Graphic India, UK based, ISM Komix and Cornerstone Sport, announced last week that leading cricket sports hero, Rohit Sharma, are launching a new environmental superhero team called, “HYPER TYGERS.” The digital comic will be free to read on all devices from February 1st 2016 through Sharma’s Facebook page and the Graphic POP! Mobile app.
“I’ve been a big fan of the work Graphic India has been doing in the country to create new Indian superheroes. The idea to collaborate with them to launch India’s first cricket based superhero comic made perfect sense,” said Rohit Sharma. “Hyper Tygers is an action-packed adventure around a futuristic game of cricket unlike anything we have today. The story also serves as a larger allegory to protect our planet and its endangered wildlife, which is one of the great global challenges of our time.”
With the world and its leaders focused on the Environment and saving our planet, Mr. Modi has called for “Climate Justice” and “working towards a greener future” whilst UK PM David Cameron has said this is “a moment to remember and a huge step forward in helping to secure the future of our planet.” This calls for superheroes! Now India and the UK have teamed up to create India’s first environmental superheroes the Green Tyger and the Hyper Tygers.
Hyper Tygers and the Green Tyger are looking for corporate (including CSR), commercial, digital and marketing sponsors who share their ambition of promoting environmental awareness and positive social change.
Hyper Tygers is set in a futuristic India in the year 2077, charting the meteoric rise of a small Indian rural community and their cricket team, including their mysterious hero the Green Tyger. We follow the Hyper Tygers astronomic journey to become the greatest Hyper Cricket team in the world. It’s a rags to riches story, addressing many of the environmental and social growing pains that India and the world are undergoing as rural meets mega city, tradition clashes with future technology, class lines blur and corporations put profit over people and the environment.
The enigmatic hero of the story is a masked and rebellious cricketer known only as the Green Tyger, with amazing super powers tied to nature and the earth. Playing in the Hyper Cricket League, fighting against injustice, and saving the environment from Mr. X and the monstrous terrors created from his dreaded Shadow Corporation, experience the rise of India’s new heroes and the birth of a legendary team.
“Rohit Sharma is the perfect partner to help us bring this futuristic cricket world to India and the hundreds of millions of cricket fans in the country,” added Graphic’s Co-Founder & CEO,Sharad Devarajan. “Cricket is a sport that is beloved by billions around the world and its time we finally combined the love of that game with the fun of superheroes. Hyper Tygers will excite global audiences with epic adventures, filled with heroic characters and powerful messages to save our planet and inspire change.”
For Hyper Tygers, which will be launched in India and in the UK, Graphic India is partnered with ISM Komix, a UK based company founded by Thomas Ehret and Debbie Mason, focussed on producing digitally focused sports media to promote positive social change and awareness through sport. “We want to change the world and fight for our planet. The world has limited overs until we do irreparable damage, our goal is to inspire a generation of GREEN TYGERS, who will help shape India and inspire greater environmental consciousness and change,” added Xan Morgan, Co-Creator of Hyper Tygers, who was part of Prime Minister David Cameron’s 2012 trade delegation to India, representing Environment and Water from the United Kingdom.
“ISM Komix is creating the premier sports comics publisher in the world, producing digitally focused sports media in India, we hope to promote positive social change and awareness through sport and entertainment” Steve Salem Creative Director ISM Komix.
The Hyper Tygers characters and story were created by acclaimed UK creators, Steve Salem and Xan Morgan, with the comic series written by novelist and author, Sarwat Chadda and illustrated by acclaimed Graphic India artist, Edison George. “Associating with Hyper Tygers is an excellent opportunity for Rohit to use his extremely large fan following on social media to spread a very important message. This project appealed to Rohit right away because we are using Cricket and Social Media together as a means to educate the youth on the importance of issues like climate change and preservation of Wildlife. More importantly, this is being done in a fun and entertaining way through a comic series. This is just another step in the right direction for Cornerstone Sport with our increased focus in the digital space” Said, Bunty Sajdeh, CEO, Cornerstone Sport
Hyper Tygers will launch in January 2016 as a free weekly English and Hindi digital comic series made available on Rohit Sharma’s Facebook page, reaching his 7.5 Million fans, through the specially created, Graphic POP! Facebook app, which was created in partnership with Facebook by Graphic India. The comic series will also be available on the Graphic India iOS and Android apps as well as converted into a series of digital motion comics, which will be distributed on leading digital video platforms throughout India. A mobile game will also be released at the beginning of the year. ISM Komix and Graphic India will also be planning a worldwide animation, digital video and gaming strategy around Hyper Tygers to reach cricket audiences across numerous media platforms around the world