Dec 13, 2007

Tara Press - Lucky Luke | 5 Albums | 2007

Guess what, we have a new player in the Graphic Novel/Comics Biz in India.  Tara Press, a trade imprint of
India Research Press have ventured on bringing Franco-Belgian comics treasure to Indian Comic Fans.  And what a better way to start the proceedings, by introducing our favourite Lucky Luke in English to India. 

Their copyright content states they now have the exclusive English language rights for Indian sub-continent.  Well, there are 7 titles to start of with in this series, but as a first instalment only 5 of them are released. Each one of them priced at INR 195/- each, mirroring the Euro Books pricing strategy.

Lucky Luke  - Dashing White CowboyLucky Luke  - The TenderfootLucky Luke  - Ma Dalton

Morris (c) educreuse23.ac-limoges.fr Lucky Luke is a masterpiece Cowboy story franchise created by Maurice De Bevere (1923-2001), under the pen-name Morris, in 1946 for then comics magazine Spirou,  from the legendary publishers, Dupius.  Morris served as creator-artist throughout the initial run of Lucky Luke, where he is pictured as a solitary cowboy travelling across Wild West, and helping the needy and poor.  He is assisted in his adventures by his faithful companion, Jolly Jumper, the Horse.  The first adventure, Arizona 1880 was released on Dec 7, 1946.

Rene Goscinny (c) arrukero.comMorris was considered as a central artist of Spirou magazine, and often regarded among the elite club known as, Gang of 4, which comprises of other heavyweights like Jije, Franquin (Spirou and Fantasio fame), and Will

Together they laid the foundation for what is came to be known as Marcilleni School, which has been discussed in detail on the Spirou and Fantasio series review at Comicology.

Lucky Luke - Jesse James - 01 The Lucky Luke series, was yet to touch the mainstream, when Morris decided to travel to America, in order to know more about the Wild West, and their arts.  He eventually met, Rene Goscinny (1926-1997), who was an unknown French comic writer and artist that time.  But he eventually, went on to form a formidable partnership with Morris, in the process creating the golden period of Lucky Luke adventures.  Together they were known as Morris & Goscinny, in the 31 adventures they worked in tandem.

The dynamic duo’s run with Lucky Luke came to an end in the late sixties, when Morris left Spirou, and joined Goscinny in his new magazine, Pilote.  But, Goscinny went on to write all the Lucky Luke stories from 1955 to his eventual death in 1977, moving him into stardom, along with his other legendary work on Asterix.

The success of Lucky Luke stories owes much to its plot revolving around the historical events and people, much like the successful Asterix & Obelix franchise.  And we get to see the same with Tara Press's imprints.

Here is a Preview of what's in store for you in these titles:

Dashing White Cowboy takes us to a trail of dacoit mystery linked up to a Theatre crew, and the highlight of the story turns up when Lucky Luke makes his nervous stage debut, as the Dashing White Cowboy himself.

Lucky Luke  - Jesse JamesLucky Luke  - Western Circus

Tenderfoot, takes a hit of the foreigners traverse in the wild-west on a lighter note coupled with humour all along.  The highlight of the story is when the Butler trying in vain to train the Red Indian to his ways, which ultimately turns the other way around.

Ma Dalton features the the foursome Dalton Brothers joining forces with Ma Dalton.  The climax involving a gun fight duel between Ma Dalton and Lucky Luke (with him admitting that he was afraid for the first time in a One-on-One fight) was the highlight.

Lucky Luke deals with mischievous Jesse James in his solo title.

While, Western Circus brings us fond memories of our childhood days of watching the now rare Circus events.  It takes us through the struggles and troubled times faced by Circus companies, and the highlight is the induction of Red Indians in the bigger troupe at the end.

This Lucky Luke series is neatly bound, translation and print quality are good.  So, Euro Books and Tara Press seem to have entered into an encouraging battle (for comic fans) in introducing the Franco-Belgian Comics Treasure to Indian Comic  Fans.

