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Comic Con India – New Delhi - 2011

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Showing posts with label Anant Pai. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Anant Pai. Show all posts

Jul 10, 2009

Amar Chitra Katha – Mahabharata | 3 Volumes | 2007

One of my favourite Tennis star Roger Federer, has just created history by winning his 15th Grand Slam title. Thanks to Andy Roddick, for making this such an exciting match to watch. Certainly, a match to remember for all Tennis fans.

As with Comicology, our recent post on the Comics Bloggers making News, brought the comics friends from all walks of life to commemorate the achievements of some among us. I hope that we keep progressing through our unique medium of art with the same enthusiasm, and support from comics friends, in the process sharing and celebrating the 9th Art.

To celebrate this occasion, let’s look into one another famous brand from our own Indian genre, which enjoys a fair amount of fanfare among our very friends, the legendary Amar Chitra Katha (ACK), and the most popular title in their ranks, Mahabharata.

The name ACK derives from Hindi, one of the primary languages of India, which means Immortal (Amar) Picture Stories (Chitra Katha).

Uncle PaiACK is known for inspiring a generation of readers through their retelling of mythological stories in picture format, and doing it professionally. Most of the mythological stories and decorated Leaders of India, as I still remember from my childhood, were inspired by what I envisioned through ACK’s picture based stories.

As mentioned during our Tinkle debut post, ACK was the first venture started by the great Anant Pai, known fondly as Uncle Pai. Pai was born on 17 Sep 1929, in Karkala, Karnataka, the Southern Indian state. Even though his major in college was Chemical Engineering, he always dreamt to publish comics for kids, which he incidentally started pursuing right after his studies.

ACK Cinderalla Hindi ACK Pinnachio indi After a short stint with Times of India, where he was instrumental in the launch of erstwhile Indrajal Comics, before leaving them to explore options of starting his own venture.

Pai eventually co-founded ACK, along with India Book House (IBH), in 1967. From then on, he went from strength to strength, by starting the county’s first-ever comics and cartoon syndicate, in the form of Rang Rekha Features in 1969; and then the legendary Tinkle, the children's magazines in 1980, which is still issued monthly, with Mr.Pai serving as the honorary editor.

ACK’s current image of Indian Authentic stories, was not to be seen in the initial 10 editions (which were printed in multiple languages), when it exclusively printed comic albums licensed from Disney, just like many other comic companies in India (For others like LM Comics, Chandamama Classics & Cartoons, who followed the same trend, refer to the page here). The cover-arts seem to have been drawn locally, which could have been done using the originals as samples.

ACK #11 Krishna Issue #11, was the landmark title, where ACK produced a comic album on its own, under the supervision of Anant Pai, who also wrote the script. The title was Krishna, a godly figure from the Hindu Mythology. For many ACK fans, they consider this title as the real number 1 issue of ACK, as that was the trendsetter, which saw it spanning over decades of dominance over Comics industry in India, eventually crossing the 90 million copies sales for the first-time ever. There is an interesting news about this very issue’s multiple versions printed by ACK, to read more about it, refer to this post on HMI blog.

The original run of ACK lasted until 1991, eventually wrapping up with the Issue #436, which featured a story about India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. This was the time when the TV industry was booming, and magazines and children classics, saw a erosion of sales. Prompted by this change of ACK authorities, decided to concentrate on reprinting their legendary series, and avoid adding any more fresh titles to their list.

ACK Collection from a fan on Orkut So from 1991 to 2008, saw the second run of ACK titles which were numbered from #501 (which was incidentally the same title as, Issue #11 Krishna), to #744, this time issued in better paper quality and thick cover. Some 5 issues from this set consisted brand new titles.  Most notable additions out of them were for Tatas, Kalpana Chawla, and Ram Charit Manas.

