Memories...

Several posts in the blog-oh-sphere are dedicated to nostalgic times and fond remembrances of childhood favorites in comics and television. I thought I will add my bit to these. I have already pained my wife enough on this topic, bombarding her with my memories of the above! So, it is now your turn!

Comics

Phantom

Phantom was my favorite in the Indrajal comic series also featuring Mandrake, Flash Gordon, Bahadur etc. In fact, I used to find Phantom the most fascinating – mainly because he had no special powers. (It is for the same reason, that I like Batman more than any other superhero!).

Phantom used to live in a jungle cave shaped like a skull, he used to have a wireless transmitter at home which was used for global communications (precursor to the Internet?), used to always wear a costume, and used to fight and shoot much faster than an ordinary person.

Oh yeah, the series had several interesting places like the garden of Eden (complete with a stegosaurus and a cave man), the beaches of Keelawi with gold dust as sand, some mysterious entrance into a cave – at the other end of which there are these little people who sit on hawks and fly around etc.

All the stories would end with Phantom saving the day, dressed as himself or as a trenchcoat wearing guy-with-a-dog – Mr Walker! I would read and re-read these comics, hoping that the pages would not come to an end.

What struck me then and still never ceases to amaze me – is the extent of detail that went into each story. It was very difficult to find contradictions in the overall storyline and plots, especially regarding origins of the phantom and the history of his ancestors.

Another interesting observation was that his face was never shown directly in any of the stories – it would always be a back view or a silhouette! (Old Jungle Saying – He who looks upon the Phantom’s face unmasked will die horribly!)

Tinkle

I loved the earlier versions – with several short comic stories and where readers could also contribute their own. I remember sending a few stories, but none of them got published.

I especially used to like Suppandi, Hodja, Tantri the Mantri (inspired by the Iznogoud series, no doubt!), Kaalia the crow and so on. In fact, one of favorite characters was Doob doob, the dimwitted crocodile who was Chamataka’s sidekick. I always used to feel sorry for him, and I think, in a few stories, Kaalia also had displayed a soft corner for him and used to do him some favors (of course, without telling anyone about it!).

Chandamama

I was first introduced to Chandamama, when we had gone to Kerala as part of our annual summer trips. I was probably seven or eight years old then! My father had purchased Chandamama for me from one of the shops near my grandparent's house in Kerala. None of the other series including Tinkle, ACK, Indrajal were available there!. I was pretty disappointed. However, that evening, I went to my father and asked him to pick out a story which he thought was good. He selected a story, and then I sat in a corner and read it. Once it was done, I repeated the process. Before I knew it, I had finished reading the entire book and wanted more! – and that is how I was hooked onto Chandamama. I used to repeat this ritual of asking my father for story selection with every new issue. Soon, I started reading the series end-to-end without bothering my father! (My father later told me that he used to pick random stories and tell me that they were good, just so that I would read them.)

Amar Chitra Katha

They were my introduction to history, mythology and folktales of India. It gave me a concise version of Mahabharata, Bhagavatham, Indian freedom struggle, the bible, the mughal rule, Shivaji etc etc. Of course, as I grew up, I started realizing that “history is the view-point of the victors…” and that there are two sides (or even more) to everything! But that still did not take away my love for Amar Chitra katha. At least they made it infinitely more interesting than the dull history text books that we had to go through in School.

Superman / Batman / Tintin / Asterix

These were among the few comics, for which I had to rely on my network of friends. This was mainly because, these comics did not have an Indian edition, and so I could not afford it with my pocket money! So, me any my friends used to trade tattered versions of the comics. We used to have a specific exchange rate too (2 Indrajal Comics for 1 superman comic, 5 Amar Chitra Kathas for Asterix / Tintin – not from a content perspective, but mainly from the cost perspective!). Most of these deals would be negotiated ferociously, probably putting even a modern day trader to shame!

I used to be amazed at the graphic details shown in the above comics, especially Tintin. My favorite activity after having finished reading a Tintin book, was to scrutinize each of the panel – especially reading the other headlines and details in any panel showing a news clipping detailing Tintin’s exploits!

Target

This was again a monthly magazine similar to Chandamama, but aimed at teens. I loved the Funny world section by Ajit Ninan (ingenious and hilarious), and the Detective Moochwala series. I remember reading a series about a group of teen detectives, one of whom was named “Bose D K” – hehehe – I wonder how the censors let that pass by!

Diamond Comics

Somehow, I never really liked the diamond comic series – with characters like Chacha Chaudhury, Billoo, Fauladi Singh etc. My main grouse with them was the unnecessary use of big words in their stories. Also, the storylines used to very simplistic. But, inspite of all this, I never passed on an opportunity to read these comics!

Coming Soon – Television memories!