The lost comics legacies - #Mycomics

Comics- The dinosaurs of today which I grew up reading. Graphic novels might be a rage today along with the digital ones but what I miss most are those comics of yesteryears. I miss holding those ones now. Slowly slowly many of the known names have finished and stopped while the still existing ones have gone super expensive and in comparison the western counterparts have gone really cheap second hand.

So let me take you back into the world where I feel that these comics should be making a comeback / wide circulation at cheaper costs. There is no definite criteria and the names here can be character wise / comics wise or publication house wise.

1. Diamond comics – Chacha Chaudhary

Every child`s first and favourite comics of the 1980s decade ( and much before maybe, I was born before that :p ). These were what you call as the holy grail, bible, quran, gita etc. of the entertainment and comics world. I grew up on tons of dose of the super computer Chacha Chaudhary , the vegetarian eating dog Raaket , the ever nagging chachi “ Binni”, the protective alien “Sabu” who always had a mountain of puris in his plate, the ever scheming Gobar singh and his sidekick Dhamaka Singh who never got one plan right to get rid of him. It was a simple man`s world with no violence except for the issues with the nemisis Raaka. 

2. Pinki

The cute little mischivious girl who is always upto something with her pet squirrel Kutkut and more than fed up neighbor Jhatpat ji ( secondly her own grandpa). She is the Indian version of Dennis the menace for me and somewhat like the Amul girl who has not grown up.

3. Billoo

“ The teenager whose eyes have never been seen”. This has been the biggest and the most frequent complaint of the readers all over the years. He has his own nemisis – Bajrangi pahalwan and 303 ( his girlfriend Jozi`s father). Sometimes I wonder that he is the classic case of लंगूर के मुँह में अंगूर because Jozi is soooooo pretty. Sometimes he is found with Pinky and sometimes both of them have an appearance with Chacha ji. 

The creator of these characters the legendary Pran Sahab was an epic man in itself. The respect he commanded was overwhelming to say the least. The first and last time I ever met him was at comics con 2014 in delhi. The whole crowd waited with baited breath for his arrival and when he did came on stage, all the 100 + stalls became deserted as the people flocked to the stage to see the legend himself talk. That was the power of this man who gave generations of people lovable characters. As of now I have noticed that not many new issues of these characters are released since the demise of Pran sahab. The number of pages have reduced and the single issues too have gone quite expensive with 50 bucks a issue. In the 1990s they were just 6 bucks. 

Although there are a host of other characters too but these are my favourite.

4. Manoj Comics

As far as my knowledge, they have closed down now. Two characters from here were my favourite- Hawaldar bahadur and Ram Rahim. Manoj comics ventured into the action genre of comics just like its counterpart Raj Comics. Hawaldar bahadur, the constable who was always the eager policeman to set things right with his pet dialogue, “ हवालात में बंद करके सड़ा दूंगा “. Ram Rahim were the actionised Indian hardy boys who took part in all the action to save the world or the country from any crisis. 

5. Lotpot

Forget about the new digital televised over the top animation programme on tv. I am talking about the time when in the late 80s and early 90s it used to come as a black and white comics with only a few coloured pages. We had the stupid Sheikhchilli at the very start and the counterpart of Chacha chaudhary in lotpot- Gyaani ji. at the very last. The general stories in between were also very good, sometimes jungle stories, thrillers and a wide range. I talk about Lotpot and do not mention the 4 characters? How can that be? Welcome Motu Patlu, Dr. , Papita and the मुझे 20 साल का तजुर्बा है Ghaseetaram. These were the first ones I used to read when I got my hands on any new issue and it costed only 2 bucks back then.. The new current gen Lotpot lacks the old time charm and seems more commercialized with so many ads.

6. Suman Saurabh

I don’t know who published it but now I don’t see it at any stall. The last time I saw it was probably some 14-15 years back. It was a refreshing change back then and I loved it contents although its hard to remember the characters now.

7. Nanhe Samraat

Way back in 92-93 it was the new kid on the block for me. The sketches in the stories looked pro. There were different and looked like they were made by professionals. Two series always had me hooked to the forthcoming issues. One was about the quests of Prince Salim who got down to drink water at a particular " तिलस्मी नदी " and some tree would stop him and narrate his tale and how he/she can become a human again. Off the prince went into the world of magic potions, spells to free that person… and the quests continued. They were so interesting that the stories completed in 2 issues. 

Another was Inspector Vijay who nabbed criminals with ingenious methods. I loved this comics.

8. Raj Comics

This one is still there . All thanks to its star studded star cast of Nagraj, Super Commando Dhruv, Tirangaa, Parmanu and the likes. The Indian counterparts of the Avengers and much more. I used to read Nagraj and Dhruv in the beginning but somehow lost track of all. My interests in Raj were limited to finding about the romance of the lead pairs later on.. Whom did Nagraj marry? Did Dhruv marry Natasha- the daughter of his enemy Grand Master Robo (who looked to me like Doc Terror from the cartoon “ Centurions”) ? Who was the ladylove of Doga? Did he propose to her? Did Dhruv ever came to know the truth about the real identity of his sister Shweta? 

9. Champak

The Hindi mag is still cute as before and still available.

10. Hardy Boys

I don’t know whether to call them as comics or novels? I really don’t know how to categorise them at all. My tryst with them started in school alongwith the famous five and even after decades I am on the lookout for the old issues at really cheap prices. By luck I do find them at book fairs at second hand prices like some 20 bucks for an issue and in comparison to that diamond comics have gone expensive on 50.

If given the possibililty that a lot of the dead comics publications can be resurrected, I would love to read them all again which includes a lot of other ones which I have heard that they were very popular in their prime ( tulsi comics, Madhu muskaan etc. ). Give me a month`s leave and all the comic issues published uptill now and I can finish them all. 

Written as part of Indiblogger Indispire topic,

“ Comics are something we all loved during childhood but now in the digital age many have closed down. Which ones were the ones you loved or if got a chance to read them, would love to have them again? #Mycomics”

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