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 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.

Morris 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.

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.

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.

UPDATE (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.

       

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Lion Comics #201 - Modesty Blaise | Nov '07

Prakash Publishers | Price: INR 10 | Pages: 100 | B/W | Size: B6 | Tamil | Laminated/HardCover

Surprise, Surprise.... We have the Lion # 201 "Kaateri Kaanagam" starring Modesty Blaise as Nov'07 release. So, it's good to see the Prakash Publishers have tentatively planned to release issues every 2 months, at least going by the current release cycle.

Lion #201 - Kaateri Kaanagam (காட்டேரி கானகம்)

As far the story goes, there is no denial of fact that Modesty Blaise and Willy Garvin simply steal the show, with an interesting plot of Vampires shielded underworld gang being busted with the help of old Network ally.  I wouldn't be able to judge the quality of original dialogues, but as usual, Editor Vijayan simply is awesome in his translation depicted at various pages.  Tamil at its best. I am pretty disappointed with the cover art.  At first sight, I was astonished to see the sparkling cover, and only realized later that it has been picked up from Biggles Digests released recently.  For those who missed the previous post, the link is right here.  Editor seems to have found a way to reduce the production work for this release, with this approach.  If I am not wrong, I believe this is the first time Lion-Muthu Publishers have resorted to a cover art which isn't part of their line-up.  Only the defunct Ponni, Meghala back in 90's used to feature this poor conceived strategy.  I hope it's a one shot, and we go back to our trademark cover designs.

Editor's HotLine

Lion #202 Preview (Lucky Luke)

Editor's ever popular Hotline, as usual, and a preview of next Lucky Luke Extravaganza are other highlights.  And it also contains a preview of, what likely seems to be an another, Text Willer Saga in a 3 part series, planned to follow the Lucky issue.

As usual, it makes up for a good wait. But, let’s hope we get to see them later, if not earlier.

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Gotham Comics #43 - Oct '07

Did anyone hear the term "procrastination".  Well, if it sounds pretty new, as it did for me when I first heard about it, then you might want to have a look at the My Million Dollar Year's Procrastination Flow Chart.  I feel it reflects phases of me in there.  Well, the delay in my posting is purely due to procrastination. The pace at which Gotham releases its monthly issues, is way far to my pace in blogging about its activities. What we have here is another instalment from Gotham Comics, set #43, as its October 2007 release. By far, this month editions turns out to be the best since their re-launch, with almost all major titles featuring the acclaimed writers and artists (Adam Kubert, Grant Morrisson, Geof Johns, you need not wish anything bigger than this), with some innovative and contemporary storylines, and with that Gotham has answered to the critics who disposed their last set as under-par story selection. Hope the trend continues.
1. Superman #43 Last Son : Part 1 Writer: Geof Johns & Richard Donner | Artist: Adam Kubert	2. Batman #43 Batman & Son : Part 1 : Building a Better Batmobile Writer: Grant Morrisson | Artist: Andy Kubert

3. Wonder Woman #4	4. Teen Titans #15 Beast Boys and Girls : Part 3 : Changelings Writer: Geoff Johns | Artist: Tom Grummett
5. Ultimate Spiderman #36 Hollywood : Part 4 of 6 Writer: Brian Michael Bendis | Artist: Mark Bagley	6. Incredible Hulk #32 Peace in our Time : Part 2 Writer: Daniel Way | Artist: Keu Cha
7. Wolverine #17 Agent of Shield : Part 2 of 6 Writer: Mark Millar | Artist: John Romita, Jr.	8. Astonishing X-Men #14 Writer: Joss Whedon | Artist: John Cassaday
9. Fantastic Four #24 Tag Writer: Mark Waid | Artist: Mike Wieringo	10. The New Avengers #27 The Sentry : Part 2 Writer: Brian Michael Bendis | Artist: Steve McNiven
11. Batman Adventures #37 Firefall Writer: Bill Matheny | Artist: Christopher Jones	12. Fantastic Four Adventures #8 It's Slobberin' Time! Writer: Jeff Parker | Artist: Manuel Garcia
13. Justice League Adventures #36 Orphans Writer: Adam Beechen | Artist: Ethens Beavers	14. Spiderman Adventures #8 Doom with a View Writer: Sean McKeever | Artist: Mike Norton
15. Devi #7 Sandeha : Part 7 Writer: Samit Basu | Artist: Aditya Chari	16. Snake Woman #7 Writer: Zeb Wells | Artist: Dean Hyrapiet
17. The Sadhu #7 Writer: Gotham Chopra | Artist: Manikandan
	As I write this review, Gotham since their re-launch have missed their first monthly issue set this November. There seems to be some kind of issues which the Editorial team is facing at the moment, which is clearly evident the way the October release was delayed until the last week of the month, and the same has continued to swallow away the November release all together. Gotham Officials weren't available to make a comment on the delay, and we could only hope that they come back better and stronger. Indian Comics Fans deserve better than what is currently in offer.

