Friday, September 26, 2008

This posting is for Saleem in response to his request.

Panitheevin Dhevathikal was relased on 01 May 1978. Issue number was 74. Art looks like Al Williamson's work.

Story line : A handwritten copy of a story written by Ambrose Glyde(who died in 1912) from a Museum in USA. The writer claims that he met a race of people ruled by gods(Dhevadhaikal) when his ships sinks near an uninhibited island in Antarctic sea. The suspect is Prof Jonathan who has actually opposed for the book to be displayed in the exhibition. Though he opposed that the story is untrue not worhty of featuring in the exhition, he knows that the story is true. He was mote interested in knowing about the maching which featured in the story. This maching generates electricity using the rocks and sand quarried in the cold Antarctic climate. Prof Jonathan is interested in mastering the technology for his commercial gains. With the help of the book he searches and finds the island in the book. Philip Corrigan who was entruested with the job of finding the book is closely on his heels with the grand daughter(Theresa Glyde) of Ambrose Glyde. They all manage to reach the island but Prof Jonathan does not live to get the secret of the machine as the whole island sinks beneath sea when he activates machine as the earth becomes too weak because of years of excavation. Corrigan and Theresa managed to escape from the island before it is destroyed. Typical science fiction like Jules Verne etc, but made interesting with the elements of theft, murder and conspiracy all thrown in good measures.

Here is the front and back cover of this issue.



This story was published in Mekala comics in Jul 95 under the title Maaya Vimanam. Here is the cover of this issue.
But there is a huge variation in the presentation of this story, apart from the quality of translation.

Looks like Mekala has done some heavy editing. The first page of Mekala was infact page number 7 in Muthu. Take a look at both these pages below(First one is Mekala's first page and the second one is page 7 from Muthu).

The first few pages of Muthu were compressed by Mekala in this first page.

Take a look at the first two pages of Muthu.

End, however is same in both the issues. As usual muthu has printed almost the entire story in two colors except the last page. Take a look at the last page of this issue and the equivalent in Mekala.


This issue was followed by Mugamoodi Kalvarkal(Phantom). Ad featured for this issue is here.

All the sample scans in this posting were provided by Dr Sathish, Kovai. A big thanks Doctor!!!

Before signing off, I would like to welcome the new kid on the block. Mr Viswa has started his blog about Tamil comics. Link is given below.

http://tamilcomicsulagam.blogspot.com/

Welcome Viswa. It is encouraging to see many bloggers writing about Tamil comics. Sadly the same enthu is not shown by the publishers :-(

You can expect a write-up about Mekala comics from him soon. I understand he is already working on this.

Well, thats all for now dear readers. As usual post your comments below my signature or send mail to muthufan"at"ahoo.com.

Happy reading.

Muthufan

15 comments:

Rafiq Raja said...

Finally, Muthufan makes a comeback. Welcome Back MF.

Another Vintage scans and review. I never read the Muthu Comics version of this story, as the release date is even before I was born :). Luckily, I have the Mekala Comics which was released later. I should say that Mekala while it was in publication (I remember there were 4 issues in total), were printing comics in quality white papers, and with laminated hard cover. But somehow, the translation was not intriguing enough. Also the story plot was little distorted, which I understand now is because of the Editing. Viswa should be covering them in detail in his blog as promised, very soon. Overall Corrigan stories were something to cherish during those days.

So, Saleem's wish is fulfilled. Congrats, Saleem.

Rafiq Raja
CómicólógY

King Viswa said...

Dear Muthu Fan,

Thanks for the wonderful post. Have been waiting for this for long. By the way, Thanks a Ton for mentioning about (y)our Blog.

Vashishtar Vaayal Bramma Rishi Pattam.

Rafiq: Actually there were 9 issues that got published & am wondering how you got your facts wrong here.

Because, as for as i know, In the comics Excel Sheet that you have been maintainig, You have a Page called Tamil Classics; in which there is a header as 7th in Row Number 103 where you have mentioned all the meghala comics titles.

Anyway, i will be doing a review on each one of them in the 1st week of October 2008.

King Viswa
www.tamilcomicsulagam.blogspot.com

Karthik Somalinga said...

Dear மும்மூர்த்திகளே [Muthufan, Rafiq & Viswa],

You guys are doing a GREAT job!!!

The time you spend on each post is beyond my imagination... guys how do you manage to find time!!! I feel ashamed I don't even try to dig out sometime to put a decent half pager comments :(

And for the first time I am logging in with my Gmail ID and leaving a comment :)

A big thank you to 3 of you for rekindling the memories...

A request:
Can you please share the comics inventory spreadsheet you maintain?

A question:
"Yours truely"?? why is this phrase appearing often in between the blog entries of Rafiq and Viswa??

Best regards,
Karthik S S
Bangalore

Rafiq Raja said...

Hehehehe... my mistake. I forgot to check my worksheet before posting. I never considered them mainstream, so didn't recollect the number of issues. Would be eager to see the post about them. Being from such a big publishing company in South India, atleast I would have hoped them to continue for little longer.

Anonymous said...

அற்புதமான பதிவு, பொடியனாக இருந்தபோது படித்தது இதில் காரிகன் கொதிநிலையில் பானம் அருந்தும் நபரை மனிதன் இல்லை என கணிப்பது இன்னும் மனதில் பசுமையாக உள்ளது.முத்துவிசிறிக்கு என் நன்றிகள்.விஸ்வராஜாவும் தமிழ் காமிக்ஸ் உலகம் மூலம் கலக்குகிறார்,ரபீக்ராஜாவும் ரவுண்ட் கட்டி அடிக்க, கொண்டாடுவோம்

Anonymous said...

