The Early Days.....

I guess everybody loved that Mandrake-thriller:'Headless Figure'. Thanks to all visitors for visiting & appreciating my small effort in this blog....more to come ! :-)
As am writing this post,the on-going Poll is just 9 minutes away from closing & 50 votes within 6 days is good enough to judge what's the most wanted! ;-) Surely,I'll post those Indrajals according to the visitor's choice.

Between,many years passed since that day I'd re-started my Indrajal collections .That was in 2002/03, I guess. Then ,IJC was allmost out of my mind as I thought it's impossible to get them after so many years! But,in that day,when I was just near the Sealdah Rail-station, suddenly I found a old-book seller selling some comics,magazine and holla! some old ijcs were lying wid other stuffs!!! I was in a hurry(to reach my University) ,but it was something for which I was ready to skip my classes. ;-) !Well, that day I got only 3 Indrajals ,each in a different language (Bengali,English & Hindi) & also different heroes(Phantom,Mandrake & Rip). Well,those mere 3 Indrajals sparked my enthusiasm to collect more of these gems which were my child-hood craze!It was like a revive of ol' memory ,allthough later I got only 1/2 more from that seller. Well,after a couple of years I found another seller near our JU & got many IJCs from him as well !Later,even I found so many other places where I collected a considerable numbers of Indrajals/ACKs etc ,but still those few initial collections are very close to my heart,as those were the early days of this craze for some apparently lost(& timeless) gems!

I still remember ,in 2005, during my project work of M.Sc., I was asked to do some on-line google search(for some study material).But,first thing hit my mind was nothing but to search these timeless gems;Indrajal Comics!! Well,with professors & scholars constantly around,it was not possible for me to do so ,neither I'd a PC then. ;-( Well,I'd finished my project work on a day,incidentally which was 'begining' of some revolution among Indrajal-maniacs!!!

Yup,I'm talking about that special day, 17th April,2005 ,when TCP had started his dream(n wild,then) project of digitizing some Ijcs of his collections!!! However,my Project-Seminar was on 18th April & even at that day I was on-line!!! But,wid shear bad-luck(& was tensed too) always accompanied by some senior scholars ! :-/ So,can't search for ijcs on net(neither I'd a bit idea how a revolution just began, silently!! ).I was rather more interested in my IJC-hunt in the old markets!

Then,there was a longggg gap for some professional reason.

Later in the February of the last year,2007, I had 'discovered ' TCP & ohh.....it's like my dreams have completed a full-circle!:o)

P.S.- Today I went through some of the earliest posts(& comments) at TCP & the nostalgia associated wid those posts charged me to share these thoughts finally(which were in my mind since long).
Between, IJC-Poll has been closed & Criminal Team(Mandrake) is the winner wid 19 votes. I'll put it soon...again,thanks for the visits.....and keep coming. :-)

Comic #12a: Mandrake Indrajal:The Headless Figure(Vol.24 No.30)[Part-II]

UPDATE: Download links (of both parts) have been provided in the respective posts.
So,till now 'The Wonder Jewel' & 'The Criminal Team' are ahead in the race (read fan's voting)!!Well,keep voting for Flash also,as that tale (The Robot Family) is a fascinating one,for sure!! :-)

Now,after the fabulous 're-arranged' Mandrake's Triple Wedding strips by CC.......here's the concluding part of on-going Mandrake-Indrajal!!

Enjoy!

Between,few weeks ago,I had published a post regarding whether 'that' wicked midget-couple(in this on-going thrillers) were ever made a re-entry in Mandrake's strip(in post-Indrajal era),after got a narrow escaped from the state-police..... 'cos definitely Falk was intend to do so.It's his 'unique' style to left an option for a re-entry for many a wicked/deadly criminals & in this way we have experience many a thrillers .Cobra ,Clay Camel,league of '8' are among the most famous ones! Even this midget-couple also extremely fascinating! ;-) what's say Man-Fans???