On further news regarding Tara Press, they have also acquired the rights to Iznogoud series, which is another masterpiece of René Goscinny.  So the coming months promises to be great for all Franco-Belgian Comics Fans.

There might be a curiosity among masses, to know how many more Lucky Luke Titles might be in production.  I received a link from Comic Collectors Forum in Orkut, which lists out the number of English editions Lucky Luke stories released so far.  By that records, 5 are only few of the 16 English titles available so far.

UPDATE (11/08): But as it is evident Tara Press, hasn’t released any further titles after this 5 set pack, It looks highly unlikely that they will ever be back in the graphic novels/comics market again.  Surprise, because I couldn’t notice any of these Tara Press titles on the newsstands or bookstores, citing the reason, that they were all would have been sold-out, thus giving enough interest to publish more.  Seems, they were never in the business for a long run from the start.

Recently, Euro Books have made an announcement on their website stating that they are coming up with 12 titles of Iznogoud and 24 titles of Lucky Luke.  So, I guess Tara Press, may not be able to utilize their previous copyrights, as the Publishing rights are mostly based on the First-Print formulae.  Till they materialize, we have CineBook’s
Lucky Luke set, to keep us enthralled. Good days are ahead us, and no wonder I am eagerly looking forward to them.


Junior Lion 1 - Super Circus c1.jpgUPDATE (03/09): (Covers Comparison with Tamil Comics Versions)

Lucky Luke might be new for Indian Comic fans, but not certainly for Tamil Comics fans, as the legendary Prakash Publishers, have published 4 out of 5 of these titles (except Tenderfoot) already in their line-up. 

As promised earlier, here are the covers, from my humble collection, of those 4 wonderful titles, in the order they were published. 

Obviously, the first among the list is the First-ever issue of erstwhile
Junior Lion, which featured a full-color Lucky Luke adventure for the very first time. No need to mention that it is now considered as a “Holy Grail”, among Tamil Comics Collectors.

Anyone, for the Exclusive Review Posts featuring these wonderful titles at Comicology ? :) Please log your comments, in the section below.

Lion 104 - Jessy James - c1    Lion 121 - Medayil Oru Manmadhan c1    Lion 200 Supplement LuckyLuke c1


32 ComiComments:

Of these 5 lucky luke ,only tender foot is not published in Lion comics.
Dalton city
Calamity jane
are in the pipeline

More good news for comics fan's

Phanthom series is now available at Bookstores.Curretnly there are 14 series each carrying 2 stories .The cost is Rs 95 .

The popular mad magazine is also available in india with price around Rs 35. [I reckon they are old issue]

the only problem is these books are not available at Lannmark stores.I got it from Odyseey shop at Thriruvanmiyur

Happy reading

Arun... 14 series of phantom, aren't u referring to the one published by Egmont few years back, carrying two titles an issue, in total 15 of them (they were priced rs.85 back then). If that's the same, then that's why you don't find that in landmark, as they were published long back and got sold out. It's basically a reprint of Phantom stories owned by Egmont in India.

And the Mad Magazines you are referring are indeed the old ones. Gotham stopped publishing Mad long back (2004), and they were selling the entire set for some 60% discount later.

Very interesting post. Thanks Rafiq. Actually Lucky Luke adventures are very popular in Europe. Also thanks for your reply on the Quick and Flupke. I appreciate your response. Yes, I couldnt find any website for Eurobooks. BTW looking at the earlier comment if you are interested more Franco-Belgian comics but like me cannot read French :-( I would defintely recommend some others like Iznogoud and Blake and Mortimer. They are not in the same league as Tintin and Asterix but neverthless good fun. Quick and Flupke by Herge are also very good my only 2 volumes were published in the 90s. well I guess the wait coninues...
Best
-N

Thanks Rafique for solving the mystery of Phantom series not available in Landmark. Yes i was refering to Edmont series only. but i am wondering how i missed out as i go to landmark daily during those years [courtsey my work place near to spencer].Can you enlighten me more on this character Spirou [ Belgian character ] .I bought one at Landmark.It looks good .Can you suggest me the best in the series.hope u can come up with a exclsive blog in near futrue . Awating for ur rejoinder.

