10 Comic Cuts 57-News 57: The Hindu (Tamil) Diwali Special issue – Special Article on Tamil Comics

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Dear ComiRades,

welcome back to TCU. As the festival season is gearing up, so is TCU with lots and lots of posts – both informative and initiative. Well, as the talk of initiation rings up, here is our new series of posts: சித்திரக்கதை செய்திகள் .

However, this article is all about The Hindu news paper (Tamil Edition)’s diwali special issues in which celebrated author S.Ramakrishnan has penned a nostalgic post on Tamil comics and the need to index them.

What he has not taken into account is that, we have already taken the initiative and almost, almost indexed all the comics books printed in Tamil language. Well, that’s news for him and usual story for our regular readers.

The Hindu (Tamil) Diwali Special Issue – Comics Article by S .Ramakrishnan

 

Most of these points were already handled by him in his online portal some 5 years ago. The news about the library and his recalling of the stories with his friends were new and was joyful to read.

Thank you, Sir.

Well, that’s all for this post and  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 section or Click Here.

Thanks & Regards, 
King Viswa.

16 Comic Cuts 56-News 56: Dinakaran Diwali Special Issue – Special Article on Lion Muthu Comics

Dear ComiRades,

Welcome Back to TCU. And it is a real welcome that we are promising. Yes, from now onwards, TCU is going to be really, really active in terms of blogging over here and that is going to be in 2 different styles.

The book review, book introduction will continue and also the comic cuts segment will be divided into 2 and a new segment will be introduced from tomorrow onwards. Kindly do wait for it.

And beginning this post, the comic cuts segment may not have much of my blabbering. They will be self explanatory and hence minimalistic approach is chosen over here.

Dinakaran Diwali Special Issue – Special Article on Tamil Comics & it’s Present state:

Dinakaran is Tamil’s 2nd highest selling daily news paper and they have a custom of issuing a special giant sized book for the special occasions like Pongal, Diwali etc. And most of the time they do cover almost all the topics in that book. The latest special book from Dinakaran has ticked all the boxes and also a special box with tha name being Tamil comics. And who Better than our old ComiRade YuvaKrishna than to write it?

Yes, the latest Diwali special contains a 5 page special article on Lion Muthu comics and the next phase of it. Have a read:

Here, we take this opportunity to thank the Printer & Publisher of Dinakaran Mr R.M.R Ramesh, The editor of Dinakaran Diwali Special Mr Murugan and the writer of this wonderful article Mr Yuva krishna.

Thank You, Sirs. Thanks a Ton for taking Tamil comics a little bit forward with your effort.

Well, that’s all for this post and  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 section or Click Here.

Thanks & Regards, 
King Viswa.

12 Mekala Comics: 01-A Summer Special 1995–Buz Sawyer, Johnny Hazard, Juliet Jones & Bujjai Stories

Dear ComiRades,

Welcome back to TCU. We are currently in the series post on Mekala Comics and this is the second post in this series. The previous post (Mekala Comics 01), we have reviewed the history behind the 1st issue and the storyline featuring Agent X-9 AKA Phil Corrigan. The 1st issue of Mekala Comics was launched in the month of May 1995 and as the month of may coincides with the summer holidays, the publishers planned for a special issue as well.

The summer of ‘95 was one of the very best for the summers for the ComiRades. The reason for that was the innovative special launched by Lion Comics titled as Lion Top 10 Special. Priced at INR 25, this was the most costliest ever comics book published at that time in Tamil comics history. The innovation with that special was, it was the readers who picked which story to be published and which one not to be. The Editor has given a choice of 16 stories and asked the readers to pick the top 10 stories amongst them and hence it was titled as so. More on that special can be read over here in TCU’s 50th Special Post. The response for the special was encouraging and the comics distributors felt a new wave emerging in the comics domain.

Seeing all this, Mekala Comics publishers also believed that they can also pull a coup by publishing their own summer special. The outcome was this. In the annals of Tamil comics history, there was no complementary issue (Not a free issue given along with the 1st issue) with the 1st issue of any book. However, Mekala comics changed all this and they have numbered this book as Issue No 1 only and the next issue was numbered as No 3. Moreover, this was published in the same month as well (albeit, a little bit later than May 1st, when the actual 1st issue was launched). Comirades were waiting for the Lion comics special, and they received both the books almost on the same week in the month of May 1995.

