Children looking forward to animation film "Jumbo", which has Bollywood stars doing the voice-overs, now have more reason to smile. Apart from the movie, they can also get themselves "Jumbo" comics and activity books.

"We are releasing a comic that would trace the story of the film as well as activity books ranging from colouring books, sticker books, origami books to alphabet and number books, " Manish Verma, head of Junior Diamond Comics, told.

This is not the first time Junior Diamond Comics has taken such an initiative. Earlier, they have released comics for films like "Hanuman", "Hanuman Returns" and "Roadside Romeo". They are also doing comics for Priyadarshan's forthcoming "Bam Bam Bhole".

Though the sale of the comics generally depends on the popularity and success of the films, a minimum of 200, 000 copies are usually sold, Verma said.

As for comics of "Jumbo", the story of a young elephant who sets out in search of his parents, Verma foresees good profits. He feels the film will do well, thanks to Akshay Kumar's voice-over as well as by others and promotions.

"We are quite confident about 'Jumbo' as it has a name like Akshay Kumar attached with it. He is doing a lot of promotion for the film and that has raised its overall value. It would also have a positive effect on our sales, " he said.

"Jumbo" comics are priced at Rs.40 and would hit the stalls Dec 25 - the date of the film's release. The comics would be released in five languages - Hindi, English, Tamil, Marathi and Telugu.

Verma added that comics have become an important part of the merchandising packet of most animated films.

"A lot of production houses have adopted a different mediums to sell their film and that now includes merchandising. They make 10 different products to create brand presence - mugs, stationery, T-shirts, caps and now even comics are a part of it.

"Through these, filmmakers are able to capture the children's market and comics have a good shelf life, " Verma explained.