Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Beautiful Janice from "The Mystery of the Island..

..of Dogs"!!
 Yes, I'm talking about that '60s Phantom classic - an intriguing plot about a devilish & dreaded plan by an enemy country(probably Russia) when their army general(and his thousand soldiers) formed a secret missile base at that deserted "island of dogs" - their hide-out - owned by an ol' major Helm!
 I'm not going in details of the plot, rather concentrating on a major character of this adventure, who played an integral role quite by accident - Janice Helm - the beautiful & seductive grand-daughter of that major Helm!
Over the years quite a lot of beautiful ladies have had desired the Phantom as their mate, at some point of their lives. And there was no short of varieties as from the sky-band chief Sala to Marshall sisters, from those highland princesses & queens to numerous lost/kidnapped girls - all of them were in this special league. They were quite beautiful & desirable in their own right, still none of them had this spark & beauty combined in one place, like this one Ms. Helm! Majority of those ladies were either "damsels in distress" or "self-obsessed egoists" than anything else but Janice was an exception.

Today I'm going to post some of those special moments from this adventure -with supporting panels - so we can have a closer look on Janice(and her reaction) in the different situations!

[Note: : #1 - This classic was published in India only by Diamond Comics(as ToI had skipped this at Indrajal) twice in their Phantom digests(#8 & #70) #2 -  I have added panels from both of the Bengali & English versions together(after bit editing), so all Phans can enjoy these!]
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Lets meet lonely Janice, when she was getting bored as there was NO unmarried attractive man to accompany her!!

But at least, she could dream(about some unknown mysterious & exciting man) even if that sounds silly to herself!! (By then, she had very little idea on how her dream was in the verge of fulfillment - in a quite different and unnerving way though!)

"When you are writing a phony letter, do better than that"
 - this was one of the few lessons those kidnappers have learnt on that evening when they wrongly spelled Janice(as 'Janis') and wrote a letter that supposed to be from her grandpa, signed by 'Major Helm'! You just can't fool a beauty who got a brain too!
Moreover, she was hardly afraid of these con men, rather threatened them with "get lost before I yell for police".

So this brave girl herself can fight-back but you don't have to do much when the Phantom was around. When you heard something like "That lady said..let go, don't move...anybody" - came from a deep, cold voice - then either you have to obey it or face the consequences..like those kidnappers did! Another lesson they have learnt.

"I'd enough of this...Get out!!"
- she was too anxious to realise that her dream man was right in front of her. So Janice screamed only to realise(or taken aback?) that this man doesn't take, but only give, orders! Few moments later, now she had some sort of 'emotional transformation' & apparently won't mind if this mysterious, exciting & wonderful 'burgler' robs that place. By then, he has already robbed her beautiful heart, quite unknowingly for himself though!
 
Now, Janice is telling her side of story & shared some information on her 'disappeared' grandpa...

She tried her luck in little bit of flirting with "They were driven mad by my rare beauty" (on why those kidnappers came) but all were went in vain!

Meantime, enter of the patrolman Riggs, one of those numerous dopey men that Janice used to meet all the time. It's like, years ago she had replaced her dolls with these men and can control them in her own will! But we can't blame Riggs, can we?? He was only a commoner while she was the rarer!
 
"He said I'd never see him again...that's what HE thinks"  - She was determined to see "her man" once again, by hooks or crooks..

 "I'm 21,he's 400. When I'm 30 he'll be 409"
- It seems that age was NO bar for her(she was ready to marry a 400-year old man) as long as he was unmarried!! Hmm...Janice was a lady with some rare spirits! She was ready to face everything for him..

...even to take some risks that one patrolman would hesitate!! Moreover, she had knowingly took that risk, to visit the dog-island at midnight, just to be with her "dream man" - the Phantom!
(Earlier, she used to like those dopey guys, but no more!)

"Can we..help you??"
- Just after their arrival on that mysterious dog-island, for the first time Janice had realised that how much danger she was in!! What she thought would be a rather fun-trip, turned out to be a quite different ball-game as they were 'welcomed' by some ruthless killers with guns in their hand..and they meant business!!

Janice, who thought her dream man would be delighted for her surprise-visit, had a rude shock with "you are a foolish girl, lucky to not have your pretty head blown off"!! She couldn't have realised that her dream man was on a mission(of death) and NOT on a date!

"Awful"  - that said everything! This mission was too much for everyone, included that ruthless general and so for her beautiful soul...

"In a war, one is ready to die"
and that was unfortunately true for everybody including our beautiful Janice! When Phantom said it, she couldn't believe her ears though - "Does he mean it??"

"Like a thousand 4th-of-Julys" - amidst all of these dangers, she had her sense-of-humour intact!

