Queen Samaris' Crush on Phantom (Remix version of Indrajal Comics No. 13)

[Update: 30/Aug/2008, 09:50 PM] Download link for this comic is provided on my other blog. Please visit: http://indrajalcomics.blogspot.com/

In 1887, H. Rider Haggard’s famous novel "She" was published and became an immediate hit. Later, many sequels and prequels were written by the author which were also very successful. In reprints it was extraordinarily popular in its time, and has remained in print to the present day. "She" is generally considered to be one of the classics of imaginative literature.

A large number of other stories by many other writers came to light which were loosely based on the original idea of this novel. Lee Falk’s 1961 sunday strip story of Queen Samaris XII is also inspired by the same novel.

Plot of She
Professor Horace Holly is a professor at Cambridge University and Leo Vincey is his ward. The real/biological father of Leo leaves him a piece of clay artifact in which he is instructed to visit Africa. In the jungle they encounter a white queen, Ayesha, who has made herself immortal by bathing in a pillar of fire, the source of life itself. She becomes the prototypical all-powerful female figure. She is to be both desired and feared. She is a breathtakingly beautiful creature who will not hesitate to kill any one who displeases her or stands in her way. The travellers discover that Ayesha has been waiting for 2000 years for the reincarnation of her lover Kallikrates. She believes that Vincey is the reincarnation of Kallikrates.

In the climax of the novel, Ayesha takes the two men to see the pillar of fire. She wants Leo to bathe in it as she did so that he can become immortal and remain with her forever. But Vincey is doubtful about the safety of the act. To show him the fruitful result that is in wait for both of them and to remove the doubts from his mind, she steps into the flames once more. However, with this second immersion she reverts to her true age and immediately withers and dies.

Falk’s adaptation
In the Falk’s story, queen Samaris is actually 300 years old but by a magical treatment done on her by witchcrafting, appears only 20 years. The general people’s astonishment at observing their queen not gaining years in her age is tackled by the plot made by the queen Samaris to replace herself by her daughter only to fool the public, when everytime she herself returns in the new role. In the twelfth repeat of her long established routine act, she falls in love with Phantom and as a consequence of the curse of the witchwoman, finally reduces to a heap of ash.

This comic has already made its appearance on net but I am posting it here again in a different form. The following changes have been made to the previous version:

1. This release contains only the 20 pages of the main story and not anything from the other features of indrajal like Henry (Gunakar), Ripley’s Believe it or not (mano na mano) and other similars.

2. The resolution has been reduced to 1024 px width.

3. The pages are brightened and made a bit more colourful using Photoshop.

4. As a result of all the above steps, the file size has reduced to a mere 6 MB (from original size being 16 MB something).

The comic has been scanned by Anurag Dixit.

Indrajal Comics No. 13 (Jaadugarnee Ka Shaap)

1	2	3	4
5	6	7	8
9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16
17	18	19	20

TPH #052 Gufa Ka Rakshas - Phantom (Indrajal Comics 252)

Another phantom indrajal, this time an old one from 1976. One of my favourite, and why only my, it is one of the most popular stories from phantom saga. Enjoy this one.


Sorry about the page quality of first few pages. Scanning was done a year ago, or so and therefore resolution is not too large.


Both front and back covers and their inside pages are provided by CW. Many Thanks to him.

I am also posting this on my other blog simultaneously. The download link is being provided there. Please visit

http://indrajalcomics.blogspot.com

इंद्रजाल कॉमिक्स अंक २५२

Cover	Page 1	Page 2	Page 3
Page 4	Page 5	Page 6	Page 7
Page 8	Page 9	Page 10	Page 11
Page 12	Page 13	Page 14	Page 15
Page 16	Page 17	Page 18	Page 19
Page 20	Page 21	Page 22	Page 23
Page 24	Page 25	Page 26	Page 27
Page 28	Front-In	Back-In	Back

TPH #051 Jungle Ka Ojha - Phantom (Indrajal Comics V25N52)

A lot many unanswerd comments to begin with. Friends, I am sorry for not being formal enough. But that's excusable, I hope. Many of you have extended your support towards the revival of this blog and welcomed me in kind words. I sincerely thank them all, Saif, Deb, Sir, Ruchi and Aditya.Thank you buddies. Thanks are also due towards my fellow comic bloggers TCP, Prabhat, CW, ICC, Sagnik who are doing wonderfully well. Some special thanks are due for Dr. Ravi Gokhle from England for his long and nostalgic comment. As usual his love for the indrajals is admirable and I appreciate his gentle but solid way of putting his own thoughts and ideas. Thank you Dr. Saheb.

Meanwhile, TCP commented for the first time here. That's a very happy and encouraging moment. I discovered the comics blogs only in August, 2007, at a time when TCP had stopped postings. For nearly a month I visited daily only to be welcomed by the "Phantom's noble lineage". Never really got an opportunity to leave any comment there. Will open my account there and hopefully continue.

Chandu has asked a very relevent question, but I leave it to his imagination only. The only thing I wan't to say here now is that I am sorry for not sending you the comic I promised uptill now. Will definitely be mailing it on Monday. No one can compete me when it comes to laziness.

All credits to Prabhat for maintaining the ACK blog so well and keeping it alive. I am inclined to post a few ACKs there as well in near future.

Now some announcement. I have started a new comic blog, namely "indrajal comics ka svapnlok",

"इंद्रजाल कॉमिक्स का स्वप्नलोक"

As the name suggests, its a hindi blog dedicated to Indrajal Comics only. Infact it is the first hindi comic blog to hit the screens. You are all invited to visit it.

I didn't want to post comics at that blog and just wanted to keep it for information and discussion only, but requests have poured in and I was forced to post the present comic at that blog also. The download link has been provided there.

Another first for me personally, clickable thumbnails of the imgaes are provided here for the first time.

An indrajal comiics from the later part of its long journey, from 1988. A very short (only 10 pages) and simple story, seems like a filler only but as usual the Sy Barry artwork is pretty impressive.


     
     
 

Contemplating a blog revival

It's been a long time since I published my last post, 23rd March to be precise. No, I am not on any voyage, especially to any far off destination like Munich or Amsterdam (been to capital for a couple of days only). Not burdened by any super heavy-weight work load bending my back like a spring and not returning from any long needed and awaited holiday from home town. Do not have any slightest of idea of changing the job either. Then why this long gap? Well, whatever be the reason it seems to be over now. The inactivity period is bidding goodbye and I am feeling some freshness in ideas that are circling in and around my head. Am seriously thinking over starting it once again. Much has been published on blogs from Indrajals but still a lot from the later era (1980 to 1990) remains to be posted. One can say that most of the Phantom and Mandrake published during this period were republications of older works only but that doesn't make them unworthy of posting at all. Largely because of improvements incorporated in printing technology made these republished works a lot more slick and gay in appearance, (stories were undoubtedly great, we all know) and there is a relatively younger generation which came in contact with Indrajal Magic only during this period and hence they continue to search this era for their most cherished memory as far as comics are concerned. But the real beauty/importance of these issues lies in the fact that they are an integral part of the Golden Indrajal Journey, the last phase of this saga which started in 1964 and for 26 years continued to entertain millions of indians through its lively pages. Some new ideas are also approachig and I am giving them some serious weightage. Let's see how soon and at what pace I can start it. Much remains to be said. Will make another post soon. The image used in this post is scanned by CW on my special request. Thanks go to him.