UPDATE (Dec '07): It looks Gotham has purposefully withheld the Nov & Dec Set releases, as they are contemplating on a price rise coupled with some more value add to their existing line-up, and plan to launch them in the new year.  So, what's in store for us could only be unveiled in the Jan 2008.  Let's hope it's better than what's currently in offer.

UPDATE (Sep '08): I thought that I would provide another update, as the older was nearly a year old. So as to keep those visiting fans abreast of the latest developments in Gotham Comics front. To say more, it's completely bleak since they last stopped publishing. Gotham officials, both at their subscription or marketing department, have declined to comment on a possible return date for Gotham Comics in India.

The New Subscribers who received less than two sets, have been returned their subscription amount, citing that they will be re-announcing the subscription plans after re-launch. For those subscribers, like me, who have received more than two sets, it was instructed that we continue to wait for the re-launch. As of this date, there are no announcements or plans. With the increased attention towards the Virgin Comics venture in US of the Gotham Studios, It looks that it will take eons for them to refresh their enthusiasm to Indian market again. Let's hope for the best.

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Muthu Comics #307 - The Saint | John Steel | Sep '07

Finally, we have another release from Prakash Publishers. Expecting a release from Lion-Muthu Publishers have become a rarity of sorts, and that has become a self-designed-trademark - a dubious distinction among other comics publishers.

Muthu Comics #307 – The Saint | John Steel 2 Stories | 100 Pgs | INR 10 | B6 B/W | Laminated/Paperback

What we have in this release is two classic stories from 1960's, as stated by Editor, Roger Moore starring "Kaatril Karaintha Kathaanayagan (காற்றில் கரைந்த கதாநாயகன்)", and Agent John Steel starring "Kolai Koodam (கொலை கூடம்)", meaning 'Disappearance of Actor' and 'Slaughter House', respectively. I guess Roger Moore stories were just an imitation to try copy the James Bond fame actors name and make money with it.  It fails miserably and doesn't contribute to a good storyline.  The artwork doesn't help the matter either.  I tried goggling any good source related to this piece of work, but with no success, until I came to know of The Saint Series. THE SAINT: A fellow comic friend alerted me on the probable Swedish origin for the Comics character christened as Roger Moore by Editor S.Vijayan in Muthu Comics  With that info, I could collect some background details about the series, and hence this update. It was indeed an attempt to cash in the popularity of Roger Moore.

But instead on his James Bond rendition, it was originally based on his earlier successful stint reprising the role of Simon Templar, a British fictional character, also known as the The Saint because of his initials (ST), in the British Television series, screened from 1962 to 1969.

The origins of the Saint can be traced from the early works of Leslie Charteris in his novels, in 1926.  Saint was portrayed as a thief, whose origins are unknown. He is known for his many disguises, where he uses the initials ST often referring to different names like, “Sebastian Tombs" or "Sugarman Treacle".

But even before the TV Series, Saint made its debut as a Comic Strip in 1948, written by Charteris, and drawn by Mike Roy initially.  Mike Roy had a classic style, which is quite common for the comic strips released during that period. 

The origins of the Saint can be traced from the early works of Leslie Charteris in his novels, in 1926.  Saint was portrayed as a thief, whose origins are unknown. He is known for his many disguises, where he uses the initials ST often referring to different names like, “Sebastian Tombs" or "Sugarman Treacle".

But even before the TV Series, Saint made its debut as a Comic Strip in 1948, written by Charteris, and drawn by Mike Roy initially.  Mike Roy had a classic style, which is quite common for the comic strips released during that period.

