Comixense Jan-Mar 2023

A 4-colour comic magazine in English is a collaboration between Ektara Trust and People Tree studio. It was launched in April 2021. It is aimed primarily at teenagers between 12 and 17 years old, and will touch upon all aspects of life that young people in India encounter today — presented in a manner that credits their intelligence, imagination and empathy.

This issue contains seven stories emerging from diverse flowing streams. Dreams of the Sky is the true-life story of a remarkable aviatrix, Bessie Coleman, who soared above racism and gender discrimination to achieve her dream. Red is an illustrated poem that touches, tenderly, upon the difficult topic of menstruation. The Daughters of Relu is a mythological story on the origins of the sister rivers Ganga and Jamna. The fantastical story is an extract from ‘River of Stories’, considered India’s first graphic novel. Forest Bathing is a sensual walk through the cycles of flux in a forest ecosystem. The Ferryman is an adaptation of the Greek myth of Charon, the ferryman of the underworld river Styx. Suli tells of a little girl who loves to run with her hair free, but grandma believes otherwise. A River Runs Through It is an adventure fantasy set in the future in which a young girl risks her life to save her ‘sick’ baby brother from the clutches of an organ harvester.