Comic book fans rejoice. As part of its strategy to reach out to a wider and more tech-savvy generation, Liquid Comics is now offering select graphic novels from its series, India Authentic, online. The books are available on the website Issuu and can be read online for free.
Gotham
Chopra, co-founder, Liquid Comics, says, “Issuu is a great platform and exciting digital partner for us. It allows us to offer electronic versions of the comics for free to people all over the world. That's the strategy being employed by many independent comic publishers .”
Inspired by mythology
The India Authentic series is based on Indian mythology and myths and focuses on the stories of deities like Ganesha, Parshuram, Hanuman, Kali, Shiva, Indra and Krishna. Tales of relatively lesser read about gods like Uma, Yama, Vargav, Garuda, Kartikeya, Andhaka, Lakshmi and Saraswati have been featured in this series, which began in 2007. Chopra says, “These are perennial stories that have been around for centuries. The multitude of gods and all their epic stories are very treasured, and form much of the foundation on which modern storytelling sits.”
Not entirely authentic
However, Chopra admits that the series isn’t authentic in literal terms, as these stories have lived in the imaginations of humanity for several years, been interpreted, depicted, translated, and re-imagined by hundreds of writers and artists through the centuries. He says, “Our artists and writers have grown up with these stories, studied the original scriptures in which they first appeared and also read through many comics and contemporary versions that have been created since. So the storyline is as close to the real thing as possible.”
There are also plans of introducing new titles soon. Chopra says, “It's a series that we really have enjoyed creating and got great feedback on. We'll definitely be doing more in the future.”