Dear ComiRades,
Happy pongal (பொங்கல்) wishes to one and all. For those who are specific to tradition, Happy Thiruvalluvar day wishes. And, no – this has nothing to do with the conversation TCU had with Ayyampalayam Venki sir.
Pongal has always been one of the most liked festivals for yours truly. The reason is quite obvious – Among all the other festivals, this one has more holidays. Yes, unlike diwali and other major functions-which have only one day as holiday- Pongal has a minimum of 3 to 4 holidays and No wonder, kids liked it very much.
When you have so much of holidays, you always tend to read more. No, not the text books. TCU is talking about the most loved ones - comics. So, this particular post is dedicated to one such comics which i loved the most when i was a kid. Dr 7 has already done a post on the pongal special issues and TCU is going to review one such book from that list. Yes, yours truly is going to review a Rani comics issue only in the 2nd time in the history of TCU. The 1st one being the post on Davy Crockett. Don’t ever forget that Muthu Comics was launched on one such pongal day only.
The issue that we are going to review in this post is that of Pongal special 1985 from Rani comics. Here are the details of that issue:
- Book title - Visithira Vimanam (Strange Aircraft)
- Magazine - Rani Comics (Fortnightly)
- Issue Number & Date– 14, 15th Jan 1985
- Issue Available - 13th Jan 1985
- Publisher - C.Kalyana Sundaram (Rani Syndicate)
- Editor & Translator- S Ramajayam
- Cover Artwork – Vel
- Magazine Size & Cover- B 5, Normal, Laminated
- Magazine Pages - 82 (Black & White)
- Magazine Price - INR 1.50/-
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- Reprints - No Reprints
Original Title - Uncle Lionel’s Burglar Chase
Magazine - Princess Picture Library, Fleetway : I.P.C
Issue Number & Date – 115, 18-04-1966
Cover Artwork - Peter Kay Story Artwork - Robert MacGillivray (Info Courtesy: Steve Holland)
Although TCU has not read this book as a brand new one fresh from the store, Comirades who have done so informed that the advertisement about this story itself generated so much of enthusiasm as this is one of the very few stories which were directly linked to kids. Yes, in the early days of Rani comics, most of the stories were of 007 James Bond and wild west adventures. The only exception was that of issue no 4, which may be featured very soon in TCU with the original story in full colour.
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The advertisement in the previous issue itself ignited the spark and people were waiting anxiously to read this story. An insider from the publishing house informed TCU that this is actually the 1st issue which was made available 2 days in advance from the original date. That is, though the date of publishing is 15th Jan 1985, this particular book was in shops on 13th Jan 1985 itself. This was to cash in on the pongal seasonal sales. The cover artwork was stunning to say the least. Unconfirmed news from the publishing house informs TCU that the cover artwork is done by in house artist Vel.
Julie lives with her family and uncle Lionel in lower poppleton. Her uncle is an inventor turned detective. The 1st adventure in this story is triggered by an information received via wireless radio and they capture the petty thief using the flying wings and helps the local Policeman Mims by crediting that capture. Later on, Lionel's robot dog scares away the postman who drops one letter accidentally which has hidden information about a huge plan to rob in their small village.
| Theft News In Radio | Chasing the Thief & Sighting Him | Catching Thief & Crediting to Mims | Reading the Hidden Message |
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Major Ulysses visits Lionel’s Office to invite Lionel to Model for his own Wax work statue. (Does this ring any similarity to another one of the Fleetway special story –Published in Aug 1967-where the villain visits the hero to make his statue?). Robot Dog barks at Major and Julie also suspects at him. Later on, Lionel invents robot policemen to help Mims to control city traffic. Major captures Lionel and Julie and then uses their robot police squad to steal from city hall. Chief of Police visits Mims’ home for further investigation.