Yours truly was on a family tour and picked up the Lion comics special and this book. However, one of the relatives switched this book with the Suspense Novel’s summer special. As it was a long train journey, there was no way that this book to be bought in another shop for the next one week. Well, let us not get into the sad stories if how yours truly has missed the book and get on with the review of the summer special. The cover art work of the 1st issue was much appreciated by the ComiRades and the in the second issue, the cover art was radically different. The USP of the 1st issue’s cover was the local touch provided by the talented Artist Shyaam. Even the back cover of the summer special had that distinct local touch. Later on, from Dr 7’s post in Akotheeka (No Comments – 007 Special) we got to know the origin of the cover’s inspiration.

Mekala Comics Issue No 01 May 1995 Agent X9 Phil Corrigan Black mail Joint Issue Ad	Mekala Comics Issue No 01-A Summer Special June 1995 Cover – Art Work by Artist Shyaam	Mekala Comics Issue No 01-A Summer Special June 1995 Cover 2 – Art Work by Artist Shyaam

Unlike Rani comics, Mekala comics had the editorial page in the beginning issues where the editor used to voice out his thoughts on all possible things related to comics. Wherever possible, the distribution strength of the Filmalaya and group magazines were highlighted. The other thing to be noted is the serialisation of this particular issue. They have mentioned it as complementary issue No 1. Isn’t is strange to have 2 issues from the same brand in a single month? If you think so, then you are sold a googly as this phenomena has already been carried out by Lion comics editor S.Vijayan in the very first year of his arrival.

Mekala Comics Issue No 01-A Summer Special June 1995 Editorial	Mekala Comics Issue No 01-A Summer Special June 1995 Index

The stories were from the KFS group and it was great to see Buz sawyer appearing in another group’s comics apart from Muthu Comics & Indrajal comics, in Tamil. Though he made his odd appearance in Rani comics under a pseudonym, he wasn’t supposed to be a regular over there. The story is very much similar to what Roscoe Sweeny has to undergo in one of the earlier adventures which was published in the Muthu comics group publications. The elements of Love, revenge and humour are mixed in such a manner by Roy Crane that reading this story was like a soap opera.

Talking about Soap opera's, there wasn’t any better comic strips on opera like that of the “Heart of Juliet Jones”. Though we had the pleasure of Elliot Caplin’s Big Ben Bolt in Tamil (Again another odd appearances in Muthu Comics & Rani comics), ComiRades never had the opportunity to read his master piece – The Heart of Juliet Jones. Though Times of India published few in English in Spectrum comics, they were not available in Tamil Language. Along with one of my all time favourite artist Stan Drake, Caplin produced this long running opera elevated by Drake's exceptional artwork. The figure drawing was characterized by Drake's pioneering use of naturalistic movement and expression, a style he achieved partly through the use of Polaroid photographic reference. The storyline is very simple: A Talented singer (managed by Juliet) keeps the fact that he got married and has twins under the wraps from the public in order to keep his rising fame. How the circumstances force him to acknowledge his family is the rest of the story.

Mekala Comics  No 01-A Summer Special June 1995 Buz Sawyer Story 1st Page	Mekala Comics  Summer Special June 1995 Heart of Juliet Jones Story 1st Page

The 3rd story in this special is from the uber talented Mr Bujjai. Well, it will be gross injustice to summarise a great career in a single paragraph and hence TCU will post a detailed lengthy post on the creator who is touted to be the one behind the introduction of comics in South India in the 50’s itself.  A Wonderful story with great narration is what awaits the reader in the mysterious bungalow. If this particular book is considered a collector’s delight, partial reason is the complete story of Bujjai appearing in Tamil language. His talent was well recognised by Mr Vasudevan and wherever he moved as a Editor, Bujjai used to produce his creative works. Be it Dina Mani or Rathnabala, the trend continued. More on him will be spoiler to the post TCU is planning.

The fourth and final full length adventure features none other than Johnny Hazard, the wonderful strip from the famed Frank Robbins. He was a popular character in South India with his appearances in various publications such as MalaiMathi AFI Comics, Muthu Comics, Rani Comics etc. Even the next issue of Muthu comics is an adventure of Johnny Hazard only titled as Vinnil oru Kullanari. This particular story, Deadly date, was serialised in Daily strip No 99 starting from 30th June 1969 spanning over 2 months to be completed on 30th 30th Aug 1969. The story line is very much in line with the series - Staying in New York for a well-deserved holiday after completing his latest assignment, Johnny runs into an old friend with a two-fold problem: his valuable stamp collection has just been stolen and his new fiancée has been brutally murdered in her flat minutes after he left. Is there a connection? Agreeing to help an old friend in deep trouble, Johnny follows the clues to the dating agency responsible for the matchup that encouraged the assignation, only to find that ‘dating’ is not the only risky game on offer from that agency. Very interesting? read on.

