Manoj Gupta is an Indian publisher, editor, and the President and Co-founder of Raja Pocket Books and its subsidiary Raj comics. He established the most popular and longest running comic bookcompany Raj Comics together with his brothers Sanjay Gupta and Manish Gupta. He co-created the characters Nagraj, Doga, Bhokal, Yoddha etc. Alongside his brother, Manish Gupta, they introduced Digital-Colouring in Raj Comics back in the 1990s, making it one of the first Indian brands to use the technique. Some consumers partially credit their wildly explosive success to this technological increment.
Publishing Career
Early Career
Gupta began his career by editing and publishing pulp-fiction books along with his father Rajkumar Gupta. They had a highly-successful run and published critically acclaimed authors like Surender Mohan Pathak, Ved Prakash Sharma, Anil Mohan and Raja. At their peak, the books sold up to 1 million copies each. While his father always had a passion for crime-thrillers, Gupta and his brother Sanjay Gupta were always thrilled with the idea of creating original Indian Superheroes. One evening, while discussing the same, Rajkumar Gupta walked in on the conversation of the two brothers and thus, Raj Comics was born.
Raj Comics
In the early days of its inception, Raj Comics published mythological, mystery and adventure comics. In 1985, Manoj Gupta came up with the idea of creating a superhero centered around snakes as he believed snakes held a religious and mythological significance in India. Later, the team started working on the concept and finally created the Nagraj that we know today.
Nagraj
After publishing mythological, mystery and adventure comics, Gupta's quest for creating a superhero resulted in Nagraj in 1985 - and India got an action hero centered around snakes. This success led to the creation of more characters. Immediately after its launch, Nagraj became a widespread success and the issues started selling more than a million copies. The debut issue of Nagraj was written by Parshuram Sharma and illustrated by Pratap Mullick. After that Sanjay Ashtpure, Pratap Mullick, Chandu, Milind Misal and Vitthal Kamble alternately illustrated the character for 44 issues, ending in 1995 with Visarpi Ki Shadi. Since 1995, with Shakoora Ka Chakravyooh the illustration work of Nagraj has been taken over by artist and writer Anupam Sinha. "Nagraj was all the rage and we had to come up with a new issue every two weeks. Sanjay and I would isolate ourselves in a room every Sunday and when we came out, we always had a new script.", said Manoj Gupta in an interview in 2013. The brothers duo Manoj Gupta and Sanjay Gupta co-authored over 20 issues under the names of Raja and Sanjay Gupta in the golden age of Nagraj. These comics focused on defining Nagraj as a character and establishing his rogues gallery.
Home of Indian Superheroes
After the commercial success of Nagraj, Gupta launched Super Commando Dhruva, Doga, Bhokla, Tiranga, Bheriya, Parmanu and a number of other superheroes. Due to this, Raj Comics got the title of Home of Indian Superheroes from the public and media which it later incorporated in its brand name.
Comedy
Other than action superheroes, Raj Comics also publishes the comedy genre. Gupta co-created and published fan-favorite characters like Bankelal and Gamraj.
Comic Book based on Coronavirus
In March 2020, Manoj Gupta authored a short comic book featuring Nagraj and a personification of the Covid-19 Virus called Coronaman. The comic book was released as a free for all special issue intended to spread awareness on precautionary measures against the disease. It also honored the healthcare workers and the authorities for their contribution in fighting the pandemic. The comic book went viral on all social media platforms and received widespread media coverage.
