35 Siruvar Malar–Re Charged & Resurrected: The Story of Revival of Siruvar Malar 2011

Dear  ComiRades,

Welcome back to TCU. Though TCU is not travelling much for the last 30 days, the work schedule is so hectic that it has affected the regular posting over here. (Regular posting in TCU? Now, don’t laugh, OK). Just like TCU, Another sleeping Giant has woken up in 2011 and has plans to take the Tamil Comics ulagam by the storm. Yes, we are talking about Siruvar Malar – The Supplement Book of Dina Malar News Paper (Official Site http://www.dinamalar.com/) on Fridays in most parts of Tamil Nadu.

Now, most of us know that Siruvar Malar is the Comics book in A4 Size which is a supplement with the Friday’s News Paper of Dina Malar. However, there are many interesting stories to be told on their start. Contrary to the beliefs, Siruvar Malar is NOT the title of this book when they actually started it way back in 1985. On the 4th Friday of Nov 1985, Most of the regular readers of Dina Malar were waiting eagerly to know what is going to be given to them as a supplement with their regular news paper. it was advertised earlier in Dina Malar that they will be getting Siruvar Vanna Malar as a supplement on Friday and hence they were anxious to know what is going to be the format of the new supplement.

Some time back, Dina Malar has just launched another weekly supplement named VaaraMalar which used to be made available with the Sunday News paper. It proved to be a master stroke for the news paper and to continue with the winning trend, they have introduced a new supplement on Friday’s to capture the Children’s market. So, the arrival of Siruvar Vanna Malar on that Friday was almost similar to a release of a big movie (However, there is a small note to be added in the history. Most of the supplements were used to be printed much earlier than the due date and were sent to the distributors much in advance. So, instead of Friday, the prominent News paper agents received this on Wednesday itself. So, statistically speaking, the launch date has to be 20-11-1985 instead of 22-11-1985. Amongst those who laid their hands on the book on Wednesday's rather than Friday’s was our own AVL.

Here is the 1st ever issue of Siruvar Vanna Malar and the editorial where the Editor says that in the fast paced world, most of the parents either have no time or patience (or rather, the knowledge) to tell stories to their young guns. Dina Malar has taken the initiative to compensate for this with the advent of Siruvar Vanna Malar. Apologies for the cropped cover scans where you miss the 1st letter of the title. As with most Indians, the 1st ever book has Lord Vinayaga in the cover.

DinaMalar – Siruvar Vanna Malar – Issue No 01 – Issue Dated 22-11-1985– Cover	DinaMalar – Siruvar Vanna Malar– Issue No 01–Issue Dated 22-11-1985–Editorial

Another startling statistic to be mentioned over here (apart from the title) is the number of pages. Unlike the present day structure, The earlier versions of Siruvar Vanna Malar was not off 32 pages. instead it was of 16 Pages out of which 8 were in multi colour and the remaining 8 were in (what we call as) double colour. Here is the sample of the same with the 2 major stories from the ACK titles Murugan and Ganesa covering most of the ground in the initial issue. The multi colour sample pages are also included for a better idea.

DinaMalar–Siruvar Vanna Malar–Issue 01–Dated 22-11-1985-Murugan Story–Pg 1	DinaMalar–Siruvar Vanna Malar–Issue 01–Dated 22-11-1985-Murugan Story–Pg 2

What is to be noted is the repetition of the stories for the Tamil ComiRades. Yes, these stories have already appeared exactly 1 year back (1984) through Poonthalir Amar Chitra Kathai series from the Poonthalir group. Not only that, the original ACK series from IBH has also published these 2 titles in Tamil language. Let us not deviate from our post topic now and will blog about PACK later on, Very soon-though. Coming back to the Siruvar Vanna Malar issues, take a not on the 4th issue cover which is titled as Siruvar Malar rather than the regular title. Technically speaking, 13th December 1985 is the date from which the title Siruvar Malar is existing.