Thank you muthufan for this amazing article and also for helping me rediscover this wonderful story. I had forgotten what this story was about till I read your article today, but I have thought about this fabulous title for a long long time now.

I am very grateful to you for at the least three things. First and most recent is this article about one of my favorite corrigan issues. Second, your write up on "Pudhayal vettai" and the third for sending me cover scans of "Manjal poo marmam" and "beirutil johnny".

Mr. Comics Kadhalan has referred to you, viswa and Rafiq as "Mummoorthigal". I want to include two other comics greats who don't have blogs at this time, namely Mr. Haja Ismail in Saudi Arabia and Mr. Sathish in coimbatore and confer a collective honor on all of you as "the fabulous five" and "the fantastic five". (These titles are inspired by the "fab four" referring to cricketers Tendulkar, Dravid, Ganguly and Laxman, and the second the famous comics and recent movie fantastic four".)

I visit Rafiq's comicology site and Viswa's Tamil comics ulagam site almost every day. I always thought that no one could match muthufan's articles, but I must say Rafiq and Viswa's write ups are as great as muthu fan's. Since I have been in India for several weeks now, and my internet connection is slow, I have not left comments there.

Finally, responding to the comment right above mine which is written in wonderful tamil, the unforgettabe scene where the villain nonchalantly gulps down steaming hot coffee is from the comics book "bayangaravaathi doctor seven" and that story much like "pani theevin dhevadhaigal" is science fiction based and takes place in a remote cold place.

Saleem.

Blogger said...

very nice post on the mekhala comics / muthu comics comparison. i used to read this comics very often in 1995-96. i thought they were good ones.

infact, they were better than the indrajaal comics versions of corrigan. they have edited those stories badly.

Rafiq Raja said...

முதலில், காமிக்ஸ் காதலன் 'க்கு ஒரு நன்றி.

Saleem, Just noticed your comment now, since I forgot to subscribe for follow-up comments. Thanks for those warm words on my blog.

By the way, in case if anyone didn't notice: Dr.Sathish has his own blog finally. And Mr.Haja is planning for a series of Comics by next year.

ரஃபிக் ராஜா
காமிக்கியல்
- "ஒரு காமிக்ஸ் ஆராய்ச்சி கூடம்"

Rafiq Raja said...

Hi All,

Muthu #310 is finally out, and I received my subscription copy yesterday.

Have a sneak preview, in my blog for the same, and don't forget to leave some comments.

Rafiq Raja
ÇómícólógÝ
- "Comics, Comics, Everywhere"

Anonymous said...

முத்து பான் அவர்களே,

அடுத்த இடுகை எப்போது?

அம்மா ஆசை இரவுகள்.

Rafiq Raja said...

The Godfather of Tamil Comics, Mr. S.Vijayan, has finally made his presence on the Blogosphere, and has put rest to many questions surrounding the Lion/Muthu Comics format or price changes, with his comment over here: http://comicology.blogspot.com/2008/11/lion-comics-205-tex-willer-nov.html, have a look.

Rafiq Raja
ÇómícólógÝ

ரஃபிக் ராஜா said...

அன்புடையீர், மிகவும் எதிர்பார்க்கப்பட்ட ராணி காமிக்ஸ் பற்றிய ஒரு பிரத்யேக தமிழ் வலைபூ கூட்டு முயற்சியில் ஆரம்பிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது http://ranicomics.blogspot.com

வருகை தந்து, தங்கள் மேன்மையான கருத்துக்களை பதியுமாறு கேட்டு கொள்கிறோம்.

ஒலக காமிக்ஸ் ரசிகன் said...

காமிக்ஸ் உலக நண்பர்களே,

தமிழக காமிக்ஸ் உலகில் உள்ள பல தவறான கருத்துக்களை மாற்றவும், உண்மையான தலை சிறந்த காமிக்ஸ்களை உங்களுக்கு எடுத்து காட்டவும் ஒரு புதிய வலைப்பூவை துவக்கி உள்ளேன்.

சற்றும் சிரமம் பாராமல் வந்து உங்களின் மேலான எண்ணங்களை தெரிவியுங்களேன்.

அன்புடன்,

உலக காமிக்ஸ் ரசிகன்.

Greatest Ever Comics தலை சிறந்த காமிக்ஸ்கள்

Unknown said...

Hi boss, you've done an amazing job. I was damn happy to see the fan site for my most favorite comics.

However, i've set a facebook club for Lion/Muthu and all other comics.

Please visit the group and invite your friends.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=37137139775

Adios Amigo.

காமிக்ஸ் பிரியன் said...

நல்வாழ்த்துக்கள் தோழர் சமுகத்திர்க்கு

மினி லயன் காமிக்ஸில் தோன்றி நமது மனதை எல்லாம் கொள்ளை அடித்த குண்டன் பில்லி பற்றிய ஒரு முழு பதிவு என்னுடைய வலைப் பூவில் இடப்பட்டுள்ளது. அதனை படிக்க இங்கே க்ளிக் செய்யவும்:

http://kakokaku.blogspot.com/2008/12/blog-post.html

தயவு செய்து இந்த பதிவை படித்து விட்டு உங்கள் மேம்பட்ட கருத்துக்களை பின்னூட்டமாக இட்டுச்செல்லுங்கள்.

நன்றியுடன்,

க.கொ.க.கூ.