Making Everything Feel Shiny and New: Virgin Comics and Gotham Chopra

We met Gotham Chopra at San Diego Con. Son of Deepak Chopra, the Stan Lee of Health, Gotham Chopra wrote the Bulletproof Monk comic book that was made into the movie of the same name. Now, though, he's also the Chief Creative Officer at Virgin Comics.

Park Cooper: What, precisely, is your role at Virgin Comics? I mean, I know you're the Chief Creative Officer, but what does that mean? What are some of the various things/tasks you've done this week?

Gotham Chopra: It's such a broad and vague term, isn't it? The truth is that our core team - myself, CEO Sharad Devarajan, President Suresh Seetharaman, and our CMO Larry Lieberman - are all working feverishly on a variety of things and responsibilities to keep our engine running. As the CCO however, my main responsibilities are fixed on our creative production. I oversee all of the actual development of our properties both from the writing and visual side. I shepherd properties from inception to delivery and work with all our various creators from film-makers like John Woo and Guy Ritchie to our colorists in the Indian studio.

PC: Give me a little background on how Virgin Comics was formed.

GC: A while back I had formed a media company with my father Deepak Chopra and film-maker Shekhar Kapur that was really focused on developing unique content out of India and South Asia. Around that time, I met Sharad Devarajan who along with his partner Suresh Seetharaman were transition the publishing company they had formed - conveniently named The Gotham Entertainment Group - to more of a focus on original content creation. We determined to join forces and then subsequently determined to grow the company more aggressively at which point we approached Richard Branson. Richard was very responsive and immediately understood our vision for creating a global media company and tapping the locked up vault of Indian creativity. And hence Virgin Comics and Animation was born!

PC: How is Current TV (http://www.current.tv/about, http://www.current.tv/) doing these days?

GC: Great! I am really thrilled and proud of their tremendous growth. I remember sitting early on with Al Gore and hearing him articulate his vision of "democratizing television." To see how that vision has effectively be manifested in less than two years and play some small role in it has been very rewarding. Current is growing every week.

PC: Does Virgin Comics have a submissions policy?

GC: It's kind of evolving and will be up on our website soon. We want to open ourselves up and be a place where innovative creators want to work. But we are also mindful of not growing too big too fast. That's a mistake others have made that we don't want to repeat.

PC: Will we see Virgin Comics in chain bookstores, or just comic book specialty stores? Will there be graphic novel collections of the single issues? Will there ever be graphic novels that aren't published in single-issue format first?

GC: Yes -- to all the above. We don't see ourselves as a traditional publisher - comic or otherwise - so there is no reason to stick by any formulaic template. We like to think that our stories will tell us how they need to be formatted. That said, we are very respectful of the direct market and value it greatly. Retailers are where great comics are made and we have an eye to making sure our presence is felt there. That said, we also think that some of our content is really fresh - especially the Indian edged stuff - and that may indeed find its largest audience out in the mass market. Last - we already published a book called THE KAMA SUTRA - repackaged by my father Deepak and that's in the big bookstores as an illustrated coffee table sized book. We'll go where the project demands!

PC: What comics do you currently read (besides VC's)? Does that include any manga, manwha, or webcomics? How do you feel about manga/manwha and/or online comics?

GC: I dabble in a lit bit of everything and certainly am trying to learn more about manga and manwha. As far as mainstream stuff, I love some of the darker Vertigo titles and of course I have my favorite writers like Grant Morrison, Alan Moore, and Warren Ellis. I think the evolution of comics into the various forms and genres is great. It's a brave new digital world and comics are a great way to flesh out great stories.

PC: Can you remember the first comic you ever read?

GC: Wow - the first ones were probably Indian comics. When we spent our summers in India, my cousins and I collected these great Indian comics that told stories of all the old kings and queens, Gods and Goddesses. It was really the way that I learned about my own cultural ancestry. As far as western comics, hard to remember - but the ones that made the biggest impact early on were the usual - Watchman and Sandman.

PC: Is the world of the Shakti imprint a shared-universe? Will there be crossovers among its different characters?

GC: We're avoiding crossovers for now. We want to make sure each story stands alone and has its own soul. Perhaps as we build out our titles, we'll populate our comic universe with various characters - but not yet.

PC: In India, what's the perception of those who read comic books regularly? Are they considered just like everyone else? Is there a social perception that they are somewhat unusual reading matter, as we fight against in the United States? Are there comic book specialty shops? Are comics easy to find?

GC: Comics have a long history in India but we are certainly at the forefront of re-inventing them. In other words, the stories we are telling and the way our books are being packaged, are unlike anything that's ever been seen in India. To that extent, we're charting our own territory in India. As far as where the books are available, there are indeed specialty like shops and increasingly comics are finding their way into other locales where a younger demo frequents - bowling alleys, internet cafes, and coffee shops.

PC: Can you tell us a little more about the Seven Brothers project? How was Garth Ennis chosen to write it? Is it, and are all of the Virgin Comics revealed so far, ongoing series, or are some limited or mini-series?

GC: Seven Brothers is the story of seven descendents from a singular Chinese wizard (several generations later so none of them actually physically even look Chinese) that must re-unite to bring down a brewing evil that has the means to take over the planet. However in class Ennis style, our core group of heroes is a pretty motley crew. Garth was the first and only writer we went to with the project. Need I explain why? Garth is such an awesome writer and his story-telling style is so aligned with the action style of John Woo. Not only that, but he's just awesome to work with. It's been a great experience. We are actually crafting our stories so they can either fit as mini-series or go on. Obviously it depends on the story and also how readers receive them!

BECAUSE REGIE RIGBY SAID SO, THAT'S WHY

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