DOWNLOAD Part-II

Comic #12:Mandarke's Triple Wedding strips(D226 -D228) in a "Book-Format"!!(Comic Crazee's FABULOUS Contribution)

UPDATE:A warm wish on 'Republic day' to all Indian friends!!

Between,on this special day, page views of this blog has been crossed 10,000 land-mark!!Thanks for visiting friends.....keep coming! :-)))
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Wow!!!!!! that was my first reaction when,just half-an-hour ago, I saw these Mandrake strips in my desired-format(including the SPECIAL Wedding Cover of Mandrake-Narda).
You might already have downloaded and read Mandrake's Triple Wedding strips(D226 -D228) from MTM blog. Those are great indeed,but what I felt,as reading in a single-strip-format ,it's not much appealing!!!

Thus,I had request ComicCrazee to rearrange those single-daily strips in a page-wise format!! I was quite sure that it's nothing for him (after seeing so many of his 'contributions' including fabulous coloring in B/W Pioneer strips),but considering the time involved,I initially hesitated a bit to ask him.But mine Mandrake-Mania finally made me to request him & he readily accepted it self-lessly.


Thanks you ComicCrazee :D

Here I'm presenting one of his 'pearls'...Please give him(CC) a BIG thanks...he deserves it!!!!

ENJOY!!

 P.S.- This triple-wedding special includes Mandrake's Wedding at the College of Magic, Big Jake & Co and Mandrake's Wedding at Xanadu.





























DOWNLOAD Mandrake's Wedding (D226 + D227 +D228)

Comic #11:Mandrake Indrajal:The Headless Figure(Vol.24 No.29)[Part-I]

UPDATE: A few 'special' Indrajals are under consideration to post in this Blog!For this purpose,a Poll has been added .So friends,please select your most favorite ones through casting your votes!! :-)

When I'd started my blog in last year,I was decide to concentrate on the 'other side' of Indrajal Comics & it's heroes, i.e. discussions on various aspects/stories/characters instead of posting ONLY scans of comics...as these (ijc-scans) are very much available in other blogs in a regular pace !! Thus I want to do something different in this blog-space.

But,I guess,after crossing 50th Post with many a such discussive ones on Phantom/Mandrake/Bahadur & even Dara(with other comic-characters too!) , a change will serve better & thus here I am presenting the 'first' Indrajal Comics in my blog & starting with a Mandrake's thrilling adventure :The Headless Figure (Vol.24 No.29/30)!!
Initially,I'd uploaded this one for the 50th Post itself,but then went for Kula-Ku strip.Between, I'd posted a brief-review of this story in my one post. This story based on a 1986 Daily:The Case of the Headless Man(D193)
I'd first collect it's English version (physical) long ago,then recently the Bengali ones too!! Thanks A/V for scanning & sharing this one!!
This time I represent the Part-I.
E-N-J-O-Y the Magical world of Mandrake!!!!!! :-))































DOWNLOAD Part-I

50th *SPECIAL* Post: Comic#10:Phantom:D130: Mystery of Kula-Ku(1976)

Earlier,I thought to publish this 'special' 50th post in few days later.But,some extremely SPECIAL & CHEERFUL event forced me to post it today!!

Today we have witnessed OUR one of the GREATEST Test victories overseas,against 'champion' team Australia & that too on their arguably most pacy pitch:WACA in Perth!!!!

WOW!!!.....after all those 'ghastly saga' (of Sydney test) ,this victory was most needed that we grabbed!!!
We deserved it,after all those 'cheating' we'd to face in that Sydney Test!!
Literally,Aussies were never looked like in this match,,,,it's ONLY our Team India were on the top ...season to season,day to day!!! ain't??

THIS POST IS DEDICATED TO ALL THOSE ELEVEN 'BRAVE' INDIANS WHO ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR SUCH A GLORIOUS MOMEMT......The 'Men In Blue'.....our TEAM INDIA!!!!!

