who had come to see Robert Crumb
The third day began a bit slowly. There were very few people around at about 11am when I reached the venue. There was still enough space to walk around and the stage was not surrounded by a number of people talking about LSD (more on that ahead). The morning was slow and I met the nice people from Manta Ray Comics for a quick chat. There was a greater number of children running around the more risque comic book stalls picking up comics that were meant for an age group far more mature than their six years. This was one of the things I noticed at Comic Con, though. There was no clear separation of material with respect to age groups. The only stall to actually specifically mention their products were meant for a specific age group was Jazyl Homavazir’s stall promoting his webcomic The Beast Legion.
A print displayed at the Mario Gallery
I did notice a gem of a stall that I had failed to notice before. It featured a collection of prints by famed cartoonist Mario de Miranda and was sponsored by the Mario Gallery from Goa. The featured drawings were beautiful and the reproductions were of such high quality that they looked like the originals.
Another impressive and noteworthy stall belonged to World Comics, an organisation that travels all over the world conducting comic book workshops and then having amateurs draw comics about the issues that affect them and their lives. This creates a sort of perspective-based journalism where serious issues that are actually affecting people but are not being covered by mainstream media can be highlighted. The publisher was also lauded by Robert Crumb and Gary Groth.
The World Comics Stall
Abhijeet Kini and Anupam Arunachalam launched their book Milk and Quickies in the afternoon, talking about how they were featured on Warren Ellis’ website and how that convinced them to publish the comic. Kini also participated in the second of his launches, the beautifully coloured Chairman Meow And The Protectors Of The Proletariat. When I bought four copies of it, Kini remarked that he was not getting any overhead for the comic and was selling it at the publisher’s rate griping (jokingly) about it being ironic that the comic itself is about communism and equal distribution of profit (check out our interview with Kini here).
The cover of Abhijeet Kini and Anant Singh's Chairman Meow and The Protectors of The Proletariat
The evening was dedicated entirely to Robert Crumb. From old hippies to young ‘artists’ who were inspired by Crumb as an ‘artist and a person’ (“He took a lot of LSD. I want to ask him questions about that, yaar”), it was possibly the most awaited event held at Comic Con. The artist arrived on stage with publisher Gary Groth of Fantagraphics Books and Groth took people through Crumb’s work and life with Crumb pitching in and answering Groth’s questions or explaining the finer points of what was being discussed. The conversation ranged from Crumb’s ‘love affair’ with Harvey Kurtzman, the effect of LSD on his work, the best cartoonist and story-teller in the USA (Carl Barks, creator of Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge) and the rise and fall of the hippies and punks and counter-culture movements.
A Carl Barks' painting
This most interesting exchange was peppered with anecdotes about artists such as Art Spiegelman, Manuel ‘Spain’ Rodriguez and S. Clay Wilson. There was also very interesting stuff about the Topps Bubble Gum Company and the crowd was listening with rapt attention to what Crumb had to say. There was no shuffling, no cell phones and almost no disrespect. The session ended with audience members asking questions. Every time there was a delay in the asking of a question, Crumb would get up and start walking off the stage, indicating how unwanted the attention was. After the session, Crumb was signing autographs for audience members (including myself). I gifted him a vinyl record that he may never listen to but it was all worth it.
Robert Crumb with my vinyl record
The last few hours went in a daze, visiting more stalls and checking out stuff I hadn’t checked out before I chanced upon artist Ari Jayprakash‘s The Kuru Chronicles, a book set in a dystopian Calcutta featuring Aghoris and Sadhus and very inky but interesting art. Jumping with excitement at having shared a few words with Robert Crumb, I also managed to do a small interview with Canadian publisher Chris Oliveros. All in all, the third day of Comic Con was extremely satisfying and a brilliant experience.
More Cosplay @Comic Con! Here are The Wasp, Superman, An Obscure Mainstream Comic Book Character and The Invisible Man
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