A complete list of all the ACK titles, published in their entire run along with special issues, could be found on John Thompson’s personal webpage. For someone who is not Indian, his passion towards cataloguing his personal collection, is unseen even among Desi comics fans. Kudos to his extensive effort. (Thanks to Prabhat, for referring to his site)

Just like Tinkle, ACK was also taken over by the newly formed ACK Media Ltd. in 2007, after which we only see the reprint titles from ACK time and again. As it stands, the chance of them producing new titles looks remote, as their current concentration seems to be on digitizing their brand through Mobile Games, Digital Comics, and few animated feature films.


One of the key reasons of ACK’s success was the pool of Artists, whom they had in their famed stable. The likes of Ashok Dongre, CM Vitankar, Souren Roy, MN Nangare, Jeffrey Fowler, VB Halbe combined with the variety of script writers like Lakshmi Lal, Yagya Sharma, Manoj Das, Rajendra Sanjay, GL Chandiramani, Shakuntala Jagannathan, Kamala Chandrakant, Rupa Gupta, Debrani Mitra, GR Naik, Louis Fernandes, Pradip Paul, Margie Sastry, to set the standards for which ACK is renowned over, even today.

Most notably, ACK showcased three of the best Indian Artists to the world, in the form of Ram Waeerkar, Pratap Mulik, and Dilip Kadam. Even though Ram Waeerkar, was the most talented and gifted artist among the three, the chance to be the artist for ACK’s biggest series went to another from the trio. Let’s look more about him and the series, to know more.

Mahabharata No-1ACK’s Mahabharata Epic Series: It’s pretty hard to pick and choose which among the ACK’s line-up is the best one, but there is no doubt in choosing the longest ever series to have been produced by them in the form of Mahabharata. One of the two great epics epics from Indian mythology (the other being Ramayana), which was published over a 42 issue run on ACK.

It was an instance success, and was the crown jewel in ACK’s line-up, making eager fans to expect it month after month, which was published on an alternative title schedule. The run started with Issue #329, which spoke of Veda Vyasa, who is credited to have dictated the entire Mahabharata epic to Ganesha, as per the Hinduism beliefs. The series was concluded with the 42nd comic album, in Issue #411, thus spanning over for a significant run over years on ACK’s publication history. It is said that the series was originally planned for 60 albums, but it could have been cut short to 42, due to increased work-load or anxiety to see the series completion.

Dilip Kadam was chosen as the only artist to the entire series, which added a semblance of standard to Kadam's Art on Lokmanya Tilakthe artwork. Kadam did lack the classic art style of Waerkar, but he was unique on his own rights. Hi artwork was simple, but yet authoritative, which was instrumental in a series which demanded quick monthly instalments, for a prolonged period.

Moreover, Dilip Kadam, had some real talent to produce historical scenarios with a lively effect. I could still not forget his rendition of Lokmanya Tilak in one of the ACK titles, which I read during my childhood. I even won a low level art competition at the school, by imitating one of his panels. Such was the impact, it left on the young minds, which could not be expressed in mere words. So, it was no surprise that Kadam was chosen as the chief artist for Mahabharata series.

Kadam was assisted in this mega project by a team of scriptwriters like Kamala Chandrakanth, Subba Rao, Nedungadi, Yagya Sharma, Lopamudra, Mohan Swaminathan, Shubha Kandhekar, Margie Sastry. So while the script-writers took turns to contribute in this mega series, Kadam continued to draw then uninterrupted, which shows his dedicated work towards making the series a landmark venture.

Look at some of the Intro Scenes of this Mahabharata series, and witness Kadam’s work yourself.

ACK Mahbarata English Intro  ACK Mahbarata Vol1 Intro2ACK Mahbarata Vol1 Intro3

ACK Mahabharata Gaurava's War Formations One of the attractions of the Mahabharata epic is the intrigued detail at which the battlefield of Kurukshetra was recited, which is considered the biggest war of the world, as per Hindu mythology. So, it was an enormous task to picture them on paper, and I believe Kadam did an incredible work, a sample of which could be highlighted from this piece of panel, where the formations of Kaurava’s, the antagonists' of Mahabharata, are explained in detail.

