There has been a growing demand for comics, manga, and cultural breeding grounds for the sub-cultures of youth and the elderly for nostalgia and representation through the world of comics. From various comic conventions to workshops for kids in schools, the growing interest and the representation of comics in Bengal and India have a rising graph.

In a conversation with The Statesman, Harsho Mohan Chattoraj expressed his elation with illustrating comics for more than two decades. Born in 1980, he has worked with Oxford, Sandesh Patrika, and houses like Amar Chitra Katha. He used to work as a freelancer during his Master’s education where he had the potential of two columns; one for Shakespearean histrionics and a second for a Superman spoof.

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Chattoraj recently launched two books, Ancient Temples of India with Amar Chitra Katha and Al-Zebra Book 2 with Alpha Comics. He launched two of his own works, Faces of Defiance and My Compendium of Comics and Art in 2025. For Faces of Defiance, which consists of two stories, he teamed up with Charbak Dipta, Sourav Dutta and Sumit Surai.

Amar Chitra Katha and the landscape of India

Amar Chitra Katha has always been there in the conscience of the comic reader in India. Savio Mascarenhas, the group art director of Amar Chitra Katha said, “There has been a huge fan following and readership of our comics. The turnout was great.” They have brought out two comics, Ancient Temples of India and Tinkle Gold edition. When asked about the experience of the first-ever comic culture in Kolkata, Savio said, “We have had a great interactive crowd of new readers and old. The nostalgic factor of Amar Chitra Katha is very glaring for the artists working on comics today.”

During and after the pandemic, there has been a growing trend of digitisation of literature; comics have not been left out from this trend. “We understood the trend. Though we are primarily into print media, we release the comics digitally a month after the print has been published. India is still that market where readers read both digital and hard copies of comics; they collect the books physically and are more than willing to buy books. So there has always been a balance in the readership,” says Savio.

Alpha Comics and newer panels of psyche

Sanjay Gupta carries on the legacy of his late father Rajkumar Gupta, who created the Raj Comics, through the agency of Alpha Comics. Saahil S. Sharma is a writer of comics who worked on Al-Zebra, illustrated by Harsha Mohan Chattoraj; they collectively released the second part of the comic. Saahil says, “It was amazing to see Kolkata for the first time during Comic Con. It is truly the city of joy. The excitement, the dedication with which the readers collected our books are amazing. There were even some readers who collected the first part of Al-Zebra on day 1 and came back for the second part the next day.” Saahil has been a dedicated writer for comics and has been highly regarded by his peers. He also published a manga called Hanta.

“There are multifaceted distractions for readers now in the form of social media and televisions, but there are more readers now. They consume manga, anime, and various adaptation series. One adaptation of the Indian comic figure would bring on the boom that would propel the Indian comic culture. We are slowly moving forward but are not there yet,” said Saahil. There are various works of different genres of subject Saahil has worked on from Watakattu Police Academy to The War Cook.

RK Laxman, Chandi Lahiri, and Mort Walker used to publish comic strips for print news. Sadly, today among the dwindling cartoonists, readers miss out on the comic quintessence of everyday comic strips. Chattoraj says, “If I am offered, I will do the comic strips for the newspapers even today.” He encourages kids in classes 7, 8, and 9 to indulge in comics, which will subsequently increase the readership and even artists who practice the art of comics. Comic book conventions and subcultures open up doors to new horizons for graphic novels and the inclusion of alternative narratives through the panels of thought and intrigue.