200th Post : Comic #118-119 : Tarzan Dailies by John Celardo : Tarzan Meets Countess Oro[Part-II] in BENGALI & Chinese Plot(Original)

UPDATE : For all : You can visit the "Indrajal FORUM" , originally created on Nov'10,where many old topics and posts are there to read for the new-comers,plus you can join there,and after that,post according to your liking of topics/stories etc.
After become a member,you can post your own topics or comment on others' topics - both! The recent topic was on a Rip Kirby strips(under the section of NEWSPAPER STRIPS) .
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The latest on-going Tarzan daily at the Bengali newspaper : BARTAMAN, ends on 22.10.2014. This was a re-run of an old,vintage daily Tarzan Meets Countess Oro from 1965.

 Now as the story approaches to the conclusion,you will find how Countess Oro will reunite with ITO(ইটো) - her son,lost 5 years ago thru a tragedy! When Rex,the foster-child of Betal, learnt his origin,he had to go back to his ancestral place,Baronkhan, leaving Deepwoods & Castle-in-Air. But here Countess Oro herself left her place to join with her only son at the Wasiri National Park,the new home of ITO since he regained his sense...and as indicates,she will spent her rst of the life there.
 Of course,she finds a very special friend in Peter Crisp,the commissioner of that park! :-) Overall, a fine ending of a tragic tale...

I have already posted the Part-I and here is the remaining part...

DOWNLOAD Tarzan Meets Countess Oro (D147/Part-II)

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 A strange thing happened when the publisher have omitted the next strip - Chinese Plot - in this reprint-series and started off from the later story(The Castle in the Jungle/D149). Same happened in the English version as well,as you can see that after strip #8030,the next strip was #8115, published on 22.10.14 and 23.10.14,respectively(while Chinese Plot ran between #8031-8114).

 One of the possible reasons of this omission was the 'nature' of the story.A fabulous plot,fine art but a major racist angle was used where Chinese people shown quite in poor light.It has been shown how a Chinese woman(an invader) killed her English husband etc..So this controversial story has been omitted from this reprint series.
But then we can always read the 'original' strips,not at best quality,but the only way.
 I thought it will be unfair for crazy fans of John Celardo's Tarzan if they miss this one! So here it is...

DOWNLOAD Chinese Plot(D148)

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 By the way,this is the 200th post of this blog,on it's 8th year. It took bit more than seven-and-half years to complete this landmark,in an average two posts per month...not bad,eh?? ;o) It was not possible unless there were some enthusiastic fellow bloggers and some quality visitors who regularly kept visiting this blog,and hence thanks to all of them!! :-)

 In my blogging period I have observed many blogs,the variety of posts,scans etc but frequency-wise there are majorly two groups.The most common ones are fall in the category of magazine-like frequency i.e. there is a certain average gap between two posts,that may be weekly, fortnightly or monthly!Few are even slower,varied from tri-monthly to half-yearly.The common part is, most of these bloggers usually serve long and detail posts,with many information alongwith the download link of books/comics etc. Visitors search these posts and keep coming back even years after the original posting.

 And then, there is a 2nd kind(very few): newspaper-type! Like newspapers do arrive daily-basis,their posts do get published at the blogs almost daily-basis! :-) They are usually bit on hurry,and while few of them can produce nice write-ups amidst those fast posting,almost all hardly write much!Anyway,I can take both kind...

Sometimes,in my free-time I do visit the years' old posts of many of my old blogger-friends(TCP/ICC/CW/PBC/Mandrake-blog etc) or relatively newer ones(MS-blog/Rafiqs' etc) and my own blogs' archive aswell.The years old posts,the detail/in-depth comments from the various visitors, all serve a very good moment and help to relieve the old days!

And I guess many visitors do the same,ain't?? :-)
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Finally,spot the difference between these two strips ;-) :

Comic #117 : A RIP KIRBY Adventure : The Hunt for Cinderella(RK-115) from late '70s

 One of the vintage and rare RIP KIRBY dailies from the period of '70s. Recently I have received many a rare RK dailies from a friend, who sent me those links as a friendly gesture, but obviously for personal use only. So while I wouldn't post those links at this blog, I am doing this just as an exception.

This story - The Hunt for Cinderella - was appeared in Bengali in one of the teen-mag's Puja-annual(Anandamela 1981) and as the history suggests, it is the only Goyenda Rip adventure ever published in that magazine!

