A NEW FEMALE SUPERHERO FOR INDIA, LAUNCHES FREE COMICS ON AMAZON.IN
~ Spinning out of “Chakra The Invincible” The New Character From Lee and Sharad
Devarajan Is Now Available in Four New Comics on Amazon.in, created in collaboration with The World’s Largest Lesson India initiative to promote the Sustainable Development Agenda ~
Delhi, 8TH December 2016 –Graphic India and POW! Entertainment announced today that they are launching MIGHTY GIRL, the new female superhero created by Stan Lee and Sharad Devarajan, with four special comic books to be made available to digital audiences in India for free on Amazon.in from the 9th to the 13th of December. Graphic India has self-published these comics for Kindle using the Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing platform.
As announced in November, Graphic India and POW! Entertainment created the comics in collaboration with The World’s Largest Lesson, supported by GEMS Education and UNICEF as part of an effort to promote the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, a global plan to end poverty, reduce inequalities and combat the threat of climate change by 2030.
Mighty Girl expands the story of Lee and Devarajan’s previous Indian superhero creation, CHAKRA THE INVINCIBLE, which premiered as an animated film on Cartoon Network India and as digital shorts worldwide through Rovio’s Angry Birds Toons TV platform and reached over 40 million views globally. The new hero is Chakra’s best friend and constant teaser, Leela who is his neighbour and one of the few people who know his secret identity. When a twist of fate accidentally grants Leela unexpected superpowers, she becomes Mumbai’s newest heroine as Mighty Girl.
"Chakra the Invincible’s world just got much more incredible with our newest action-packed superhero, the mysterious, Mighty Girl,” commented Stan Lee, Chief Creative Officer at POW! Entertainment. “What a thrill to partner with Graphic India and The World’s Largest Lesson to launch these new comic books featuring Chakra and Mighty Girl for kids all across India and the world and support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Excelsior!”
“Superheroes like Chakra the Invincible and Mighty Girl have the power to connect with kids through fun and action-packed stories that can also deliver strong social messages of optimism, hope and change for a better tomorrow,” commented Graphic India, Co-Founder & CEO, Sharad Devarajan. "I am proud to work with my friend, Stan Lee to launch Mighty Girl, a powerful new female superhero for India who is smart, fun, courageous, resourceful, brave and a good-hearted prankster – qualities we know kids in India and the world will enjoy and admire.”
“We always concentrate on new stories, new characters and new ways to bring imagination to people all over the world,’’ said Gill Champion, Chief Executive Officer at POW! Entertainment. “We couldn’t be more pleased to be doing this new project with our global partners like Graphic India and The World’s Largest Lesson, we’ve been delighted with the success of Chakra and feel that Mighty Girl will also have the same universal appeal.”
Lee is the legendary writer and co-creator of the world’s most popular superheroes including Spider-Man™, X-Men™, Fantastic Four™, Iron Man™, Hulk™, The Avengers™, and more.
Mighty Girl will also join Chakra in a new animated TV film entitled, “CHAKRA THE INVINCIBLE: THE MYSTERY OF MIGHTY GIRL,” which is currently in production by Graphic India and POW! Entertainment’s producing partners Lee and Champion, and will debut on Turner’s Indian kids channels in 2017.
The free comic books feature Mighty Girl and Chakra addressing key Global Goals issues impacting India such as gender equality; clean water and sanitation; quality education; and climate action.
ABOUT THE WORLD’S LARGEST LESSON INDIA COMIC BOOKS
1) Chakra & Mighty Girl: Global Goals – Overview – children will be given an introduction to the Global Goals 193 world leaders agreed to achieving through the lens of Goal 6 – clean water and sanitation (WASH). Only 33% of the population in India has access to traditional sanitation with 77 million people lacking access to safe water. Furthermore, diarrhea is the third leading cause of childhood mortality in India, and is responsible for 13% of all deaths/year in children under 5 years of age. Comic book synopsis: Chakra The Invincible and Mighty Girl learn about the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and meet a real life superhero from Bangalore who is trying to help India conserve water. Read the comic HERE
2) Chakra & Mighty Girl: Global Goals – Gender Equality - Gender inequality in India persists despite high rates of economic growth, and is particularly apparent among marginalized groups. The government has launched several commendable schemes to save and educate the girl child and the national average has risen from 943 females per 1000 males. However, in many parts of India it continues to remains low. Comic book synopsis: Through a twist of fate Chakra: The Invincible switches bodies with his best friend Leela and learns how differently Leela is treated at home and in the world. Read the comic HERE
3) Chakra & Mighty Girl: Global Goals – Climate Change – Climate change is altering our environment affecting agriculture, water availability, and sea-levels. It is increasing the intensity of natural disasters, the rate of species extinction and the spread of vector-borne diseases. India has committed to reduce the emissions intensity of its GDP by 20 to 25% by 2020 however India is still recognised as one of the world’s biggest polluters. Comic book synopsis: Chakra The Invincible and Mighty Girl discover that Climate Change is affecting far more than just the weather and learn that urgent action is needed to switch to renewable energy. Read the comic HERE
4) Chakra & Mighty Girl: Global Goals – Education - All girls and boys have the right to a complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education. Since 2000, when countries committed themselves to the global education goals, India has reduced its out of school children by over 90% and Universal Primary Education has been achieved but there is a lot more to be done. There are still an estimated 1.4million children out of school between the age of 6-11yrs. Child labour is a significant barrier to children staying in school, with nearly 12% of children undertaking some form of child labour which children will read about through the comic. Read the comic HERE
ABOUT GRAPHIC INDIA & CHAKRA THE INVINCIBLE
GRAPHIC INDIA is a character entertainment company focused on creating leading characters, comics and stories through mobile and digital platforms. Led by media entrepreneur and Co-Founder, Sharad Devarajan, Graphic India is owned by U.S. comic book Company, Liquid Comics, Start Media LLC and CA Media LP, the Asian investment arm of The Chernin Group, LLC (TCG). The company’s partners and investors bring together decades of experience in building businesses in character entertainment, media and India. Graphic believes that India is home to some of the most creative talent in the world, with more than 500 million people under the age of 25 and more than 850 million mobile phone users in the country. The Company’s mission is to create enduring stories and heroes that foster the imaginations and fuel the inspirations of a new globalized generation of youth in both India and around the world.
