Seriality and millennial fandom in the Indian superhero comic Nagraj. Issue 6 (2nd November 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Chatterji, Roma; Shreyas, Amaan
• Is Part Of: Journal of graphic novels & comics. Volume 12:Issue 6(2021)
• Page Start: 1270
• Page End: 1284
• Publication Date: 2021-11-02
• Subjects: Seriality; Online Fandom; Nagraj; Indian Superheroes; Millenial Fandom; Graphic novels -- Periodicals; Comic books, strips, etc -- Periodicals; Popular culture -- Periodicals; Art, Modern -- 21st century -- Periodicals; Art, Modern; Comic books, strips, etc; Graphic novels; Popular culture; Comicroman; Comic; Periodicals; 741.5
• DOI: 10.1080/21504857.2021.2010990
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2150-4857

Abstract

ABSTRACT: From the 1980s to the early 2000s, Raj Comics went from selling 3 lakh copies a year to adorning railway bookstalls in Central India. Despite being absent from the multimedia convergence moment enjoyed by comic book characters worldwide in the first two decades of the 21 st Century. Nagraj, their most successful superhero character boasts a dedicated fanbase that continues to engage with the rapidly vanishing superhero Nagraj. This paper focuses on 'Khajana', the Nagraj mini-series, to study the technique of serialisation and its contribution to the creation and endurance of such a fanbase online. The paper examines 'Khajana' by locating it at the intersection of the commercial superhero genre in India and the interactive felicity of millennial Nagraj fans. Such an intersection conceives serialisation and interactive felicity as the conditions of possibility for a fandom around an absent commercial entity.