So,cheers this rare moment,congrats each other & in between ,as it's 'Lost World's' 50th post,have a nice Phantom strip for this occasion:Mystery of Kula-Ku - the most awaited Phantom comic,which was published in IJC as 'River of fire'(No.279 & 280).
Also,thanks for all of your visiting my little 'Kingdom' ;-) and leaving your valuable feed-backs....keep coming friends!!! :-)


Also,you can have a look in my previous article on this Mysterious place!! Thanks again to my friend Andreas!!
I love this thriller (BOTH the Indrajal & B/W Strip versions),one of the BEST Phantom adventures,I hope you ALL will like it as well......:-))

E-N-J-O-Y!!!!!!!

Have some glimpses first!!



















DOWNLOAD D130

Mandrake Cover Project #5: Mandrake/Lothars Various ADVENTUROUS Trips special

In their more-than-seven-decade long adventurous lives,Mandrake/Lothar had have experienced many a mysterious,deadly n amazing ones in their various dual trips. There are some discreet trips where they faced weird/scary situations ,but most famous probably the series-of-adventures during their visit to Moxley U for a show!

Now,firstly coming to the discreet ones,their meeting with legendary Big Foot in a jungle near a Mountain-region(IJC No.362) or dealing with crazy-n-crooked botanist,Dr.Fleur and his mysterious Glass-Castle (Vol.21 No.23/24) and how Mandrake dealt him are among some MOST famous tales!

Besides these,how one can forget the discovery of legendary Golden-City:El Doredo(under ground) amidst a lonely high-way where everything were IN GOLD (Vol.21 No.6)?? Or their meeting with a SCARY WONDERLAND (during eruption of a forbidden volcano) where insects are in gigantic sizes & with contrary, humans
are like some 6-inch weird shape(Vol.21 No.42)!!!

Besides these,one should not forget a rather lighter and funny(to some extent) tale of a distant-mountain witch who was in reality a young-n-beautiful lady & 7th in her 'witch'-generation(Vol.20 No.44)!!!some generations........ :)
Of course all I've mentioned are great thrillers matching with gripping scripts & in support,marvelous illustration by Fred Fredricks!!

Now coming to their trip to the Moxley U,M/L faced many a weird situations!! Firstly, they faced hijackers(#277;inside story) followed by most scary meting with Ghost town (#265) ! When I first read Ghost Town,the concept of a secret hide-out of ALL 'suppose to be dead/missing' crooks/under world leaders fascinated me!!wow!!
After this,Mr.Heavy from Planet Uropa was waiting for them (NEVER appeared in IJC)!!But that was not enough,as first bank robbers & then a gang of local killers (who robbed & then killed old people) were faced Mandrake's amzing trick(#348)!!!

Finally, M/L duo reached their destination:Moxley U & after a great show of various fabulous tricks from the GREATEST Magician on earth,their journey finished with discovery of weirdest under-ground hide-out of millionaire 'Top Dog' amidst an American desert (#318)!!

[Please notice,IJC did NOT published 'Moxley U adventures' in the serial orders as appeared in the original strips]

Well,in the last days of Indrajals,we have seen again a trip from this world-famous duo.That time they were in way towards another University show:in Harison,where they met Madam Sir-see,who enslaved men using her invented deadly drug(The grip of treachery ;IJC Vol.27 No.4)! Well,I'm NOT sure whether this a particular trip can be treat as 'only' M/L dual trip,as this time their saviours (from Sir-see) were Narda & Karma - their beautiful girlfriends !!

I donno whether they had any such trips in '90s!

Comic #9:Mandrake:S116:Emile, Emir of Emmo(1972)

After a series of Vintage-n-rare B/W Phantom strips,here is a Colored Sunday Strip of Mandrake -the 'legendary' Magician!!
It had been published in Indrajal #181,an inside story as Solution! it's an amusing tale ...

Again my heartiest thanks goes to Sheril,who has sent a few fabulous Mandrake strips(incld. this) in the last week!!
I read this in Indrajal version & here posting the ORIGINAL Colored strip!

Enjoy & lemme know whether want more such strips in future!!
P.S.- ALSO, my 50th post is coming soon...I will definitely present some biggie in that occasion!wait for few days... :-)

Download S116

What's it????

