புதிதாக எதுவும் பதிவில்லை என்று திருச்சி விஜயஷங்கர் என்னை கெட்ட கெட்ட வார்த்தையால் திட்டுகிறார் என்று நம்பத்தகுந்த வட்டாரத்திலிருந்து ஒரு தகவல் :-).

அதனால் சும்மா ஒரு மொக்கை பதிவாவது போடலாம் என்றுதான்!

அட்டைப்படம் பற்றி ரொம்பவும் விரிவாக பேசப்பட்டுள்ளது என்றாலும் இதை பற்றி பேசுவது எப்போதுமே சுவாரசியம்தான்!

Second hand comics market and Comics collection in Tamil Nadu!!!

As you all know there is a sudden increased interest in Tamil comics in the past few years. Internet has played a major part in this revival of interest. Many fans have become serious bloggers to pen their thoughts about Tamil comics. Some bloggers cover Indian as well as foreign comics (available in India) and many Tamil bloggers also cover comics in general. The underlying link between this bloggers is, they are all Tamil comics readers.

Suddenly everyone want to buy the old issues, be it Muthu/Lion or any comics for that matter. Basically they want to read whatever they have read when they were young. Unfortunately the old issues are no longer available with the publishers, so you have to rely on the second hand market to get these issues. Some get these issues from friends and known circles. The not so fortunate will resort to buying it from spurious sources. 

Whenever there is some interest in a commodity, there will be some businessmen in the scene. Some honest and some not so honest. Some downright cheats, who bank on the interest of this nostalgic fans. They exploit them for a profit, sometimes justified and sometimes unjustified. This blog is to highlight what is happening in Tamil Nadu as of now, as far as comics book selling is concerned.

I believe the price of any commodity is what the buyer is ready to pay, irrespective of what the seller/market feels as the worth of a commodity. I do not want to interfere in this process. I have already written a piece about this in my blog. But things have changed after this article.

I have heard from a friend of mine, who called me few days back to inform that he got a great bargain of Malaimathi comics. He mentioned that  for 25 issues of Malai Mathi comics he has agreed to pay Rs 20000(Yes, rupees twenty thousand). I was shocked to hear this news. As this friend is staying overseas for the past many years, he is not aware of the market. Not that I have full knowledge of the market in India, but atleast I'm better informed than this friend. Someone has pestered him for a long period to push this deal. I have told him that the price he is ready to pay is way toooooooooooooo high. Even if the book is in mint condition(i.e. as if it was released from the publisher today) it is not worth more than Rs 100. Not that I know from where you can buy all these issues. Even this price is very much on the higher side. To show that it is still possible to get Malai mathi comics, I have asked a friend of mine from another part of Tamil Nadu to buy few issues. He bought one issues in great condition and 4 issues without cover, all for Rs 5 each. I have tried to tell him in many ways that the price is too high, but my friend feels that he has given his "Word" to the greedy seller that he will buy so he cannot back out now. As he is in India now, I have told him to attend one election meeting and hear what promises the politicians give, knowing fully well that they are not going to keep it. I have told him that will give him the motivation to backtrack from this purchase. Not sure whether he will do that though!. 

Another interesting thing has happened in 2006. After I have posted my blog about Muthu Mini comics, one gentlemen has contacted me with the offer to sell the only issue missing in the post, that is issue 8, Muthal Vedhalanin Kathai. He has sent me a mail saying that he has the book, but the price expected as Rs 4000(Yes four thousand rupees). I thought he has typed one zero extra in the price, but he insisted the expected price is Rs 4000. Even if it was offered at Rs 400, in my opinion it was just not reasonable. Not sure whether he has managed to sell this book though. I have recently bought couple of Muthu Mini issues for Rs 10(without covers though).

 

While I was discussing this incident with other comic friends and bloggers, they have also mentioned that there are some people who exploit the interests of new fans, who do now have access to reliable sources. The "Raja" of Tamil comics mentioned how his friend got duped by someone whose name starts with the meaning "Azhagu". As usual this guy who wanted to buy the book was not familiar with the current market and he is a serious Lucky Luke fan. So when some one approached him with the offer to sell a Lucky Luke issue, he jumped with joy and paid Rs 500 for each issue issue of Lucky Luke. Only thing this seller did not mention was all these issues are still available with Prakash publishers for a cover price varying from Rs 5 to Rs 10. This new comics fan also proudly mentioned to the "Raja" that his new found seller is ready to sell Muthu/Lion comics in good condition for "just" Rs 100/each. Again when this seller was contacted about the list of available issues, the list came back with exactly the same issues that are in the "Virpanaikku Thayaaraga Ulla Puthakangal", published in every new issue of Muthu/Lion back pages. That is, this seller buys the book from the publishers for Rs 5 and sells to the unsuspecting new fans for Rs 100. This blog is to unmask the sellers like him and to protect the new fans. Whether I will succeed or not is not is a different issue, but I want to make an attempt. 

