38 News 18: Superman Comics No.1, Tom & Jerry, Dennis–The Menace,Tamil’s 1st Strip etc

Dear ComiRades,

Welcome Back to TCU. As this month is nearing the end, TCU is back with a Comics news post after a long post. Yes, the last comics news post was done on June 30th 2009. TCU has got some very interesting posts and they will be published very, very soon. And Yes, the frequency of the posts will be back to normal – 2 or 3 posts in a week. To avoid no post being done in the month of Feb 2010, here is News 18. As this is a News post, most of the contents are self explanatory. 

Some time back, Our beloved Editor S.Vijayan has written about this historical book in his article. Now this one has gone for $1 Million. There is a news that i would love to share. When Muthu Comics was published way back in 1972, it was printed in most of the South Indian languages such as Malayalam, Telugu and Kannada. If anyone has a copy of those books, kindly contact TCU and you will be rewarded with handsome money.

Times Of India Dated 24th Feb 2010 Page 13 Superman 1st Book – 1938 Published for 10 Cents – Auctioned for $ 1 Million – Record Price Ever

Very recently there was news about Dennis the menace on the original inspiration for the character and many of the newspapers got it wrong. That particular news was about the UK Version of the Dennis the Menace and the US Version which we are reading now. Anyway, here is one more news about the US Version of the Dennis the Menace.

Deccan Chronicle – Supplementary Chennai Chronicle – Dated 17th Feb 2010 - Page 3 Dennis The Menace News – Dennis Sans His Weapons?

Tom & Jerry – Doesn’t that evoke some very fond memories of our Childhood? Many would have enjoyed these cartoons in TV. Yours truly still remembers those days in the Mid 80’s when it used to be telecasted on Sunday mornings at 07.45 AM and we would be waiting to watch it. For the elders, it used to be Ramayan and for us, it used to be This wonderful characters.

P.S: By the way, that Jiah Khan photo is there to add some glamour quotient. Ha Ha Ha……

Times Of India – Chennai Edition – Supplementary: Chennai Times - Dated 21st Feb 2010 - Page 1  - Tom & Jerry – 70th Anniversary Celebrations

This particular article explains us that how the Corporates have taken the Comic strip characters to build a Brand around. The best example is that of the Maruti Wagon R Based comics strip called WiseR which is appearing in Times of India newspaper.

Economic Times – Chennai Edition -  Dated 19th Feb 2010 - Page 4 -Business Branding through Comic Strips – How Corporate’s Use Characters

One more article on the Cartoon TV Show. This time it happens to be The Simpsons on American TV Completing 20 years. Whenever there is some news about the Longest running shows, my mind always gets tuned towards THIS post.

Times of India – Chennai Edition – Supplementary: Chennai Times Page - No 1  - Dated 14012010 Thursday  - Simpsons 20 Yrs in TV

This piece appeared on the New Year day and TCU is very slow to post on this. This article reviews about the Sexual POV of the comics strips in India in the year 2009. And Hey, it has Savitha Bhabi.

Deccan Chronicle – Chennai Edition – Supplementary:Chennai Chronicle - Page No 37 - Dated 01012010 - Savitha Bhabi Toon Icon

This piece appeared in last week’s Anantha Vikatan Magazine. Recently Fellow blogger Mr Siv has posted about this in HIS BLOG. Now, there are radical views on what is a Comics book and what is a Graphic novel. TCU has got it’s mind very clear and there is no such difference exists. However, in the olden days (Late 50’s and early 60’s), many of the comics stories used to appear without the Speech balloons and most of the stories were told in 3rd person only. This is one such story. However, TCU has got a story which has speech balloons and we are on the process of verifying the authentic date of the publishing of that story. once that is done, TCU will come out with “Tamil’s 1st ever comics story”.

Anandha Vikatan Dated 17022010 Pokkisham Tamil's 1st Comics?	Deccan Chronicle Chennai Chronicle Dated 17022010 Page 22

Among most of the news papers, Deccan Chronicle is the one which has got the maximum space for the comics news and not a week goes on without any one of the comics news. here are some random reviews and kindly read the one on Persepolis as TCU is gearing up for the special post on it by next Sunday.

Deccan Chronicle – Comic Craze (Samit Basu) & Graphic Gallery (Genesia Alves) – 3 Different Articles – Persepolis, Footnotes on Gaza Etc

Recently, the momentum on Mobile-Comics is going on top gear and here is one more news which is about the commercial Stars of Indian comics – Diamond comics being available in Rediff.com. This article can be read online in this link: A Faq’s

AFAQS News – Online News Portal – Dated 12th November 2009 -  Diamond Comics Ties Up with Rediffmail for Online / Mobile Reading

Mokkai News 3: For those who are wondering how come we can start Mokkai news with The number 3?, Here are Post 1 and Post 2. These are the News articles which may or may not have any relation to our beloved comics characters. Still they may have some relation in the longer run. For example, there are news articles about Saif Ali Khan acting in a 007 James Bond character based film and also Actor Ajith is involved in a Project to be directed by Gautam menon which is similar to the Super Spy 007.

Kumudham Dated 30122009 Tiger Woods Cartoon Page No 23	Kungumam Dated 04012010 Page 3 Tiger woods Cartoon

Here are some more news. well, read at your own leisure time.

Times of India – Chennai Times – Supplementary: Chennai Times - Page No 1-Dated 01012010 Friday–Comics & Cartoon Characters on T-Shirts

Akshay Kiladi Kumar is all set to appear in a role inspired by the RK Laxman’s comic strip character the common man. To read a wonderful post on the common man, click HERE. 

Deccan Chronicle – Chennai Edition – Supplementary: Chennai Chronicle - Page No 51 - Dated 17012010 - Akshay Kumar Comic Strip Character

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.