Comics that shaped me!!!!! Part One.
Yesterday I was chatting with my friend's younger sister. She has a kid of the same age as that of my son's age.
Something about my friend's sister… I have always seen her as a very intelligent person… very pretty, having a sensible head on her shoulders. Sadly, she was not able to actualize her potential in academics… and had to work the hard way to become a software engineer. Somewhere down the line, she felt the drudgery of her networked office catching up. Everyday the same old story… home to office and office to home. Then suddenly two things happened and she got her new lease of life- she was blessed with a baby boy, and her husband… who was till now struggling to establish himself in the IT field… got a break in US. She left her job, accompanied him to US and now spending her life… without any botheration for career and future. She plans to do what she always wanted to do… travel, write poetries and watch her son growing.
So while we were chatting… I was sharing my ideas of bringing up my son… and one of the main themes in this idea was to help him develop a curiosity for the world around him. This curiosity, I argued would enable him to explore the world around him… to read and to travel, to feel the magic of snowfall, to appreciate the nature and its elements. I became a serious travel buff only in last few years… wasting some precious 20 years. Sometimes I feel sad for those lost 20 years… and sometimes I argue that becoming a traveler was part and parcel of a process that took 20 years.
And then I suddenly told her to buy a set of TINTIN comics for her son. She laughed and said TINTIN and CHACHA CHAUDHARY also. I vehemently said- no not CHACHA CHAUDHARY… TINTIN… and then recounted how the idea of wandering emanated within me after reading my first TINTIN comics "Prisoners of the Sun" in class 8th (or was it 9th).
This set me thinking, about the comic books I have read during my childhood… and the legacies they have left with me. Were they responsible for sculpturing my personality?
My first remembrances of a comic book was INDRAJAL comics… published by the Times of India group. I remember as to how our newspaper wallah used to drop these comics at our doorsteps every week. They had four characters to begin with-Phantom, Mandrake, Flash Gordon, and the very Indian Bahadur. The first two were immensely popular. The publishing house later added a few more comic strips… Buz Sawyer, Mike Nomad, Garth, Rip Kirby. Among the new names- Garth captured my imagination. More about all of them later.
Another set of comic books that I used to read religiously was Diamond Comics… Chacha Chaudhary, Billu, Pinky, Ankur, Fauladi Singh. Chacha Chaudhary and his tussle with immortal Shaka caught my imagination… rest was a passé, compared to INDRAJAL heroes. They eventually faded from my consciousness.
Some time later, I was also introduced to DC comics… Superman, Batman, Robin and Green Arrow. Superman caught my imagination. Around the same time… I was also introduced to a few other characters- Modesty Blaise, Asterix, Spiderman, and Tintin. I was infatuated with Modesty Blaise (she will always remain to me, the most enticing and sexy female character ever created)… dreamt of finding a magic potion to beat the pulp out of those who bullied me… coaxing my parents to buy Spiderman costume for me, convinced that it will automatically give me powers to spin the web… and above all traveling to exotic lands and solving the mysteries like Tintin.
A few years later some Indian superheroes came to the fore… Nagraj, Super Commando Dhruv, Doga, Shaktiman, Jumboo, Parmanu… etc. They all had a transient effect, however most of them had very loose characterization (barring Super Commando Dhruv and Nagraj to some extent)… they just couldn’t sustain their charm on me.
If I am to remember the characters who have enticed me the most… those who I would like to read again and again… and more importantly, like my son to read… they are Phantom and Tintin.
Why?
Phantom represents to me… one of the most enigmatic characters ever created. He has been fighting crime for little less than five hundred years now… and 21 generations. (If some new adaptations like Phantom 2040 are to be believed, then the 24th generation will continue fighting this battle against the evil… some other adaptations suggest that even the 27th Phantom will be fighting evil, though this time the battle ground will not be earth but outer space).
This is the vastest canvass one can get for spinning a yarn… 21 generations, 500 years… phew. To give you just one example- one of the perennial enemies of Phantom are the "Vultures". Vultures are a well oiled crime syndicate, who operate like Vultures, the bird. Strike when the victim is decimated… rob him, loot him. Now if I remember it correctly, Phantom has been fighting Vultures for last 6-7 generations… and has been only able to destroy few cells of Vultures and not the entire organization.
I always used to imagine… what must had 16th Phantom done, what 13th Phantom would had done.
Phantom entices you to imagine… it teases you and beckons you to the land of Bengalla, where he is revered as the Ghost who walks…
I want my son to read about Phantom and imagine what I couldn’t.
Sadly a decade ago, Phantom comics stopped coming and its creator Lee Falk died in 1999. Adaptations like Phantom 2040 were too futuristic and therefore disjointed approach to revive the character. The good news however is that a few days ago Moonstone publications have successfully revived the character… and soon he may hit bookstands in India.