| Julie Suspecting the Major | Robot Police to Help Mims | Major Ties Julie & Lionel – Succeeds | Police Superior Visiting Mims |
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Mims thinks that another one of the robot police squad is visiting him and throws water at his superior. Chief of Police gets mad ad Mims and warns that if he doesn’t capture the thief, he will recommend for the retirement of Mims. Lionel & Julie then travel on air using their new invention for an aerial survey and when they near Brigadier Burns’ Home, he assumes them as thieves and shoots at them. The robot dog jumps in front of the Shell and sacrifices for the maker. Later on, they unsettle Major Ulysses from the nearby tree.Figuring out that this duo is a threat to his plan, Major captures them and shuts them up in another on of Lionel’s strange inventions.
| Mims Mistakes Superior as Robot Police | The Robot Dog Sacrifices Life for Master | Major Hiding in the Tree | Major Capturing Our Heroes |
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After this, Major takes out his gang to the Hall where Burns’ is showcasing his traditional antiques. Before Major could do anything, our dynamic duo arrives at the scene via their strange looking Plane which can travel under ground. Sensing that he can’t run, Major takes out Lionel and Julie at gunpoint and commands them to drive their strange vehicle to his hideout. However, Lionel drives it to Scotland Yard Head quarters where major is duly captured and Mims is promoted in the end.
| Major entering The Hall – Mims Noting | Major reveals that he is The Burglar | Lionel driving major to Yard H.Q | Julie helping to capture Major |
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Overall, this was one of those stories which you would have loved, if you happen to read it in your early teens. So, it was no wonder that it was a sell out in the 1st print run and it is a collectors delight to have this issue. Another amazing thing about Rani comics was, that it never increased their cover price even for special editions. However, these special editions will be having another additional 16 pages. They used to advertise this stating that increase in pages, price remains the same. The fillers in the book are picture puzzles. Try out your luck.
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Another constant feature about Rani comics was, that of the Readers comments and the prize winning review of the previous month’s issue. The issue discussed was a fleetway wild west story.Here are they along with the mandatory state lottery advertisement. My brother always used to ask this question whenever he saw this Ad – Are they implying that ONLY Monkeys buy lottery? well, the answer to that question is the way you look at life.
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The regular review prize announcement for the best review was INR 50/-, which was a huge amount in those days-considering that the annual subscription itself was INR 36/-. The editor had one point in his mind and unfortunately none of the readers could echo his POV and he mentions that here in the review page. Kindly read the readers comments and you will always find that the set of readers from Prakash publishers were entirely different from that of Rani Comics.
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As usual, TCU has the book which was published in UK. It seems that Lionel and Julie were part of a series which was running for quite some time and the advertisement on the back wrapper suggests that the series continues from hereon. The best part of the translation of Ramajayam was that, he never deviates from the main theme and hence it is always a pleasure to read the story in one’s mother tongue – Tamil, as in the case of yours truly.
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Another surprise in this book was that of the mini adventure by 007 – James Bond. Yes, and here they have produced the 1st insignificant part of Doom Crack as a one part adventure and here is a trivia for all those fans – How many times 007 appears in such mini adventures in Rani comics? The other regular Trivia question about the artist remains as well. Which was the only 007 strip drawn by the much acclaimed MAD artist Harry north? Well, the answer is right in front of your eyes. The regular thriller series by Chitra Manalaan was also on in this issue.Readers by now would have understood that as long as Ramajayam was there, Chitra Manalan will be writing stories in Rani comics.
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The actual Doom crack was published later on in the month of march and in those days, it was one of the 007 Strips which was disliked by almost all of my friends as it was UnBondlike in many ways.The same story was later on reprinted in Rani comics in full colour with a different translation and newer title. Discussing on this topic will deviate from the title – Pongal special- and hence we shall deal with harry north later on.
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Well, that's all for the time being. As usual, post your comments in the comments section. For those who want to Pen their thoughts in Tamil, Kindly Use the Option Provided in the Widget in the Blog.
Thanks & Regards,
King Viswa.
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