Comic #70: A Team Fanomen Phantom : De Tusen Tigrarna(The Thousand Tigers)

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• Writers: Magnus Magnusson & Lennart Hartler
• Artist:  Jaime Vallvé
• Year of Publication: 1972
• Frew Publication(in English): yet to be translated by frew.

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 Hello friends,as you can see in the above box,this is a old Team Fantomen story that yet to be translated in English.Now,this was co-scripted by our one of the major Mandrake-strip contributors,Magnus,way back on 1972.Why he didn't continued is unknown but from the art one can tell that the plot was gripping!And I liked the English title "The Thousand Tigers".

 Few months ago, we had requested Magnus to scan the Swedish copy and he agreed.Recently he scanned that book for us.Hopefully,one day Frew will publish this.Between,The art by Vallve' was just stunning!

ENJOY!!

 DOWNLOAD De Tusen Tigrarna(The Thousand Tigers)

Comic #69 : The First Complete Sunday-strip by Fred Fredricks : A Mandrake Classic - The Cobra Returns(S097 ; 1965)

Starting with The Cobra Returns,quite a few modifications/introductions were made in the Mandrake's  universe!!

This classic itself has some major highlights as follows:

1.This was the first complete illustration done by Fred Fredrick's,after he finished Davis' incomplete work in The Traveller's Tale(S096) and what a story to start-off! Needless to mention, he was just brilliant from his very first (complete) assignment! :-)

2.Intro of Xanadu - the  fabulous mountain-top mansion of Mandrake - and it's crazy drive-way!!

3.Intro of Inter-Intel as well as Jed.

4.Return of the oldest,and supposed to be dead,enemy of Mandrake & co. - The Cobra!!

Some special moments....

First time we heard about Inter-Intel and so the unique entrance of  Xanadu...

"What a view! What a drop!"

Cobra...still ALIVE???

Finally....Cobra strikes!!!

[Note: This is a long strip and some pages are in Swedish as we yet to locate their original colored English counter-parts. But hopefully,that won't hamper your understanding of the plot as major part of the story is in English!Cheers!!]

Download S097 - The Cobra Returns

Comic #68 : Mandrake Sunday : S149 - El Dorado(1982)

 El Dorado - the mysterious city of gold!!Many have loved this concept and personally,being a crazy about any Mandrake's adventures,it's a great pleasure for me to find a Mandrake story based on it! Of course,where is Mandrake(& Lothar),some kind of criminal activity has to be there and so you will find in this adventure aswell!!

 First read this in a Bengali Indrajal Comics (খন্ড 21 সংখ্যা 6 - সোনার শহর এল্ ডোরাডো) and only years after,the original strip-version.[This unedited strip(i.e. 6 panels/sunday) is one of the numerous contributions by Magnus & Dan.]

Enjoy!

Some glimpses...

Download The Complete Strip

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And here's cover of  the Indrajal version:

The wiki page on El Dorado : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Dorado

Egmont-Phantom Series(in Bengali) : Chalaman Asariri-er Romanchakar Abbhijan(Phantom)

 When Egmont(Ind) released several of those 2-in-1 Phantom books in English,one of the famous Bengali publisher,Dev Sahitya Kutir(দেব সাহিত্য কুটীর) bought the publication right in Bengali and released 4 such Phantom(অরণ্যদেব) books on 2003-04 session,each was 2-in-1.As a result,Bengali Phans got a total of 8 stories.

 The general title of the series was :Chalaman Asariri-er Romanchakar Abbhijan(Phantom)/চলমান অশরীরীর রোমাঞ্চকর অভিযান(ফ্যান্টম).These books were in giant-sized format with the best quality printing(glossy papers with the top-class coloring!) & priced 65 INR each.

 I wonder IF THERE IS ANY possibility to re-start this series in Bengali with (at least) the remaining 20 odd titles, those were already published by Egmont(Ind) or now,by Euro Books??

