Kochi :

Deep within a by-lane on the Civil Line near Vazhakkala exists probably the only Xanadu for comic book fans in the city , Comic Collective , the city’s first comic book library , boasts of a selection of over 1,000 comic books .

Comic books, unlike novels, are hard to find and buy and almost unavailable in Kochi.

The two key people involved in putting together this large collection of comic books, Tony Davis and San Ramshankar, travelled to multiple book fairs and flea markets across the country in search of books for the library that opened in August.

“You will not find specific comic books that are popular in flea markets because nobody would want to sell them, so those we had to buy online,” said Tony , the library founder.

San, a software engineer who used to review comic books on his Facebook page, Kerala Comic Brotherhood, used to collect them to augment his personal collection.

Later he met Tony , who had been collecting comics to set up a library in the city , on Kerala Comic Brotherhood.

Currently , Comic Collective has stocked popular series from the major western comic book publishers such as Marvel, DC, Vertigo, Image and Dark Horse.

They also have a selection of Japanese comics (manga) apart from those brought out by Indian publishers, illustrators, and writers Bobby Creasman, an American who moved to Kochi for work and is now of member of Comic Collective, said: “I think it’s fantastic that there is a comic book library in Kochi. My kids had borrowed two Flash comics. I borrowed Ramayan 3392 AD, which is the story of Ramayan in a post-apocalyptic setting.”

The house, converted into a library , offers wide seating space. The walls are decorated with art works made by comic fans.

“Comic book fans always tend to artistically recreate what they see in comic books, where two forms of art -writing, and illustration -converge,” said San who is also an active cosplayer (someone who engages in comic book costume play). His cosplay work is also on display at the library .

The library is yet to catch the fancy of comic bo ok fans but Tony believes there is huge potential.

“Last year, we organized a Batman Day gathering and we expected around 50 people. But around 250 people showed up and they were all fans of either the cartoon, the movie or the comic.We even had a quiz and some people answered all the questions. So this year, we are planning to organize Batman Day at our premises on September 23. Hopefully , it will serve a launching pad for the library ,” said Tony , adding that it is difficult to get a sponsor to support comic book events as people consider them childish.

“Some people come asking whether we have Balarama and Tinkle but that’s not the type of comics we deal with. Comics are not just for kids, some of them have great stories, ideas and art.But explaining it is too hard, so we don’t. We’d rather have an organic growth rather than forcing it on people,” said San.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> News> City News> Kochi News / by Vikram Vinod, TNN / September 21st, 2017