The stadium is further from the city centre than it was the year before, which, more than anything, explains the slightly less dense crowd. The observation was made by Ritesh Singh, the proprietor of Thoughts and Tales. Singh began his career at Oxford Bookstore right here in Kolkata and spent six and a half years in Penguin Random House before starting on his own, working tirelessly without complaint. “It is my city,” he says simply. “I love everything about it when it comes to books.”
With licensed copies of Penguin Random House, sourced by his company, Ritesh informs of a sales number that tells a more compelling story. Across two days of the Comic Con 2026, Kolkata edition, Ritesh’s venture had amassed ₹6.5 lakh, which is a slight decline from the ₹10 lakh they earned at the same event last year, when the venue was closer to the city. However, not worried, he told Outlook Respawn that he has sold here before and will sell here again.
This is the second edition of Kolkata Comic Con, and throughout conversations with executives in three publisher booths, a picture comes to life, which is not of a market in crisis, but of the dynamic nature. People from all over India, who grew up buying comics off the AH Wheeler stand at railway stations, now aged probably in their thirties, all gathered at the Kolkata Comic Con. Not just to spend on their favorite fandoms, but to revisit things they loved.