Mogae Digital to launch 'Talking Comics'

50 video stories will go live on Tata Sky's Active Wizkids.

Mogae Digital has announced the launch of Talking Comics on Tata Sky. The video stories will be carried on ActveWizkids from next week and will be promoted on the default channel, Channel 100.

"Talking Comics gives a video experience that does not take away from the pleasure of 'reading' a comic. Mogae has invested the last four years in creating original world class IP in the comics space, specifically for mobile devices. Today we have over 50 titles and over 2,000 stories created entirely at Mogae Studios. But with newer opportunities opening up on DTH, we have spent over 18 months creating this new genre of Talking Comics," says Tanya Goyal, executive director of the Mogae Group.

Talking Comics has been created to give a video experience to comics on mobile. "The file sizes are kept light. There is a voiceover, music, animation, plus all the text as in a normal comic - all of which gives a more wholesome 'reading' experience," adds Goyal.

Stories from Tenali Rama, Mullah Nassirudin, Akbar-Birbal, Bheema, Krishna, Vikram-Betaal and Krishna series will go live in the inaugural round. Yudhishtra, Duryodhan, Arjun, Karan, Bheeshma, Raavan, Guru Nanak, Sai Baba and Gautam Buddha will be unveiled in September. Stories from the Bible, and a series of ghost stories will also be launched early next year.

"Our illustration quality and the detail that has gone into each frame are unparalleled in India today. We were the first to 'create' comics for mobile on Indian mythology, history and folklore. Earlier comic creators like Amar Chitra Katha created comics for paper. When taken on to mobile, these comics were heavy and difficult to download. In our case, each story has 12-14 frames - no more - so that the comic is easy to download, and easy to scroll. What's more, we port each frame to 48 different sizes so that 95 per cent of all mobile devices receive the comic in exactly the screen size of the device," explains Goyal.

Mogae plans to extend Talking Comics to other DTH platforms, too.