So it's quite special and while I yet to read the Bengali version, have enjoyed this original English  version and hopefully, you will feel same way! (I have already shared this strip at a Anandamela related FB group,but as not many visitors follow those groups,here it is for all)

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The first page of the Bengali version :

Original strip-version(the first two dates were skipped in Anandamela) :

DOWNLOAD The Hunt for Cinderella

Blackers of Indrajal - START BEGGING!!

 In this post,you will find why these "elite-class frauds" are getting so much profit,because most of failed to identify them as sellers and hence they are doing hell lot of "help" towards genuine lovers by selling comics at absurdly high price,AND AT THE SAME TIME, pretending as a true lover of comics/books/literature in general!! :-)
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Since last 5-7 years I have had heard many fans high-pricy affair regarding Indrajal...that is,they have paid very hefty amount to the sellers(actually,black-marketers) for some rare Indrajal...

Some have paid @300/- for #200-299 range of Indrajal,some paid 2-3000/issue for below #100....and then stories of 5-10000 for the #1 are common!!
Personally,I don't like these kind of price....yes,I understand these are rare and myself is pretty crazy about these books,but avoided those sellers just to not let myself fooled by them!!
I have some ~750 single Ijc(plus 100++ different language versions of same issue) but never have paid more than 50/- per issue except only one,the Marathi version of No.1 Bengali Indrajal(Scarlet Sorceress/Jan'66),for which I paid 100/-  although I am still buying Indrajals.This is possible because amidst all these blackers,there are some good sellers who will ask price which is high,BUT NEVER absurd!

Honestly,Indrajal is my PASSION,but for them a way of PROFESSION....so why allow them to emotionally black-mail you??

Then there are majorly 2 types of 'BLACKERS'...one is direct,they don't hide that they are doing business....but then 2nd kind,the most dangerous and double-standard one...they pose as "true lover of Indrajal",will brag about their liking of many stories(even do blogging,posted scans etc) BUT underneath they are greedy frauds who will sell @very very high price,much more than what actual seller will ask you!!THEY COLLECT Indrajal FOR SOLE PURPOSE of SELLING but will NEVER ADMIT that!!

I would like to say that,we should avoid such persons,specially the 2nd kind,for our own benefit....In Bengali,we call these type of frauds as "Bhodrobeshi Jocchor"....

IF YOU HAVE LUCK YOU WILL GET YOUR MISSING Indrajal,SO PLEASE DO NOT PANIC - HAVE PATIENCE!

JUST Beware of these FRAUDS(there are many known one....incld. few bloggers as well AND a so-called lovers.The common and most infamous one is from Delhi.And another one is from my own city,Kolkata,some Mr.Paul,who has befriended with many 'idiot' collectors and have cheated them!! He used to ask @2000/issue at the QUICKER - the book-selling site.Later I have exposed him and since then,I NEVER have seen him in blog-world! But these are like weeds,who won't die so easily..someone whose family earning is below 20K/month, has been so much bewitched by him that agreed to pay 4-5K if this fraud will help him to get #1 Bengali Indrajal!!!JUST IMAGINE...these frauds don't have little conscience too!!)

Share this bring more awareness.....otherwise there is NO FUTURE for the true collectors.I am lucky enough to have completed ~90% of my required Indrajals(Bengali and English) amidst all these madness but many are not so lucky...so for ALL,share within your circle.

The new facebook-group,Indrajal Collectors' Club(ICC) has been updated aswell...

Comic #116 : Modesty Blaise in BENGALI

 UPDATES: 
[I] The Indrajal Collectors' Club(ICC) has been turned into a FACEBOOK Group. Any Indrajal fans can join there and discuss their favorite heroes/stories or any other side-features appeared in the pages of Indrajal.

There I have posted my Spares of Bengali Indrajal comics for the exchange purpose(only).Either with Indrajals I am missing/require-replacements or Anandamela(magazine) or any other comic-books I am missing.You will find both of my Spare-list and my Wish-List at 'ICC'.
 Further,recently I got many decades old,vintage and out-of-print Bengali thriller-crime type monthly magazines,i.e. under the category of  'Rahashya-Romancho Masik patrika' and there are few spares to offer as well.These were published in the period of '50s  to '70s,majorly! For those, check this post(of Book-Exchange) for details.

[II] By the way,if you remember what happened at the Sydney test on Jan'08,then you should read this part of SRT's autobio....many memories are coming back,but intensity has been much subdued due to various factors,incld. time(the great healer)!