Whenever some one contacts me asking for the old issues, I always tell them to get in touch with Prakash Publishers(Muthu/Lion owners) first. Even the list which is printed in the back inside covers new Muthu/Lion issues are not accurate as they were printed many months back. So it is better to contact them over phone(simply a local call now-a-days) and ask for the list available. If you do not have many issues with you it is better to ask for one copy each from all the available issues of Muthu/Lion/Comics Classics. Why this is important is, the list printed as the "Virpanaikku Thayaaraga Ulla Puthakangal" will contain only the issues which are in stock with atleast 20 copies. There may be few issues which are less than 20 copies, but still available with the publisher. You can ask for the cost with postage and send a money order to them(I guess now-a-days all the banks with internet banking facility offer this service online). It is that simple.

If they do not have the issues you need, then your option is to look for these issues in the second hand shops. But this is not possible if you are outside India. Also Chennai second hand shops are dry and in places like Salem, the price has shot up to the sky.

What we can do is we can have a network of buyers and sellers who want to exchange old issues. To start with, we can have this list only for exchange basis. You may have doubles of some issues or you may want to part with one issue to get another. The will not be any sales involved in this, just bartering. Post your suggestions as to how we can go about implementing this. If you guys want, we can include sales for cash at a later date. 

But before we can do that we have to define what is the price of each issue. This is a tricky part. If you are just interested in reading the story you can get many golden stories from Comics Classics, there is no need to buy the original old issues are exorbitant prices. But if you want to collect the old issues then it is better to go for graded issues. Do you wonder what is Grading? Grading is the specification of condition of a comic book. Many of you would say, "No No, we never had anything like that in Tamil comics industry. There is nothing like preservation of comics in Tamil Nadu. Why are you starting this grading business now". Till some time back the back issues were available for few rupees, but they are sold for hundreds of rupees now. If you are expecting a price like Rs 100/200 then you better have a product worth that price. Not everything qualifies for this price tag. 

For example issue number 1 of Muthu comics in Mint condition(as if it has come out of publisher today is worth Rs 750. However the issue you have does not have first two pages and last two pages, then it is work only Rs 10. All other conditions, like issues with binding, taped, torn cover and pages, price clipped(where the price is torn by the second hand shop owner) will fit in between these two prices. 

I can give another real world example for this. Suppose you want to buy a second hand bike, will you pay the same price for the same model and make, if one has run 50000 km and looks in bad condition to another bike which was well maintained and has run just 12000km. The price should and will vary based on the usage and condition right? Just because one comic book purchased by some one for Rs 500 in mint condition, does not make your book which does not have first and last few pages to be sold for the same price. If you think your book value is same as the one in mint condition, you must be dreaming!!! Wake up!!!

Sadly this seems to be the case as of now. Somewhere, someone has bought few comics for a good price based on the condition of the book. Now everyone feels that even if they have few pages of the whole book, the value is same as the one which was sold in mint condition.

I think the time has come to demand the rights of the comics buyer, who is willing to pay huge price. He should be entitled to get a good quality product in return. It is time to empower him with this knowledge.

 

You can ask, who are you to fix a price like this and what is in it for me? Well the answer is, this is a qualitative decision and a personal opinion. I'm entitled for my personal opinion right, whether you agree with it or not. I do hope that some one from the small remote village in Tamil Nadu who has got a good collection gets benefited by this list, if he decides to sell his collection and if he searches the internet before selling(hopefully). I also hope that the Lucky Luke fan like the one who has paid Rs 500 for a book Worth only Rs 5, gets to read this blog before he shells out money on Tamil comics.