"If I hadn't come with a boat, you would have been in a spot!"
- How much Phantom had scold Janice for her wild visit, at the end she indeed made the job much easier for him and there's no denial!

"A man who blows up islands and scares away a thousand men..more than a little me can handle.I'll settle for a dopey guy like that(Riggs)...I'm smarter than he is."
- Finally, even being an irresistible seductress by herself, she was well aware of her own strengths & more importantly, the limitations - something that made her even more 'unique' among the league of beautiful-ladies-who-once-desired-Phantom as unlike others, she had enough brain to support her own beauty!
Janice showed that she was neither any doll(who always needed a man in her side for protection) nor any madcap(like Miriam) who would plot to get her man by any means. She would rather use her grey matters a bit!
Phantom might have forgot her, but can we??

23 comments:

Maverick said...

Thats a great write up Hojo! From an entirely different perspective.Pls continue posts like this.Will definitely not forget the sultry lass Janice Helm after this! :)

Mahasthobir said...

Great write up really. After reading this I can say it’s extraordinary…your writing power...
You explain character of Janice perfectly...and in a very attractive way.

Magical beauty of Janice reminds me another heart-breaking beauty of phantom comics...her name was Lucy Cary. :)
I read it many years ago and almost forgot the story... but the name of Lucy still in my mind because of beautiful & seductive (as you say :)) Lucy. :)
Somewhere in the jungle Lucy lost... and Phantom recue her...and Lucy also fell in love with phantom just like Janice...and she also thought something like jenny...I am 20 he is 400 years and when I...ets...etc.
Name of the comics is অপরাজিত রক্ষাকবচ or অপরাজয় রক্ষাকবচ.

Mahasthobir said...

One thing more I must add... about the man... who is behind the gorgeous...appealing...fascinating beauty of Janice or Lucy...he is the magic...with his pencil even muscular phantom become strong but soft and beautiful...:)

I love Barry's Phantom art other than anybody...

HojO said...

@Maverick: Thanks for the appreciation!Yes,this post IS different from my most of the earlier ones,as until now, I hardly had dedicated an entire post on any one-off/side characters!:)

No,we won't forgot this sultry lady,till our memory cells funtion properly & no Alzheimer's to afraid off.LOL

HojO said...

@Mahasthobir:Thanks bud,nice to hear that you liked this effort.And yes,BARRY WAS THE 'Major REASON',WITH Falk's master scripts,behind our "FASCINATION" with Betal/Phantom!!His Phantom was tough,smart,mysterious yet very gentle and he managed to add all these qualities in one character - proves his worth!He's just as rare as Janice is! :o)

About Lucy,thank you very much for this,as I was trying to remember the 'special' ladies(from Barry's era) Phantom have had ever met,but for some reason forgot this film-star,who has infact a special connection with Phantom-family,with that "good-mark necklace" inherited from own grandpa!:)She will definetly come next after Janice in that 'league of..'
I shouldn't forgot her as it was Lucy's adventure that I read much ago than Janice,but in a 2nd thought,might be "that's" the reason?? :)

And yes,the Indrajal version was অপরাজেয় রক্ষাকবচ but I read this story for 1st time from DC #12!It was only years after,I got the Ijc version,but that was terribly edited(while dc was unedited,like always!):(

HojO said...

Between how you liked that Bengali-English dual versions??Any suggestion & input will be appreciated!:)
Initially I was going to publish only English strips,but then add those for all Bengali Phans,কারণ ইংরেজী original হলেও,বাংলায় পড়ার মজাই আলাদা!!:o)

Mahasthobir said...

Yah...I like a lot the way you post 'Bengali-English dual versions'... and reading in own language is always great... but...it’s all depends on transliteration. যদি ভাল অনুবাদ হয় তবেই.
Won’t you agree বাজে বাংলার থেকে English-এ পড়া অনেক ভাল?
If I write: 'আমি বরং ঐ ক্যাবলাকান্ত দেহরক্ষীকে নিয়েই সুখী হব...কারণ আমি ওর থেকে বেশী বুদ্ধিমান।'-for the last frame...is not it better?

Aalok Madhusudan Joshi said...

What's the number of the IJC version?

HojO said...

@MS:Tumi ja bolecho,ta niye ekta post lekha jae,kenona DC & Ijc-r translations were quite different for some "basic" reason,I'll back within 2 days with that(I'm bit sick today with fever!)

@AAlok:which story??Lucy or Janice wala??Lucy was #71 and as I've mentioned in the post itself,M.I.D. was never ever published in Ijc(due to it's political tone) but only by DC!

Mahasthobir said...

Take care...
hope you get back here
soon... :)

HojO said...