Mike Roy was replaced by John Spranger, who took the comic strip into a next level, with his superior and detailed artwork.  Look at a sample from 1952 comic strip, during the partnership between Charteris and Spranger. 

But, does the character look like Roger Moore, anyway.  The answer is clear “NO'”.  Then when did the turn happen?  Actually, it was when the series was introduced in a Swedish Newspaper in 1966.

The Swedish Comic Series titled Helgonet (which is Swedish translation of 'Saint'), was eventually started following the comic strip reprints.  The Comic Strips were edited to fit the Comic Book format, and it went on publishing the complete series which appeared originally in the New York Herald Tribune.  But they soon touched the rock-bottom, as the material shortage, prompted them to start their own new series based on the character.

This is when the British TV Series of Saint featuring Roger Moore was widely acclaimed, and Moore was praised for his role as the protagonist. So, to cash in on the popularity, the new Swedish Saint or Helgonet Comic Strips, were drawn with lead character having a striking resemblance of Roger Moore himself.  Have a look at a Sample Cover of the series.

The Saint Series, in Sweden, ran from January 1966 to December 1985.  Due to dwindling sales as a result of less creative artwork, and continuous reprints, The Saint Comics Series was later acquired by Semic Press, who went on a buying spree becoming the biggest series publishers in Sweden, until it wound up business in 1991, for the same reason as Saint Comics.  In 1997, Semic Press was bought over by Egmont, and the name is defunct thereafter.

But, whatever they did, the Swedish Comic publishers, never referred to their titular character as Roger Moore, which our Editor Vijayan, decided to utilise to market the series, which created all the more confusion in exploring the original series for me at Comicology.  Thanks to him :).

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Muthu #307 Stories: Coming back to our this month instalment, the second hero of the issue, Agent John Steel's instalment does have a good detective storyline, but the artwork makes it more painful to get attached to the storyline.  I am not trying to be critic, but the fact cannot be ignored that 1960's also housed the golden comics like Spider, Barracuda (Lawrence & David), which boasted superior artwork.

So, the way these arts are drawn, only shows that these stories were never given the importance or was never intended for mass media.

The Front page scans of both stories given here, should substantiate that claim related to artwork, the fact that Muthu & Lion follows the low quality paper for all their printing (which doesn't help the matters either).

I am not against reading classic stories in Muthu Comics, In fact it can be said that is the unique differentiator of Muthu Comics all along. 

But I strongly believe that the amount of time which is spent on waiting for new releases should be substantiated with a proper storyline.  With this release, that wish is not fulfilled.

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Muthu #307’s Extra Features & Facts: Eventhough Editor, S.Vijayan, time and again re-iterates that he does consider Muthu and Lion Comics as equal, the fact remains that Muthu Comics has always played second fiddle to Lion Comics. 

This is quite evident, when we look at the release statistics of both the comics since their re-launch in 2002.

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Lion 6 8 6 4 4* 3* Muthu 5 5 4 4 4 2 Total 11 13 10 8 8 5

The numbers with * denotes that there was a special issue in that year which is included with the count.  Both instance being Lion's INR 100/- special issues.

The numbers should speak for themselves.  This year being the worst that we have only 5 releases put-together on a whole.  It seems Editor is content with releasing one special issue a year, followed by one or two releases here and there.

It would be better if Editor publicly announce that Muthu and Lion Comics would only be published in alternative months, thus at least giving some semblance to keep waiting for the releases.

One of the bright spots of Muthu Comics is the Comics Time feature from our Editor, through which we get to understand what's in for the coming releases, and also a foreword from a great comic fan.

As per the norm, we get to see a preview of upcoming releases lined up in Muthu. Going by the trend they will be the only 2 releases for 2008.

Being the only Tamil Comics alive at the moment, we only have to hope that they do get released early.

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Since, Editor Vijayan utilized the Fleetway library covers for this The Saint edition (as briefed in Muthufan's blog and refurnished here), I wasn't able to exactly pin-point on the original edition.

As it turns out that we have a huge set of Saint Series to tap-into, if Muthu Comics decides to continue this franchise in Tamil Comics.  Would they? is a Million Dollar Question.

By the way, if you want to read and know more about The Saint Series, visit the exclusive website: Saint.Org. Adios Amigos!