It’s sorry to state that, I could not add a picture of Kadam to this post, as it is untraceable anywhere on net. Kadam owns a commercial art unit at Pune, India called Trishul Comico Art, where he is assisted by his sons. They don’t have an Internet presence either, thus making the task even more harder. This is a common scenario among Indian creators (especially from the yester-year genre), many of whom are unaware about the riches on offer through the web, and as a result often remain untraceable.

One of the reasons, why I am looking forward to Toonfactory’s Chitrakathaa project, which hopes to bridge this barrier.


ACK Mahabharata 7 Volumes Collection Advt in 1987ACK Mahabharata 14 Volume Collection Advt in 1999Those who want own this biggest comic series released in India, need not go anywhere to locate them hard, and toil at old bookshops, as the ACK’s policy of rerunning their releases with timely reprints, means that this series is available in a brand new format, you could ever hope for.

Contrary to ACK’s reprint policy, the reprints of Mahabharata series were always  made available only on collected format.

The late 1980s saw the first of them with a 7 Volume Library edition collecting the 42 issues, in 6 issues each.

ACK Mahabharata 3 Volume 1999 Edition (The Previous One)ACK Mahabharata 3-in-1 Edition (The Present One)The success of the series, prompted ACK to again reprint a new collection in the late 1990s, this time in a 14 Volume Special Editions.

Not only that, they also printed another collected format in 1998, this time in an hard-bounded 3 volume edition. 

The collection was a huge-sell-out, and prompted a reprint in December 2007, in a newer format, which saw the hard-bound getting even better, with a change in the cover-arts for two other volumes, which reused the version from the original 42 album edition.

 

Here are the covers of the 3 Hard bound volumes, along with their respective list of 14 titles collected in each of them, for your preview. While the 2nd Volume cover is a re-used from the 42 individual album covers drawn by Dilip Kadam, the rest two were newly drawn, by other artists, which is clearly noticeable from the style.

ACK Mahabharata Vol-1 c1ACK Mahabharata Vol-2 c1ACK Mahabharata Vol-3 c1

ACK Mahabharata Vol-1 ListACK Mahabharata Vol-2 List ACK Mahabharata Vol-3 List

Overall, my only complaints with this package is that the publishers, didn’t add any dedicated pages for the creators behind this incredible series. Everyone knows ACK Mahabharata 3-in-1 Edition 05about Uncle Pai, but not many knew of the numerous script writers and the greatest Artist in Dilip Kadam. It would have been a perfect tribute to the collection, but obviously this seems to be a neglected section often among Indian Comics publishers.

One another miss in the collection, was that the publishers chose not to publish the 42 incredibly drawn covers which decorated the individual albums. Indian publishers should learn from the foreign publications, which often include the original editions cover as an extra feature in any collected editions. I know that it will add up to the cost of a collected issue, but it’s worth the price to see the reprint of these covers, which are quite hard to find at old book shops at present.

I had been eyeing this collectors items for the last couple of years, to add to my collection. The only thing which was keeping me away was the price. The new hard-bound collection of A4 Size is priced at INR 1100. The ACK Media store does give you a 10% discount, but the shipping cost makes up for it.

I finally got a 10% discount in the recent concluded Chennai Book Fair, only to see that it was later available on a 25% discount. Nevertheless, the money spent on this a worthy one. And I am now geared towards completing my Mahabharata individual titles. Can’t miss those wonderfully drawn cover-arts, by Dilip Kadam. If this post doesn’t tempt, to own this collectors piece, then have a look at those hard-bounds for yourself, and make your choice :).

