The Murder of Imagination

It’s hard to imagine and fantasize when the reality is so absolute. I miss forgetting myself in stories and comics, like I did in childhood. I love a good story or comic book that has the capability to transport me from reality. As far as comic books go, things were going great till early 2010s. In 2006 Virgin Comics launched a bunch of comics including The Sadhu, Devi and a futuristic retelling of the Ramayana. 2010s was when I came across an issue of Comic Jump a newly launched comic magazine which had great comic strips. Quite a bunch of new comic book companies were formed including Level 10 comics which published Comic Jump, Yali Dream Creations and Holy Cow Entertainment with promising characters and comics. Come mid 2010s and all of it vanished suddenly. It’s around same time when MTV Indies, an indie rock channel shutdown and MTV and Channel V started serving daily soaps for the youth instead of good independent music. I mean I love myself a good comic book but I guess now especially when I have become aware of the actual reality of this country and the world my interest in books and comic books ceases to matter, it is not entertainment but just delusional make-believe and fantasizing, and today the condition is such that even that is a luxury. I still enjoy comic books and comic book movies but in the way middle aged aunties enjoy daily soaps, knowing that my life and life in general isn’t going to change but one can disconnect from the reality for a little bit, that too if I’m lucky enough to drift away in the narrative of the comic book or the movie. The worst thing now is that now I don’t trust the artists of this country, all good honest artists have either been ruined or have been silenced and art and media in this country is helmed by ass-licking propagandists with not even zero but negative integrity. I don’t like foreign comics much, except for watching the Marvel or DC movies, but guess I will have to finally resort to them, and I would have made this switch earlier, but I couldn’t because of very political reasons that affected me in the past decade. Diamond Comics and Raj Comics remain the first loves though, as they are what made my childhood better. I miss the warmth of Pran’s comics but artists like that don’t remain anymore.