Years in Print:
1964 - 1990
Detail
Publisher:
Bennet, Coleman & Co.
Country:
India
Language:
Hindi (हिन्दी)
Issues:
#1 - v27 #8 (803 Issues)
Continued From:
none
Continued In:
none
Tracking Notes:
Notes:
This is the Hindi version of the English language Indrajal Comics.
Total 803 Comics were printed.
*No issues #123 and 124.
#1 (March 1964) to 443 (excluding #123 & #124) = 441 Comics
(1983) Vol 20 : #1 to #52 = 52 Comics
(1984) Vol 21 : #1 to #53 = 53 Comics
(1985) Vol 22 : #1 to #52 = 52 Comics
(1986) Vol 23 : #1 to #52 = 52 Comics
(1987) Vol 24 : #1 to #52 = 52 Comics
(1988) Vol 25 : #1 to #52 = 52 Comics
(1989) Vol 26 : #1 to #52 = 41 Comics
(1990) Vol 27 : #1 to #08 = 8 Comics (last comics was dated 16 April-30 April 1990)
Format:
* #1-10: 28 pages - Devoted 16 pages to The Phantom, so many of the stories were edited to fit this format. Twelve pages were devoted to general knowledge (Gold Key style) and other stuff.
* #11 to 28: 28 pages. (except 5 comics: #49 - 52 pages, #209 - 100 pages, #228, 272 & 278- 96 pages)
* #29 to vol. 26 #32 [#788]: 32 pages
* vol. 26 #33 [#789]-vol. 27 #8 : 36 pages
Content:
The first 32 issues contained The Phantom stories, but thereafter, the title alternated between various King Features characters, including Mandrake, Flash Gordon, and other.
Mandrake made his first of many appearances in #46 (15 July 1967).
Other debuts:
52 - Flash Gordon - in "The White Goddess (The Phantom) (15 Oct 1967)", at cover as 2nd comics as "On Planet Mongo" but inside as 1st comics.
267 - Bahadur - The Red Bricks House (1 Dec 1976) (75 only) - Bahadur was Indian character created for this comics.
377 - Buz Sawyer- The Monster Boys (1 July 1981)
379 - Lt. Drake - The Sting of Venom (1 Aug 1981)
383 - Mike Nomad - The Devil’s Domain (1 Oct 1981)
399 - Rip Kirby- The Wax Trap (7-13 Feb 1982)
420 - Garth -The Fiendish Mission (18-24 July 1982)
V21N21 (516) - Phil Corrigan - The Criminal Genius -1984-5-20 to 1984-5-26
V21N31 (526) - Bruce Lee - Escape in Kalahari-1984-7-29 to 1984-8-4 (4 only)
V24N28 (680) - Aditya - The Inner Curse-1987-7-12 to 1987-7-18 (3 only) - Aditya was Indian character created for this comics.
V25N43 (747) - Dara - The Enemy Agent-1988-10-23 to 1988-10-29 (8 only & was in last number -V27N8). - Dara was Indian character created for this comics.
There were 25 Miscellaneous comics also:
Walt Disney: 7 only (#33, 35, #37, #38, #40, #42, #44)
Indian stories: 18 only (#197, #199, #202, #203, #206, #209, #212, #215, #219, #221, #223, #228, #247, #261, #272, #278, #358, #368). From mentioned numbers 209 & 228 were based on Tulsidasa's Ramacharit Manas; and 272 and 278 on Mahabharta. Rest 21 were based on real stories.
The cover artwork of 1 to 196 was done by B. Govind, he had created many covers upto V25N17. Govind's painted covers are highly regarded amongst Indian Phantom fans, and are on par with those of George Wilson for the Gold Key series and the Avon novels from the USA.
Some other cover artists were: Shehab, Shekhar, Promod Brahmaniya (son of B. Govind).
The Indrajal Comics were a full-colour production from #8 onwards, with The Phantom's costume being coloured blue for the first 10 issues in the series, but thereafter the colour was changed to the more traditional purple. Several of the covers (eg. #1, #9, #10 and #13) even dared to show The Phantom's eyes. Because of The Phantom's close connection to India, the editors made several "politically correct" changes to places and names - Bengali became Denkali (there are no pygmy people in Bengal, which would have puzzled Indian readers); the Singh Brotherhood were known as "Singa" pirates; and Rama (the murderer of the 20th Phantom) became Ramalu, even though Ramalu is also a common Indian name.
More than half of the issues contained Phantom stories. For some strange reason, Ray Moore's work was never popular in India. Only a few of the stories in which Moore was assisted by Wilson McCoy, were ever published in the Indrajal Comics. Ray Moore classics such as "The Singh Brotherhood" were never heard of by the majority of Indian Phantom fans. Instead, the editors relied heavily on Wilson McCoy and Sy Barry stories, in addition to most of the stories from the American Phantom comics produced by Gold Key / King / Charlton. Indrajal also published one story created by Team Fantomen in Sweden (Vultures Over Vacul from Nr.18/1976 was reprinted in #341-342).
Publication schedule:
* #1-34: Monthly publication
* #35-384: Fortnightly publication (released on the 1st and 15th of each month) from 1 January 1967
* #385-vol. 26 #32 [#788]: Weekly publication from 1 November 1981
* vol. 26 #33 [#789]-vol. 27 #8 [#805]: Fortnightly publication from 20 August 1989
The publishers decided to cancel the series in their 27th year of production. A total of 803 Indrajal Comics were published, excluding #123 and #124 which were not printed due to industrial strike action.
Dialects/languages:
From about 1980, Indrajal began to produce their Phantom comic in at least a dozen Indian dialects. One of the first was Kannada (called Canarese by the English), spoken in the state of Karnataka, in South India. The first Kannada Phantom was published on 1 May 1980 (see below), commencing with a 3-part version of the daily story Return to Tarakimo (D138) retitled as Return of the Ghost.
Amusingly, "The Phantom" was called "Bethala" (pronounced as bay-ta-la) or "Ghost" in Kannada. After a few issues, the editors at Indrajal must have realised their mistake and thereafter called him "Fantom" for a while before finally settling on "Phantom".
Numbering:
Each issue was individually numbered until 2 Jan 1983 when the editors decided to use a volume and number typical of periodical publications. Hence, #444 was identified as Vol.20 No.1.
The front cover design was also changed, with the introduction of the distinctive Indrajal Comics banner.
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