The studio founded by Bekmambetov will enter the comics market

To head the new division, the founder of the Takapulta comics store, Denis Lopatnikov, who worked with the Russian comics studio Bubble, the artist Valentin Potkin and the screenwriter Vladimir Maksimushkin, who collaborated with the game development studio, were hired. 1C and the White Unicorn publishing house. “BZZZ Comics.”

BZZZ’s pilot projects will be four comics:

• “Khoja” – about the adventures of Khoja Nasreddin (related to Bekmambetov’s new project about this folklore hero)

• “Kyrk-Kyz” is about mysterious female warriors fighting against the Mongols;

• “Shurale” is about a creature from Tatar mythology, close to a satyr or goblin;

• “Champ” is about a soccer ball that dreams of playing in the World Cup.

According to Bazelev’s general producer Lala Rustamova, the need for a comic studio arose due to the high cost of implementing some ideas in film format. “Comic books, on the one hand, create a finished product that can be monetized and, on the other hand, act as a visual concept for a future film,” he explained.

The share of comics and graphic novels in the Russian book market in 2023 reached almost 10%, but the growth of this niche is gradually slowing down, Oleg Novikov, president of Eksmo-AST, told TASS in February this year. The decrease in the growth rate of the popularity of comics, in his opinion, is due to the lack of Russian authors and works, as well as difficulties in negotiations with Korean and Japanese publishers.

Bekmambetov founded Bazelevs in 1994. In 2022, the studio was purchased by Rustamova and Timur Asadov, who became its general director. Bekmambetov himself continues to collaborate with the studio as a director.