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 Modesty Blaise and Willie,the British crime-fighters with a criminal past,were created by author Peter O'Donnell and illustrator Jim Holdaway in 1963.Also part of a series of novels(total 13), Modesty was quite popular in graphic medium! Although she was first visualized by J.Holdway,it was the Spanish artist Romero who transformed Modesty(and the whole series,in that sense) into a quite breath-taking superwoman kind avtar,with racy and fast portrayal of the characters incld. of course,the main lead!!
 There are a total of 96 MB daily-strips from 1963-2001 period,of which first 18 were drawn by Holdaway,from #19-40 by Romero ,then after Romero, some others took the charge(Colvin etc).When Romero quitted on 1978,quality of illustration reached a sudden and steep low,which continued for some painful 8 years until Romero returned in this series,when AXA - his other creation,even racier than the Modesty, was cancelled on 1986.(I always wonder why there is no reprint effort of all AXA stories,like Titan is doing with Modesty??)

In Bengali,Modesty appeared only for once,in the Comic World magazine and that was a J.Holdaway story..

• Story title : Mrityur Khela (The Killing Ground)
• Strip-number and original period : D14a(1968)
• Writer : Peter O'Donnell
• Artist : Jim Holdaway
• Bengali Publication : COMIC WORLD Magazine  #6 (1999)

DOWNLOAD Mrityur Khela

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Back in the '80s and '90s,while Indian comic-fans weren't that much exposed with Modesty,they were quite familiar with AXA thru Sun Comics.Personally I love both series,although Modesty IS ahead over Axa as the former series was high in intense thrill-quotient which latter lacks! BOTH WERE GRAPHICALLY EQUALLY SUPERIOR(& RACY!) though! :-) 
Between,I donno if fans have noticed that brunette Modesty and blonde Axa have quite facial similarity? In fact, many of female side-characters of Modesty series were almost look-alike of Axa!! It seems Romero loved some of his models' faces,eh?? ;o)

Enjoy some of the Modesty-moments from "ROMERO era"....

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 Between,recently I have added one of the 'Modesty Blaise reprints' by Titan,Modesty Blaise: Vol.7(D19-21),in my collection, and I can say that they did a good reproduction job. As I have all 96 strips(scans) so I have compared with various Titan out-puts(some are direct Titan's scan :)) and felt that some of the print-quality is better @Titan while some are inferior!

 A very good Modesty-site with display of all covers(of comic-strips' version): http://modestyblaisebooks.com/comiccovers/ukusa/comics_ukusa.html#titancovers

 And the site for Modesty novels: http://www.modestyblaisebooks.com/bookcovers.html

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Just for fun,if one compares the Romero's out-put with the artists replaced him after he quit Modesty for 8 years, in the same series,I am posting few sample-pages.. Posting two significant ones,John Burns and Neville Colvin. Personally disliked their out-put,as have already mentioned, but that's my own view only..

• 'John Burns' period(1978-79) :

• 'Colvin' period(1980-1986):

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Finally,read tow more Modesty adventures in the original b/w version.First,a fantastic tale of this female crime-fighter,2nd by Romero,in English : Green-Eyed Monster(D20) [NOT from Titan's print,and hey,a slightly better reproduction,I must say...]

DOWNLOAD Green-Eyed Monster

And 2nd is the original b/w English counter-part of Mrityur Khela - The Killing Ground....

DOWNLOAD The Killing Ground

Rip Kirby Strips AND the Amur Sisters...

 In India, Rip Kirby was introduced through the newspapers and a lesser-known comic-series in the '70s but the proper(and vast) introduction happened when ToI added adventures of this sophisticated detective in their then-active comic series Indrajal Comics....on 1982. 
 And soon after, readers became familiar with Rip and his friends like Desmond, Honey Dorian and...Amur sisters(Tutu and Mumu)!! Well,Indrajal readers will have to put no effort to remember these beautiful and wealthy sisters who were quite frequent in the Rip's adventures. But then, Amurs were introduced in the strips way before their appearances in the Indrajal-pages, on 1961.
 In the '80s they were portrayed as quite sober and bit rich-girls-have-nothing-to-do sort. They used to accompany Rip in his adventures, always jovial and the good rapport within the sisters was quite visible.

BUT....it was NOT the same back in the swinging '60s, when they used to take each others as sore rivals, were quite wild and...men-hunters!!

Besides, they were more beautiful back then.. :-))

Amurs were first appeared in the strip titled 'Too Much Amour(D054)' on 1961, drawn by John Prentice. It was quite a story to read where nobody knew how to handle these wild beauties!! And yes, in that strip Wiggers was also introduced.
[This strip, along with 7 others were published in the 296-pager RIP KIRBY Vol.6(1959-1962) edition by IDW. I would recommend this edition for every Rip fan.While IDW's some of the previous editions were not upto-the-mark(reproduction-quality wise), this 6th vol.is just fine(it will cost some around 2,500 INR from on-line Indian book-stores)]

Posting some of the moments from that story....as the book is quite big so scanning was almost impossible,so I had to click from this book...