ACK Mahabharata 3-in-1 Edition 02 ACK Mahabharata 3-in-1 Edition 04 ACK Mahabharata 3-in-1 Edition 03


Poonthalir Amar Chitra Katha (PACK): In South India, Poonthalir an erstwhile children’s magazine (which was started in the late 70s, and had a popular run during 80s), had also licensed a regional deal with ACK, and were regularly publishing their line-up of titles translated into Tamil. The translations were performed by the incredibly talented children’s writer of that time, late VK Murthy, more famously known among fans under his penname Vaandumaama. Vaandumaama is always credited to have a pulse of children’s mindsets and interests, and was very popular among them with his wonderfully written articles and translated stories.

Here are few covers from the series, which were also published in alternative schedule, much like ACK (once every month, while the PACK/ACK series was published fortnightly):

PACK Mahabharata Vol-7 c1 PACK Mahabharata Vol-35 c1 PACK Mahabharata Vol-41 c1

PACK Mahabharata Vol-3 c2 PACK Mahabarata Foreword Look at the introduction to this series, from the very words of Vaandumaama, and also an advertisement which talks about PACK and Poonthalir as the two flagship children magazines from their publisher Paico, with subscription details for the same (as it was in 1985).

It is said the PACK, was continued until the Mahabharata series was completed, before closing shops.

Needless to say Poonthalir and its sister publications were one of the chief contributors to a generation of Tamil children and young adults during 80’s, which were instrumental in them learning our culture and heritage with innovative articles and artwork. We will learn more about Poonthalir and their other ventures in detail, soon at Comicology.

With that we have reached the end of the post for today, and hope you liked them as much as I did writing it. Have a Happy Weekend Ahead Comikers, and I will meet you all again with another post pretty soon. Adios Amigos !!

References: Wikipedia, Uncle Pai’s Website, HMI India, Comic World, and John Thompsons ACK Research Page 
Image Credits: (non-watermarked)  HMI India, Comic World

Jan 25, 2009

Tinkle – Kalia | Suppandi | Shikari Shambu | 2007

ACK Media | Price: INR 80 | Color | Pages: 72 | Size: B5 | HardCover

I hope everyone are enjoying another weekend with nears and dears, and to those in India, who are enjoying another long weekend, on account of Indian Republic Day, which falls on Jan-26.  In keeping up with the spirit of India, here is an Indian Authentic Special Comics Post.

Tinkle LogoIf you had spent your childhood in India and in 80’s and early 90’s, then you are sure to get an euphoria of sensation when you hear the name of “Tinkle”.  Tinkle, is a Monthly Children's Comics Magazine, which was originally founded by Dr.Anant Pai in 1980, with the help of media-mogul India Book House (IBH), has had a continuous run spanning more than 600 issues, till date.

Dr. Anant Pai / Uncle PaiDr.Anant Pai, who is fondly called as Uncle Pai, was a known figure in children's magazines, with his already well established Amar Chitra Katha (ACK, founded 1967), and the brand Tinkle only made him more famous among masses.

The idea behind starting a comic book series devoted to Indian culture and history came to Pai from a quiz contest aired on Doordarshan in February 1967, in which participants could easily answer questions pertaining to Greek mythology, but were unable to reply to the question "In the Ramayana, who was Rama's mother?"

He left his job at Times of India, and started ACK the same year, with the help of late G.L.Mirchandani of IBH, (who also took charge as the CMD of Tinkle late when it was formed), when most other publishers had rejected the concept. Later, he took on the role of writer, editor and publisher. The series went on to become a publishing milestone for the Indian comic book scene, selling over 90 million copies of about 440 titles (as per last count till the end of 2008).

Tinkle No-1 On the other hand, Tinkle was an instant success with a circulation of 140,000 copies in India, at its peek, by which the comic book Tinkle has managed to capture the imagination of children since 1980s. Eventhough, it is now published mostly in English, but at the times of its popularity, it had its presence in many Indian languages.  The 500th issue of Tinkle was released on Apr 18, 2004, with a grand function.

In 2007, Tinkle released 3 Collector’s Specials featuring 3 of their flagship characters, Kalia, Suppandi, and Shikari Shambu.  I noticed this set on newsstands when they were reprinted early 2008, and grabbed them first-up.  This special post, is to highlight the history of these Indian Genre characters, while introducing readers to this new collectibles.