Your comics cognizant is quite amazing .Keep the good work going buddy
adios amigo

Hey guys.. can anyone tell me where will i get the books in bangalore plssss..

With Regards
Bahskar
mail: bhaskaranv@indiatimes.com

They are available at Blossoms in Bangalore, on Church Street, behind M.G.Road. As with everything in Blossoms, you get them cheaper, at Rs.160 per book! I bought all 5 and am waiting for the others to release!

Hi Arun,

I can give you a brief idea about 'SPIROU and FANTASIO', which is a Franco-Belgian comic strip that began its run in 1938. The series shares many characteristics with other European fun packed adventure comics like Tintin and Asterix. It is one of the most popular classic Belgian comic (Spirou Magazine- originally created by Rob Vel in late 30s) and, unlike Tintin, new Spirou books continue to be published to this day.

Spirou and Fantasio are the series' main characters, two adventurous journalists who run into fantastic adventures initially written by André Franquin
the creator of GASTON LAGAFFE. After his death Tome & Janry worked on Spirou et Fantasio
in contemporary times in couple of albums. Finally Morvan & Munuera started creating Spirou with a sci fi 21st century look. But due to a significant decline in sales, Dupuis decided to cease Morvan and Munuera work in Spirou in January 2007. No successor has been named
yet. Of them Franquin's originals were undoubtedly the best, because of the drawing styles and humor packed adventures. So far Euro books published 12 albums of Franquin.

Hi everyone- Good to see Lucky Luke-Bought 3 of them last week, and 1 had print / clarity issues on one page, but overall good quality and nice to see the series finally come up. Anyone has news on Herge's comic series that Euro books was announcing ? And anyone hear anything about Iznogoud being launched in India ?

hi guys,

received latest comics classics,
naasa alaigal+yethanukku yethan.

Luther.

i can't believe this. all of 2007 i searched for lucky luke in bangalore - the guy in blossoms was tired of my repeated queries on this. now i'm back in the usa and just now ordered three lucky lukes from amazon at $10 each! i think i was born under a bad sign!

These Phatom stories really are poor shadows of the great work of Leek falk/ Sy Barry and the gang.

Also the print quality is done without any sensitivity to the art work. more like photocopies.

I purchased the entire set. very disappointed. Also the stories lack craetivity and suspense of the past.
Instead one can try to get pahtom reprints from Frew (Australia) they come out with annual editions of 10 stories etc. but they do it in black and white, which brings out the great artwork!

I picked up all five titles listed here. Overall, I'm quite happy with what I got... there are a couple of small points worth mentioning. Paper quality is slightly poor, with some pages not cut properly, and the paper itself is thicker than one would find in competing editions. Four stars, not five. But when one has been starved of these titles for so long, these are minor.

Does anybody know if Tara Press is releasing/has released more titles?

Where can i get the Luck Luke in Chennai?

Wanted to know if any one has an idea about the Om Papa series , also under the Franco-belgian category - read a few as a kid but they are no where to be found.

Would be happy to see any links to these comics

ram

Where can I get these comincs in Mumbai?
Are Asterix comics also being printed in India?

Ganapathy: Phantom series is nothing new, but another reprint of the title rights which Egmont holds in India, only anew through the EuroBooks brand (a subsidiary of Egmont). It's the 4th or 5th time they have reprinted the series, and I have stopped collecting them just for variant covers, eventhough they are poorer to say least.

I did hear about Frew's long phantom series, eventhough in B/W, they are some vintage collections. But the Shipping Cost, and Conversion rate, may not be easy for every Indian fan to get hold of it. Maybe some publishing company in India can take the cue and print the series over here... It's a long shot though.