[Check this following ad-page from Suktara - the teen magazine by DSK - from 2004.]

Titles of the stories:

#1 - Deviler Golpo/ডেভিলের গল্প, Central-parker Hottya Rohossyo/সেন্ট্রাল-পার্কের হত্যারহস্য

#2 - Sahid Minar/শহিদ মিনার, Mrityur Chaya-ghera Dwip/মৃত্যুর ছায়া-ঘেরা দ্বীপ
#3 - Abhisapta Mandir/অভিশপ্ত মান্দির, Jibanto Cargo/জিবন্ত কার্গো

#4 - Adharjagate Cent Lucifer/আধারজগতের সেন্ট লুসিফার, Nautilus/নটিলাস

In the Devil's story,Phantom has been appeared in a blue costume while in the other stories,mostly in purple(dark to light shades).

 Visit this Phantom Phorum thread for some page/cover scans...

Comic #67 : Indrajal Comics(Bengali) : No.154(Mandrake) :Aantim Manav(অন্তিম মানব)

 Aantim Manav(অন্তিম মানব),originally from D147(The Wonder that Amazed the World ; 1971),is based on a fantasy plot of a giant man Kolosso(কলসসো) and his beautiful mate(or wife?) Janna(জান্না) - both of them are results of some atomic radiation - from a distant mountain-region of pygmies! At the end of story,you just have to love these giant human beings..

Their introduction with the mysterious giant! That was not quite 'comfortable' for them though. ;o)

Kolosso arrives at the city but there was no Janna - his love - something that made him quite furious!!

          Now,meet with Janna - the beautiful mate of Kolosso.And hey,she is expecting!!

 Story ends with Mandrake's desire to see them - the modern example of Adam-and-Eve - "to solve problems of our troubled world"!

Download অন্তিম মানব

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 Now, a few words on our Indrajal Forum - active since the last November - that has been created solely for the purpose of discussion of the various kind of comic adventures/series that we have had read so far.And that incld. Indrajal Comics(for obvious) but discussions are NOT meant to be limited within the Indrajal stories only,rather much beyond of it! Like, at the Newspaper Strips section,one can discuss any comic-strips of any heroes that never published in any Indrajal or from the Post-Ijc era.Similarly,one can made own posts on any non-Indrajal heroes like Tarzan,Archie etc to regional titles(say Nonte-Phonte for Bengali readers or Chacha Choudhary/Pinki/Billo/ACK for any Indian readers) at the Non-Indrajal Heroes section. And last but the not the least,like all comic forums,we also have a non-comic section where you can discuss any other topics like Cricket or Movies/Books etc. 

 Well,some might wonder that when there are plenty of comic blogs for posts/comments,why a forum??

While our blogs are the major source of much desired scans of old comics/books,there is some definite advantage of a forum site,specially for those readers who love to talk about their thoughts on whatever they read.

In fact,we have two major reasons.

 First of all,while blog is the best way to share some d/l links but not an ideal set-up for any long/time-based discussion.Also,due to the very nature of blog set-up,it's very difficult to have a prolonged discussion in a older post once a new post comes up. 

Secondly, we have to comment according to the author's choice of topics - for the obvious reason - and anything other talks are usually fall much in the 'off-topic' region,something that does not serve any good for that particular blog-post.

 In the other hand,a forum is kind of a platform where everyone can share their thoughts from an equal position.Every member can either post in the other's topics or create own topics,in the respective sub-forums(and for that, one doesn't have to post a long review etc or supporting panels/covers....if someone does,that's ok though!).

 Then,if there is some meaningful but off-topic discussion going on,it's possible to move those posts under a new topic - that fits with the discussion - so members can keep the conversation on in a much proper way!

And the best part of a forum is that neither you have to wait for others to pick any particular story/topic for discussion nor any old,active topics becomes dead due to publication of a new one!

 So,it'll be a great pleasure to have some of comic-related discussions with our blogger & visitor friends those who love to express their thoughts!!

Cheers!!

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