Indian Graphic Novels Produced by Campfire!

"NIGHTTIME IN the forest. The sky is black, studded with countless stars. A campfire is crackling, and the storytelling has begun"... That's the idea behind a new imprint for an established company over in India that is publishing new graphic novels.

Campfire is the name of the imprint being used by Kalyani Navyug Publications, which is itself a part of Autometers Ltd in New Delhi, India. As far as I can tell it has nothing to do with Campfire, the Dutch company who produce cartoons (often featuring strips derived from Marvel) for mobile handsets under the Catooz service that is available throughout Northern Europe.

Phew, life does get complicated at times doesn't it!

Choosing the right name's important; your child has to live with it pretty much all their lives unless they get it legally changed, and Kalyani Navyug has chosen a pretty good one for their latest offspring. As noted, it was inspired by the enduring relationship of people sitting around a campfire and the stories it evokes.

"We began publishing in 2008, under the Campfire imprint, with the vision of creating graphic novels of the finest quality to entertain and educate our readers," the company wrote telling me, as part of their mission brief.

"Our writers, editors, artists and colourists share a deep passion for good stories and the art of storytelling, so our books are well researched, beautifully illustrated and wonderfully written to create a most enjoyable reading experience."

The important question for you, the readers, is: what kind of works are they producing?

Well, they started out with classics, a popular route in recent years. They have produced an eclectic mix of those, from Tom Sawyer to A Journey to the Centre of the Earth, and Moby Dick to The Time Machine. As with all such adaptations, you'll pick up those that appeal to you most, and indeed for your youngsters because I'm very pleased to say they're adapting classic story books for children and not just teenagers upwards.

What's more exciting to me personally is they are also producing biographies in the form of comic books. What's that? Grunting and groaning in the back there? History's fun! My daughter loves those Horrible History books, but even I refuse to let her go near my prized collections of Larry Gonick's Cartoon History of the Universe.

Now some of the titles they're producing, or planning may seem a bit dry at first, but the idea is to turn those life stories into interesting reads, and getting your kid to reading a graphic novel about, say Einstein, is a shortcut to getting them ahead at school on understanding why he's important, and maybe even getting to grips with his theories on relativity, that can't be a bad thing can it? And once they do, maybe you can get them to explain it properly to me! But their biographies aren't just straight history buff type stuff, for popular culture buffs they've got one planned on The Rolling Stones, and I've seen pages from one on Houdini that looks to be a compelling read.

Campfire is also putting out graphic novels adapting myths and legends from around the world, and looking to produce new material too.

All their books so far are between 64 and 80 pages in length and produced in full colour, and although based in India, and producing work predominantly read across the India sub-continent this imprint's titles have initially been printed in English, and in the past one female editor there was particularly proud to tell me "English English not American."

I wish traditional British publishers would bear such principles in mind when producing books produced in the USA for our homegrown readership, but sadly too many take the lazy, and grammatical incorrect, option these days. Fortunately, Campfire appear to have higher standards - plus are no doubt astute enough to know that all those English speaking countries littered over the globe have been taught properly and use Anglicised grammar, including India itself!

Not that they've forgotten their native territory, they subsequently began translating the books produced into Hindu. Presumably most their creators, both writers and writers, live in India, but a few names I've seen credited come from a lot farther afield include established American veteran writer Steven Phillip Jones and former Malibu editor Roland Mann and Chris Welsh from Australia.

Campfire was over in the USA promoting their first burst of titles at conventions there last year.If you're interested and have difficulty finding them you can check out their website. And for those of you who are hip to the modern age, or of an ecological bent, Campfire is currently producing e-books. Earlier this month they were exhibiting at the Delhi Book Fair; it would be nice if their promotional activities could see them making it over to Birmingham next year for the British International Comics Show (BICS).

Campfire's intent for their books is to produce "an engaging narrative and have universal and lasting appeal" so in the future we look forward to reporting that they're succeeding well in those goals.

For further information visit: www.campfire.co.in