Shampoo and Daddy took a trip to Bangalore!
This Saturday, we conducted a workshop, Improv Comics for an Absurd World, that was all about embracing the chaos and awkwardness of creating something, using The Complete Shampoo and Daddy! as inspiration.
We loved seeing people make comics that were funny, silly, violent, goofy, odd and entirely idiosyncratic.
We also got to debut a surprise puppet show by writer-artist @goodbadcomics , who did a stellar job bringing her characters to life, and even signed copies of the book *as* Shampoo for everyone who bought a copy.
Swipe to see a few glimpses of a very fun morning at @attagalatta .
We intend to do more events in different cities so keep an eye out for future workshop announcements!
📢 I'm coming to Bangalore next weekend to host a workshop around the new edition of Shampoo and Daddy with @indian.summer.press at @attagalatta !
I will also sign books and answer any questions! 🦜 I'm excited!!! 🐰 🐷 Pls come with a friend or alone! 🍅🥦🥕
🎟️ Ticket link in bio!
I've wanted to run a bookstore since I was a little kid. For the last four days, I got to live that dream!
Along with our friends @thechoorma and @studioniyet , we put together a pop-up bookstore featuring a selection of Indian independent comics. The list was chosen to reflect the ingenuity of Indian comics makers, the diversity of themes and subjects, and the many ways in which they choose to tell stories.
We were hosted by the generous folks at @shackhq , in their cute little gallery space that was the perfect size for us. And once we had installed shelves on the walls and framed comics posters from our living room, set up a billing counter and a display area, it became a real, live bookstore.
From Thursday to Sunday, I sold comic after comic to people who love the medium, curious newbies, supportive friends and people who just popped in on their way to other places. Rarely did someone leave without picking anything up; more often than not, people bought multiple things, surprising me with the variety of their choices.
I learned so much about sales, customers, billing, inventory management, marketing and more.
But most of all, I learned that when you put good work in front of people, they respond - with excitement, enthusiasm and a willingness to try something new. Thank you to every single person who came to see us, who stayed to chat and who wanted to know when we would be back!
None of this would have been possible with @raiabhisheka who invited us to do this, without @qarolbaghi , @03shivi , @sanidasifali , @rameeza.parveen_ , and @ftlocomics and of course, without the creators who so gamely agreed to let us sell their comics:
@hallubol@caninebrush@kalyanibhagyanath@anandpagalkutta@goodbadcomics@saurav_scribbles@kdhebar@boyofmittirz@abiral2666@anandbabusudheer@oddball_comics
The comics pop-up is in full swing!
From fresh indie voices to beautifully crafted editions, it’s all here, waiting to be flipped through, discovered, and taken home.
Drop by, hang out, and lose yourself in the world of comics.
Last day tomorrow (3rd May), see you at the pop-up!
Video by @03shivi
The pop-up bookstore continues!
Here's some highlights from Day 1, including the gorgeous flex banner by @jeevdraws , hand-painted art on the walls of @shacocohq by @anandpagalkutta , and of course comics comics comics!
Come by and visit us at For the Love of Comics, and discover a fine selection of Indian indie comics!
Starting today!
Here are the comics you can find at For the Love of Comics: a pop-up bookstore, running from the 30th of April through Sunday the 3rd of May!
Hosted by the wonderful @shackhq at their @shacocohq in Shahpur Jat!
New city, new retailer announcement!
Tucked away in Thiruvanmiyur, the lovely Panuval Book Store is our very first bookstore partner in Chennai.
Go visit to find not just books from Indian Summer Press but also the fantastic anthology Pandu: Graphic Narratives from Kerala, published by @studioniyet .
Panuval also has an excellent selection of books by Tamil publishers and small presses, as well as books in translation.
In a city without many indie bookstores, we love that Panuval continues to exist to serve a community of publishers and readers alike -- a community that we are now thrilled to be part of.
On this day, half a millennium ago, a small army of a few thousand faced off against a much, much larger one -- and won.
The victor was the seeming underdog, a man who had lost his homeland as a teenager, and spent much of his life on the move, in search of a place to call his own: Zahiruddin Muhammad Babur, a warrior, poet, refugee, a descendant of both Timur and Gengis Khan, and writer of one of the most unique works of autiobiography in the world.
Babur's victory was the beginning of three centuries of conquest, coexistence and the flowering of a composite culture that shaped the subcontinent forevermore.
Today, the Mughal period is hotly contested in popular discourse, its complexity flattened by modern- day divisive politics. Babur himself is cast as a ruthless villain, his descendants as oppressive tyrants. But the reason I keep going back to him, and to all the Mughals, is that they are so much more than they are allowed to be by their critics.
Babur's ambition to be a ruler of men was tempered by a compelling self-awareness. Long before he ever dreamed of Hindustan, the ever-philosophical price carved these lines into a rock during his many wanderings:
'With valour and might we seized the world,
And yet we did not take it with us to the grave.'
---
(Images from Akbar-era Baburnamas, held today in the Walters Art Museum and the British Library)
A mini Indie Comix Fest at India Gaming Show gave me a great reason to take Indian Summer Press to my home city, Chennai!
An added perk: I got to represent the indie comics scene on a panel about comics as IP engines, where I gently interrogated the current industry view that comics are only a stepping stone to other, apparently more lucrative media like gaming and animation.
At Indian Summer Press, we love comics for themselves, for their immersive power and their ability to draw the reader into the complex give-and-take relationship that storytelling involves.
I was glad to see that many people there for the gaming responded with curiosity and surprise at the quality and diversity of comics being made by indie creators in India.
And, over the three days of this event, it was heartening to meet people who share our fondness for *comics* in all their infinite variety -- publishers and retailers like Rakesh of @blaftpublications and Sumi of @redeye_chapters , and indie artists doing such different and interesting work -- @ganba_rose , @phictionear , @cat___giraffe , @pep_production and @adi_creates !
P.S - Thank you to @prathiba_somasunder for hanging out with me for 3 days, and helping to manage the table for our friends at Studio Niyet (@studioniyet ) and Goobe's Book Republic (@goomixcomics ), and @totalnazo and his team for making this happen at all.
It truly takes a village to nurture the indie comics scene.