Mekala Comics Issue No 01-A Summer Special June 1995 Bujjai Story 1st Page	Mekala Comics No 01-A Summer Special June 1995 Johnny Hazard 1st Page

Mekala continues it’s trend of having lots of fillers in the book, making it more interesting to read. This was the one thing which was missing from Rani comics for a long, long time. Initially rani comics also had some very nice fillers when Mr Rama Jayam was at the helm. With him moving away from Rani comics, so were the interesting fillers as well.

Mekala Comics Issue No 01-A Summer Special June 1995 Filler

Bujjai continued to showcase his amazing repertoire with his strips like Mr Tommy (a re-boot of his old Bhairava strips), Idea Appu adoring the pages of Mekala for the 2nd consecutive issue. Though they may look very simple, Bujjai proves his customary point to the viewers. A Pet lover like yours truly doesn’t need secondary reasons to like him than his strip Mr Tommy.

Mekala Comics No 01-A Summer Special June 1995 Inner Cover Bujjai Story	Mekala Comics No 01-A Summer Special June 1995 Inner Cover Bujjai Story 2

One more short story from Bujjai was part of the summer special, thus making it a grand issue to remember for the fans of Bujjai. Apart from that short story, there was another reader review contest in the book. Just like the previous issue of Mekala, this one also reiterated the concept of advocating the best panel of the story and reasoning it. The best reviews will fetch the prize and instead of the usual INR 500/- prize money, it was the double of INR 1,000/- as this is a special edition.

Mekala Comics Issue No 01-A Summer Special June 1995 Bujjai Story 3	Mekala Comics Issue No 01-A Summer Special June 1995 Review Competition

As a whole, the summer special was a grand success and this was mirrored in the readers letters in the next issue. Most of the readers were the group’s loyal readers and they liked the idea of a new comics in the market. There was even odd fan followings for Bujjai’s works in the book. The cover was much appreciated and the credit goes to the editor and the Artist Shyaam.

Mekala Comics Issue No 3  Readers Response for Summer Special 1	Mekala Comics Issue No 3  Readers Response for Summer Special 2

The best review was reserved for the story – The twins, from the series of Heart of Juliet Jones by Stan Drake. Here are the prize winning reviews from the readers. Kindly note down the 3rd consolation prize winners village name. You wouldn’t be surprised.

Mekala Comics Issue No 4 Summer Special Readers review – Award winning Reviews for the best panel / part of the story – Juliet Jones Story Segment

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.

50 Review O-13: Pongal Special–Rani Comics No 14–Visithira Vimanam–Fleetway Princess Picture Library

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/-
•  
• 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.

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

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

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

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

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.  

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

 

Suggested Reading: Pongal Special Post http://akotheeka.blogspot.com/2010/01/blog-post_15.html http://akotheeka.blogspot.com/2009/01/blog-post_16.html Rani Comics Based Posts http://tamilcomicsulagam.blogspot.com/search/label/Rani%20Comics http://akotheeka.blogspot.com/search/label/ராணி http://ranicomics.blogspot.com/2009/11/003-01-1984.html Posts on RamaJayam http://tamilcomicsulagam.blogspot.com/search/label/RamaJayam Rani Comics Comprehensive Reviews http://tamilcomicsulagam.blogspot.com/2009/03/review-o-11-david-davy-crockett-always.html Old Issues Reviews http://tamilcomicsulagam.blogspot.com/search/label/Old%20Comics%20Review James Bond 007 Reviews http://tamilcomicsulagam.blogspot.com/2008/09/james-bond-comics-1-adhiradi-ulavali.html http://tamilcomicsulagam.blogspot.com/2008/10/review-james-bond-comics-no2-rocket.html http://tamilcomicsulagam.blogspot.com/2008/10/review-o6-james-bond-comics-03-cheena_26.html http://tamilcomicsulagam.blogspot.com/2008/11/review-07-james-bond-comics-04-marma.html http://tamilcomicsulagam.blogspot.com/2008/11/review-08-james-bond-comics-no-5.html http://akotheeka.blogspot.com/2009/12/blog-post_28.html