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]
Raj Comics was founded in 1986 by Raj Kumar Gupta, Sanjay Gupta and Manoj Gupta. It marked the era of the rise of Indian superheroes. Raj Comics's first superhero was Nagraj. Later, they launched other popular superheroes like Dhruva, Doga, Parmanu, and Tiranga.
Origins
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Raj Comics' roots span back to the 1980s. After extreme dedication and perseverance by the brothers and their father, Raj Comics was propelled to great heights and fame. Nearly every teenager spent their afternoons glued to the latest comic addition. In the early days of its inception, Raj Comics published mythological, mystery and adventure comics. In 1985, Manoj Gupta, fueled by his passion and craze for western superheroes, notably Phantom, came up with the idea of creating a superhero centered around snakes as he believed snakes held a religious and mythological significance in India.[11] Later, the team started working on the concept and finally created the Nagraj that we know today.
The Golden Age
In 1997, an advertisement for Nagraj featuring Sonu Sood aired on TV.[12]
During this era, Raj Comics reportedly sold over a million copies a year, making it one of the most widespread publications of that time period. It has sold more than 100 million copies since then.
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Modern Age
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Raj Comics has now expanded to multiple different publication streams, with TriColor and other various business entities taking venerable steps in penetrating the Indian book market. Ongoing discussions with studio heads have been disclosed to the public about the possibility of live feature films based on their comic universe. However, nothing has since come to fruition.
In 2015, Raj Comics released an Android app for the general public. It has since garnered a massive following and has an average rating of 4.5+ stars.
In 2017, Raj Comics released a concept trailer for Nagraj on its official YouTube channel. It has since garnered over 1.5 million views.[13]
In 2018, Raj Comics released a short feature film named Aadamkhor, partially self-produced and crowdfunded. It released on YouTube to critical acclaim by its audience.[14]
Series
King Comics
King Comics was a line of comics published through Raja Pocket Books. While the division was initially successful, its popularity declined and the line went defunct after only about 2–5 years of activity. It was intended that many of King Comic's characters would be merged into Raj Comics, but only a few characters such as Gamraj were merged. During its run the division published six monthly comics.[citation needed]
Balcharit (Origin Series of Super Commando Dhruva)
Shaktiroopa (Follow up to Super Commando Dhruva's Balcharit)
Ongoing series
Sarvanayak (Nearly all major RC characters)
Sarvanayak Vistar ( Multistarrer)
Kshatipoorti ( Aatankharta Nagraj)
Sarpsatra (Vishwarakshak Nagraj)
Naag Granth (Narak Nashak Nagraj and Krodh Ketu Kobi)
पुनरूत्थान (Multistarrer)
महा-नागायण (Multistarrer)
Shuddhikaran ( Kobi - Bhediya)
Upcoming series
Prem Granth (Super Commando Dhruva)
Sins of the father (Anthony-Multistarrer)
Adharmeshwar (Multistarrer)
अगड़म-बगड़म (Bankeylal, Nagraj, Dhruv)
फाइटर फोर्स (Fighter Toads)
डेड गॉड्स (Multistarrer)
Social Comics
Nagraj Strikes: The Attack of the Coronaman
Super Commando Dhruva: The Struggle with Depression
Jubilee and Kalpana-lok awards
In 2010, Raj Comics celebrated its Silver Jubilee by launching the Kalpana-lok Awards to honor comics artists. Participants are nominated by editors at Raj Comics and can be voted on by readers and fans on the Raj Comics website.
Raj Comics films
In 2014, Anurag Kashyap had spoken about making a film on Doga—a vigilante killing machine in the style of Marvel Comics’ The Punisher—but the project was shelved after his Bombay Velvet flopped.[15] CEO Manish Gupta has had multiple ultimately unsuccessful meetings with prominent Bollywood industry personnel. In 2016, Raj Comics co-founder and studio head Sanjay Gupta said "Bollywood is yet to warm up to the idea of licensing comic book characters that come with detailed universes and visuals ready for the screen. We want to start with animated Web series first. We are expecting to make our first live-action film the year after.”[16][17] In December 2017, Raj Comics organized special screening of their horror film Aadamkhor at Nagraj Janmotsav event, Delhi. Aadamkhor is based on comic of the same name published by Raj Comics in 1992.
Raj comics released Aadamkhor on YouTube on 24 May 2018.[18]
Raj Comics are available in digital form through their android app.
The Raj Comics official android app has reached over 100k+ downloads at the time of this article.
Free Services: In 2017, Raj Comics started free comics from their android app.
Paid Services: Google Play in 2017. RC Android app crossed 100,000 downloads within 6 months of its launch.[20]
Legal history
In 1996, delivered by the Delhi High Court under docket Raja Pocket Books (Plaintiff) v. Radha Pocket Books, Raj Comics won this intellectual property case with a ruling of "prima facie infringement of the plaintiff’s character."[21]
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