The early eighties were a tumultuous time in India. The then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, had been shot dead by her Sikh body guards, there was trouble in Punjab, there were the riots in Delhi, and the Kashmir issue was just rearing its ugly head. The stage was set for a saviour, a super hero who would swoop-in and rid India of crime, corruption and the newly formed word in the Indian psyche, terrorism.

Around the same time, three brothers were scratching their heads and wondering what to do with their lives. They only had one passion, comics, and were increasingly dissatisfied with what they were reading. Sanjay, Manish and Manoj Gupta had been bitten by the 'comics bug' and couldn't get enough of it.  Indrajaal Comics and Amar Chitra Katha were their staple fodder, with Superman, Batman and other Marvel line up's also entering the market. Add to that, a dash of 'Commando' comics and a sprinkling of Archie's. Tin Tin and Asterix were a novelty and usually reserved for birthday presents or a 'prize'. And it was the absence of an Indian superhero from the comic's horizon that disturbed them.

Their father opened a publishing house called Raja Pocket Books in 1982-83. Soon enough the three son's decided to pursue their passion and crossed the threshold from reader to creator, “So we read and read and read. . . and one day we felt that we should make comics. Indrajaal would mainly have characters that weren't made in India. . . like Phantom etc. We thought that we needed to create a special character from India,” says Sanjay. This led to the creation of Raj Comics.

The three wanted to create a uniquely Indian Superhero closer to the Indrajaal line of superheroes. Their inspiration came in the form of Spiderman, which was aired on the national television (Doordarshan) on Sundays. They decided to create a superhero in the Spiderman mould, but with an Indian background, and so, Nagraj was born.

Based largely on the Hindu myth of the shape shifting snake, Nagraj derives most of his powers from microscopic snakes that live in his bloodstream (in lieu of white blood cells) and has numerous powers like superhuman strength, poisonous breath and bite, instant healing powers and of course, snakes who come out of his wrists separately or make shapes like ropes, parachutes etc. He is set in the standard super hero mould, with a lean muscular body, a clean-shaven face and a snake-hood-like puff on his head.

By this time Amar Chitra Katha and Indrajaal Comics were on their way out and had stopped printing new issues. Indrajaal was completely closing shop and Amar Chitra Katha had stopped creating new stories and was printing re-runs. In the apparent void created by the absence of these staple comic book publishers, Nagraj was an instant rage. The adventures began with a 'James Bond meets Spiderman' where Nagraj was being used as a killing machine by various terrorist organisations. He eventually gets saved by an Indian mystic called Baba Gorakhnath and dedicates his life to the eradication of crime and terrorism. His activities later take a global route and he starts by destroying crime rings in Japan, Spain and America. This was followed by other changes in the Nagraj narrative. The locally oriented villains were replaced by a brand of miscreants best called the 'super villains.' With moves that could match any superhero, the laser gun, magic stick wielding villains had nothing but world control on their agenda. These were usually Kingpins that were the cause for all corruption and crime in the world. As Sanjay Gupta says “There had to be a person who is the prime villain behind everything. Someone makes a bomb, a liquid bomb, which creates communal tension, but who is behind this? That person is the main villain. He is the super villain who can't ever die. And this super villain in some senses, is Nagraj's alter ego. To show him as a super hero we need a super villain.” Nagraj was subsequently seen fighting the likes of Miss Killer, a Japanese scientist with ambitions of world control and Thodanga, an African warlord amongst many other 'super villains'.

With the success met by Nagraj, Raj Comics launched an entire ensemble of super-heroes like Super Commando Dhruv, Doga, Tiranga, Bhediya, Parmanu, Inspector Steel, Anthony, Bhokal, Fighter Toads, Gamraj, and Shakti.

By Amitabh Kumar (One Of The Founding Members Of The Pao Collective). This article was first published in Traffic Life Magazine in March 2008.

( Days of the Raj – II Super Commando Dhruv and Doga)