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Started by Adrian Bamforth, 08 January, 2006, 08:41:59 PM

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Adrian Bamforth

Branson launches Virgin Comics with India appeal

David Teather
Saturday January 7, 2006
The Guardian

It is not the first time Richard Branson has dressed himself up as a super hero. But in this instance it is isn't just about getting a bit of cheap publicity. The Virgin founder yesterday announced plans to launch Virgin Comics and an associated animation business that he hopes will set him up against the industry's powerhouses, Marvel and DC.
Mr Branson is launching the business in partnership with Virgin Books, the author Deepak Chopra, acclaimed filmmaker Shekhar Kapur and south Asian comics publisher, Gotham Entertainment Group. The comics business will be based in New York and Virgin Animation will be located in Bangalore. The aim is to create entertainment products for the rapidly growing Indian market. The company also hopes that it will be a source for producing characters and comics that will prove popular around the world, much as Japanese Manga has found a global audience.


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Using the likes of Spider-Man and X-Men owner Marvel Comics as the model, Virgin Comics is aiming to push those characters into films, cartoons, toys, video games and other consumer products. The Shakti comics imprint will have its roots in India, but two further lines, Maverick and Director's Cut, will bring in creators from around the world, the company said. The director John Woo will work on a title through the Director's Cut line.
It intends to launch its first titles in mid-2006 and will simultaneously be exploring partnerships for animation development. Mr Branson said Virgin Comics would "help to launch the Indian comic market and spin it into the west".

"On the back of global movie and licensing deals, the market for comics and graphic novels worldwide is exploding," added Adrian Sington, executive chairman of Virgin Books. "In the USA sales of graphic novels have grown by 44.7% in the year to date. In the UK the market has doubled since 2003. Much of the growth in both territories has come from the emergence of comics out of Asia."

Mr Chopra was named one of Time Magazine's 100 heroes and icons of the century. He is a best-selling and prolific self-help author, penning more than 40 books. Mr Kapur gained world attention with the Indian film Bandit Queen and went on to direct the Oscar-nominated Elizabeth. He is also co-producer of the West End musical Bombay Dreams.

He described comics as being part of the "brave new world" of entertainment. "Comic book characters are the new cult; the new religion."

Emperor

Issue #0 is out now and available free online (link below).

The art is slick although I wasn't blown away by the stories but I suspect they should turn out fine with a bit room to really show us what they can do.

There is also a lot of promise in the material they are talking of drawing on (see the Virgin Comics homepage for more art and ideas) and the Garth Ennis/John Woo project certainly has me intrigued.

Link: http://uk.comics.ign.com/articles/712/712865p1.html" target="_blank">Issue #0

if I went 'round saying I was an Emperor just because some moistened bint had lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away!

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scutfink

Off the Virgin Comics Official Site:

"Similar to the phenomenon we have seen with Japanese Anime and Manga, which has influenced every aspect of popular media today, our mission is to spark a creative renaissance in India, reinventing Indian character entertainment and permeating this new style and vision throughout the globe? said the CEO, Sharad Devarajan

Good luck to them but, how is kickstarting an Indian comics industry similar to the world at large slowly cathcing on to a thriving Japaneese (sub)culture?

 

Lord Running Clam

I still think it?s a shame that, Branson, couldn?t have pumped money into British comics instead, trying to kick-start the home market in comics and getting our creators known to a more people across the world.
It?s not as if we don?t have a great back catalogue of strips that would make fantastic cartoons, films, toys, etc as a starting point to work off. And I?m sure there wouldn?t be a problem getting writers and artists creating new ones.

Emperor

I suppose he is looking at the bottom line - if he can get a foothold in that market he stands to rack up some impressive sales numbers with a lot of material created that can be optioned for other media.

It did make me think that we have a lot of reqorking of British superheroes and a lot of homegrown (OK 2000 AD grown in the main) talent go off to write superhero comics for the American firms and yet we don't actually have any British superhero comics. Marvelman showed you can have a British superhero without it being overly... twee.

Some come on Dickie - how about a superhero anthology comic?
if I went 'round saying I was an Emperor just because some moistened bint had lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away!

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