Manta Ray Comics has definitely set a mark since the release of graphic novel Hush that dealt with child abuse. Now, this indie comic and graphic novel publishing company has released Mixtape 1 and 12 Preludes while Mixtape 2 and 12.1 are slated for a June release at the Bangalore Comic Con (June 1 and 2). <img alt="" src="http://images.mid-day.com/2013/may/Preludes.jpg" style="width: 500px; height: 711px;" /> Twelve preludes: Online: Rs 99, Print: Rs 200 Pratheek Thomas, the 31-year-old co-founder recalls how Manta Rays was born, &ldquo;At that time, my younger brother Vivek, who was (and still is) working in a TVC production house shared his idea for a short film with me.&rdquo; With a story&rsquo;s metamorphosis into a comic (like a storyboard), things fell into place at his friend from engineering days, Dileep Cherian&rsquo;s suggestion. Although triggered in August 2009, operations only commenced with Hush&rsquo;s release in January 2011. <img alt="" src="http://images.mid-day.com/2013/may/silver-spider.jpg" style="width: 500px; height: 684px;" /> The Silver Spider from the Mixtape anthology After two years of no standalone publications &mdash; due to their alliance with Mint (The Small Picture) and stints with Motherland, Forbes Life, and upcoming pieces in Fountain Ink and Blaft&rsquo;s Obliterary Vol 2 &mdash; Thomas has shifted gears. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve released two new book-lines this year: Mixtape and Twelve.&rdquo; The first being an anthology of four stories that works as a platform to encourage new and established contributors. The former is an ambitious takeoff from the inspiration Flight series. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a collection of 12 individual stories, connected by a common theme. I&rsquo;m writing all stories in Twelve and collaborating with various artists who have very diverse styles,&rdquo; revealsThomas. <img alt="" src="http://images.mid-day.com/2013/may/Mixtape-1-cover.jpg" style="width: 500px; height: 706px;" /> Mixtape: Online: Rs 55, Print: Rs 150 Different storyboard Emphasising on their indie identity, they&rsquo;ve steered clear of the mainstream imagery, ideas and even distribution network. &ldquo;We don&rsquo;t like several mainstream trends &mdash; especially the mythology, superhero stuff. We&rsquo;ve also set a strong mandate for ourselves: we will not objectify women &mdash; this is important, especially when a lot of superhero stuff (especially abroad) does it. We&rsquo;re telling realistic stories, with relatable characters, and I think that connects. Also, our creators are some of India&rsquo;s best today &mdash; with diverse art styles and sensibilities.&rdquo; Both Mixtape and 12 Preludes are rights-free file types in a pay-and-download format.&rdquo; <img alt="" src="http://images.mid-day.com/2013/may/Preludes_1.jpg" style="width: 500px; height: 700px;" /> u00a0A page from Twelve Preludes With monochrome being the dominant shades for the canvas, Thomas offers a peep: &ldquo;Volume 1 has four stories and they all belong to different genres. The Silver Spider (story by Praveen K Nair and art by Devaki Neogi) is about a young boy who goes about in his backyard, peeing on all the spiders he can find, and drowning them. Lovely Thing, My Beloved and Voyeur are unconventional, too.&rdquo; <img alt="" src="http://images.mid-day.com/2013/may/dileep-cherian.jpg" style="width: 500px; height: 527px;" /> Dileep Cherian (32)u00a0u00a0founders of Manta Ray Comics New stuff &ldquo;We want to release a comic every month,&rdquo; asserts Thomas. In the anticipation of the forthcoming, he shares, &ldquo;There is Pursuit by Vivek Thomas and an award-winning automobile designer Rupesh Aravindakshan. Loneliness by Gokul Gopalakrishnan who&rsquo;s a sub inspector in Kerala has written a story that women will especially relate to. Anil KS is an animator whose story really blew us away.&rdquo; For fans of Twelve, he shares, &ldquo;Even with 12.1, the stories will be at least of 30 pages. As we proceed, some of them will get much darker,&rdquo; he concludes. <img alt="" src="http://images.mid-day.com/2013/may/pratheek-thomas.jpg" style="width: 500px; height: 579px;" /> Pratheek Thomas (31)u00a0u00a0founders of Manta Ray Comics For online copies: Download from www.instamojo.com/ mantaraycomics For Printu00a0copiesu00a0Order from www.instamojo.com/ mantaraycomics and Leaping Widows, 3, Corner View, off Yari Road, opposite Bianca Towers, Versova, Andheri (W). u00a0

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Indie publishing house Manta Ray seems to be on a roll with its recently launched title, Mixtape and Twelve, apart from several upcoming sequels

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