You may or may not agree with me, saying that please let me know the source from where I can buy the comics at this price. My answer is "Search on your own, but keep this price list as a reference". You may or may not get the issue you want at the price mentioned in the list, but these are the guidelines. If you get anything less than the price mentioned in the list, then be Happy. If you are paying above the listed price, then don't deviate too much from the listed price.

Next let me explain how this prices are determined. They are based on the price at which I and my friends have purchased the comics in the recent past and a bit of judgement based on my years of comics collecting experience. As I do not live in India my info could be slightly out-of-date, but most part should be fine I guess. If you have any reason to believe that the price is not correct or grossly inaccurate then please drop a note to me, either in the comments section here or by email. Or if you feel that publishing a price is a stupid idea, just laugh it off.

Here are the tips on preservation for those who are new to Comics Collection. The idea is, the book should be as close to the original condition as possible.

1. Never alter the state of the book in anyway. 

2. Do not tear the price from the cover(tell this to the book shops from where you buy the back issues regularly)

3. Do not bind the book

4. Do not paste cello tape on the cover(however damaged the book is). 

Here is the list of do's on preservation:

1. Keep the comics in a plastic cover, if possible with a card board back up and store them vertically(never horizontally, as the book tends to curl up when stored this way). Do not remove from book from the plastic cover unless required.

2. Store the comics away from Sun light or bright light. 

3. Use book marks when reading, instead of folding the corners.

And here is a printed article about comics preservation with a photo of a comic book with a plastic sleeve and backup board. A picture says more than thousand words!!!

Before we close this topic, let me clarify about a rumour that is doing rounds, saying that someone is reprinting the old Muthu issues again for Rs 100. I was told that about 100 Muthu comics issues were printed like this. But when I have asked whether I can get a copy I was told it is not available now. So this is what it is, just a rumour. No one can sell the copyrighted material without the owner's permission(Prakash Publishers). If I come across anyone who is doing this I would not hesitate to pass the info across to the copyright owners. I encourage you to do the same. Let us all work together to preserve a medium we all love.

And where is the price list? Well, it is under preparation and will appear in this blog soon. Meanwhile I want to know your opinion about the issues posted above.

Happy Reading!!

Regards,

Muthufan

It is no secret that most of the Muthu/Lion issues were originally created in English or from issues translated to English. Steel Claw, Johnny Nero, Modesty, Mandrake are the examples of the first category. Tex Willer, Captain Tiger, Iznogoud are the examples of the later. There is a third category, where the originals are never published in English, but stratightaway moved to Tamil. Reporter Johnny, Bruno Brazil, Chick Bill are the examples of this category.

In many cases, though the originals are non-English, still we have managed to get only the stories that were published in English. Captain Tiger(Blueberry), Mathi Illa Manthiri(Iznogoud), and to a large extent the initial Tex Willer stories were the examples of these. Reason for this could be that, is it is easy to translate from English to Tamil, than taking the French --> English --> Tamil route. Or the editor likes to translate the stories he has read and liked in English language. This is just my analysis, rather guess.

Editor Vijayan has mentioned about the English originals many times in the Hot Line and in Singathin Siruvayadhil. And we had a long discussion about the English originals of Captain Tiger in the now defunct Lioncomics.com site as well. 

I have started collecting the English originals of Muthu/Lion from 2000 onwards. Almost a decade later, now I have a sizeable English collection (with a sizaeable whole in the bank balance). It started with Australian Frew Comics(for Phantom), followed by Quality Comics(Steel Claw), Fleetway Super Libraries (Steel Claw, Johnny Nero, Lawrence David and Spider), Iznogoud(Mathiilla manthiri), Blueberry(Captain Tiger). I never knew there was a English series of Tex Willer till I came across one book from a second hand shop(the famous Alwar Book Shop) in Mylapore in 2001. It was the first issue of Tex Willer in English pulished in 1970's in UK. Take a look at the cover of this issue.

This book is the part 1 of the story which appeared in one of the Lion issue, titled "Irumbu Kuthirayin Paathayil". Though the book was is very bad condition, it showed me that English version of Tex Willer is indeed available. I wanted to have the original of Thalai Vaangi Kurangu, first Tex Willer issue in Tamil(Lion Issue No 19), if it was published in this series. And my hunt has started. Take a look at the cover of this issue.

Then I came across a site which has listed out all the English issues of Tex Willer. Link below:

http://home.wanadoo.nl/texwiller/tex_in_engeland_UK.htm

Now I know my target number, it is just 14 issues. It sounded quite small, but at that time I never expected that it would take around 7 years to complete this collection.  Ezharai(7 1/2) Naattu Sani?

