New Comic Book Coming out With Sikh Characters
In a few weeks a new comic books series “Santa, Banta & Trendy” will be coming out. The quality of the art looks great, and the main characters of the comic are Sikhs, which is awesome. I think this will be a great alternative to the mainstream comics which are mostly super heroes (Batman, Spiderman, etc). I don’t think the comics will be religious in nature, but it is still great to have Sikhs be more visible in a positive way in media. The kids will enjoy it too. I would prefer my son reading a comic like this rather than a spiderman comic. I’m waiting to receive a “Media copy” of the comic too see more of the story line. Can’t wait!
Ok, the point of my posting this message is not just to let you know about the coming comic book series, but really to get some ideas from you (quickly). The publishers are going to have one of the up-coming comics feature me and Ashvinder Singh in the storyline with “Santa Singh”. So, I am looking for ideas. We basically need to come up with a story for the comic.
The only framework that we have to deal with is that Santa Singh’s mother lives in Toronto, Canada and he is going for a visit (either alone, or with his wife and son “Trendy”). He is the star of course so the story line would mostly center around him…with other characters like me and Ashvinder…as sub characters involved in the plot. Anyways… if you have ideas of events and possible story lines, here is your chance for fame! You could say… “I came up with that idea!”. You can either post ideas as a comment to this post or email me.
Oh yes…the center page will be some type of game (cross word puzzle, trivia, etc) so also looking for game ideas.
11 Responses to “New Comic Book Coming out With Sikh Characters”
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HOW DARE YOU???!!!i’m just so sick of the portrayal of sikh male in this fashion. the sterotypes and your promoting of them!!! not all sikh males have such a small joorra u know!!! :)
but that’s soo cool!! i can’t wait till narayan dresses up as Banta!
storyline: you(gmac) and ashwinder(ash) are nerds trying to get rid of WINTER (by creating a mini sun like heat source…cold fusion or something) in canada cuz as kids you were tormented by other kids in school for wearing those stupid looking hats that your mom made you wear!
and banta of course tries to stop you and teach you why we need winter…and global warming issues….
who are these good folks that came up with this comic gurumustak?
it should read “sikh ADULT males”…:)
hrm looks kind of cool, except the big guy seems to have his shirt open and belly hanging out. i hope this isnt going to portray sikhs with the annoying stereo type of being idiots like most sikhs are typecasted in bollywood movies. and “santa banta” from what i can remember is a comedy program that used to come on panjabi tv in india, in which you have these two “comedians” dressing up as sikhs and acting stupid, sorry for the vagueness, i just cant remember what it is.
if its not the above then wicked it should be a cool comic book, but if it is i dont really want to see it getting printed to be honest, im just tired of seeing sikh men being used as a source of comedy for no apparent reason.
sorry for the rant.
Kulraj: I’m with you on this. I don’t want to see that either. I haven’t seen the actual comic book so don’t know for sure. I did see a portion of a draft comic and it seemed fine. Ashvinder might have a better idea since he has seen a lot more and I think the person doing the comics is from Punjabi background. When Ashvinder asked if he could be a villian in the comic he said he couldn’t do it since Sikhs can’t be “villians” and have to be shown in good light. (Something like that).
I couldn’t imagine that a comic that is centered around Sikh characters would be negative. Normally it is the Sikh “Side kick” or sub character this is the “stupid” one.
Who is behind this comic? The names Santa & Banta have always been used to portray stereotypical dumb and fat sardars… and whats with one of the guys being an adult and wearing a patka?
How embarrassing would it be if Sikhs were being played as pawns and used in an attempt to ridicule them.
Hey. I really love Santa Banta jokes! They are really funny! So maybe they will be funny too. So cant wait! ~Sukhmani~
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Sudhir, Thanks for the information. I myself am looking forward to reading the comic. Of course if you do a good job with them…then the comic will do well in the market.
Sorry friends there were few mistakes so I am posting it again.
_____________________________
I have seen the comments and I am 100% agree to what is said and most of it is because of past experience we all had.
I am Sudhir Sehgal, Creative Head of Illustrated Orchids, and the company behind these comics.
I belong to Punjabi community and I was as hurt as you people are when we used to see how Sikh’s were represented in the media. For everyone information lots of my maternal ancestors are Sikhs.
So we are coming up with a concept to break the myth. Ofcourse there is a humorous angel, as I am also known to have best sense of humor. But no one in the comics is represented as STUPID. Once the comics will be part of the sikhnet as regular comic strips you will know more about the comics.
As a business head I will never want to tell anyone story of comics which is not released but here is the synopsis for you all:
Santa and Banta are retired from Indian Armed Forces. They have bought Farms and Trucks. Santa’s son always wants to help his dad and uncle and he invent small machines for that. This time he has invented a farm machine using the cycle his mother’s brother has sent from Canada.
As the name suggests “Comics” will be humorous and there is NO stupidity. If there is I will be first one getting hurt.
Thanx for all the comments and if I say please read the comics to see what they are you will think I am promoting my sales but that is the only way to see what they are!
Sudhir Sehgal
Hey why not do comics like Batman etc with Sikh lead characters? Or why not do a comic on the upcoming sikh game SARBLOH WARRIORS? (www.sarblohwarriors.co.uk)
I have great ideas for a comic sort of like the XMen, but with Sikhs mostly. It will have other characters from other races and religions but most of the characters will be Sikhs.I have been thinking about such a comic/game and have been working on some of the characters. I have also thought of the personalities and stories of some characters.
If anyone wishes to contact me my email is [email protected]
I am actually working on the characters for Sarbloh Warriors and I would be willing to work on characters of projects like these.
I’m very glad to see this (like everyone else as long as it brings sikhs to a positive light). The western public needs to see Sikhs, get a positive image in their mind of a sikh. Imho that is the only way that we can really stop anti sikh violence. It also will also bring sikhs into such a time and space where I hope more will find themselves able to dress as a Sikh Should with turban and hair without fear that it will hinder them in the workplace or anywhere else.
/A/s