The Lost WORLD: March 2014

For Those Who Came in LATE....

March...
1964...
A NEW Times of India Publication,a comic-magazine(then monthly) was launched in India,titled Indrajal Comics.....

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JAN...
1966...
Bengali version was started off,been 22 issues behind of the pioneer issue...

And since then for almost 3 decades the generations of Indian kids and teens(and grown-ups as well) were mesmerized by this series,it's enchanting presentation that incld. exciting tales and much more!

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May...
1990...
27th year of publication...

Indrajal Comics was officially ~~killed~~ cancelled - a sudden decision made by the publisher ...
The last issue, featured the last hero introduced in the Indrajal universe - Dara - was released on 16th April,1990...

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the AFTERMATH...
JUNE'1990..1992..1995..1999...2002...2005..2007..2012..2013..2014....and the coming years.....

College Street of Kolkata...
Dariya Ganj of Delhi....
Fort Market of Mumbai....
Abids' of Hyderabad....

AND 1000s of other old-book-shops throughout the India WERE (AND still ARE) RANSACKED by millions of BOOKWORMS known as Indrajal-Addicts.....and a research revealed : older they are crazier they act!!!
AND THE HUNT IS STILL ON !!!
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PRESENT DAYS:

March...
2014...

Today Indrajal Comics completes it's 50 years of existence !

A true immortal series it was.....fans proved the fact by their act even after 2 decades of the 'sudden death'!
In short,Indrajal was NOT just another comic-series for us,the readers.....it was much beyond that....Forget about the cover-titles,one will have a good time with few 100s of Indrajals just by reading the informative articles/side-strips alone(or looking at the old advertisements and relieve the nostalgia!)....
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BACK to the PAST :

Way back in the '60s, ToI decide to promote their newly launched series and that was not tough for them as they were one of the top publishers in India back then,already owned one of the popular magazines : Illustrated Weekly India where Phantom was introduced much earlier that we have him in the pages of Indrajal!
Initially they heavily relied on Falk's Phantom(Betal) and Walt Disney's stories.With passing years they finally settled their target heroes : Phantom,Mandrake,Flash Gordon!They in the late'70s they introduced an Indian hero : Bahadur, just to give the series a more Indian feel and readers,a variety!
Later on,we have few more western and Indian heroes(namely Garth,Lt.Drake,Rip Kirby,Buz,Corrigan,Aditya & Dara) and some had a good impact on fans' mind but the highlighted ones remain the same - that is, the Fantastic Four!

Here you can see few very early advertisements of Indrajal...published in the '60s issues of Illustrated Weekly of India (image courtesy Kevin Patrick - a Phantom researcher) :

The Indrajal ads used to appear in the Bengali teen-mag Anandamela in the in '70s are the best among the lot I have even seen...A brief story-synopsis followed by the titles and art of the featuring heroes were always present in those pages! These kind of ads surely did enhance the readers' interest many folds!(Those who can't read Bengali will easily guess the titles from the art.)

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Once Again...Back to the PRESENT:

ON THIS SPECIAL MEMORABLE OCCASION LET'S CONSIDER THE WHOLE March of 2014 AS "Month of Indrajal Comics" and hopefully other bloggers will carry forward the celebration as well....
So I WILL POST some selected Indrajal Issues in this post in the three languages I prefer to read i.e. Bengali,English & Hindi(in the order of preference) as follows :

Comic #109 : A Bengali Betal Indrajal : রহস্যময় প্রতিশোধ (সংখ্যা ২০৯ ; ১৯৭৫)

এই ইন্দ্রজালটিতে বেতালের দু'টো গল্প আছে। দ্বিতীয়টিও মরুভূমির প্রেক্ষাপটে....নাম "মরুভূমির আতঙ্ক"।
দুটিই লি ফকের অনবদ্য সৃষ্টি, তবে প্রথম গল্পটির প্লট অনন্য যা প্রতিবার পড়ার পর এক অদ্ভূত অনুভূতি নিয়ে আসে!! মরুভূমিতে একাকী এক পুরুষ আর তার অভিনব(এবং ভয়ঙ্কর) প্রতিশোধের পরিকল্পনা....

বেতাল সেই 'বাজ প্রশিক্ষক'-এর দৃষ্টিভঙ্গিকে সমর্থন না করলেও আমরা,পাঠকরা, না করে থাকতে পারিনি। তাই নয় কি??
এমনকি বেতালও শেষে বিভ্রান্ত হয়ে যায়...

দ্বিতীয় গল্পটি ছোটো কিন্তু বেশ ভালো...আর শেষটা অনবদ্য, যা চলমান অশরীরীর রহস্যময়তাকে আরো একবার ফুটিয়ে তোলে...

DOWNLOAD রহস্যময় প্রতিশোধ

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Comic #110 : An English Dara Indrajal : The Enemy Agent (Vol.25 No.43 ; 1988)

This was the introductory tale of this Indian James Bond who did a good job!
Must admit,the plot was perfect set-up for Dara to introduce in the Indrajal's prestigious universe of heroes and super-heroes...
You will see how he nabbed a cunning traitor..