6 Mekala Comics: 04 Enge Andha Vairam? Agent X-9 Phil Corrigan Adventure (Daily Strip 128 The Eyes of Kushna) By Archie Goodwin & George Evans

Dear ComiRades,

Welcome back to TCU. Most of the ComiRades would have wondered about the continuous posts on 4 days as the speed of posting is not often related with TCU these days. Initially, yes-There was this urge to do almost daily posts. However, the thirst dried up as time went on. Now as we are nearing the landmark 100th post, there is some fuel left in the tank and we are trying to move on.

This is the 4th Post on this particular series and the previous posts can be read over here in TCU: Mekala Comics No. 01 (ப்ளாக் மெயில்), Mekala Comics No. 02 (சம்மர் ஸ்பெஷல் - நடுக்கடலில்) & Mekala Comics No. 03 (மாய விமானம்). Continuing on the same series (which ran 5 further more issues up to the closure), we have the daily strip from the duo who revived the Agent X-9 strips and took it to a new dizzy height where all the Phil Corrigan stories are now collector’s delight. However, As Al Williamson took a mini break, George Evans drew this particular story and though he lacks the style of the the master, he makes it up with his own pattern of action packed pictures. Here is the cover scan of the issue along with the next issue ad of the same story. The reason for providing both of them is to marvel at the artistic talent of Mr Shyaam.

Often, when printing an international comics in the regional language, the best policy is to reproduce the cover art of the original issue. However, when we are dealing with the daily strips, we do not have the luxury of the reference material in terms of the cover. Publishers overcome this by re producing the most impactful action packed panels of the story. This trend was changed with the advent of Mekala Comics where Shyaam was keep on producing his own cover designs which are varied in style.

Mekala Comics - Issue No 03 Next Issue Ad Enge Andha Vairam–Art By Shyaam	Mekala Comics - Issue No 04 Dated Aug 1995 - Enge Andha Vairam – Daily Strip 128 - Agent X9 Phil Corrigan Adventure Cover – Cover Art by Artist Shyaam

Though the cover image was the most action packed of the four covers in the series, this was the lesser impactful and eye-catching of the lot. Phil Corrigan was more the younger Nasser than the one who was designed on himself by Al Williamson. Though colourful and snazzy, it wasn’t up to the standards of the previous cover designs. The readers differed in from the humble opinion of Yours truly and they liked it a lot and that can be seen in the readers review. The customary editorial and the first page of the story are here: Kindly note the serialisation of the issues and this issue is numbered as 03.

Mekala Comics-Issue No 04 Dated Aug1995-Enge Andha Vairam-Editorial	Mekala Comics-Issue No 04 Dated Aug 1995-Enge Andha Vairam-Agent X9 Phil Corrigan Adventure-Archie Goodwin George Evans Daily Strip-Story 1st Page

The storyline is like this: The person who has the possession of the 2 diamonds (Named as the eyes of the Kushna) has the rights to rule the land and a new twist is provided when the current ruler has a challenger to the throne with sinister ideas to dethrone him. Enter Agent X-9 (with support from the most likeable Yaseed) and he makes the most precise plans awry. The rest, as they say, is history and the climax has a memorable moment when Corrigan catches a Helicopter which is about to start (Yes, not a bike or even a car, but a helicopter). The best moments of the story are the interactions between Corrigan and Yaseed.

As mentioned in the previous post on issue No 03 itself, this story also was published in Tamil language. Not once but twice. The second time was in the summer of 1992, some 3 years before this issue of Mekala comics. The first cover left such an impression that it is still in the memory for most of the old timers who have bought it as a new issue in the shops. Doesn’t it imply the story in a single image?

Muthu Comics Issue 105–Dated 1st Jan 1980- இரண்டாவது வைரக்கல் எங்கே	Muthu Comics Reprint– இரண்டாவது வைரக்கல் எங்கே?

The ‘Time-Delay’ bug that intervenes with the comics publishers of South India caught up with Mekala also and one such person who didn’t get the comics in time, vent up with his anger about the delay in the readers comments section and the editor has acknowledged that, implying awareness and taking responsibility for the same.

The Best moment of the story selection was unanimous and it can be seen from the number of such selections of the same panel by many. The part where Ms Cobra tries to escape and Corrigan just catches the Helicopter and tries to balance on his grip on the Helicopter which is about to take off & the rest of the people who were cheated by her also ‘Give-a-hand’ to Corrigan and thus preventing the helicopter from taking off by the sheer weight, thus implying the unity is strength.

Mekala Comics-Issue No 05 Dated Sept 1995-Aayudhap Pudhaiyal-Last Issue Readers Comments-About Issue No 04 Enge Andha Vairam Story	Mekala Comics-Issue No 05 Dated Sept 1995-Aayudhap Pudhaiyal-Last Issue Readers Review About Best Moment-About Issue No 04 Enge Andha Vairam Story

The fillers were restricted to a story of Bujjai and it was so lovely to read. His style of simple strokes is much liked by many pundits and critics, not to mention the common man. And, there was a change in the style and pattern of Mekala Comics and this can be seen in the next issue advertisement as well. Right from the new pattern of the logo to the message in the story, there were certain very subtle changes.

Mekala Comics-No 04 Dated Aug 1995 Enge Andha Vairam-Pg No 60 Bujjai Story	Mekala Comics-No 04 Dated Aug 1995-Enge Andha Vairam-Next Issue Ad

Well, that's all for the time being & TCU will be back with the next issue of this series in the next post. 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.