Daredevils fight evil in comic land

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With the fifth edition of Indian Premier League nearing its finale, the comic industry too has jumped into the fray and is cashing in on its popularity. While Puma recently came up a superhero range of comic books featuring IPL teams such as Deccan Chargers, a.k.a. Electric Chargers and Rajasthan Royals (Rock ‘n’ Royals), Diamond Comics and GMR Sports Pvt. Ltd have come up with a series of comics Diamond Daredevils Series that will feature team members of Delhi Daredevils alongside iconic Indian comic characters Chacha Chaudhary and Sabu.
After every Deccan Chargers and Rajasthan Royals match, a superhero comic illustration is being released with a match-report. Puma has tried to make the strips imaginative in order to attract more attention. The page is uploaded online and is available to all cricket fans the day after the match.
In case of the Daredevil comic series, instead of featuring the entire Delhi Daredevils team, one or two members will team up with Chacha Chaudhary and Sabu and play against an evil opposition. “The final message of the series would be that good wins over evil,” says cartoonist Pran, creator of the characters Chacha Chaudhary and Sabu.
But the difficult part is creating the strips featuring real-life cricket heroes. Puma’s South Asia MD, Rajiv Mehta, says, “Converting a live match into a graphic story is challenging. We have to work within the constraints of the match rather than letting our creative juices flow freely. While this is challenging, it also makes it more topical and relevant to the reader.”
Hemant Dua, head, marketing and commercial, GMR Sports Pvt. Ltd says that for comics based on Delhi Daredevils series, they have given the creators a list of players with details of their characteristics. “The list mentions the role of each player in the team. And there’s a small note on team composition as well,” says Dua and adds that this is an effort to reach out to young cricket fans. “It’s very necessary to feature the real characteristics of a player in that case,” he adds.
Pran, who is working on the comics, says that it’s not easy to sketch a character based on a real life person. “I’ve been observing the moves and mannerisms of all the players of the Delhi Daredevils team since the time we came up with the idea of comics based on them. It’s difficult and time-consuming to generate a correct picture. While we will come out with a few issues that will feature skipper Virender Sehwag, Kevin Pietersen and a few others by this season end, other players will be featured only in the next season,” he says.