Since WCI promotes self-publishing we don’t consider ourselves as a publishers. Over the years we have compiled several issue-specific anthologies to promote the medium and also helped a number of organisations to publish them and circulate to spread awareness on the subject. Below are some of the compilations:
All stories have a different art as well as narration style owing to the different backgrounds of the artists. It is to be noted that most of them are not trained artists and have learnt the art over a period of time working with World Comics and their local organizations. The stories this time are longer (14-16 pages) contributed by Sunder Mohan Murmu, RajeswariSaha, SiddharthSarathi, AmrithBasumatari and lakhindraNayak. The comic took a year in the making and throughout that period the creators had extensive discussions and workshops on the art of making comics, visualization, frame composition, inking, texturing etc. They also had prolonged discussions on their stories where each had to defend their story from the critical view of the rest as well as accept suggestions.
Whose Development (English) and VikaskalheVipreetBuddhi (Hindi) are first comics, anthologies on Development recently published by World Comics India. This comics book is also an example of comics journalism at very local level. For Last few years World Comics India is actively working to promote the idea. The Grassroots Comics are different from the mainstream comics and drawn by the people themselves. The activists use these comics for communication purposes in their respective organization and area. Over the period of time many of them have picked up the comics as their main profession. There are stories from Jharkhand which tells how the adivasis are being affected because of big development projects and also about the Uranium mines radiation. Story from Assam shows fisherman's harsh life conditions while the Goa story is about big companies’ encroachment into tourism. Kolkata story is about slow moving tram and Rajasthan story is about plight of a Dalit man.
The word development is often used synonymously with evolution, growth or advancement. Whatever else it may connote, development is a magic word for the politicians but a rather tricky one for the common man. Over the last many years World Comics trained a multitude of people as trainers and professional comics artists. The idea was to collect the stories about development and assign this work to such comics activists who will report from their own areas as Comics Correspondents. How the common people of India perceive development; what it actually means to them, or if at all it has any significance for them. These stories collected from Jharkhand, Assam, Kashmir, Rajasthan and many other parts of the country present a reflection of the accomplishments of development there. Be it the story of the fisherman from Assam or the helpless woman from Kashmir; the deleterious effects of tourism in Goa or the consequences of Uranium mining in Jaduguda; the tale of the Kolkata tram or the tribals of Jharkhand, we have endeavored to portray the real picture. World Comics gave a voice to the common people who in turn beautifully presented their understanding of development through humour, wit and satire in these comics. This is a unique anthology in the sense that these comics are not drawn by professional artists but social activists and students from the fields of mass communication and social work. They are Comics Journalists.
This book is a compilation from a ten day comics campaign organized in collaboration with Gandhi Smriti for children. The participants were mainly from two children’s home of Delhi who created comics on the life of Mahatma Gandhi and his values in contemporary times. These stories are not only inspiring but also full of drama and a variety of drawings. Recently all these comics were compiled and published in two books titled Understanding Gandhi (English) and Gandhi se mulakat (Hindi).
Keeping in mind the widespread illiteracy amongst our rural population, World Comics India, experimented with an alternate medium of communication. The workshops have been conducted from Bikaner to Aizawl, and from Chandigarh to Trivandrum, these workshops were conducted in which people of the village and those who understood the rural surroundings participated. The idea behind these workshops was to encourage visual communication. Participants of the workshops produced a range of unique collections of stories. These masterpieces are a compilation of the works of common men. World Comics India compiled such artworks across the country under the banner of Voices from the field.
BoltiLakeerain is a reflection of comics stories from Pakistan. Co-edited by Sharad Sharma and Nida Shams, the book brings out different issues from the land of Pakistan. The book talks about Terrorism, Water, Electricity and other issues close to the people of Pakistan. People from Lahore, Karachi, Bagh Kashmir participated in the initiative and their stories and idea have been compiled. It is an initiative true to its name; the lines speak from the heart of Pakistan.
A Development Communication Tool (English and Hindi)- Grassroots Comics is published by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland in May 2007. The material for the book is compiled from the experiences of World Comics Finland and World Comics India with the co-operation of many different organizations, movements and activists. The book comprises of examples of grassroots comics, practical manuals and photographs from Asia, Africa and other countries. This book of 160 pages has a lot of practical advice on how to go about making grassroots comics, how to organise comics workshops, etc. The complete book is available online as a PDF-file. The file can be downloaded from this website or from the Ministry's website. The file is 15 MB so it can take several minutes to download, depending on the speed of your connection.