#1: The Adventures of Kalia“The Saviour of Big Baan”

Tinkle’s Collectors Special : KaliaThe first Tinkle Special, collects some of the favourite stories of Kalia, the Crow, which is considered a flagship character of Tinkle magazine.

Kalia, the Crow made its first appearance in a comic in the first ever Tinkle issue on Dec ‘80.  Luis Fernandes, the current Editor of Tinkle magazine, and an integral member of the Tinkle creative team, originally proposed this idea, amidst mixed reactions from his fellow colleagues, because of the sheer reason that Indian customs often consider Crow as inauspicious. 

But, Anant Pai, along with another colleague, Subba Rao supported Fernandes in his idea, which motivated him to utilise the help of artist Pradeep Sathe to give his idea some form.  The duo went on to create other support characters like Doob Doob, the Crocodile; Chamataka, the Jackal; and Keechu-Meechu, the Rabbits.

Sathe believed that the cartoonisation of an animal should not result in distortion of the animal’s anatomy, which made his drawings less cute. Eventually it turned out to be an USP for the series, contributing to its stardom.

An Intro about KaliaKalia’s storyline are typically depicted as him saving his friends (and even strangers, sometimes) like Keechu-Meechu, Elephants, from the claws of the carnivorous Doob Doob and Chamataka.  While the majority of the fans felt this as a heroic act, there were some fan base who rated Kalia as interfering busybody, snatching away food from the animals, for whom the nature had intended them as a rightful prey. 

The justification for this criticism, was soon felt by Fernandes, and he quickly tried to base the new storylines in a different setting, where in some stories Kalia was even shown helping, and rescuing Doob-Doob and Chamataka from several incidents.  Sathe resigned from Tinkle in late 1983, and he never drew for Kalia again.  Fernandes continued writing stories for a few months, after which new writers and artists kept the flag flying high, which has resulted in the Kalia series lasting till date, completing 28 years of existence, as of Dec ‘08.

C D Rane, the current artists of Kalia, adds “I’ve been illustrating this character since 1992, when Kalia’s creator Pradeep Sathe left for another job. When I first started drawing Kalia, I kept to the original construction and the way in which he had been formed. After noticing crows, I’ve made Kalia’s beak and wings longer and if I had to draw him in a crowd, I’d make him different by putting expressions on his face.”

But, the debate of Kalia’s existence is still a hot topic, which recently prompted a group of fans, to create an exclusive website which features a web-comic relating to the Death of Kalia.  More than the humour associated to it, it goes to show that Kalia has made an impact in many children's memories, which they carry over even after their teens, and try to impart it to their kids, and so on.

Tamil Comic fans, will remember that Kalia used to be a regular feature in the erstwhile Tamil Children's Magazine Poonthalir (பூந்தளிர்), where it was named as Kaakai Kaali (காக்கை காளி).  No wonder it continues to remain one of my favourite comic characters ever to have been released in India.  Thus, this Special collection turns out to be a favourite pick for anyone who shared the same passion.

Poonthalir Kalia 01 copyKalia in Poonthalir as Kaakai Kaali

#2: The Adventures of Suppandi - “The Village Simpleton”

Tinkle’s Collectors Special : SuppandiThe second Tinkle Special, collects some of the favourite stories of Suppandi, the village simpleton, which is considered the most famous among the lot offered by Tinkle. 

Suppandi made his debut in Tinkle No.27 in Jan ‘83.  For a change, he was not originally conceptualized by the creators of Tinkle.  He was born out of 3 narrative stories sent by P.Varadarajan from Chennai (makes me proud, as I a Chennaite too).  The concept was rendered into comics format in Tinkle studios, with the illustrations by one of the famous yesteryear artists, Ram Waeerkar. 