Annony: All leading bookstores have these Tara Press Items. There is no news yet on their next releases, but with the way their Lucky Luke Titles sold out, I wonder what takes them more time to come back with another set, especially, since they hold English Language Rights from some more Franco-Belgian storylines, esp. Iznogoud. With Cinebook foreign editions in the market, they better come back sooner.

Ramnarayan: I believe you are referring to the Oumpah-pah Series by Albert Uderzo and René Goscinny (Asterix fame). I don't remember any of those titles available in India. But may be Cinebooks may lay their hands on the series shortly soon. You can read through more about your favorite character over here

Nik: Asterix and TinTin, eventhough they are widely available in India, are not printed here. It's actually a foreign print available through Indian Distributors and available in plenty at all leading bookstores.

Buddy

I'm Yilaveanil a die hard comic fan from salem
now i'm working in chennai

Well I wanted to mail u personally with my phone no. and requesting u for ur personal mobile no. but i couldnt find ur mail id any where

Hence i chose the easy way..
I post a comment here with my mail id. kindly reply me..

yilaveanil@gmail.com

pls mail me buddy

Have a Great weekend..

Smiles

Yilaveanil

The post has now been updated with more info on the Creators of Lucky Luke. Enjoy Reading !!!

ரஃபிக்,

மிகவும் அருமையான பதிவு. லக்கி லூக்கை தோற்றுவித்த மொரிஸ், கொசினியின் மறைவின் பின்னும் பல கதைகளை உருவாக்கினார், இருந்தாலும் அவை கொசினியினுடன் சேர்ந்து பணியாற்றிய கதைகளில் இருந்த இயல்பான நகைச்சுவை ரசத்தின் அலகு குறைந்தே காணக்கிடைக்கின்றன.

2006 ம் ஆண்டு வரையில் மொத்தமாக 90 லக்கி லூக் கதைகள் வெளியாகியிருக்கின்றன. இது என்னையே பிரமிக்க வைத்த விடயம். அதன் பின் 2 ஆல்பங்கள் வெளியாகியுள்ளன என்று எண்ணுகிறேன். லாரண்ட் ஜெராவும், அஷ்டேயும் கூட்டணி அமைத்து தற்போது ஆல்பங்களை உருவாக்குகிறார்கள். லக்கி காமிக்ஸ் எனும் பெயரில் ஆல்பங்கள் வெளியாகின்றன. டார்கோட்டின் உப குழுவாக இருக்கலாம்.

ஸ்கேன்களின் அளவு சிறிதாக இருக்கின்றதே ரஃபிக், ஏன்? லயன் காமிக்ஸில் வெளிவந்த கதைகளையும் சுட்டிக் காட்டத் தவறி விட்டீர்களே.இயலுமானால் சேர்த்துக் கொள்ளுங்களேன்.

எப்படி இவ்வாறு முயற்சியடன் முன்னைய பதிவுகளையும் புதுப்பிக்கிறீர்கள். என்னால் முடியாது ரஃபிக். அது தான் உங்கள் ரகசியமாக இருக்கவேண்டும். பார்ப்போம் ஒற்றி முத்தாத நகை ஏதாவது தகவல் கொண்டு வருகிறாளா என்று.

உற்சாகத்துடன் தொடருங்கள்.

Yilavenil: I hope you receieved my email to your id... if not you can always shoot a mail to my id which you can find in the About Me section of our blog.

ஷங்கர் அன்பரே, உண்மை தான் மோரிஸ் மற்றும் கோசினி அடைந்த கூட்டணி வெற்றியை, அவர்கள் தனி தனியே முயன்ற போது சாதிக்க முடியவில்லை. அவர்கள் கூட்டணியில் வெளி வந்த 40 காவியங்களே இன்றும் பல மொழிகளில் பவனி வந்து கொண்டு இருப்பதற்கு சான்றாயிற்றே. தாரா பிரஸ் விட்ட குறையை, இப்போது சினிபுக் தொடருவது ஒரு ஆறுதல். இது வரை அவர்களே 15 புத்தகத்தை வெளியிட்டு விட்டார்கள். சமீபத்தில் நான் கைப்பற்றிய லக்கி லுக் சாகஸம், Rivals of the Painful Gulch. அந்த புத்தகத்தை பற்றிய என் விமரிசனத்தை சீக்கிரத்தில் பதிகிறேன்.

