BENGALURU: Japan M Thakar has always loved comic books. After being unable to produce a movie based on a script he had written due to budgetary constraints, a 19-year-old Thakar in New Jersey eventually went on to found River Comics. This, after getting inspired from one of his college classes over a decade ago. Since then, River Comics has gone through many changes, a significant one being a step towards the digital direction.
“We originally were just publishing comic books. But then we decided to innovate because the entire process of printing books, distributing them and convincing stores to buy our books was becoming very hectic. So, we decided to go digital,” says Thakar, who is on a tour of multiple Comic Cons in the country.
In Bengaluru to attend the Comic Con, Thakar and his team were here to show their new app, which takes the user through all the original works of River Comics containing motion graphics, one of few in the country to use this technology. “After going digital, we continued to innovate. That is when I came up with the motion graphics idea. We then added voiceovers, music and multiple languages to make sure we offer an engaging and interesting experience,” says Thakar, adding that they’re in the process of adding Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and other regional languages to the app.
Thakar also feels motion graphics help River Comics battle the reduced attention spans of today’s generation. “We have kept our episodes purposely between five to seven minutes. Our content also has enough diversity as we cover everything from history to culture,” he says.
After working with various artistes in the past, including actor Bhagyashree, their latest collaboration is with the famed Mumbai-based hip-hop collective Bombay Lokal who created a song for River Comics and performed it on Sunday. “We’ve always felt artistes and celebrities can help elevate our message. With this recent collaboration, Bombay Lokal gave us a specific track, which they made for us. We are really excited for it since we haven’t had that done before. We hope to be working with more such artistes in the future as well,” concludes Thakar.