Though I have managed to get the other English issues regularly from many sources, the English issues of Tex Willer have remained elusive. I used to get about one issue per year. In 5 years I have managed to get 7 issues(1,2,3,4,7,10 & 11). In one of these issues, was the ever popular Dragon Nagaram story(Lion issue 50). But I was always on the look out for the original story of Thalai Vaangi Kurangu. 

I was not even sure whether this was ever published in English in this series. The title of the stories mentioned in the above mentioned site did not help in this matter. In 2005/2006 Singathin Siruvayathil, Vijayan has mentioned (Singathin Siruvayathi part 4, see below) that the originals of some of the Tex Willer stories were from this series, but he has not mentioned clearly as to whether the Thalai Vaangi Kurangu was ever published in this series. And this story has not appeared in any of the issues I have managed to buy so far. So it was always a thrill for me to wait for the Tex Willer issue I buy on the internet(mostly from ebay). First thing I check will be, whether the Thalai Vaangi Kurangu is there or not. Normally in each issue one story will end and another will start. Still no luck with the original of this story. This wait went on and on. 

In 2006 there was an auction in EBay for all the 14 issues. Unfortunately the seller was very specific that he will post it his local addresses(UK) only. I tried to convince him that he will get a better deal, if he agrees for International delivery, but no luck. At that time I was in Singapore. Luckily for me, a friend if mine got posted in UK for a short assignment. I have reluctantly approached him whether I can use his address for payment and delivery. He has agreed. I thought I can get all the issues now. But unfortunately I was outbid at the very last moment. The bidding war took me to 75 pounds, but still couldn't win this lot. So the disappointment continued. 

Then I have moved to middle east, and bought two more issues(8 & 12) in the 1.5 years I was there. Even these issues did not have the Thalai Vaangi Kurangu story. The collected issue numbers at this point of time(2007) was 1,2,3,4,7,8,10,11 & 12. So if the Thalai Vaangi Kurangu was ever published in this series, it has to be either in 5 & 6 or in 13 & 14. Remember a story starts in one issue and ends in the next issue. My frustrations continued.

And last month(Oct 2008) one more auction took place in EBay for all the 14 issues. This time I was determined to get these issues, though I needed only 5 from this lot. Once again a bidding war has ensured that I did not get them cheaply. But I did win the lot. Last week I have received this lot by post. I heaved a big sigh of relief when I have opened the issue number 5.My wait of almost 7 years is now over. The story(Thalai Vaangi Kurangu) has started in this issue and ended in issue no 6. Cover scan of these issues are below.

First page of this story.

I will go through all the 14 issues now and cross check the stories with the Lion issues and post about them soon. This series is as important as the Fleetway Super Library issues. If Fleetway Super Library series is important to know the history of Muthu, then this series is important from Lion's point of view.

Trivia : In every issue, the third page will always have this picture.

The same was used in few issues in Tamil as well.

And interestingly something similar was drawn in color by Prakash Publishers. This picture was taken from their archives. I remember seeing this in one of the Tex Willer issue as back cover, not sure which one though. 

By the way, the only other English Tex Willer was published in 2004. Do you know that we(Tamil readers) are the first to read the story in full. Because the four part original English story(by Joe Kubert) was never completed. It stopped with the publication of first issue in 2004(by Dark Horse publishing). Only after Prakash Publishers released it (Saitha Vettai), it got published in Italian and in English in full. This book can be purchased directly from Joe Kubert(URL given below).

http://www.kubertsworld.com/texBook.html

My next write-up will be cross referencing the English Tex Will er issues with Tamil issues.

Whenever the gap is long between my posts, I used to feel very bad for letting down the fellow comic fans. No longer. With the tamil comics blogosphere in full steam ahead, I feel relieved and happy. Viswa, Dr Seven, Rafiq, Ayyampalayam, Kakokaku, Muthalaipattalam, Sharehunter etc are all doing an excellant job. Keep it up guys.

  

As usual post your comments below my signature.

Happy reading!!!

Regards,

Muthufan

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

Kolaikaara Kalaigan!!!!

This first ever Johnny Nero issue from Muthu, has got nothing to do with any of the political leader of Tamil Nadu, past or present.

