Recently I have come across a book in an old book shop, which attracted my attention. It is the first English issue of Steel Claw(Irumbukkai Maayavi) by Muthu comics. We have seen about this issue elsewhere in this blog. Take a look at the original cover of this English issue and the Tamil issue(first Muthu issue).
Note, the English comics is named "Moti Comics".
Coming back to the story, this book definitely looked much bigger than the English or Tamil issue. I have opened the pages and to my amusement I have found that the entire book has been translated, literally. Somebody has pasted the Tamil dialogues over the original English texts. Not on one or two pages, but in each and every page of the book. I was amazed by this guy's patience and interest. I do not know the reason why he has done it, but it is very interesting to see this issue.
Take a look at some of the pages, in Tamil(first issue), same page in English and the Tamil/English version.
Page Number 7
Page Numbers 32 and 33
Page Numbers 56 and 57
Page Number 100 and 101
Last Page 122
Few years back I have bought a French Lucky Luke for a friend of Mr RT Murugan. The issue is Billy the Kid(much before the current English version was released). At that time I have asked him, who is the guy living in Karur who is capable of reading a French comic. He said the person wants the book not to read in French, but to read in Tamil. He mentioned that the person will do a laser printing of the Tamil text from the Bayangara Podiyan issue(Lion issue 42 - Lion Super Special) and paste them over the French texts. I thought he was just pulling my leg. After seeing this Steel claw issue, I realise that it may be true. I have seen many comics fans so far, but this guy takes the cake. As the writings in Tamil follows the old style Tamil writing, I guess this was done end 70s before the Tamil Nadu government has changed the writing styles. Specifically look for the letters 'lai/nai'(page 32 bottom panel)
By the way friends, few months back I have moved to the land of our former rulers. I will be here for few more months, if not years. I hope to complete the originals buying during this period, specifically originals of the golden age issues of Muthu/Lion. My shopping is going on at full swing. So far I have found few issues of Steel Claw and Spider, which are not yet published in Tamil. I'll post about these stories soon. I may be wrong, as I do not remember about all the issues in Tamil. I need to verify this first(that they are not yet printed in Tamil), than cutting a sorry figure later on :-)
Stay tuned for more postings soon.
Muthufan
7 comments:
Its very happy and surprise to see Muthu fan again in his blog.
Well, I wouldn't call the blog post a surprise, since I was in touch with MuthuFan personally, and knew about the delay due to his job and location shift. People say that a location change gets you out of your comfort zone, and that obviously would have resulted in this hibernation of his.
Anyways, good to see a post finally from him.
Nice Post Muthufan. If only that fan who transcripted the entire book, is reading this blog too... But seeing the time at which was translated, he might be too old for the web (hope I am proved wrong). Good that his unknown effort is finally documented in a web page.
By the way, is that Karur Fan you referred the infamous Raghu of Star Comics ?? :)
Best of Luck for your Collection in Queen's Country, and looking forward for your future posts.
Adios Amigo
Thank you for sharing info about this rare issue.
You are probably the only collector in the world who has all three rare issues, Fleetway's original first steel claw issue, Muthu comics first issue, and this copy of Raiders of FEAR.
It is nice to see all the interesting scans. Thanks again.
Saleem.
This is some great info. I just found out about this Blog. Sir, could you tell me where we can search for old comics in Chennai. Any stores you would recommend. I am looking for old biggles and old famous five comics that I read as a kid in the late 70s...
Thank you very much Sir,
-K
Hi
Is it possible to write somthing on our super hero’s presence in Albion comics? Does Lion comics having any plan to publish in Tamil?
Rafiq - No, Raghu is not the Karur fan referred in the article.
Saleem - I do not have all three issues, I have the Tamil and Tamil/English version. The English scan you see on the site, courtesy RT Murugan, Chennai and Dr Sathish, Kovai.
K - There is no single place from where you can get our old issues. You can try your luck in Lilypond Complex, Eswari Lending Library, and any old lending libraries. But you need to visit the places regularly to get something nice once in a while. Best wishes.
Siv - I hope the editor decides against publishing the new Albion in Tamil. In my opinion it is just crap, not worth the paper in which it is printed. Created by someone who does not have a feel about the characters. The book is in the lines of the American superheroes junk.
Regards,
Muthufan
Hello
Surprising that someone is so keen on Irumbu Kai Mayavi - a comic I enjoyed reading in my childhood days.
Do you have the complete scanned copies of it? I have searched all over Chennai and online but unable to get any copies.
Regards.
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