Tuesday, July 14, 2009

# C.M.Vitankar & Vichitra Anguthi

If both Amar Chitra Katha and Manoj Chitra Katha are talked of then then name of C.M.Vitankar for best cover designs can be taken unarguably.
Though C.M.Vitankar designed covers for both ACK and MCK but the cover designed by him for MCK were far superior than those for ACKs.The reason behind this was the liberty of colors which MCK allowed to give a paint like look on thick paper whereas ACK used limited colors and thin paper for covers.

Information about C.M.Vitankar is very limited and hard to find as he left this world 10 years from now,only available information about him is that he was from Ahmadnagar and later settled his base in Mumbai.
Cover designed by him for MCKs were very impressive and imparted a attractive painted look on beautifully drawn images.Many of times a comic felt more attractive due to the cover page by C.M.Vitankar rather than its story content.

Have a look at some of the covers by C.M.Vitankar for MCKs.









































































(Cover courtesy:Ajay Misra,Sajid and Comic World)
(Information courtesy:Alok)

Have a detailed look at the cover page of 'Murkh Kumhaar',the single page narrates itself the whole story of the comic,notice the expressions of teacher,pottery maker and donkey..how beautifully each face has been rightly decorated with its expressions,simply unmatched!
Also notice the scary and amused look at the lion's face in 'Teesmarkhan',isn't it superb!! C.M.Vitankar's covers were best suited for folk and fairy tales as his style of drawing,
selection of colors and the design of character's clothes were most effective and attractive for such plots.

I am very much eager to know more about him,if anyone is having more information about him then please do share with all of us.

Presenting herewith another comic having superb cover by C.M.Vitankar,enjoy it and can anyone tell who is the illustrator of this comic!!







Presenting another comic,a Fauladi Singh,from the treasure of Deep.





























Any takers of this Tarzan comic from Kiran comics!!One funny ancedote associated with Tarzan comics,at the tender age of around 5 or 6 years when i first read Tarzan comics and the name of his creator 'Edgar Rice Burroughs' somehow i was confused by such a long and different name and interpreted it as 'Edgar' who borrows Rice,thus combining it to form 'Edgar Rice Burroughs',for a long time i kept this interpretation in mind and now laughs at myself whenever read this name "Edgar Rice Burroughs".



31 comments:

kuldeepjain said...

Hi CW...

what could be best praise for work of sri C M Vitankar that still his graphics is living in our memories..

a great cover designer .. no doubt..

infact CW.. that was the very plus point manoj has all is rival comics say radah , nutan etc..

the covers pictures were enough for any kid to pick them..

more on this later..

but first my thanks thanks and thanks.. for posting GLobe ka antank.. As i mentioned before in VPS it was alphnase ki shadi and in comics it is Globe ka antank trio which is 'taj mahal' for ME..

i was never a good sketcher or drawer ( still not .. that why selected electrical rather mechanical engg) but i sketched so many pages of my school copies drawing bharat antrikshak , the magnetic rocket, robot , computer zero, master rabot ..

so many times i wrote konia, sofia, x ray, vuma urja , hunter, stabdh rays, kohima etc etc on school copies back pages.. ( these are names of all the rays used in this comics )

( hey i am not crying.. i am a big guy)

CW words fails me to express my gratefullness for sharing this comics with me again ..

can i request that please upload the next two part at the earliest..

thanks..

kuldeep

मोहम्मद कासिम said...

hi very good all comics writers illustrators are alive in our memory.

you r doing a goooooood job.

please also give info./ upload first ever hindi/indian comics.

do u still read comics like new set of rc dc etc.

Unknown said...

Thanks a lot Zaheer bhai for Vivhitra Anguthi :-)

Thanks also for bringing in this info about C. M. Vitankar. Sometimes I wonder if they had any idea whether their work would be still popular even after so long time. I guess the credit goes to the art in their hands which created so beautiful art in an era where computer added painting was not there to help.

Abdul Qureshi said...

Hello Zaheer Bhai,
Thanks for lovely cover pages of C.M.Vitankar.
Special thanks for posting Fauladi Singh's comics.

Vineeta Yashsavi said...

Meri pasnda ki comics bhi hai is baar to...mujhe to bas maza aa gaya...

Comic World said...

Kuldeep: Welcome friend.Its the motive of this blog to relive and revive the lost world of childhood,i am happy to see that it is getting success in its motive.
Correctly mentioned that MCK was certainly having upper hand over other comics due to C.M.Vitankar amazing cover designs.Though C.M.V also designed covers for ACKs too but there this quality was absent.I wonder whether C.M.V ever illustrated whole comic too.
Luckily i use to have keen interest in sketching,have tried my hand on sketching Phantom/Superman/Bollywood
personalaties and was a average sketcher,had put some of the sketches too at the blog,you might have seen them.
I will request Deep to scan the remaining two parts of this series,by the way can anyone tell who has illustrated this 'Vichitra Anguthi'.