UPDATE: S.Bucknor has been kicked out from the rest of the series by ICC!But,it's rather an eye-wash n ONLY by baning Clarke/Ponting for false appeal of catches(those were already grounded) & kicking out another shameless n equally criminal ,M.Benson will do a bit justice for India's extremely unfortunate loss(if those decisons were given in favour of India,the series would have been 1-1 & NOT 0-2)!
Bhajji has been banned for 3 Test matches!!Allegedly he called Symond 'monkey' (after tremendously abused by filthy Aussies fielders,which has been shrewdly over-looked)!!how funny???? Hope BCCI Will show some self-respect,some gratitude and India Team must boycott this ugly tour.....which's probably going to be the one of those MOST shameful series in history of test cricket,may be after 'that' body-line series!!
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SO??????
Every Aussies are now happy!!ain't?? As their 'beloved' team snatched a crucial 2nd Test match against Anil Kumble's(and ours) Team India today in Sydney & as a result the 4-match series now in their favour by 2-0 !!

Wait wait....it also 'helps' these 'world champs' to equate S.Waugh's world record of 16-win-in-a-row !!

Wow!! what an achievement......but ALL these are for record books only,the REAL game which may not even mention even for once anywhere,is conveying a rather HUMILIATING & SHEAR SHAMEFUL truth of these 130-year old game.....

And the fact is,with shear partial act from ICC(International Cricket Council) the world cricket now in a real danger!!
Yes,it's danger...... when a team continuously getting a complete 'help' in many occasions from those TWO person ,having the responsibility to conduct the matches,namely Umpires .With MORE precise ,in this particular match,one is the dirtiest umpire of this world ,Steve Buckner (from WI) & another spineless coward,Mark Benson (from England).

Today,on the last day of this match,when India was looking for a sure draw,those two third-class person prevent them to achieve their goal by giving at least 3 ghastly wrong out against them. Firstly it was Dravid,who was looking very solid during his 38-of-102-ball innings,was declared caught behind by Buckner all though the ball clearly missed the bat & only faintly touched the pad!!!! It's the SAME Buckner who didn't 'heard'(or pretended??it's a MORE logical n appropriate word) the clear sound of a definite thick inside-edge of Symond's bat.If that out was given then,Aussies would been in deeeeeep trouble with approx. 170/7 !

Then all witnessed a more condemnable & weird decision when S.Ganguly 'caught' by M.Clarke.Fact is,Clarke not only caught a 'bounced' catch (already touched the field) ,he also touched that ball for a second time on ground & with shear shamelessness ,began to celebrate!!!After all,ICC & Umpires incld. Match Referee are in their side,so whom they will care?? Obviously NOT umpires who are their slaves!! A rather shocked Ganguly refereed dis disapproval of that catch & with shear stupidity (or eye-wash??) ,Denson,the other culprit besides Buckner,asked Ponting's boys,whether they 'properly' caught that ball!!!

Is it 1908 or 2008???

Why not he asked 3rd umpire instead of those dirty Aussies fielders??? How dare Ponting,the Australian Captain ,who was once arrested & in a lock-up for one night(he was drank & had a fight in a pub) in Kolkata in 2001 series,boastfully raised his finger to declare Sourav out,as if he's the umpire of that match!!And,according to his decision,Benson the spineless being,declared Sourav out & left India in a deeper trouble!!!

Still the match was not over,as Kumble & Dhoni hanged there ,applying full force until again the ol' culprit Steve Buckner,who once prevented Indian's a rather sure win in the 4th test of 2003-04 series ,in this very same ground,declared Dhoni l.b.w. even though the ball was much out-side of the off-stump!

