#Comic No.100:New Year Post

A very warm and Happy New Year (2009) to all of my visitors, friends, contributors and comic lovers at all over the word. May our heartiest ambitions may be fulfilled this year, may our country be a much better place to live in.

**नया साल बहुत बहुत मुबारक हो **

Well, today is a double celebration moment as today is the 100^th comic post being posted on joyous moment of arrival of New Year. Though, technically more than 100 comics have been already posted as CW used to post both versions of comics in its initial stage.

When CW was born on 4^th Feb.2007 it was not expected at all it to go so long to complete almost 2 years, as after arrival of CW a quite few other fabulous comic blogs also came into picture and shared the load of posting comics hence it was supposed that the Indrajal quota (of 803 comics) will soon be depleted thus putting curtains over all comic blogs but the quota is still isn’t depleted yet and a few blogs are also inactive hence leaving room for the remaining blogs to carry on.

The comic-trilogy which reveals the identity of Octon was being demanded by many comic lovers from a long time,its being presented now.The 2nd and 3rd part are scanned and generously contributed by TPH for CW's 100th post for which i am very much thankful to him,whereas the 1st part is scanned by me.

While going through a Phantom Fan forum thread I came across with an interesting topic, which was “Why do you love/like Phantom?” indeed it’s an interesting topic that why we love Phantom. After going through my thoughts over Phantom I have these following points over which I can say why I love Phantom:

1. He fights against cruelty, injustice and evil though he has no superpowers, in fact he is a common man and as common as any of the person reading this post.

2. He uses effectively the powers which a common man can enhance and sharpen such as wits, strength and a quick decision taking ability.

3. He uses circumstances and myths to strike fear in evildoers mind and use it to the fullest in fight with them.

4. He was a loyal lover and is a faithful, dedicated husband and loving father.

5. He loves animals and is the most efficient animal conserver and trainer.

6. He love human life and thus never kills any human.

7. He is a follower and staunch supporter of democracy and human rights.

8. He is well educated and equipped with well up to date modern information.

9. He is not materialistic, proudy, arrogant and greedy at all though perhaps he is the planet’s richest person.

10. He is a strong supporter of secular values and never shows any partiality towards anybody on the basis of religion or regional grounds.

These are few points in support of my liking towards Phantom. Now, what will you say if you are asked that why do you love/like Phantom? Pls. take part in the discussion and put forth your points in support of your answer.

'The Strange Contest' (Vol.25-No.34) is a republication of the 'The Law of Jungle' (No.309),

which in turn is the comic version of Sunday Strip No.35,'Madcap Marion' (31-5-53' to18-10-53').

Though 'The Law of Jungle' has been already posted on Indrajal blogs but it doesn't mean that the republished version isn't worth of posting!! So here are the both republished version as well as the orignal strip too.Republished version is a CW orignal and strip is,with thanks,from Ajay.Enjoy both...

Download Strip

Phantom comics have been published in different languages all over the world with attractive covers.If it is asked which Phantom comic contain the most attractive covers then in this context the names which can be mentioned for sure are Fantomen(Sweden),Gold Key(USA) and Indrajal comics(India). It’s rather strange to know that the longest lasting Phantom publication, Frew comics (Australia), has a history of producing of very ordinary covers. Frew is still in publication but the quality of covers is still pretty ordinary.
Look at some classic covers produced by Fantomen and Gold Key....

After Swedish Fantomet our Indrajal comics certainly has produced some classic covers though at a couple of times it simply lifted the cover design from of those Gold Keys. Here you can witness those copied covers….

Original Gold Key Covers....

Copied Indrajal Covers.....

GHAJINI:A Short Term Memory



















Today watched again a movie after a long time in theater,hence can't stop myself writing about it.The movie was "Ghajini",yes the current most hyped movie.Normally a Aamir Khan movie raises expectations above a certain level and particularly after 'Taare Zameen Pe' the expectation level was certainly very high.
'Ghajini' fails to meet all those expectation and is just a average movie if compared with normal Aamir Khan class.
Aamir Khan(Sanjay) is a multimillionaire CEO,accidentally falls in love with common street girl Aasin(Kalpna) who is murdered by a Kidney mafia Don Ghajini(Pradeep Rawat) in presence of Aamir who was also intended to be murdered but survives somehow and due to head wounds got affected by a short term memory loss disorder (anterograde amnesia) which wipes out his memory after each 15 minutes just like wind screen wiper wipes out raindrops.
To make him remember the things Aamir tattooes his body by necessary details of the culprits,and how he avenges the death of Kalpna forms the rest crunch of the story.
No doubt the idea is novel for Indian viewers,which in turn is 'inspired' from a Hollywood movie (Momento) but the film fails miserably in the script part.Aamir-Aasin romance in not developed and built up convincingly to reach to that so strong emotional level where the gruesome revenge can be justified.
Screenplay is not so tight and offers not much grip over screen happenings thus loosening the necessary cohesiveness between the different part of story.The biggest drawback of the story is selection of a comparatively weak villain Ghajini(Pradeep Rawat) to match the persona of Aamir Khan.The script demand was of somewhat more evil and more 'hateful' bad personality where Pradeep Rawat lacks miles behind.To glorify and 'use' the latest developed 8 pack abs body of Aamir few fight scenes are pumped and exaggerated unnecessarily,specially the climax where the viewer is made to think that whether its a movie or a Aamir Khan's WWF show.
On the positive side the devotion and newly developed body of Aamir Khan is the wonder side of story which justifies him in thrashing out a bunch of villains together at a time,he performs the role with a expert ease but weak treatment and 'pothole' script blindfolds him.
Aasin (Kalpna) looks like a seasoned actress,Jiah Khan,Tinu Anand,Riyaz Khan fill the bill effectively.A.R.Rehman music is worth humming in a couple of songs only.Director A R Murugadoss direction is quite pacy and loud.
In totality Ghajini will prove only a depreciation to Aamir Khan's reputation if judged by quality rather than mere box office collection.






















Cast:Aamir Khan,Aasin Thottumkal,Pradeep Rawat,Jiah Khan,Tinu Anand,Khalid Siddiqi,Vibha Chhibbar,Kunal Vijaykar,Anjum RajabAli,Riyaz Khan.
Producer:Allu Arvind,Madhu Verma
Direction,Story,Screenplay:A R Murugadoss
Music:A R Rehman
Lyrics:Prasoon Joshi
Photography:Ravi K.Chandran
Actions:Peter Hein
Dances:Ahmad Khan