Graphic’s other stories include, Astra Force, a new animated series created by Devarajan and acclaimed actor and icon, Amitabh Bachchan which be launched on the Disney Channel; 18 Days, a reimagining of the great eastern epic, the Mahabharata, by acclaimed graphic novel creator, Grant Morrison which was launched as an animated digital series in partnership with YouTube India; Devi, a female superhero from acclaimed filmmaker, Shekhar Kapur; The Leaves in development as a Hollywood feature film; and numerous other heroes and stories. www.GraphicIndia.com
ABOUT POW! ENTERTAINMENT
POW! Entertainment, Inc. (OTCQB: POWN), a multi-media entertainment company, was founded by noted comic book writer Stan Lee, together with award-winning producer Gill Champion and the late intellectual property specialist Arthur Lieberman. POW!’s principals have extensive backgrounds in the creation and production of original intellectual properties, including some of the most successful entertainment franchises of all time. POW! is utilizing Stan Lee’s historical background by perpetuating his legacy while creating and developing all new live-action films, television, digital games, merchandising, licensing and related ancillary markets, all of which contribute to global expansion. POW! partners with third parties and strategic alliances, including studios and networks, in the production and distribution of new POW! character franchises.
ABOUT CHAKRA THE INVINCIBLE
Chakra The Invincible was created by Stan Lee and Sharad Devarajan through POW! Entertainment and Graphic India. The adventures of Chakra have been featured in India on Cartoon Network and Toonami and also as shorts on Rovio’s Angry Birds ToonsTV platform, breaking over 40 million views from audiences worldwide. The distribution deals for Chakra The Invincible with Turner and Rovio, make Chakra the only Indian character entertainment property with the potential to reach such a wide audience both inside and outside the country. Beyond animation, over 100,000 comic books and magazines based on Chakra have also been distributed worldwide. Chakra is also in development as a live-action feature film for Bollywood, to be directed by acclaimed filmmaker, Vikramaditya Motwane and produced by POW!, Graphic India and Phantom Films.
ABOUT PROJECT EVERYONE & THE GLOBAL GOALS CAMPAIGN
At the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit on 25 September 2015, 193 world leaders adopted a set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals. These ‘Global Goals’ are a plan of action to end poverty, combat climate change and fight injustice and inequality. Project Everyone was devised by filmmaker and campaigner, Richard Curtis and founded by two women, Gail Gallie and Kate Garvey to make the Global Goals famous, so that they stand the greatest chance of being achieved - if people know about the Goals they can hold their governments, businesses and other institutions to account. In the 7 days after world leaders formally agreed the Goals on 25th September 2015, it is estimated that news of the Global Goals reached 40% of the world’s population, which is over 3 billion people. Key drivers of this success were a text sent to 925 million people, radio programmes in 75 countries on 700 stations, millions of school children in 160 countries receiving a lesson on the goals and why they matter, a 1-hour TV programme shown in over 150 countries and homepage takeovers of Google, YouTube, Baidu, MSN, Bing and many others. There was significant advertising presence with 140,000 poster sites around the world, and a film shown in cinemas in 35 countries.
www.globagoals.org www.project-everyone.org
ABOUT THE WORLD’S LARGEST LESSON
In 2015 the World’s Largest Lesson was developed, as part of Project Everyone, to introduce children around the world to the Global Goals for Sustainable Development in a lively, engaging way. Lessons took place during the week of 28 September 2015 around the world, with 160 countries getting involved! In partnership with UNICEF and many other global education organisations, it succeeded in capturing the attention and inspiring the enthusiasm of millions of students in classrooms around the world. In 2016 the World’s Largest Lesson continues around the world and with new support from GEMS Education there will be a specific, focused drive to reach children across the whole of India. Launching on September 5th 2016 the initiative will work with a range of partners over one year to reach as many children as possible.