Half World Four Frames is published by World Comics India in 2007. It is a comics book based on the issue of Gender. Around 130 comics from India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka tell different stories of women in different social and culture situations. Comics from Pakistan present the position of women on matters like right to divorce, honor killings, and impoverishment. Sri Lankan comics show issues like exploitation at work place, domestic violence and gender discrimination. The book is not only a depiction of problems but also presents the cases where the women of the community took a forefront in dealing with water crises or demanding economic improvement in stone quarry. The book also has comics where the women took up cudgels to stop the distribution of illegal liquor or where the women fought against the goons who intimidated the women of the village. These extra-ordinary stories of women are covered under six sections of the book titled as Aware, Empowered, Raising Questions, Realization, Strong and United. These comics have been created in various dialects and languages. The comics have been supplemented with Hindi and English summaries.
Comics For All is the annual bulletin of World Comics India. This twelve-paged bulletin comprises of stories and activities undertaken by World Comics in different parts of the world. Articles inviting views on wide arrays of issues and cultures have been presented though comics as an innovative mode of communication. Information regarding experimentation with comics done by different artists is covered under the section Meet the Artist. This bulletin covers people’s stories through their indigenous comics trips.
"EkAlagChitra Katha" first LGBT comics book launched in Mumbai. This book is an outcome of World Comics India and Humsafar Trust collaboration. Humsafar Trust made the book after Sharad Sharma (of World Comics India) ran a three-day workshop at Humsafar's office in Vakola, Santacruz (E). There he trained grassroot workers in recounting anecdotes and sketching them into comics. Humsafar Trust is an NGO dealing with the rights of sexual minorities in India.
Hatemalo Sanchar (in collaboration with Plan-Nepal) a Kathmandu based organization has compiled and published a comics book titled ‘Baal Sansaar’. Over 50 grassroots comics developed by children on different social issues are part of this book.
Right to Learn is a 16 page tabloid published jointly by World Comics India, UNDP and UNESCO Global Education Initiative. This was launched on International Literacy Day. This consists of stories by common people from across the country. This collection of stories from children, youth and supporters reflects their views on literacy and education, raises issues of access and quality learning and reflects their aspirations of living in sustainable, prosperous and peaceful societies.
World Comics India collaborated with IGSSS to highlight the issue of CityMakers. The program works towards providing a dignified life to CityMakers (Homeless residents). The idea behind collaboration was to provide a tool of communication and self-expression to the people who are the backbone of any city. In 2012, first such collection of CityMakers comics was published, this was later sent to policy makers, judges and police departments and many of them responded positively. In 2014 more such workshops were organized, in Assam, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Delhi. The outcome of these workshops was published this year in 4 anthologies.
World Comics India collaborated with National Museum, New Delhi, to organize a comics workshop on the theme of body in Indian art. The workshop was based on an extensive exhibition by curator Dr. Namar Ahuja, associate professor, School of arts and aesthetics. During the two days of workshop participants created their own stories around 300 artworks displayed there. The outcome of the workshop is compiled in this book. How does a civilization express its thoughts on death and rapture? Is once placed in the cosmos fated by destiny, or does the body have its own agency and how are the values of men constructed differently from those of women? These questions are considered in this exhibition.
People from north east India are stereotyped, bullied and discriminated on the grounds of being different in terms of their Mongolied looks, food habits, tastes and preferences, dressing etc. The identity of mainland India often excludes the northeast, a region often described as far-flung, remote and conflict-ridden. This book is compilation of comics which were produced during the various workshops which were organized by WCI in collaboration with National Foundation of India. It tries to break the various stereotypes existing in our societies which exclude North-East from the mainland. It also gives valuable information about the history, culture, practices, etc and gives one an insight about the seven sisters.
This publication is one of the most unique collection of the experiences earned by Nida Shams –Founder of World Comics Network-Pakistan, during several workshops conducted by her in the country .This anthology is a result of a month long workshop conducted in Karachi Women’s Jail encompassing their unique individual experiences in jail some humorous, some gloomy .Given comics in this anthology speak of the lives of women prisoners in Karachi women jail in their own language. However it was not simple to take pen and paper in jail and motivate inmates to share their painful stories and then ask them to make comics on the same. These women were mothers, daughters and sisters but not a free citizen and lodged here for several months and even years. We had participants of every age and even children of these inmates too took part in it.
While the work on this book was going on few of them were released from the jail but not everyone was so lucky. This workshop helped them to tell their part of the story in the form of these comics. However we are not reproducing them as an authentic statement to be used for their trial but these are simple individual voices and must be read only in that light.
There exist few stories behind the bar- which are documented in comics form here to let the outside world understand the plight of these women. This 36- page black and white comics anthology in Urdu (having English translation) has been authored by Nida Shams.
These black and white lines are powerful examples of self-expression and in recent years grassroots comics has been successful in reaching to the people who need it the most.
Parallel Lines (English) and SamanantarRekhayein (Hindi) are the second in the series of development comics published by World Comics India. It has a foreword by Polyp, a British cartoonist based in Manchester. These comics start describing development from where the earlier ones left and take it a level further, not just in terms of description but visual aesthetics and storytelling techniques as well.
