Hasta La Motion!

Comic Con has begun at full throttle in India and comic houses are gearing up for new launches. So is Meta Desi with its new volume of Holy Hell. The fourth volume of Holy Hell will be launched at either Delhi or Banglore Comic Cons, confirmed Meta Desi founder Akshay Dhar.

Holy Hell began as part of the anthology Ground Zero and after receiving an overwhelmingly positive response from the readers, was published as a standalone series by Meta Desi. Holy Hell revolves around a sleepy little fictional town in the middle of nowhere. Protagonists Dara and Blue get tangled in a series of crazy adventures and misadventures.

What will the fourth volume then have in store for the readers? Here is what: Heroic duo of Dara and Blue must survive terrifyingly hilarious new dangers and are assaulted by even more jokes, puns, walking sticks and there’s even pokemons involved as the sleepy town of Morfeeassnagar faces a challenge like it’s never seen!

“This issue we continue to tell self-contained one-and-done story filled with action, humour and referential gags about all the things we love,” shares Dhar. “And we continue to expand on the supporting cast and world of Holy Hell.”

Sticking to their standard format, this volume of the series too will have 24 pages with the same team collaborating- Zafar Khurshid and Akshay Dhar scripting and planning while Abhijeet Kini taking care of the artwork.

Akshay will also be re-launching the company’s first comic Retrograde, which is about post-apocalypse events in a small Indian hill-town. Even though being a popular series from the beginning, the team could not make more of it due to financial and other limitations. But recently, the publisher returned full rights for the series to Meta Desi and “now I FINALLY have an answer to the dozens and dozens of people who’ve come up to me at conventions asking when they’ll see future volumes of Retrograde,” exclaims he. “It’s a great feeling.”

The re-launched Retrogade will have few re-edits, tweaks in some bits of the art, redone lettering and a “spanking new cover.” The second volume of the series is expected to be ready by the end of winter and will then be sold through their up-and-coming direct sales portal on the website.

Apart from launches and re-launches, fans can also look forward to a planned crossover between Meta Desi and Chariot Comics characters which is in a nascent stage yet. In 2014, Meta Desi and Chariot Comics first time collaborated under a new brand ICBM- Indian Comics Badass Multiverse. “Meta Desi was founded on the idea of creative collaboration,” says Dhar.

Keeping the name and details under wraps, Dhar also revealed that a brand new series will be released under Meta Desi, also at the end of winter. “All I can tell you is that’s it an action-packed, brand spanking new superhero comic for the Indian audience that will blend the old and the new, the mythology and the modern world.”

Of their multiple launches at Comic Cons, Dhar explains, “Comics are not a huge business in India though it’s growing. Indian comics don’t have comic book shops where people can find them or have regular readers and we don’t have a big sales network for online sales, not yet. So for most small, indie guys like us, Comic Con is one of the best places to get out comics into readers’ hands and meet them all face to face.”

He further adds, “Plus, Comic Con India organisers have always been extra supportive of Indian publishers, giving us promotional space, stage-time and booth space at economical rates amongst other things.”

Well, it seems like the comic fever is about to go rampant all over again!

‘Holy Hell Volume 4’

‘Retrograde’ old cover

A page from ‘Retrograde’

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