An exhibition has brought to life the colourful history of (mostly black-and-white) comics in Bengal

Bengal has a long story to tell when it comes to comics, and cartoons – and finally there has been an attempt to trace the evolution of Bengali comics, with the Comics Culture Collective and the Kolkata Centre for Creativity coming together for an exhibition titled “Comics in Bengal”, containing material curated over a year and a half.

“There has never been an attempt to create a serious archive of Bengali comics,” said Pinaki De, one of the core members of Comics Culture Collective, “but this exhibition can be the first of its kind to make the younger generation work more on the history and politics of Bengali comics.” The exhibition was divided into several sections, so as to offer easy gateways into the world. The exhibits revealed how Bengali comics delved into different genres, and created a number of popular series that were widely read.

The Beginnings

When scholars talk about Bengali comics, the often point to works like terracotta panels and patachitras as forerunners. Be it “Kirkwood Bilaas” published in Basantak (1874) or “Harbola Bhar” in 1873 – these sequential narratives in art that were comic-like. It was Sukholota Rao’s series ‘Jemon Kormo Temni Phol’ (As you sow, so you shall reap), first published in...

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