Someone mentioned in one of the comments section of this blog, about the discussion he (over)heard, when this issue was released in 70s. Current CM was the CM at that time as well. So I guess you can make out the contents of their discussion. But I guess nothing much(of controversy) was made of this topic then (even now, as there was a Comics Classics issue as late as 2003/04) with the same title. Good for us and good for the publishers. :-)

I think the story line will give a better idea, as to why this has got nothing to do with political figures.

Accidental deaths take place one after other in France. In Oorleans, it was Pierre the postman, then it was Hans clipper the newspaper reporter and then in Naples, it was father Roger. There was no connection between these "accidental" deaths, except they all worked for Britain against the nazis in the second world war and the timing of the deaths coincide with the visit of Kohli circus to the city where they lived & died. British intelligence agency gets interested in this and they suspect Sir George, who has access to the secret info about the agents. He vanishes mysteriously with those files. Johnny Nero was asked to follow Sir George, but Sir George himself is only a black mailed pawn in this deadly game. The trial leads to the manager of a wax museum who tries to kill Sir George and Johnny Nero by lighting fire to the wax exhibits. However the manager leaves a trail by way of a cloth worn by circus clowns. Johnny immediately closes on the next target who happens to be the mayor of Leons where the circus is currently performing. Though he couldn't stop the killing of the mayor, he manages to nab the Kolaikaara Circus Kalaigan, Jospeh Krannen who was a ex-nazi, who wants to take revence on all the agents who worked against the nazi Germany. Typical war time story, but with the twists and turns at every stage, it is really gripping. No wonder this got published in Muthu thrice.

This was issue number 9 released in 1972/73. I do not have the original with me, so I'm not sure about the exact date. Most probably Dec 1972.

Take a look at the cover.

Cover courtesy and other Tamil scans below, by Dr Sathish, Kovai. Thank you Doctor.

This was later reprinted during 80s. Take a look at the cover of the reprint.

And it was re-reprinted in 2003/04 in the Comics Classics series. Issue number 15. Take a look at the CC cover. The second story in this issue was Vinnil Maraintha Vimanagal. The cover for this CC is different from other covers. This one was slightly hard cover(like the ones used for Muthu/Lion now). I like this kind of covers very much, as it would help to preserve the comics for a long time. Unfortunately the editor did not use this kind of cover after this issue. Thos who want to buy this CC issues, please get in touch with the Muthu Comics office, as they may still have this issue for sale.

This story was originally published in the Secret Agent series in Mar 1967, issue number 5. Take a look at the cover, sample scans and the corresponding pages from the Muthu issue.

Last few pages of this Fleetway issue which featured Sporty(Vichu Kichu in Tamil) is below. Enjoy!

And here is something linked to the CC issue :-)

As usual post your comments below my signature using the "Comments" link or by mail to muthufan@yahoo.com.

Happy reading!!!

Regards,

Muthufan

I'm sure you are surprised to see another posting immediately (by my standards) after the last one :-)

This January(2008), when I was in India Mr Haja Ismail(Saudi Arabia), a long time comics enthusiast, visited me. I'm meeting him after fours years. Our last meeting was in Saudi Arabia in 2004. Though we talk regularly over phone, meeting in person is something special. We had a long discussion about, you guessed right, Comics.

He has shown me many interesting comics memorablia, which he has collected over the years, first as a distributor and then as a collector. Some of the things are really rare, like the posters, sample covers etc, meant only for the book shops and distributors. Lucky fellow!!!

Whatever he has in his collection is scanned to the extent possible, and they will feature in the forthcoming blog posts here. A big thanks to him!!!.

First to come is the ads for the Muthu and other comic issues, that have appeared in old Kalkandu, Gokulam issues.











I'm sure many of you feel very nostalgic about the issues advertised.

One has the cover scan of Malaimathi Comics(in Black & White though). I have few covers of Malaimathi Comics, collected from many sources. I'll post them soon. Couple of the covers are posted below, as a teaser preview :-)





Happy reading!!!

Muthufan

I have been collecting the English originals of the Muthu and Lion group for some time now. Though the condition of the books I have managed to buy so far is far better than their Tamil counterparts, there is somthing missing in them. Yes, it is the language. Though the fluency and originality is there in the English versions, nothing comes near to the thrill of reading them in Tamil. I'm sure many of you out there wil feel the same way.

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