Raj Comics

Raj Comics
New logo of Raj Comics in English
Parent companyRaja Pocket Books
StatusActive
Founded1984; 40 years ago (1984)
Founder
  • Rajkumar Gupta
  • Manoj Gupta
  • Sanjay Gupta
  • Manish Gupta
Country of originIndia
Headquarters location330/1 Main Road Burari, New Delhi, India
Key people
Publication types
Fiction genres
Official websitewww.rajcomics.net
Logos of Raj Comics.

Raj Comics is an Indian comic book publisher based in New Delhi, India. It published a line of Indian comic books through Raja Pocket Books since its foundation in 1984 by Rajkumar Gupta, Manoj Gupta and Sanjay Gupta.[1][2] Some of its most well known characters include Nagraj, Super Commando Dhruva, Bhokal, Doga, Parmanu, Tiranga, Bankelal, Shakti, Inspector Steel, Ashwaraj, Bheriya and Anthony.[3] Raj Comics is credited as being one of the leading comic book distributors in India.[4]

Raja Pockets initially published pulp-fiction books. They had a highly-successful run and published critically acclaimed authors like Surender Mohan Pathak, Ved Prakash Sharma, Anil Mohan and Raja. At their peak, the books sold up to 1 million copies each. While Rajkumar Gupta always had a passion for crime-thrillers, his sons Sanjay Gupta and Manoj Gupta started collection Indian and International Comics from an early age and were always thrilled with the idea of creating original Indian Superheroes. One evening, while discussing the same, Rajkumar Gupta walked in on the conversation of the two brothers and thus, Raj Comics was born.

The company mainly publishes four types of comics; medieval fantasy, horror, mystery, and superhero comics, with a predominant focus on superhero content.[5][6] Their comics are usually published in Hindi, with only a few titles and special editions in English. It has produced close to 35,000 comics to date and has been read by people in India and abroad.[7] The company also publishes an online exclusive web series named Raj Rojana, with a new page uploaded every day.

Raj Comics publishes in multiple formats, which include e-book, print, and motion comics.[8] The company also sells hardcovers of their old and new comics, as well as bundled collections of their characters.[9]

In 2008, Raj Comics was the focus of a research project conducted through The Sarai Programme at CSDS's Sarai Media Lab. The resulting research was published as a free PDF on the Sarai website.[2]

  1. ^ Raj Comics: About Us Archived 2013-01-15 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ a b "Raj Comics for the Hard Headed : s a r a i". sarai.net. 10 April 2008. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  3. ^ "Why Nagraj, Dhruva, Doga aren't finding space on big screen? (view pics)". India TV News. 16 October 2014. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  4. ^ "Raj Comics now in regional flavor". Bollywood Hungama. 23 July 2009. Archived from the original on 2 February 2016. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  5. ^ Lent, John A. (1 January 2001). Illustrating Asia: Comics, Humor Magazines, and Picture Books. University of Hawaii Press. pp. 58–59. ISBN 9780824824716.
  6. ^ "Best moments of Raj Comics Superheroes". eashportsbook.com. 1 November 2018.
  7. ^ "After a hiatus, Indian comic book industry growing steadily". DNA India. 14 September 2010. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  8. ^ "Raj Comics to launch motion-comics". Bollywood.com News. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  9. ^ Pratap, Rashmi (25 April 2014). "Super-heroic ventures". The Hindu Business Line. Retrieved 2 February 2016.