மொத்தம் 90 புத்தகங்கள் என்றா கூறுகிறீர்கள். Wiki படி இது வரை 73 புத்தகங்களே வந்தாதாகவே அறிகிறேன். வேறு எங்காவது முழு பட்டியல் உள்ளதா? கூடவே நீங்கள் கூறியது போல லக்கி காமிக்ஸ் டர்காட் குழுவின் துணை அமைப்பே.

ஸ்கேன்களின் அளவை திட்டமிட்டே குறைத்தேன். சமீபத்தில் நான் படித்த Fair Image Usage Policy படி, ஒரு புத்தகம் வெளி வந்த திரை விகிதாசாரத்தை விட குறைவான அமைப்பில் அதை உபயோக படுத்த எந்த முன் அனுமதியும் தேவை இல்லை என்று அறிந்தேன். அதன் விளைவே சின்ன பட அளவு. இருந்தாலும், அவைகள் விதிமுறைகளுக்கு உட்பட்டு இன்னும் சற்று பெரிதாக்கலாம். அடுத்த பதிவுகளில் அதை கடை பிடிக்கிறேன்.

லயன், மினி லயன் லக்கு லுக் காமிக்ஸ்கள் என்னுடைய சேகரிப்பில் பூரணமாக இல்லாமல் இருப்பதினால் தான் ஒப்பீடு வெளியிடுவதில் தாமதம். நண்பர் ஒருவரிடம் இரவல் கேட்டு இருக்கிறேன். கைவசம் வந்த உடன் இந்த பதிப்புகளில் விரைவில் அதை சேர்க்கிறேன்.

பழைய பதிவுகளே ஆனாலும், Site Tracker, Page Hitters, மூலம் இப்பக்கங்களிள் அதிகம் பேர் இன்றும் வருகை தந்து கொண்டு இருக்கிறார்கள் என தெரிகிறது. எனவே அவர்களுக்காக அந்த பதிவுகளை மேம்படுத்துவது சிறந்தது என்பதை அடிப்படையாக கொண்டே இந்த சிறு சிரமம். ஆனால், பழைய பதிவுகளிலும் கருத்துகளை பதியும் உங்களை போன்ற நண்பர்கள் விரல் விட்டு எண்ண கூடியவர்களே. அதற்கு உங்களுக்கு கோடானு நன்றி.

தொடருங்கள் உங்கள் ஆதரவை.

The post has been further updated with the 4 Lucky Luke title Covers which were published in India earlier in Tamil Comics, by the legendary M/s.Prakash Publishers, in their Lion & Junior Lion brand.

Enjoy the Covers and compare them with the Original Ones posted earlier in the post. Apart from few modifications, they are pretty much the same. Unlike other titles, Editor S.Vijayan has taken diligent care from not disturbing the legendary cover arts of Lucky Luke Titles.

ரஃபிக்,

தமிழில் அட்டைப்படங்களைப் பார்க்கும் போது ஏற்படும் உணர்ச்சிகள் வேறானவை. தாய் மொழியல்லவா. லயன் காமிக்ஸும் மிகச் சிறந்த முறையில் அட்டைப்படத்தினை உருவாக்கியுள்ளார்கள். தாயில்லாமல் கதை வெளிவந்த தாளின் தரம் தான் உங்களிற்குத் தெரியுமே.

கருத்துக் களம் புதிய மாற்றங்களுடன் அழகாக உள்ளது. பதிவுகளிற்கான சிறுபெட்டி வடிவ சுட்டிகளும் கவர்சியாக உள்ளது.

உற்சாகத்துடன் தொடருங்கள்.