  First...the introduction!! And what an introduction??

 They are both outta grab Rip and poor Rip,he couldn't bear either of Amur girls... :(

 Then...Tutu and Mumu were plotting quite a devilish scheme!! And both ended up adding themselves in an expenditure on ancient Mayans with Rip... 

 That wasn't a peaceful nor a smooth expenditure...

 And finally,they had some hard time there which somehow changed their perspective towards life...(I wudn't spoil the fun by divulge the climax here,so read by yourself!)

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 Now another Rip Kirby strip.From Alex Raymond's era - RK08 : Terror at Thames(1948). This has been already appeared in the 1st vol. of IDW's reproduction,but the IDW versions' panels were chopped at the bottom and,some of the finer lines were blurry.So I am posting some pages that I got from a fan who is collecting from different sources, just to show you how the originals strips were back then...
 Story is just fine, about a madcap wealthy woman,who is fond of gambling and hence got the nickname..Betya!!

BIJOYA Special : Comic #115 : Tarzan Daily by John Celardo(Tarzan Meets Countess Oro) in BENGALI

            To ALL friends & visitors.. 
     --- শুভ বিজয়া and HAPPY DUSSHERA --- 
 The latest on-going Tarzan daily  at the Bengali newspaper : BARTAMAN! This is a re-run series of old,vintage strips and this one(Tarzan Meets Countess Oro) is from 1965 and 147th in the order...  (The novelty of this Bengali version is that,apart from these Bartaman cutting,no other printed version of these TARZAN strips were ever published anywhere in Bengali.)

In this post,I am posting the Part-I of this strip as it's yet to be concluded. Will post the last part when it will end(scheduled at the end of this month only)..

ENJOY!!(scans of some of the strips are not at-par alignment wise,but there would be no problem reading-wise nor I had any agenda to make a print-ready copy,so..)

DOWNLOAD D147 (Part-I)

Now,who is ITO(ইতো)??
 The boy mentioned in this story,or on that vase to begin with, has a long history and association with Tarzan.Much like what Rex is meant for Betal/Phantom,ITO is for Tarzan.He is kind of foster-father of this lost child he rescued from a crashed plane in mid of a dense forest..
 To to know him better,I would suggest you to read this following tales - centered on ITO(as I don't have the Bengali version,so attaching the original English strips here) :

DOWNLOAD Tarzan Rescues Ito+The Storm(D133+D134 ; 1962)

Between,you can read Russ Manning's TARZAN Sundays(colored) at my other blog Bengali Treasure-Trove(BTT)'s Tarzan section.
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 Now,let's discuss something related to my recent old-book hunt.On the last month, I got a very old UK based comic series book,ACTION SERIES from the '60s era,from one of the one of the old-book sellers! This particular book features Mandrake,published exactly 50 years ago,on August 1964 in the United Kingdom. 

  I was at first quite surprised by seeing this 50 years' old UK Mandrake book at Kolkata market,rather odd connection! But then, anything related to Mandrake & Phantom are like treasure for me.
  Between,that seller asked just 20 INR!! (Any other seller would charged a much higher price but somehow he didn't realize it's worth.However, one of the nearby sellers was giving expression like he  missed a good opportunity!! ;-) As On August 1964,Indrajal Comics was just a 6-month-old series,and the Bengali version was yet to introduced - enough to indicate this books' rarity and worth! )

  Back at home,my optimistic mind was hoping for more such Mandrake issues from this publisher but then the famous MandrakeWiki ends all hope as it's clearly mentioned there this was the ONLY Mandrake story published in this UK based ACTION SERIES(there,however, few other heroes were appeared,not much known to us other than Secret Agent X9(Corrigan) and Flash Gordon,though!).

 The story inside was from the 122nd daily strip titled,Master of Magic, also published in the Indrajal much later,on November 1975(Issue No.241(Eng/Hin)/No.219(Ben)).

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• Series Name : ACTION SERIES - GOLD TOKEN BOOK
• Publisher : Young World Publications(UK)
• Issue No. : 6
• Hero Featured : Mandrake
• Story Title : Master of Magic(D122; 1963)
• Publication Period : August 1964

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 PS - In the UK many publishers tried their hand on Mandrake and among them Miller did the best job..