Dear ComiRades,
This is the fourth Instalment in the James Bond Comics Series Started By Mr Rama Jayam. Regular Visitors to TCU May Recollect Posts on Issue No 1, Issue No 2 & Issue No 3 and the subsequent controversies regarding the Right to change the storyline & content so As to Make it more suitable to the children. Anyway, all said and done, Rani Comics have done it & let us not dwell on it so as to Be-Little the efforts made by them towards the Tamil Comics Ulagam.
Moving On to this Post, Marma Kottai (மர்ம கோட்டை - Secret Castle) is the last issue to get printed in the A4 Size as the next issue was of the same size as that of Rani Comics & Present Day Lion Comics, thus depriving us the charm of Reading a Comics Book in Tamil in that size. ComiRades may remember that Even Mr Vijayan has once described about the dismal sales and the Number of returns they have to take the next month when they were printing XIII Series issues No 6, 7, 8. This may be the curse of Tamil comics that any magazine, from the late 80's till now, which gets printed in Bigger size doesn't has a Longer run.
Yours truly had the privilege of Meeting couple of Comics Publishers (Still continuing to publish, but not Comics) who echoed the same feelings. One Publisher very copulatively said that "The size of a Tamil Comics Book is Inversely proportional to the sale of the book". Which literally means, the bigger the book is, the lesser the sales will be & the smaller the Book is, the better the sales is. The same was noted by Mr Vijayan way back in 1984 when he shifted to Pocket size. As a Matter of Fact, many of the first set Comics Classics issues were not available now-a-days & the same period Comics of Lion/Muthu are available even with the publisher themselves. Amazing Huh? But this is true only. Remember the Tagline for the Hollywood movie Godzilla: Size does matter. It matters, infact.
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Enough of the size Talks, This particular issue's story was written by Jack Sutter (Who has a Penchant for Robotic/Unusual Villains) and was published originally in the semic press under the title "Operation - Little" in 1984 as the eighth installment of their series on James Bond Stories. Have a Look at the Tamil James Bond cover and the original cover for the same story: Operation little and the cover from which this Tamil James Bond cover was inspired. These editors - My Oh My- they do really have some kind of a Sense to catch the attention of the ComiRades. Have a Look at these covers and judge for yourself: Which Cover looks more attractive - The Tamil James Bond Comics Cover (Even though this itself is Inspired from) or the Semic issue cover?
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The story line is as follows: The worlds best assassin is a dwarf who goes by the name 'Little' (Very aptly Named by Sutter), he lives in an impregnable castle in Switzerland, where he drives around underground on a large toy train, and he kills any intruders by remotely controlled flying saucers, and various other fancy gadgets. But now someone is trying to kill him and Bond is sent in to discover who it is. Bond also is Captured By Mr Little who informs that the reason why many countries try to kill him is an Identity crisis & he gives some tips towards un-Locking this mystery.
Bond, As usual romances with the Russian Army officer (She was the tip - Come On Ya, this is a James Bond Story and we have to get some female character) and gets to a Video tape which shows that somebody looking like Mr Little Assassinating the Russian Top-Guy. Based on the video Tape only the Russian and other Governments (They also have a similar tape) try to eliminate Mr Little. Bond Discusses this with Mr Little, who discovers that the Identical personality in the Video Tape is in fact an Ape. Later on They discover the secret about one Mad Scientist Named Dr Kurth who is bent on to Rule the world with his Animal soldiers who were transformed with serum into an Intellectual level superior to that of Human Beings (So Typical of Jack Sutter).
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Bond and Mr Little get into Dr Kurth's Place and destroy everything & in that process, Mr Little is changed into another Animal-Soldier and Bond, Taking a Tough Call, Kills Mr Little. He was to be visited by Felix (Remember him in old Rani Comics Stories as Another Secret agent who loses his Hand in Rani Issue No 9 - Mandhira Theevu மந்திர தீவு). ComiRades can have a look into the Editors Write Up on the censorship about the Panels by an ardent fan from Ambur. Look into the part where the editor announces about the English edition of the James bond Comics from this particular month (August 1988) onwards. moving on to the letters to editor page, you can see that many of the Readers were inspired by the cover art work & someone went to the level of saying that the Cost of the book is worth for the wonderful cover itself.