Comic World said...

Md.Qasim: Thanks Qasim.Well,its hard to comment upon first ever Hindi/Indian comic but first successful Indian publication was said to be Indrajal Comics(1964).
I sometimes use to buy specific issues of Raj Comics in search of some excitement but fails most of the times.

Comic World said...

Ashish: Welcome Ashish.C.M.Vitankar art can be considered as best among cover designs,i have never seen any Indian comic covers better than his work.

Comic World said...

Abdul: Welcome buddy.

Comic World said...

Vinita Yashasvi: Welcome Vinita Ji.

Sukhwinder Singh said...

Oh my God! It is Globe Ka Aatank, first time ever on-line.

This Fauladi Singh tri-series is the Kohi-Noor of Diamond Comics. Glad to see it on Internet since I first read it about 26 years ago.

I used to read Tarzan and his son Corak comics in Hindi during mid 80's. Don’t remember who was the publisher. Use to fantasize about Tarzan's wife Jane along with Mandrake's girlfriend Narda. As long as I remember, only these two appeared in Bikinis in Indian comics most of the time. Occasionally Phantom's wife Diana also appeared in bikini as well.

In Diamond Comics, there was a two-part story of Lambu-Motu where at the end of first part, one of them is transported to an island (base of bad guys) along with the bad guys. Don’t remember the names of these two comics. Anyone?

I also read a Diamond Pocket Book named “Lambu Motu aur Pishach Ka Aatank”. Again, it was one of the best pocket books I ever read. The second part to this pocket book was “Lambu Motu aur Khooni Pishach” which I never got hold off. Anyone else read these two pocket books?

kuldeepjain said...

Hi Sukhwinder..

Lambu motu comics i can say must be " dharti ka sangram" and second part is "maut ka youdh"..

Bal pocket book i am not sure as dimond i read very few bal pockets..

lambu moto 'gaddaro ki toli ' and gaddaro ka vinash is also one memorable set..

you said " This Fauladi Singh tri-series is the Kohi-Noor of Diamond Comics" and i used the word 'taj mahal' glad i met some one who thinks the same way..

Sukhwinder Singh said...

Hi Kuldeep,

Glad to meet you too.

Thanks for answering my questions. I think the set was "dharti ka sangram" and "maut ka youdh". Hopefully, I will see these two comics on net one day. Thanks again for sharing the information.

I also must thank Zaheer for his effort and time to put all these old cherished memories on net.

I read Manoj comics only for couple of years between 1983 and 1985. All the covers mentioned in this post are from those years and I read all these comics back then.

Anonymous said...

thank you sooooooooo..... much !

was browsing yesterday night, got a hunch that one of Fauladi singh's comic might be posted.

and there it was !! read it till 1am in night.

Waiting eagerly for the next part. Please post as soon as possible.

Keep up the good work !

When i was a kid, always fantasized how i could get access to fauladi singh's dress and i could be same as him :-D
My plan was to invent an all-in-one machine where you can press button and it changes form from fauladi singh to spiderman to...
Good old days :)

cheers !
Fauladi singh's fan

Comic World said...

Sukhwinder: Welcome Sukhwinder to Comic World,it seems that we have got another active,avid and expressive die hard comic fan after the likes of Kuldeep,Arun,Deep,Ashish and others.I hope your inclusion in Comic World forum will make it more interesting and interactive.
The Tarzan comics were mainly published by Kiran Comics in both Hindi and English,i also use to read them in Hindi and after Tarzan Korak was my favorite.
Coming to this Fauladi Singh series though i don't remember much about it but i was more impressed by those Fauladi Singh comics where illustration were of better quality such as in FS & Tarwil series.
From the very beginning illustrations also use to hold a important preference for me to choose any comic,because of it i use to hire only those comics where illustrations were of better quality such as by Pratap Mulick,Raam Waeerkar,Bedi etc in MCKs and Anupam Sinha,Manu,Pratap Mulick etc in early period of Raj Comics.

Comic World said...

Anon: Thanks and welcome friend.Well,i will request Deep to scan the rest parts soon for all of you.It would be better if you have left a name too.

Me, Myself & Me!! said...

Thanks a lot bhai!! I remeber MCK publishing such genre of comics those days..one particular which is still imprinted in my memory was about a dwarf! Bauna rajkumar!! How the dwarf leaves his village, fights natural n supernatural beasts/ demons, & rescues a dwarf princess!! One particular scene i remeber frame by frame, where the temple flies away in the sky, where that "bauna" has taken the shelter in night!! Ahh..those was the days of famous storyteller Bimal Chattergi & the most suitable artist for such stories was Ram Wairkar!!
So many times I regret loss of my those numerous comicbooks done by deemaks..
But then u r here alongwith other grt blogs to help me go back those days...
I am sincerely grateful to u all bhai log!!