@MS:On the topic of "translation",yes it's always better to read English than poor Bengali version.While I won't say that DC was very poor but definetly ordinary and quite 'below par' from Indrajal's standard(due to the involvement of more efficient & professional translators!)
Another thing is,when ToI had started off their regional versions,they formed branches in the respective regions.But DC was 'centrally controlled' from Delhi only,incld. their regional publications.Hence,you will see many a 'translated' words those are actually from Hindi & not Bengali!
----------
Now,back on the topic,I sometimes wonder whether the political-tone was the only reason for ToI to skip the master-piece like this 'Mystery of Island of Dogs' or they thought Janice would be too hot to handle??:_) Remember ToI's 'treatement' in any of those bikini/kissing panels till mid '80s?? I wonder whom they were soo afraid off,as in the other hand,DC people were rather careless about their contents(with 'unedited' 007 Bond comics from '90s etc) yet never faced any trouble!

কুন্তল‏ - from প্লানেট আর্থ said...

এই গল্পটা আগে কখনো পরিনি। নিজের ভাষায় কোন কিছু পড়ার মজাই আলাদা - বিশেষ করে কমিকস হলে তো কথায় নেই।
Translation ভালোই হয়েছে - Font usage-টা তো দুর্দান্ত!! কিন্তু অনেক সময় 'ভাবানুবাদ' করলে আরও ভালো লাগে পড়তে - যেমন 'Island of Dogs'-কে 'শয়তানের দ্বীপ' বলাই যেতে পারে - আর 'আকর্ষক' কথাটার থেকে এই ক্ষেত্রে 'আকর্ষনীয়', even 'চার্মিং' ব্যবহার করলে মনে হয় বেশি ভালো লাগবে - তবে এ সবই আমরা নিজস্ব ভাবনা। Over all it's really a great effort - pls. do continue.

কুন্তল‏ - from প্লানেট আর্থ said...

কিছু কিছু specific story skip করার অন্য কোন কারণও থাকতে পারে - like trying to keep it more demanding - একটা example দিচ্ছি - এখানে (US-এ) Disney-র যে কোনো popular কিডস মুভি-র ক্যারেক্টারদের কে নিয়ে নানারকম toys বার হয় - যেমন ধরো 'CARS' বা 'Planes' - এরা করে কি, সেই সব ক্যারেক্টারদের 80% নিয়ে প্রচুর model/toy বাজারে ছাড়ে, আর বাকি 20% নিয়ে হাতে গোনা কিছু মডেল supply করে। এবার সেই 20% model-দের যে কি ডিমান্ড, তা নিজে না খোঁজ করলে feel করা যাবে না।

HojO said...

@Kuntalda: Thanks! Ei golpota Indrajal e publish hoyni,tobe DC te beroy '90s e..

Btwn,translation-er baypare boli...hyan,DC'r Bengali translation khubi mediocre chilo(at lst Ijc compare-e to botei,r absolute scale-eo)tobe chole jay1 [For example,"Can we - help you?" wud be better like "আমরা কিছু সাহায্য করতে পারি?" but the translator choose a more word-to-word translation that sometimes lowered that soothing effect!]

Between,In any chance,did you thought those were my translation? (sure noi,so bhul hole na boka-boki!) Ami korle er thke better hoto.. :o)

HojO said...

Skip korar baypare ja bolle seta ki ei khetre khate?? Ota ekta particular 'series'-er khetre applicabe,ja bujhi!
For example,say "8" story of Mandrake!Total 8-10 ta chilo,tar modhey 1-2 to skip kore publisher bajar gorom kortei pare,but one-off stories(like this Mysterious Island)-er khetre ta korle kono lav ache ki?? Not sure!

কুন্তল‏ - from প্লানেট আর্থ said...

HojO - my mistake - post-এর প্রথম দিকের লেখাটা খুঁটিয়ে পড়িনি। তাই তো বলি ! তোমার Bengali-IJC#1-এর কাজ এর থেকে better হয়েছিলো - এখন বুঝছি বাংলা-font-টা কেন এখানে better দেখাচ্ছে !!!

HojO said...

ha ha..

HojO said...

By da way,oi font-gulo(DC) kintu 'hand-written' chilo! Ekhankar typed-font,ja amio use kori,dekhte bhaloi but kothao jeno nispran!

Celso Nunes said...

The story was presented in a Brazilian blog from pictures from your Diamonds editing... The Brazilian readers thanks.

http://cavernadacaveira.blogspot.com.br/2014/07/a-island-of-caes.html

HojO said...

really? but link of that post is not working...

কুন্তল‏ - from প্লানেট আর্থ said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
কুন্তল‏ - from প্লানেট আর্থ said...

Try http://cavernadacaveira.blogspot.com.br/2014/07/a-ilha-dos-caes.html

HojO said...

the painted cover with Janice is gorgeous!!