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Gotham Comics #42 - Sep '07

Commitment is the Buzzword in Comics World.  And who else other than Gotham, can do it better than any other.  We have Gotham #42 released this month.  While other comics business (especially in Tamil) don't come up with any announcements, even forget releasing, Gotham continues to amaze.
1. Superman #42: Intermezzo Writer: Dwayne McDuffle | Artist: Renato Quedes	2. Batman #42: Stalked Writer: Paul Dini | Artist: Joe Benitez

By and large, I should say that this issue set only disappointed me a lot.  For Instance, the flagship series of Superman, Batman, have now been reduced to a single story edition, wherein they should be concentrating on releasing a storyline which should run issues.  The single story editions clearly lacks the bite. Obviously, Gotham is trying to woo all the readers to buy issues and forget about continuity factor, to keep the marketing aspect afloat.  But, that doesn't help the Comic Lovers, like myself, who would like to read comics as it is currently in the market.  Hopefully, Gotham will turn to the old formats again. Talking of the releases, The Teen Titans, Wolverine, X-Men, Avengers seem to be currently boasting good continuity storyline.  While others don't impress much.  That should be said to the Virgin Brand too.
3. Wonder Woman #3	4. Teen Titans #14 Beast Boys and Girls : Part 2 : Wild Life Writer: Geoff Johns | Artist: Tom Grummett
5. Ultimate Spiderman #35 Hollywood : Part 3 Writer: Brian Michael Bendis | Artist: Mark Bagley	6. Incredible Hulk #31 Peace in our Time : Part 1 Writer: Daniel Way | Artist: Keu Cha
7. Wolverine #16 Agent of Shield : Part 1 of 6 Writer: Mark Millar | Artist: John Romita, Jr.	8. Astonishing X-Men #13 Torn Writer: Joss Whedon | Artist: John Cassaday
9. Fantastic Four #23 Rising Storm : Part 4 of 4 Writer: Mark Waid | Artist: Mike Wieringo	10. The New Avengers #26 The Sentry : Part 1 Writer: Brian Michael Bendis | Artist: Steve McNiven
11. Batman Adventures #36 IceStorm Writer: Bill Matheny | Artist: Christopher Jones	12. Fantastic Four Adventures #7 Women are from Venus, Men are from Atlantis Writer: Jeff Parker | Artist: Manuel Garcia
13. Justice League Adventures #35 In the Dimming Light Writer: Adam Beechen | Artist: Carlo Barberi	14. Spiderman Adventures #7 Rush Hour Writer: Sean McKeever | Artist: Pat Scherberger
15. Devi #6 Samsara : Part 6 Writer: Samit Basu | Artist: Aditya Chari	16. Snake Woman #6 Writer: Zeb Wells | Artist: Dean Hyrapiet
17. The Sadhu #6 Writer: Gotham Chopra | Artist: Manikandan	My Letter on Sharad's Corner (Highlighted in Red)
Much of the Comics getting released by Gotham are available in digital versions on torrents, and they are at least a year ahead in the series too.  But, I don't find it equally interested to read digital comics, like the physical hard copy ones.  It's so convenient to read it on hand, then staring at Monitors for long.  But, if the quality of the releases don't improve, then we will only be left to buy Gotham for the sake of collection alone.  I would be the last person to see that happening in future. As per the last news, Gotham is planning to re-launch their Super Specials in a better way.  Hopefully, that should help to satisfy the comic urge in us. One consolation though with this release, at least for myself, that my letter is featured in Sharad's Corner (see last image).  And I also received the Ghost Rider DVD for the last contest.  Thanks Gotham for making this month that much more exciting (now I don't want to hear those 'selfish' chants, ok ? :) ).  Looking forward for the next (and better) instalments. PS: Thanks for all those who have been visiting the blog all these days (I can see at least 10 different unique visits every week from the site trackers), and sorry that I couldn't keep the blog updated all along.  If I say the month of Ramadan as the reason, then it would be like hiding the whole truth.  Month of Ramadan was only one of the reasons for an already lazy guy to get onto his shells on his own.  Nevertheless, Eventhough I can't commit of the timely updates, trust me to keep it updated on a regular intervals.  Thanks for all those comments and scraps, and keep them coming to keep the blog up and running.

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