Sometime in 2020, Sanid Asif Ali was driving to work in the suburb of Kakkanad, near Kochi. As the IT professional went past several high-rise buildings, he came across the Brahmapuram waste dumping site. Suddenly, he wondered, ‘What if animals were living there?’ That night, he went home and drew a story about a cat named Beardo, who comes across an empty packet of Italian-made Gustoso! biscuits at a garbage dump. Beardo shows it to his friends, a dog and a crow, and the trio go in search of the biscuits.
The four-chapter comic discussed hunger, cruelty to animals, abandonment and the excessive garbage isses. It was uploaded on the tinkle.in website in June 2020. “It was a turning point in my life,” says Sanid, who fell in love with comics when he came across his cousin’s collection of Tintin comics. At eight, he started drawing his own comic strips.
Sanid met the wider comic community when he took part in the Indie Comix Fest (ICF) at Kochi in 2018. It was here that he met Sreeram KV, a writer and fellow comic enthusiast. Later through an Instagram post, he came across filmmaker Tony Davis, who ran a comics library at Kochi. The three visited the 2019 ICF, conducted by the Comic Collective. They came away disappointed as the organisers were involved not only in comics but movies too. The friends decided that they should have a dedicated community only for comics. So, the trio organised the ICF in December, 2022. Last month they organised the fourth edition of the ICF, where participants brought self-published works.
Asked about the themes explored in the comics, Sanid says, “There are social and mythological themes. The artists spoke about their self-doubt and anxieties, the pains of childhood and an uncertain future. An 11-year-old boy brought along a superhero comic.” A Mumbai-based group called Urban Collective explored the concept of space in the financial capital. HarperCollins’ graphic novel—Pig Flip by Malayali author Joshy Benedict—explored addiction. Most comic book authors, however, have to self-publish. “Hence the prices of the books are high,” rues Sreeram.
For finances, the trio depended on the Rs 700 registration fee. They also got a sponsor in Lilo Rosh, a company which makes bags and sketchbooks for artists. This year also saw participation from an older section of people. Tony says that there is a growing comic culture in Kochi. “There is readership for each age group. Local participation is also improving. Out of 46 illustrators, who took part this year, more than half were from Kerala. The rest came from Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi,” the filmmaker says, adding, “Anyone who has made a comic can take part.”