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Look at the Original Semic Panel and the corresponding panel in Page No 11 (2nd Page)
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Finally, the Back wrapper of the book where the ever-present Night visit Vivek with the wonderful art work of the Immortal Great Artist of Tamil Comics Ulagam, Mr Chellam.
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Title:Marma Kottai (மர்ம கோட்டை - Secret Castle)
Cover Design: Art By V.Chinnaiah
Cover: Soft Cover, Non-Laminated.
Serial Number: No. 4.
On Sale From: 1st August 1988 Onwards.
Total No. of Pages: 16cmx24cm, 36 Pages (Story 24 Pages), Black & White in Tamil & Colour in English.
Price: Priceless for Comic Fans; For others, INR 2/- for Tamil Version and INR 4/- for English Version.
Partner in Crime: Kovai Dr Sathish.
Story: Jack Sutter
Original Artwork: Sarompas.
and the next issue announcement.
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As a Pattern, Yours Truly will Be sharing the Happenings of Comics Houses in the cyberspace. Here are they:
(1) The New Blog Comics Pookal - காமிக்ஸ் பூக்கள் by Ayyampalayam Venkateshwaran has been completely revamped with better designs. Worth a Visit & Kindly park in your thoughts over there.
(2) Our Own Comics Doctor Has Woken & Posted a New Blog Topic which was Long pending in a Blog which was very recently started. As usual, Doctor has done deep research on the topic & come out with flying colours. So Enthralled was the Readers, that they have Best-Owed the Title "Captain VijayaKanth of Comics" for his style of presenting the facts.
(3) Our Beloved Poet Mr Josh (Of the Share Hunter Series) has started a New Series on the western style where 3 Cowboys which is quite innovative & there is a Surprise Element in the characterisation of the Lead Roles in that story. Read it to find out. Click here to read that.
(4) Going by the popularity of the 2011's Comics Chief Minister Dr Sathish's Blog, There is another Blog (க.கொ.க.கூ = கடத்தல் கொலை கலகக் கூட்டமைப்பு) which is very similar to that in Title of the Blog & Post of the same. However, the similarity ends there itself as the Pretender has a long way to reach the heights of Comic Doctor. Anyway, it is so nice to know that the Blogging interest is now on with reference to Tamil Comics which was not the same case some 2 Months back when yours truly started TCU, Wherein Muthu Fan & Rafiq were the only entrants in Tamil Comics Cyberspace.
Coming Back to Yours Truly, the Non-Appearance of Myself over the last 2 Weeks in the Tamil Comics Blog's in any form (Be it Comments, Visits, Reply's, Posts etc) was for the fact that Our Beloved Pet Dog Browny was Admitted in Hospital for the last One week & Has passed away on 15th Nov 2008 (Saturday evening 4 PM). This particular post was ready by last week itself & could not be posted because of the Mental Agonies we, as a Close Knit Family, were going through. The best Part about Browny was that,within 22 months, it has become such a close part of our Family that even a Person Like My Father (Participated in 2 Wars for India in His career with Indian Army) broke down when he saw Browny on Saturday Morning.
Browny had so much affection towards My father, that it started crying and so was my Dad. In My lifetime, this is the first time am Seeing My Father Crying. Words really, REALLY cannot describe the impact left by Browny with our family. Kindly excuse me if i do not reply to your personal mails, or Comments on the Blogs for the next few weeks as i have to take care of both my "Patient" Parents after the loss of Browny.
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 sidebar. The next New Comics Review post on this blog will be the review of Lion Comics Issue No 205 (எமனின் எல்லையில் - Tex Willer Adventure). However, the next Old Review Post will be on the 5th issue of James Bond Comics. The Next Actual post will be on a News Paper article about the 60 Years of Comics in Tamil.
Thanks & Regards,
King Viswa.
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