long live comics!

Studio Kokaachi's official tumblr page.

[xishnu]

Adventures with @neembuneembu. Happy birthday my girl 😊 * #inktober#rocketscooter

[fishkitty]

[kokaachi]

By our dearest comrade, collaborator and co-conspirator Prabha Mallya.

[kokaachi]

Two years after Tina came up with the idea of comics inside matchboxes, we're finally ready with our first collection.

SO EXCITED!!

Brown box cover design by Rajiv Eipe.

[kokaachi]

Comic of the day: Fish by Bianca Bagnarelli

With its omnipresent pinkish hue, Bianca Bagnarelli's FISH seems light and dream-like, at first. But the gorgeous colours only hide the dark and nightmaresque state of Milo, the book's 12-year-old protagonist, whose parents died in a recent car crash.

Beautifully illustrated, Bianca relies less on words and more on silence to tell a story that is both fragile and poignant, and emphasizes the familial bonds that hold us together.

That a story of such emotional weight could be told in a mere 24 pages speaks volumes about the quiet confidence of its award-winning creator!

[kokaachi]

Day 10 of 30 days of Kokaachi

When we were kids, the infamous kid-napping gangs were a more real threat than the Kokaachi monster. We couldn't play outside the house on our own, especially the vicinity of the compound gate which was forbidden territory...

Vishnu tapped into that collective fear and created a Kokaachi who hung from the tall coconut trees in Kerala, bag at it's side, ready to pounce on unsuspecting kids returning home after school. We're big fans > Tina and Vishnu have co-created one of the 6 Matchbox Comix (which comes out this week), he's currently illustrating a story from the upcoming Mixtape Vol 3 and we hope to tell a lot more stories with him. 

[kokaachi]

Mixtape spotting at Goobes, Bangalore

[kokaachi]

Matchbox Comix

New comics coming out this week!

[kokaachi]

Appupen’s kokaachi & comics library

Day 9 of 30 days of Kokaachi

This primeval Kokaachi is an inhabitant of Halahala, the world that our good friend Appupen has been creating (and still is) over the past 5+ years. While almost everyone else in the Indian comics scene was busy rehashing and retelling existing mythologies, Appupen created his own bold, original & visionary universe of stories, one that we're utterly in awe of.

We also spent an afternoon with Appupen at his home, and were pleasantly surprised to it see his comics library (the pic below is but a small part of it) and find that lot of our fave books were part of his collection too. We also got to see a lot of his new, ongoing work - comics, posters, Halahala stories and some absolutely wild & pulpy artworks we plan to steal when it comes out later this year! :) 

[kokaachi]

Comic of the day: Goliath by Tom Gauld Everyone, it would seem, knows the story of David & Goliath. We first heard as kids, its one of those Biblical stories that never go away. And in all these years, we've always seen it as a victory of the underdog over the the tyrant.

Then Tom Gauld, one of UK's beloved cartoonists, came along and told the story of GOLIATH.

In Gauld's hands, Goliath becomes a mild-mannered soldier, an everyman   who'd rather spend time behind a desk than fight anyone. He's not the blood-thirsty, arrogant, boastful warrior the stories told us about.

What also makes Gauld's Goliath such a refreshing take on the 'original' is his art, which while seeming simple, conveys deep emotions with such nuance. But you cannot deny your genes, and Goliath's gigantic size brings him face-to-face David, and the rest is history. 

[kokaachi]

Lightroom Bookstore

We went to Lightroom Bookstore, one of our favourite book places, and were delighted to find books by two of our dearest friends on the racks

The alphabet of Animals & Birds by Prabha Mallya

Let’s go! by Anthara Mohan and Rajiv Eipe

We also picked up some lovely books for our library!

[kokaachi]

Day 8 of 30 days of Kokaachi

Sometimes, the scariest Kokaachi aren't imaginary beings, but evil, everyday household appliances that simply don't like the sight of you. Think of the stalker-killer bike that's out to get Calvin all the time. Or Siddhartha Tripathi who was traumatised by the tv-gas cylinder-mop-gang who pounced on him whenever his mother wasn't around. :)

[kokaachi]

Day 7 of 30 days of Kokaachi

Did you know that kozhukkattas* are kokaachi's favourite snacks? Manoj A. Menon's Kokaachi is making a quick getaway with a jar full of them.

*Kozhukkattas are sweet snacks native to Kerala; like momos, but filled with coconut & jaggery

[kokaachi]

Comic of the day: DEMO by Brian Wood & Becky Cloonan Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan are two of my favourite storytellers in the medium and Demo inspired me to write comics & to co-start Manta Ray and Kokaachi. DEMO is a collection of 18 stories, each featuring a new cast of characters in self-contained stories that primarily deal with power (both the super kind and the real-world, relationship kind). @brianwood does a fabulous job of going against the grain in these stories, and @beckycloonan powers it up with her super-charged black-&-white art. 8 years have passed since I first read Demo, yet the strength of the stories in it have not diminished a bit. Looking back, its even harder to believe that this was just their second collaboration and at a nascent stage in their comics careers. The unique & diverse stories, the completely relatable characters in a believable real-world setting, and the extraordinary circumstances & consequences of their 'powers' makes Demo a definite must-read.

[kokaachi]

Comic of the day: The utterly pointless counting book by Harriet Russel

This is not really a sequential story, but it's so much fun it would be a crime to not share it. Harriet Russel's 'The utterly pointless counting book' is just that - a counting book that pokes fun at counting, and thus, itself. Number 3, for example is a painted red square with the caption: "3 coats of paint on a wall". Number 8 shows a lemon and says: "8 pips inside a lemon". And so it goes from 1 to 11.  We've read this little counting book countless number of times, it never ceases to amuse us or make us laugh. A special shout out to the Lightroom bookstore in Banglore. I doubt if we'd have discovered this gem if it weren't for their fabulously curated collection.

What makes it a must read? It’s hilarious, can be enjoyed by anyone of any age, and is a book you’ll keep coming back to, long after it’s added to your collection.

[kokaachi]

Day 6 of 30 days of Kokaachi

Get up on your feet and dance with wild abandon! This happy-go-lucky-Kokaachi sprang forth from the mind of Pratik Ghosh

[kokaachi]

Comic of the day: Obsolete by Mikkel Sommer

We're HUGE fans of Nobrow's books and their excellent 17x23 series, and Mikkel Sommer's Obsolete is the first of these that we will be showcasing. Obsolete is the story of a soldier who has just returned home. Grappling with post-war trauma,  haunted by ghosts of the people he's killed and disillusioned with the system that brought him , he joins another soldier-friend to rob a bank. Things go wrong, as they horribly will, but amidst the carnage that ensues, the soldier finds a glimpse of redemption, maybe salvation even.

Why is this a must read? It’s a haunting, succinct, character-driven slice of storytelling

[kokaachi]

Day 5 of 30 days of Kokaachi

Anil KS’ POOKAACHI is a flower-powered, nature loving Kokaachi. :)