The comics simply weren't that good. Well produced from a technical standpoint - great production, and the art was generally okay, but the storylines themselves were just "eh". Too bad, because I really like the idea of new cross-cultural comics shaking things up the way that Manga has over the last decade.

Yes Asian markets have done great things with the medium, but I can think of no medium, nor no genre, as uniquly american as superhero comic books.

Yes, Indian writers and artists will bring their own cultural sensibilities, but so did eastern european jews bring their own sensibility to the form at its inception.

For all the talk of American Culture dominating the world people often seem to forget that the culture america puts forth was globalized from the start.

American culture doesn't invade, more often then not it is simply welcomed home.

That's too bad, because Hindu mythology is a goldmine for this stuff. I grew up reading Amar Chitra Katha, India’s version of Marvel Comics. The artwork and production values probably weren't up to the standards people are used to in the West, but the storylines were/are superb.

I bought a couple of stack of them for my 3 year old daughter. She has trouble pronouncing the Sanskrit and Vedic names. Hiranyakashyapu is hard to pronounce even for non-three-year-olds. But the stories are awesome.

But hey, you can still go out and get your own Hanuman action figure. http://www.kridana.com/hanuman.html

I bought the first and sometimes the second issue of much of what Virgin put out, but while the comics were of high physical quality, the writing just wasn't compelling. I get quite a few comics every week by many different publishers, but these weren't worth buying.

And the art was decent, but cluttered. It was much too busy for comics, it impeded the flow of reading.

I don't think it is a global downturn as much as bad business and bad comics. They might have stayed around had they used standard comic paper and printing, as it was their higher costs likely helped hasten their restructuring.

A "high profile joint venture" is NOT going to produce great comic books! That's a job for an actual comic artist. Guess they forgot to hire someone with inspiration.

I first noticed Virgin Comics not because of the vaguely east-west crossover art and titles, but because they were establishing their brand through curious partnerships with all manner of weird celebrities. Deepak Chopra? Jenna Jameson? Guy freaking Ritchie? I browsed their titles at the store but could never figure out what the business plan was--other than maybe generating pipe-dream "properties" for future movie optioning.

Like the other letter writers, I'm not sure this has anything to do with global economics. I see it more as a case of clueless deep-pocket backers ignoring what the growth areas are for new comics ventures. Comics readers are by and large a smart bunch--peddling corny New Age gurus, beefcake drawings of porn stars they can watch in the flesh online, or mediocre filmmakers best known for marrying pop icons is not the way to their heart or pockets.

I agree with neither the global economic slump hypothesis nor the not-that-good postulate.

From my layperson's perspective, I'd say Virgin Comics didn't play ball with the comic book distribution monopoly, Diamond. If they were focusing only on the bookstore (a dying breed itself) as their point of sale, I'm not surprised they failed to attract a loyal audience that could sustain its costs. Virgin Comics going under illuminates the predicament the print media industry is in. While other comics book companies have hedged their bets by fully embracing the hermetic and contracting direct market audience (for serials, at least), the big book publishers know well the arc of the big box bookstore's decline.

Comic book readers as a whole, tend to follow books for both the writing and the art.

However technically proficient, factory art tends to leave the reader cold.

For all of D.C. and Marvel's current success, their core books at their inception were very creator (both write and artist) driven. The Virgin books felt very much like a corporate attempt to jump into what seemed to be a growth industry rather than a creative endeavor. They didn't betray distributorship so much as they tried to pump out an inferior product into a market whose fan-base they made no effort to understand.

I would love to see an actual Indian-created comic series, using well-known writers and artists working as a creative team, rather than a generic piece of assembly line product slapped together by indifferent hands merely to satisfy a large corporate venture.

I wonder how these comics would handle the caste factor in Hindu India? Pretty much all the Indian Devi/Devtas come with the racist/caste baggage.

Probably the same way that Marvel handles the racial baggage associated with Norse Gods in modern culture. They skip it.

Since these are fictional characters they only have to believe and do what you tell them to, as such even though human sacrafice was normal and ocassionally thought to be pleasing to many ancient gods, those that have been retconed into superheros rarely discuss the issue, let alone how they miss the way burning fat would flavor their ambrosia.

That being said, I'd love to see a Thor 1938 book some time, just to see how you meld the modern hero with actions done in his name in the past. It certainly raises modern theological issues for the practitioners of more popular fiaths.

I am assuming that because you are a layperson you weren't aware that Virgin Comics were distributed through Diamond to the direct market and definitely played ball, buying up their own "spotlight" section of the monthly catalog just like any of the other larger publishers.

You are right though to point out the monopoly situation in comics distribution.

I suppose I can only speak from what I saw at my local comics store, but I never saw a persuasive effort from Virgin Comics to penetrate the fanboy demographic. I have skimmed through Previews from the last year and haven't seen the breadth of coverage that Marvel and DC spend lots of money to get. I don't think I could even quantify it as proportional to Virgin's output.

It's shameful that the industry is operated in such a way. That's my only point. I don't criticize Virgin for their promotional strategy or not kissing the ring of Diamond-- and I did read pieces on them on Newsarama and CBR and I think even in Entertainment Weekly. But I wouldn't say that they "played ball" in the same way that Marvel and DC do to exploit the classic comic book audience, and that might have -- unfortunately-- led them to failure.