Then,after some odd overs,it's like,India had to survive 2 more overs with 3 wickets still in hand.Skipper Kumble was looked pretty good,as well as Harbhajan. But a sudden extra-bounce from left-arm spinner Clarke results a catch in slip. India then still had to survive 11 deliveries with 2 wkts. Australians were desperate to clinch the remaining ones,but with MORE shock n a shame for International Cricket,those two spineless culprit umpires also in a hurry to make them (Aussies) win this match!As a result,RP Singh was declared l.b.w even though the ball was completely missing leg-stump!!!

Frankly,from the very beginning of this test,on 2nd day of this new year,these two umpires continuously giving shear shameful decisions against Indian team!!They call it human-error,but if it,then WHY only against Indian & NOT Australia as well(except l.b.w of Ponting in 1st innings,though previously he got a 'life' by that same umpire,Benson)???????? Anybody has any answer to justify their acts??

With this win ,Aussies may be attained the record of 16-win in a row & may be in Perth they will make a new world record,but fact is the whole process is a shear shame & very bad advertisement of Cricket to the whole world!!!

As if,all incld. ICC(head is an Australian),Umpires & Match referee are ready to make sure Aussies can attain their 'glorious'(or shameful??) world record !!

My question is,If they anyhow had to make Australia the No.1,they why bother to arrange this rather time-consuming series,which is MORE like a circus than a real competition,where everybody knows what's in the list,as if pre-decided!!

Why THIS SHAMEFUL discrimination in the world cricket still exist due to which a real WINNER ,here the Team India,have to ended up as a loosing side???? Why these umpires,who are NO LESS than a bunch of ghastly immoral criminals,are allowed in the world of cricket???They not only gave intentionally wrong decisions against India,but also hurt the true spirit with which million fans are watching these matches!!

Simply it's an indication that WORLD cricket in a verge of SLOW DESTRUCTION...where only discrimination,with a partial & racial overtone can exist & NOT any neutral-n-true spirit with which this 130-year old game should be played!!!!

Like many fans,I'm also dead sure,Ponting & Clark would have faced match-ban due to their false appeals for catches even though balls well touched the ground in BOTH occasions ,if they were NOT Aussies,precisely the whites!!!But alas,may b Dravid & Sourav will have to face charges for their on-face disapproval in those very moments!!!

Is it the MODERN cricket??...... or rather, Beginning of slow death of this otherwise amazing n entertaining sport!!!

It's a shear pity!!!!

ONLY solution is immediate kick out of those slaves(of ICC) in the potion of umpires ,be it Buckner & Benson with Malcom Speed.....who's like a 'poisonous rat' in the World Cricket Body!!

In short,a complete transparency in ICC's activity with ZERO tolerance towards racial discrimination (like as white countries like AUS,SA,ENG always get a Scott-free from match referees even if their serious offence & in other hand, Asian teams always have to face the fire,even for a trivial issue!!!!) only may bring the apparently lost charm in this game!!

Lets hope for that..........

Comic #8:D016:The Phantom GOES to War(The Inexorables) [1942]

It's a world wide known fact that,R.Moore was the original illustrator of Phantom strips,since 1936.It's only during World War-II ,he left this work to participate in the war.Then,McCoy ,then his assistant ,took the illustration-job of Phantom for a while.

There are few strips which partially done by Moore & rest completed by McCoy.

Here I'm going to present a fabulous n extraordinary strip:Phantom goes War(D016;1942)....it's during those days of WW-II,when Denkali also attacked & how Phantom,being the legendary saviour ,lead those natives to protect themselves!!

Thrilling & quite spine-chilling script by maestro Lee Falk and with support,fabulous art-work makes it an unique tale among ALL adventures.......as a result,PGW is simply a MUST READ for every Phan!!

In short,it's an amazing tale where ,according to many Phans, Phantom became true legendary saviour !

Between,PGW ran for 49 weeks i.e. all most a year!!

So,go n read it....:-))

This time many thanks to Sheril due to whom,I've many a amazing strips in my collection!!Thanks once again....:-))

P.S.- I can publish many vintage strips of Phantom/Mandrake,only if visitors/fans are interested...so,lemme know what you guys want through your comments & I'll post accordingly!

Before download,have some glimpses..........

DOWNLOAD D016