And this brings me to my most favourite comic strip- the Tintin.
Something about my friend's sister… I have always seen her as a very intelligent person… very pretty, having a sensible head on her shoulders. Sadly, she was not able to actualize her potential in academics… and had to work the hard way to become a software engineer. Somewhere down the line, she felt the drudgery of her networked office catching up. Everyday the same old story… home to office and office to home. Then suddenly two things happened and she got her new lease of life- she was blessed with a baby boy, and her husband… who was till now struggling to establish himself in the IT field… got a break in US. She left her job, accompanied him to US and now spending her life… without any botheration for career and future. She plans to do what she always wanted to do… travel, write poetries and watch her son growing.
So while we were chatting… I was sharing my ideas of bringing up my son… and one of the main themes in this idea was to help him develop a curiosity for the world around him. This curiosity, I argued would enable him to explore the world around him… to read and to travel, to feel the magic of snowfall, to appreciate the nature and its elements. I became a serious travel buff only in last few years… wasting some precious 20 years. Sometimes I feel sad for those lost 20 years… and sometimes I argue that becoming a traveler was part and parcel of a process that took 20 years.
And then I suddenly told her to buy a set of TINTIN comics for her son. She laughed and said TINTIN and CHACHA CHAUDHARY also. I vehemently said- no not CHACHA CHAUDHARY… TINTIN… and then recounted how the idea of wandering emanated within me after reading my first TINTIN comics "Prisoners of the Sun" in class 8th (or was it 9th).
This set me thinking, about the comic books I have read during my childhood… and the legacies they have left with me. Were they responsible for sculpturing my personality?
My first remembrances of a comic book was INDRAJAL comics… published by the Times of India group. I remember as to how our newspaper wallah used to drop these comics at our doorsteps every week. They had four characters to begin with-Phantom, Mandrake, Flash Gordon, and the very Indian Bahadur. The first two were immensely popular. The publishing house later added a few more comic strips… Buz Sawyer, Mike Nomad, Garth, Rip Kirby. Among the new names- Garth captured my imagination. More about all of them later.
Another set of comic books that I used to read religiously was Diamond Comics… Chacha Chaudhary, Billu, Pinky, Ankur, Fauladi Singh. Chacha Chaudhary and his tussle with immortal Shaka caught my imagination… rest was a passé, compared to INDRAJAL heroes. They eventually faded from my consciousness.
Some time later, I was also introduced to DC comics… Superman, Batman, Robin and Green Arrow. Superman caught my imagination. Around the same time… I was also introduced to a few other characters- Modesty Blaise, Asterix, Spiderman, and Tintin. I was infatuated with Modesty Blaise (she will always remain to me, the most enticing and sexy female character ever created)… dreamt of finding a magic potion to beat the pulp out of those who bullied me… coaxing my parents to buy Spiderman costume for me, convinced that it will automatically give me powers to spin the web… and above all traveling to exotic lands and solving the mysteries like Tintin.
A few years later some Indian superheroes came to the fore… Nagraj, Super Commando Dhruv, Doga, Shaktiman, Jumboo, Parmanu… etc. They all had a transient effect, however most of them had very loose characterization (barring Super Commando Dhruv and Nagraj to some extent)… they just couldn’t sustain their charm on me.
If I am to remember the characters who have enticed me the most… those who I would like to read again and again… and more importantly, like my son to read… they are Phantom and Tintin.
Why?
Phantom represents to me… one of the most enigmatic characters ever created. He has been fighting crime for little less than five hundred years now… and 21 generations. (If some new adaptations like Phantom 2040 are to be believed, then the 24th generation will continue fighting this battle against the evil… some other adaptations suggest that even the 27th Phantom will be fighting evil, though this time the battle ground will not be earth but outer space).
This is the vastest canvass one can get for spinning a yarn… 21 generations, 500 years… phew. To give you just one example- one of the perennial enemies of Phantom are the "Vultures". Vultures are a well oiled crime syndicate, who operate like Vultures, the bird. Strike when the victim is decimated… rob him, loot him. Now if I remember it correctly, Phantom has been fighting Vultures for last 6-7 generations… and has been only able to destroy few cells of Vultures and not the entire organization.
I always used to imagine… what must had 16th Phantom done, what 13th Phantom would had done.
Phantom entices you to imagine… it teases you and beckons you to the land of Bengalla, where he is revered as the Ghost who walks…
I want my son to read about Phantom and imagine what I couldn’t.
Sadly a decade ago, Phantom comics stopped coming and its creator Lee Falk died in 1999. Adaptations like Phantom 2040 were too futuristic and therefore disjointed approach to revive the character. The good news however is that a few days ago Moonstone publications have successfully revived the character… and soon he may hit bookstands in India.
And this brings me to my most favourite comic strip- the Tintin.
1 comment:
Well I also like Super Commando Dhruv and Nagraj
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