On your marks, set, draw: Comic Marathon in the capital

NEW DELHI: They have named it, “Muqabla”, but it isn’t quite a competition. This weekend, a clutch of young comic book writers and artists in the Capital will hold a 24-hr comic marathon. Called the “Delhi 24 Hour Comics Muqabla”, it’ll have artists and writers each creating a comic book between 4:00 pm on Saturday and 4:00 pm on Sunday.
On a Facebook event page, they have invited people to bring their own stationery, food, drinks and even mattresses to the Mayur Vihar venue.
Such marathons are generally held with an objective of each participant coming up with a 24-page comic at the end of the marathon. Here, however, the rules have been relaxed, and participants can produce comics as long or short as they want. “We tried doing a marathon last year, but it lost steam after 18 hours. This time we are better prepared and have a larger group that will help pull others up in case they begin to give up,” says artist Aakshat Sinha, whose Mayur Vihar studio is the venue of the marathon.
“It’s not much of a set up. We just have a few colleagues coming in from the comic artists circle, but it’s open to everyone. It is not a contest. As long as you want to come, you can join in,” says Adhiraj Singh, who scripted the comics Uud Bilaw Manus and Widhwa Maa Andhi Behen, and is one of the organizers.