Unknown said...

Hi Me, Myself & Me!!

That's "Do Mantrik" and it's available at " http://www.orkut.co.in/Main#CommMsgs.aspx?cmm=57072854&tid=5328182779284300911&na=4&nst=199&nid=57072854-5328182779284300911-5353676017228415222 "

Silly Boy. said...

Buddy true C.M. Vitankar was one of the most prominent cover artists of Indian comics. In fact he can be called number one cover artist of Indian comics. Apart from comics he also drawn covers of non-comic books as well. I could add one such book in my collection but unfortunately I could not. Nevertheless I have two ACKs which was illustrated by him. So at least there are two comics fully illustrated by him.

Comic World said...

M.M.A.M: Welcome,correctly said,Bimal Chatterji was the main protagonist for the MCKs and Ram Waeerkar was a superb craftsman.After Bimal Chatterji MCK declined at a quicker rate than expected.
As mentioned by Ashish that 3 part comics is available ar Orkut community you can enjoy it from there.

Comic World said...

S.B: Yes,C.M.Vitankar can unarguably be termed as no.1 cover artist of Indian comics,i have yet to see a better cover artist than him.
By the way which are those two ACK fully illustrated by him!

Silly Boy. said...

Buddy two ACKs illustrated by C.M. Vitankar are :- Kannappa and Garuda.
By the way I have just read your opinions/commens on the Comicology's Mahabhartha post. Yes you are absolutely right that Dalip Kadam should not be the choice of illustrating Mahabharta.Recently I purchased ACK on Gandhari. Cover of the same is drawn by Ram Waikar and illustrations are from Dalip Kadam. I compared the scene depicted on the cover with the counterpart scene in comic. Difference of class is obvious. So you are right Ram Waikar or Pratap Mullick could be better choice for Mahabharta. Raqik Raja has already brought the Mahabharta collection and I am thinking purchasing about the same next month on my birthday. It would be very nice on your part if you can post the covers of individual issues that you have with you for both of us in particular and for our comic loving community in general.
One more thing recently I bought Feb. 1989 issue of ACK and in it I found advertisement of Chimpu Comic. It is shown as sister concern of ACK and characters include Kaplish, Ramu & Shamu and Raji (all are from the pen of Uncle Pai and created by him for Rang Rekha features and usually appear in Tinkle Digest (not in mainstream magazine). Do you have any Chimpu Comic issue or that project did not go beyond announcement stage. If you or anybody else can throw some light on it.
Now a film quiz for you after a long time:-
Can you guess the similarity between 1978 film Ratandeep and 2001 film Hey Ram.

Comic World said...

S.B: Thanks for the info about Vitankar's illustrated ACKs,will be analyzing them to dwell more into his work.
Yes,good idea about covers,will be posting them soon.
I haven't seen yet any of chimpu comics,so i think it wasn't materialized.
I think the similarity between 'Ratndeep & Hey Ram' is that in both movies Girish Karnad & Hema Mailini worked together and played the role of a couple.

Silly Boy said...

Sir you are simply unbeatable in filmi gyan.

Nanak said...

वाह जी वाह क्या बात है, हमारे यहाँ एक भले मानुष ने अमर चित्रकथा की लाइब्ररी खोल रखी थी जहाँ मैं शाम की ढलती रोशनी में इन चित्रकथाओं को बेसब्री से पढ़ा करता था. आपने तो भूले ज़माने के सारे पन्ने उलट दिए. बाद में मनोज चित्रकथा लोककथाएँ लेकर आया था जिनके चित्र लाजवाब होते थे. इन चित्रकथाओं के चित्रकार पर्दे के पीछे ही रहा करते थे. तब भी मैं कथाकार के साथ-साथ उन उस्ताद चित्रकारों के नाम पढ़ा करता था. मिल जाएँ तो चरण छूँ लूँ. आपका बहुत बहुत धन्यवाद..

Vaasu said...

Hello Zaheer bro. How to join ur blog?

Comic World said...

S.B: :o)

Comic World said...

Nanak: नानक जी खुशामदीद.

Comic World said...

Vaasu: I think you mean how to follow this blog.Well,for this pls click the logo of 'follow this blog' at the top left corner of the blog and follow the instructions thereafter.

The maverick said...

After seeing those glorious illustration, I can't stop myself from reading those comics pl provide link to murkh kumhar,
Thanks in advance

Savita said...

Works of CM Vitankar:
1. Garuda
2. Kannappa (Our of print)
3. Tales or Arjuna
4. Stories of Yudishtira
5. Ellora caves

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