A page from the upcoming War comic, Commando: Deep Strike
, photo credit: special arrangement
It rains in gusts. The bushes of the forest scratch the hands and face. Weapons, backpacks and exhaustion weigh down the captain and the men of the Indian Army unit as they march towards the rebels. The rumbling sound of machine guns pierces the quiet dawn as soldiers battle determinedly – to eliminate hostile forces, or die trying.
His gallantry will be remembered at the wreath laying ceremony of the 74th National War Memorial of India. Republic day, Beneath the memorial’s four circles (circles), which display murals and tablets with the names of the nearly 30,000 armed forces personnel who defended the idea of India, is Smarika, a souvenir store celebrating military heritage Is. Among the memorabilia battling for space on the shelves are comic books of war heroes, some of whom have their names inscribed in the sacrificial wheel above. The books, mostly published by Delhi-based AAN Comics, are war chronicles of soldiers, sailors and airmen who have fought wars, carried out counter-insurgency operations and undertaken dangerous missions since independence.
Rishi Kumar | photo credit: special arrangement
Rishi Kumar, 41, a graduate from College of Art, Delhi, founded AAN Comics in 2012. In advertising. “I have ex-servicemen in my family, my brother is a serving officer. I grew up on a heavy dose of Commando comics and often wondered why we don’t have anyone to celebrate our own war heroes,” says Rishi.
One On Comic Book | photo credit: special arrangement
Long before the Indian Army became a modern fighting machine, it represented Kipling’s idea of romantic India. Its regimental names reflect our diverse origins and are synonymous with adventure. At a time when crossing the sea was forbidden, they fought in the Opium Wars, bent the ridge from which the Turks overran Gallipoli, halted the advance of Rommel’s army across Western Sahara, and attacked Pathan positions in the Downwind. Attacked, denied the area. Since independence they have been fighting in the harsh valleys of Kashmir and the Northeast, come to the aid of civilians during disasters and have been part of UN peacekeeping missions. “We remember some of their names – mostly Param Vir Chakra awardees. But most heroism slips between the cracks in our collective memory. These are the men whose stories I want to tell.
Now a retired lieutenant colonel, Jasram Singh was awarded the Ashoka Chakra, India’s highest peacetime military decoration, for gallantry in the Mizo Hills in 1968. photo credit: special arrangement
Beginning with a 100-page comic book on the Siachen saga in 2009, Rishi has brought out nearly 50 books in the last decade. “Earlier, it took two years to complete. I randomly choose stories as there are a lot of them and started with a series on Ashoka Chakra and Mahavir Chakra awardees. I was approached to do one on Lt. Nawang Kapadia. A few others were also published, even though they were not on gallantry award winners,” says Rishi, adding that the support and help from the army’s ADGPI (Additional Directorate General of Public Information) has resulted in a huge reach for the comics. “Apart from bookshops, war memorials in Delhi and Leh, and the Army Heritage Museum in Shimla, army units also have my books. I try to cover stories from units. Hence, readers are drawn from Karakoram to Kanyakumari.”
Comic strips are painstakingly researched and transition from black-and-white pages to color as the decades change. Sage’s daring pencils focus on the human face of war without taking too long and hard a look at hyper-nationalism. The number of exclamation marks itself tells us the urgency of the scene. “Through the ADGPI, the story is sent to units for verification and fact-checked for details, language and uniform,” says Rishi. The business side of publishing. Recently, AAN tied up with HarperCollins for Warrior Pack consisting of 24 books. He says that when comics are translated into Hindi, they have a wider reach.
A Hindi translation | photo credit: special arrangement
Currently working on commando operations of the Indo-Pak war of 1947-48, Rishi counts among his favorites the book on Flying Officer Dara Chinoy, who crashed his bomber in Pakistan during the 1965 war and then returned to India Dare to run away from “Their story was engaging because the action took place deep inside enemy lines,” says Sage, adding that video games like Call of Duty have popularized Allied forces. “We need to make games like this in India focusing on our military training, secrecy and acts of heroism.”
Till then, AAN hopes to bring alive these men who write history with bare hands, bayonets and bravery.
Comics are available online. For details, visit aancomics.com, @aancomics or write to aanpublishers@gmail.com.