Siruvar Vanna Malar–Issue No 02–Cover	Siruvar Vanna Malar–Issue No 03–Cover	Siruvar Malar–Issue No 04–Cover	Siruvar Malar–Issue No 05–Cover

From this beginning, Siruvar Malar had a tremendous run whereby they went on to publish strip stories from the famed Fleetway group (Couple of them have appeared later on in Lion Comics) and stories from the Greatest ever story teller for Children of all ages in Tamil – The incomparable Vandu Mama. The next four and half years were some of the best years not only for Siruvar Malar, but also for the Tamil Comics as a whole. This was the golden period of Tamil Comics (Discussed briefly over HERE). Later on, when the content supply (both local and international) dried up, Siruvar Malar’s standard took a dent and post 2000, it was going down rapidly. 3 years back there was a huge discussion about the revival of these magazines and it took some time to see the result. However, this post is not about the history of Siruvar Malar. TCU has planned to do a complete index posting on Siruvar Malar later on.

So, exactly one week ago TCU got a call from one of the most respected names in Tamil Comics industry and the information passed on was the revival of the Siruvar Malar (or should we say, Resurrection?). And to add to the surprise, Dina Malar has also put up a small advertisement about the new feel Siruvar Malar. For those who do not know Tamil, Here is the translation: Entirely different stories to entertain you.

Dina Malar – Tamil Daily – Chennai Edition – Issue Dated 03022011 – Page Number 07 – Advertisement for the New Revised Siruvar Malar SM R001 Ad

So, just like 1985, we were waiting for the new issue of Siruvar Malar with lot of interest and the waiting was worth. Here is the details about the New Siruvar Malar (From now onwards, named as Siruvar Malar Revived SMR).

• 1st & foremost- Completely free of cost: Issued as a supplement with Dina Malar Daily Paper.
• 32 Pages
• A 4 Size
• Completely Black & White sans any colour pages (Unlike the earlier versions which had 16 Multi colour pages)
• 3 Stories of 10 Pages each, starting from this issue
• 1st Story – Veera வீரா. Story By Nikesh Murali Art By Vinay Brahmania (More Details on the links provided in Blue colour)
• 2nd Story – Vanished Path மறைந்த பாதை Author & Artist: The multi skilled Bharath M
• 3rd Story – Joro ஜோரோ Author & Artist: Parismita Singh (Yes, the same author who wrote that wonderful The hotel at the end of the world).
• The best part is that it is available completely online: Here is the Link – Siruvar Malar SM R 001 PDF

Siruvar Malar–Supplementary to Dina Malar - Dated 04022011 - SM R001 Page 01	Story Number 01: Veera – Author: Nikesh Murali – Artist: Vinay Brahmania.
Story Number 02: Vanished Path (Maraindha Paadhai) – Creator: Bharath M	Story Number 03: Joro – Author & Artist: Parismita Singh

If you guys were wondering what was the response for this new initiative from Dina Malar, let me tell you in a simple way: Hooked for a Sixer. Yes, the response was tremendous and so thrilled was the Dina Malar Management that they put up a Thanks card in the 1st page of the News paper yesterday. There were enquiries to the office as well. Also, Yours truly got couple of calls about the new format of Dina Malar Siruvar Malar from the trusted ComiRades, thus enhancing the popularity and the reach of the magazine. Here is the translation of what the following Ad says: Thanks, Thanks & Thanks for the response for the new design of Siruvar Malar.

Dina Malar – Tamil Daily – Issue Dated 09022011 - Page Number 01 - Response for the New Revised Siruvar Malar SM R001 – Thanks from the Management

And also, they have put up the advertisement in todays paper about the forthcoming issue on tomorrow with couple of one liners about the new episodes. It seems that the new version is here to stay and let us welcome it with open hearts. It is a season of revival in Tamil Comics and amidst this, Siruvar Malar has also contributed its worth. Let us hope that 2011 is a land mark year in the annals of Tamil Comics Ulagam.

Dina Malar Tamil Daily – Issue Dated 10022011 – Thursday - Page Number 07 – Advertisement for the 2nd Issue of the New Revised Siruvar Malar - SM R002 Ad

Now,then; The next post will on the year end review post for the year ended 2010. Most probably that will be done by Monday and from this month onwards, ComiRades will see a radical change in the number of posts in TCU.

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.