ஷங்கர்: நீங்கள் கூறுவது முற்றிலும் சரி. தாய் மொழியில் காமிக்ஸ் படிப்பதில் கிடைக்கும் சந்தோஷம் வேறு எதிலும் கிடைக்காது. ஆகவே லயன்,முத்து இதழ்களை பார்க்கும் போது ஒரு பால்ய நண்பனை சந்தித்த ஒரு எண்ணம் மனதில் ஓடுவது ஒரு தனி சுகம். பதிவில் தமிழ் அட்டைபடங்களை சேர்த்த உடன் உங்களுக்கு மின்னஞ்சல் செய்ய எண்ணி இருந்தேன். தாங்கள் முந்தி கொண்டீர்கள், எப்பவும் போல.

ஜலதோஷத்தின் காரணமாக, ஒரு நாள் அலுவலக விடுப்பு எடுத்து வீட்டில் குந்தி இருந்த போது நேரம் ஓட்ட செய்ய ஆரம்பித்த மாற்றங்களின் விளைவே கருத்துபெட்டி மற்றும், சார்பு பதிவு சிறுபெட்டி. உங்களுக்கு அவை பிடித்து இருந்தது எனக்கு சந்தோஷமே.

வருகைக்கும் கருத்துக்கும் மீண்டும் நன்றி.

It has been my long felt urge to post in this site. Everytime i tried to post, i faced some problem or the other. I hope this post will go though. It was my longfelt ambition to run a site like this and gush it up with interesting information with scans, which would be a interesting news to the comic fans. Rafiq has constructed it and it was awesome everytime i go through it. Collection of interesting info from various sources and compiling them together is no easy job. Since Rafiq is likeminded with me, i really patronize his work, since he is doing what i could not do, and i feel it a duty to support him and make this site a dictionary for comics. keep it up.

I purchased the 5 books on the first news that they are published. Infact i paid a premium to get them on my hands first. Later there was a rumour that another 2 books were released. Since as usual, i did not read the 5 books i already bought, i again purchased two books, thinking them to be the new titles. But i did not see any new titles from tara so far , other than the 5 books.

@ ERB: My dear old friend, welcome to Comicology, at last.

So all those bugging on our calls of you not leaving your esteemed comments was finally answered :-), and what better way, you went turbo fast and are now sitting at the 2nd spot over the all-time commenter list on Comicology. Thanks for all your support, and you made Jun 15, the eventual day, which I will remember a long time.

I don't know why Tara Press never continued their Graphic Novel venture, especially considering the fact that 5 lucky editions were the fast moving items on all bookshops. Probably they decided to concentrate on their main business of publishing books alone.

But, we should also remember that it paved way for Euro Books, to print and release them in awe inspiring quality. So we were not disappointed, at last :)

Dear Friends,

Is the MAD magazine(Indian edition) still available? It was being published from Bangalore.

Where can I get these comincs in Mumbai?
Are Asterix comics also being printed in India?

These Phatom stories really are poor shadows of the great work of Leek falk/ Sy Barry and the gang.

Also the print quality is done without any sensitivity to the art work. more like photocopies.

I purchased the entire set. very disappointed. Also the stories lack craetivity and suspense of the past.
Instead one can try to get pahtom reprints from Frew (Australia) they come out with annual editions of 10 stories etc. but they do it in black and white, which brings out the great artwork!

i can't believe this. all of 2007 i searched for lucky luke in bangalore - the guy in blossoms was tired of my repeated queries on this. now i'm back in the usa and just now ordered three lucky lukes from amazon at $10 each! i think i was born under a bad sign!

Thanks Rafique for solving the mystery of Phantom series not available in Landmark. Yes i was refering to Edmont series only. but i am wondering how i missed out as i go to landmark daily during those years [courtsey my work place near to spencer].Can you enlighten me more on this character Spirou [ Belgian character ] .I bought one at Landmark.It looks good .Can you suggest me the best in the series.hope u can come up with a exclsive blog in near futrue . Awating for ur rejoinder.

Your comics cognizant is quite amazing .Keep the good work going buddy
adios amigo

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