Campfire comics are a series of Indian comics, which popped up in British bookshops in 2010. They were just £6.99 for about 70 pages of full colour graphic novel, so a pretty good deal.
Three of the titles, all from the “Classics” range.
They are best described as being in between Classics Illustrated and Classical Comics. Like Classics Illustrated they are in a ‘typical comic sized’ format with a low page count, and like Classical Comics they are drawn in a modern “graphic novel” style rather than a proper comic art style with simple colouring. The price is middlin’ too – Classics Illustrated is £3.25, Classical Comics are £9.99 (assuming you can find them in a shop which you usually can’t, so add delivery on that) and Campfire Comics are £6.99.
Classical Comics on the left, Campfire in the middle, Classics Illustrated on the right
Campfire comics are divided into four ranges – Classics, which are drawn from classic literature, Mythology, which are drawn from legends (Classics Illustrated also do this – for instance Robin Hood and Knights of the Round Table – which have no actual ‘author’). Biography, which tell the story of famous people (Winston Churchill forthcoming, I suppose! Would be nice to compare with The Happy Warrior) and Originals, which are new stories.
The typical Campfire art style, in this case from Hound of the Baskervilles. There seems to be a “house style” enforced – but not too rigidly!
The comics make a big thing out of the long association with the camp fire and story-telling. An idea which I love! I just wish I had thought of it myself.
Of course, it would be best if they were printed in the form of a weekly comic called “The Campfire” with several stories running at once, chapter-by-chapter. But that sort of thing isn’t done anymore, so instead they are to be found in the graphic novel section of bookshops alongside the usual 100-page long punch-ups. As they are pretty thin you’ll have to look carefully – but the reward is well worth it!
A further size comparison.
If you can’t find them in shops, there’s always the website: Campfire.co.in which contains the magic words “free delivery worldwide!”. You can’t go wrong really!
2024 Mikenote: The Campfire Comics website is still around! But there seem to be precious few actual new comics. One I remember reading on the train no later than about 2012 is still "featured"!
Also, when I bought some online the first time, my bank put an instant fraud lock on my card and disabled the transaction, due to the fact I was sending money to India. I had to call the bank's call centre (also in India) during the lunch break at my job to get it unblocked. On other occasions when there had been suspicious transactions they'd just got me to approve or reject them with an automated call or text. When it actually IS me, REALLY sending money abroad, THEN the fuckers put my card on full lockdown.