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India's Immortal Comic Books: Gods, Kings, and Other Heroes

Karline McLain
Indiana University Press (2009)
ISBN 9780253220523
Reviewed by Andrey Bilko for RebeccasReads (5/09)

“India’s Immortal Comic Books” is ultimately a textbook for a college course dealing with cultural studies of India. Nonetheless, it can be enjoyed as a casual read by people interested in Indian culture or those interested in the role of comic books abroad. It is structured like a textbook, very detailed text with limited illustrations. It is fairly engaging and very well written.

The book starts off discussing the role of comics in India. It describes how new generations of Indian youth were rediscovering their roots and traditions through the pages of Indian comic book series called Amar Chitra Katha, and other factors like Western influences seen in Indian comics. The book does a great job dissecting the importance of comics in people’s lives. Parts of personal interviews are included, making the text feel more realistic and more engaging to the reader.

Then, the book talks about the creator of Indian comics, Anant Pai; portrayal of women and female heroines; incorporation of sacred Hindu stories; portrayal of Muslims; and Mahatma Gandhi as a comic book hero. It is clear that by following along with the comic book series, one can easily learn about many aspects of Indian culture and history, in a more fun and visual way, then a regular textbook. And this is the ultimate goal of the book - to show how much can be learned from comics, if the reader actually takes the time and digs a little deeper once in a while. It is fascinating how much tangible information is included in these graphic stories. Many comics focus on religious Hindu stories about gods like Krishna and Rama, while others deal with more contemporary issues like India’s fight for independence and Mahatma Gandhi’s role in it. These comics show that fun can be combined with education, and that there are tricks in making children learn about their heritage. This book provides great insight into Indian culture. The illustrations present in the text make reading more enjoyable. However, I wish there were more illustrations, especially since the subject is comics, pictures are vital. I would love to see more color cutouts of original comics.

 

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