C & C - Childhood staple

Do you remember, "The ghost who walks"? If you don't, let me refresh your memory.  Here he is. Ta da!

You never find The Phantom, he finds YOU - Old Jungle Saying. 
(Source: Google Images)

Do you remember now? NOW???

The earliest I remember my laying hands on comics was when I came across an Indrajal book featuring The Phantom.  Suddenly, a whole new world opened up for me! I had found a new hero!

Bookworm by nature, I was curious about the storyline and the characters. One read and I was hooked. Slowly, Indrajal editions made their way regularly to my bookshelf.

The adventures of Phantom, his skull cave, the horse Hero, the wolf Devil, Guran, his superwoman wife Diana, all those villians and the old Jungle Sayings (here's a spoof on one of them : when the Phantom farts, the jungle rots) fired the imagination. Mandrake, Lother and Hojo with their superlative powers, the beautiful girlfriends Narda & Karma who were also quite accomplished and their home 'Xanadu' also left their impressions. Then came along Flash Gordon, Dale and Dr. Zarkhov and their space adventures. Then it was the turn of Bahadur & his girlfriend Bela followed by Rip Kirby, the sauve detective, with very non-superlative qualities. but they all had one common thing. They fought the evil.

Source : Google Images

Other books appeared on the horizon like Amar Chitra Katha series, Tinkle, Chandamama, Champak and Disney. These, especially the Amar Chitra Katha series,  provided the visuals for all the mythological stories we had till then only heard and imagined. The sibling and I even got a “volume” of this series. Tinkle was amazing with the Anu Club stories, the eternal fight between Raja Hooja and his scheming minister, Kalia the crow always on the alert to help animals in distress and finally Suppandi providing the “comic” relief. Chandamama introduced me to Vikram and Betal. Amazing set of stories each one teaching the right way to lead life, in such a simple form. Champak was filled with all those little stories.

Disney introduced me to Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Minnie Mouse, Daisy Duck, Pluto, Goofy, Uncle Scrooge and gave a tiny insight to the American way of life. This was furthered by the advent of Archie, Richie Rich and Little Lotta (who was not so little) comics which added new dimensions to our glee.

Source : Google Images

The television made its appearance in our living room and then the series on Spiderman had us riveted on Sunday mornings. Then came along the Disney cartoons, Tom and Jerry and so on. The cute-sy Disney cartoons have managed to hold their sway over me, even today. The creativity is just mind-boggling.

There was a slow graduation to the adventures of Tintin. Tintin, Professor Calculus and Captain Haddock introduced the British way of life. Then, Asterix and Obelix happened, taking me to the amazing world of puns & early Europe.

The sibling, cousins, and I, struck mother lode when a library opened close by. This library had rows and rows of these books. Need I say more? Many a lazy summer afternoons were spent in browsing through the adventures of all our favourite heroes and heroines accompanied by something to munch on.. The same adventures were visited repeatedly with absolutely no signs of boredom!

Every single comic I have read and cartoon I have watched, has shaped my language, thinking and expanded my knowledge in someway or the other.

Though all of us are “technically”  past the “cartoons and comics” age, none of us can resist the magical pull of these comics and cartoons even today, even if we have read them hundreds of times. 

Here's to all the comics & cartoons of the world and their creators! 

You rock! 

This post is for A-Z Challenge 2014.