Gotham Entertainment Group LLC was an American company established in

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

to establish a leadership position in the Indian

comic magazine Comic magazine may refer to: * Comics anthology * '' Comic Magazine'', a 1986 Japanese film * Comic Magazines, the parent company of Quality Comics * Franco-Belgian comics magazines * Japanese manga magazines * A periodical containing comic strip ...

and

children's book Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...

market. The company was established by executives in the industry including the former

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especiall ...

of Time-Life, the former Presidents of Warner Music Media and

Bertelsmann Music Group Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) was a division of a German media company Bertelsmann before its completion of sale of the majority of its assets to Sony Corporation of America on 1 October 2008. Although it was established in 1987, the music co ...

(BMG) Direct, and the former Regional Creative Director of J. Walter Thompson-Asia Pacific. Gotham's CEO,

Sharad Devarajan Sharad Devarajan is the co-founder and chief executive officer of Liquid Comics LLC, a digital entertainment company that uses the medium of graphic novel storytelling to develop original content for various digital platforms, publishing, theatr ...

, is an entrepreneur with prior media experience at

MTV Networks Paramount Media Networks (formerly known as Warner Cable Communications, Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, MTV Networks, Viacom Media Networks, and ViacomCBS Domestic Media Networks) is an American mass media division of Paramount Global tha ...

, Ford Modeling Agency,

Elektra Entertainment Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between ...

, and

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with their f ...

History

Gotham comics started publishing comics in India in the year 1998. In the early to mid-2000s, Gotham established itself as one of the leading providers of international comic magazines in India, securing publishing relationships with DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Dark Horse Comics, MAD Magazine, Panini, S.p.A. and Warner Bros. Worldwide Publishing. Through these arrangements, Gotham had access to a large library of publishing content, featuring over 10,000 character properties and more than 700 monthly comic magazine titles including Superman,

Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in the 27th issue of the comic book '' Detective Comics'' on March 30, 1939 ...

, Spider-Man, Hulk,

X-Men The X-Men are a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, first appearing in ''The X-Men'' #1 by artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby and writer/editor Stan Lee in 1963. Although initially cancelled in 1970 due to ...

Tarzan Tarzan (John Clayton II, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adv ...

Scooby-Doo ''Scooby-Doo'' is an American animated media franchise based on an animated television series launched in 1969 and continued through several derivative media. Writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears created the original series, ''Scooby-Doo, Where Are ...

The Powerpuff Girls ''The Powerpuff Girls'' is an American superhero animated television series created by animator Craig McCracken and produced by Hanna-Barbera (later Cartoon Network Studios) for Cartoon Network and distributed by Warner Bros. Domestic T ...

The Flintstones ''The Flintstones'' is an American animated sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera, Hanna-Barbera Productions. The series takes place in a romanticized Stone Age setting and follows the activities of the titular family, the Flintstones, and their nex ...

, and

Wonder Woman Wonder Woman is a superhero created by the American psychologist and writer William Moulton Marston (pen name: Charles Moulton), and artist Harry G. Peter. Marston's wife, Elizabeth, and their life partner, Olive Byrne, are credited as being ...

. Gotham's products were available in English, Hindi, Assamese, Bengali, Tamil, Malayalam, and other regional languages, reaching readers in South Asia. Perhaps their most significant partnership was with

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Comics'' in 19 ...

to create an Indian version of Spider-Man, which incorporated India's ancient, mystical heritage and coincided with the launch of the second Spider-Man film in India. In July 2008, Gotham announced a partnership with

Richard Branson Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is a British billionaire, entrepreneur, and business magnate. In the 1970s he founded the Virgin Group, which today controls more than 400 companies in various fields. Branson expresse ...

's ''Virgin'' empire to launch ''

Virgin Comics Liquid Comics is an Indian comic book Publishers company, founded in 2006 as Virgin Comics LLC, which produced stories (many of which are Indian-culture related) for an international audience. The company was founded by Sir Richard Branson and his ...

'' in India. The first three titles that were made available in India were: ''

Devi Devī (; Sanskrit: देवी) is the Sanskrit word for 'goddess'; the masculine form is ''deva''. ''Devi'' and ''deva'' mean 'heavenly, divine, anything of excellence', and are also gender-specific terms for a deity in Hinduism. The conc ...

, Snake Woman and The Sadhu'' followed by ''

Ramayan 3392 AD ''Ramayan 3392 A.D.'' (formerly called ''Ramayan Reborn'') is a comic book series published by Virgin Comics based upon the Ramayana. It is written by Shamik Dasgupta, the art is by Abhishek Singh (artist), Abhishek Singh, and it is a brainchild of ...

'', a futuristic sci-fi story inspired by the original

Ramayana The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th to 4th centuries BCE, and later stages e ...

mythology.

Staff

- President, CEO, Director *

Suresh Seetharaman Suresh is an Indian masculine given name originating in the Sanskrit word ' (compound of ' and '). Its meaning is "Ruler of Gods" and it has been used an epithet for the Hindu gods Indra, Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. People named Suresh include: *Sur ...

- Chief Operating Officer, director *

Christopher Linen Christopher is the English language, English version of a Europe-wide name derived from the Greek language, Greek name Χριστόφορος (''Christophoros'' or ''Christoforos''). The constituent parts are Χριστός (''Christós''), "Jesus ...

- Chairman *

Raju Puthukarai The Raju are a Telugu caste found mostly in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Varna Status The Raju caste, which A. Satyanarayana calls the "locally dominant landed gentry", claims Kshatriya status in the varna system despite there being ...

- Vice-chairman *

Peter Feldman Peter Feldman is a professional poker player from Harper Woods, Michigan Feldmans's first major success in poker came in a 2006 World Series of Poker circuit event, where he won the tournament and $532,950. Since then, Feldman has cashed in s ...

- Vice-chairman *

Jeevan J. Kang Jeevan is an Indian sub-continent first name meaning 'life' or 'bringer of life', that may be used by males or females. The name originates from the Sanskrit language but is more often used as a Nepalese language name, a Sikh or a Hindu name. Alte ...

- Studio chief * Nagavito Chophy - Asst. studio co-ordinator & digital artist

Format

Gotham Comics was usually published in three varying formats: standard issues (usually 22 pages in length); double issues (48 pages in length, sometimes a combination of two separate stories); and giant specials (six standard issues in one volume).

References

{{reflist

External links

Gotham Entertainment Group LLC
Comic book publishing companies of India Indian comics

History

Staff

Format

See also

References

External links