Even though, stories of dim-wits, always had an universal appeal, Suppandi fans would not describe him as a fool.  He is more a simpleton, who gets into troubles because he insists on thinking for himself, then being dictated by the orders of his master.

Best example, is in the very first story, where his mistress wants him to call a doctor as she has a fever, but instead of following orders as any other domestic help would, he gets a brainwave and decides to treat her himself.  The consequences of course are, as expected, disastrous.

An Intro about SuppandiNo wonder, Suppandi was an instant success with Tinkle readers, as they were able to relate him to every day common man found in their locality (no pun intended).  Readers were amused and Tinkle’s editor Fernandes states that they started receiving a lot of story contributions from Suppandi fans, and the editors realised that the simpleton with the funny, rectangular head, had come to stay.  Suppandi is loved across genre, by children's, teens, and adults. 

Ram Waeerkar carried on drawing for Suppandi till the early 2003, after which it is now being taken care by the talented Ram Waeerkar’s daughter, Archana Amberkar.

Archana adds

“I’ve given my identity to the character, though it’s a challenge to continue my father’s work. I’ve given him a squarish head and rectangular chin; also the parts I like to draw best.” 

The popularity of Suppandi even prompted Tinkle, to introduce an offshoot comic series based on Suppandi’s early life, titled as “Little Suppandi”.

Tamil Comic fans, will remember that Suppandi was also featured in the erstwhile Tamil Children's Magazine Poonthalir (பூந்தளிர்), where the comic strip was titled as “Suppaandiyin Saagasam” (சுப்பாண்டியின் சாகசம்), which literally translates to the current title of Tinkle Special.  Need I have to say that this is my favourite character too, as it goes without saying from the narration above.

Poonthalir Suppandi 01 copy Suppandi in Poonthalir as Suppaandiyin Saagasam

#3: The Adventures of Shikari Shambu: - “The Hunter with a difference”

Tinkle’s Collectors Special : Shikari ShambuBy 1983, Tinkle was already on its way becoming the most popular children’s magazine.  There biggest rival that time was another children magazine named Target, run by Living Media.  Unlike Tinkle, Target was more a narrative magazine, with a few pages of comics. 

Their flagship character that time was Moochwala by Ajit Ninan, which literally means a ‘man with a moustache’, who was a detective with penetrating eyes and a huge moustache.

Tinkle always wanted to create a character which can stand toe-to-toe against Moochwala.  Subba Rao, one of the creators at Tinkle, once proposed the idea to the editorial team, to base a character in similarity to a character in the then famous TV Serial, I Love Lucy (which seems to be more classical for my genre’s liking), where he was described as a boastful but cowardly big game hunter.

Luis Fernandes then worked on producing the first story, which was originally named Shambu, before Subba Rao prefixed Shikari (meaning Hunter, in Hindi) to the name.  Some of his editorial team-mates had reservation over the use of the name Shikari, as the Wild-Life Conservation theme was in its prominence. But, the sheer charisma of the name, they and Edtor Pai, decided to let it continue.  But, contrary to the name, the creators ensured that Shambu never would shoot or kill any animal in any of its episodes.  More than that, creators slowly even disassociated him from his trademark hunting gun, after few episodes.

An Intro about ShambuOne of the reasons for the popularity of Shikari Shambu, was due to the comical illustrations of the artist, Vasant Halbe.  Halbe, who was a freelancer at Tinkle that time, had impressed the editorial team with his earlier works. One he was confirmed officially as the artist for the series, he showcased his character sketches, of which a drawing of Shikari with his Topi (hat) pulled down over his eyes, caught everyone’s attention.  The sketch went on to be the among the flagship character of Tinkle.

Savio Mascarenhas, the current artist of the series, adds “I began illustrating Shambu only when Halbe retired in 1997-98. His style was brush/free hand drawings that flowed and it was tough to copy that. But I think both our styles have blended beautifully.”

