Virgin Comics, Liquid Comics, and What May Never Be Again

[Manic]

A little something about the the long lost publisher known as Virgin Comics.

Back in 2006, Richard Branson decided to expand his immensely huge Virgin company into the realm of comic books. To do so, he teamed up with Dr. Deepak Chopra, Gotham Chopra, Shekhar Kapur, Sharad Devarajan, and Suresh Seetharaman in founding Virgin Comics. In addition to being the most hilariously named division of Virgin since Virgin Brides, Virgin Comics ventured into territory where comic books do not often tread: India. Though the company was based in the United States, it focused much of its energy into creating comic books that involved Indian settings, characters, and overall culture. It didn’t stop at Indian culture, however. Virgin Comics produced a broad range of comics, spanning across many different demographics. The comics were typically published under one of three different lines:

Virgin’s Shakti comics delt with Indian culture. These comics introduced Indian legends to its readers, as well as created new Indian superheroes. This line featured comics by Deepak Chopra and Shekhar Kapur. Ramayan 3392AD and India Authentic retold classic legends that were easily accessible to new readers, while titles such as Devi introduced all new traditional superheroes with a Hindu fusion.

Their Director’s Cut comics were titles conceived and overseen by famous directors such as Guy Ritchie and his Gamekeeper, the tale of a man out for revenge who ventures into the inner city criminal underworld. There was also John Woo’s Seven Brothers, which was quite possibly the highlight of the Director’s Cut line, co-written by Garth Ennis (Preacher, The Punisher).

Voices provided an outlet for entertainers wanting to experiment in comics. Nicolas Cage and his son Wes teamed up with Mike Carey (X-Men Legacy) to write Voodoo Child, while Jenna Jameson co-wrote Shadow Hunter with Christina Z (Witchblade).

So what happened? In the summer of 2008, Branson found that Virgin Comics wasn’t as profitable as he’d hoped, and shut the publisher down. In only September 2008, the other co-heads of Virgin Comics relocated and formed Liquid Comics, then bought out Virgin Comics and regained the intellectual rights to their old creations. All seemed well, except the new Liquid Comics has yet to publish anything. No new issues of Virgin Comics’ old titles are being produced, and all undeveloped projects (such as Hugh Jackman’s Nowhere Man) have been put on what appears to be indefinite hiatus. Collected trade paperbacks of their old comics aren’t even being republished under the Liquid brand; if you can find anything on eBay or Amazon, that’s likely it. As of now, the only news I’ve heard is that Liquid Comics is currently developing Ramayan 3392AD into a feature film.

So here’s to you, Virgin Comics. Your days in the world of comic book publishing may have been brief, but you made the best of what little time you had by giving your readers quality as well as variety. Maybe one day we’ll see newly printed issues of Devi or India Authentic. In the meantime, I expect to see that Ramayan movie in 2011.

 

[Matt Murdock]

I was at the Virgin Comics launch party. Some of the hardcover books I got that night are still in my room. I didn't like them very much.