Like Suppaandi, Shambu also has an offshoot series featuring his young life, titled ‘Little Shambu’, who was created and being drawn also by Mascrenhas.  Till date the creators have managed to hide the eyes of the famous hunter from public viewing.  A legacy it shares with the Lee Falk’s Phantom, where his pupils are seldom shown to fans.

Tamil Comic fans, will also remember that Shikari Shambu was a regular feature in the erstwhile Tamil Children's Magazine Poonthalir (பூந்தளிர்), where the comic strip was titled as “Vettaikkaara Vembu” (வேட்டைக்கார வேம்பு).  I especially liked the way Shambu is made to run for his life, often fearing for his wife’s beating at home.  Many believe that Shambu is fearless, but only his wife knows what he is really “capable of”.

Poonthalir Shambu 01 copy Shambu in Poonthalir as Vettaikkaara Vembu

Dr.Pai adds “Amar Chitra Katha had to wait for four years to achieve some measure of success. In the case of Tinkle the success was instantaneous, perhaps because it came piggy-back riding on Amar Chitra Katha.  The 40,000 initial book prints sold out, and new orders started pouring in from dealers. When I conveyed this news to Mirchandani, he was so moved that for the first time I saw tears glistening in his eyes.  I have also often been asked questions about the title of the magazine. I remember Subba Rao, my associate editor, and I were pondering over various possible alternatives. When one of the staff members said there was a tinkle (meaning a telephone call) for me. Subba Rao said, ‘What about Tinkle as the title for the magazine?’ That is how it came to be Tinkle.”

On Nov 2007, ACK media announced the acquisition of a popular Indian comic book brand Amar Chitra Katha and Tinkle for $2.5 million and is reportedly planning to invest $15-20 million in the next 3 years, in digitizing characters like Suppandi, Shikari Shambu, in the form of TV or direct to home DVDs, as conveyed by Samir Patil, founder & CEO, ACK Media.  Tinkle is eyeing the growing audience for children movies as Hanuman grossed a record $1.5 million - the highest-ever for the genre in India. Not just that, Tinkle comics will also foray into foreign bookstores in the US and UK to reach out to the large NRI audience in these markets.

Since the change in the ownership of Tinkle brand, the new company ACK-Media, has ensured that these collectors items never run out-of-stock, as they continue to do reprints, on a regular interval.  So, you can rest assured to pick these copies whenever you find time to visit your local bookstore, and if not, you can always order them online on ACK Media’s website.  No secret, that I am one of the frequent visitors to the online store.  All the stories contained in these specials are from the original writer and artist, and the cotemporary cover design, which adds a classic touch to the series, is designed by Arjun Gupte.

To turbo-charge you for the same, here is a sneak-peek into some of the first page of the first ever comic strips featuring the respective characters, found in these trio of collections.

Tinkle Kalia Collection First Story Page Tinkle Suppandi Collection First Story Page Tinkle Shambu Collection First Story Page

That completes our review of the Tinkle Collector Specials. If you liked this post, then I would be eager to hear your comments on the same, for which you could use the section below.  On the next Tinkle comic post at Comicology, we will look at the other famous characters which were missed out from these collector items from Tinkle, but certainly are no strangers in the popularity among comic fans.  Doesn’t that makes for an interesting wait ? Stay Tuned to know more.

And just for a reminder, the Voting for Best of 2008 is now complete, and the results are announced.  Please pay a visit to the blog post, to appreciate the winners in different categories, and commemorate the first-ever Comicology awards, which will be a regular year-end feature hence forth, probably with few more categories as we expander to a bigger level.  Thanks to all those who have voted and commented in the post already.

Before I close once again wish all the Indians spread across the globe, a Happy Republic Day.  Let’s wish that our nation goes stronger, and wiser, with the unique blend of tradition mixed with our own ethics.  Adios Amigos !!

References: Editorial Pages of Tinkle, Suppandi, and Shambu’s Collector Editions, Wikipedia, and Uncle Pai’s Website

 

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