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Iceberg publishes from Sri Lanka and in the Tamil language,  For that reason their books are very popular with fans of Muthu/Lion Comics [Tamil Nadu,S. India].

XIII has been very popular in India,and amongst S. Indian comic fans for decades now so these are a treat for them!

The other major star of Tamil comics is Blueberry.  And so no surprise this is another hit!

Another company publishing in the Tamil language is Star Comics and their major star is Captain Prince.  Don’t know too much about the character though he is big amongst Tamil fans. According to Comicology’s Rafiq Raja:

“Gone are the days when I used to dream about Tamil Comics growing to international standards. The dream is now a reality, with the introduction of Star Comics.

Captain Prince stories always generates a lot of interest and has a fan following, which was grown by Thigil, a then comic release from the erstwhile Prakash Publishers (the publishers of Lion & Muthu Comics). And what better way to start a new venture by making Captain Prince as the leading hero of Star Comics.

Seeing the warnished papers, hard bound cover, back to back cover arts, full color artwork, and not to mention Mr. Raghu’s own translation adds all the glamour to the new star of comics.

“Panimalai Kottai” has all the ingredients for a successful hollywood movie. From the usual setting of Sea adventures of Captain Prince, this takes us to the mystic mountains, Gang-wars, and Barnie’s own humors laced in between. The top of the charts, is when Barnie sitting in the dark, utters the famous words of ‘Enna Vachu Comedy Keemedy Pannaliye’. Kalakiteenga Sir.

Kudos to Mr. Raghu fro bringing the Tamil Comics to the next generation. Hopefully the momentum will be kept up by releasing the next issues at a regular interval.”

The following are the books currently available [sorry,no English translation of titles!].

Current release

Next two releases

 Rafiq’s Comicology blog can be found at:

http://comicology.blogspot.com/

I mentioned the Muthu cowboy special previously but no cover so if you want to see it…

RAFIQ notes:

The long awaited CowBoy Special was released on July ‘07, also marking the Lion #200 landmark issue. This is the hat-trick issue priced at Rs.100/- released so far by Lion Comics, and the first time a special was devoted to the Wild-West Heroes. Witness the Front and Back Covers of Lion #200. Especially, the Tex Cover Art seems to have been inspired by the original version, and I don’t remember seeing a cover art of this quality in recent times. There are 5 Cowboy stories in this edition. 1. Thalaiku Oru Velai - Lucky Luke 2. Panikadal Padalam - Tex Willer 3. Paraloga Paanam - Cisco Kid 4. Kaadhalika Neramillai - Steve 5. Ilamayil Kol - Captain Tiger (Blueberry) And there is a surprise guest story of Irumbu Kai Maayavi (Steel Claw), Minsaara Thirudargal. And also a bonus feature of Irumbu Manidhan Archie in “Joo Joo Padalam”, eventhough both Maayavi and Archie’s story were small, there is no more pleasure than seeing your all time favorites in new stories.
In total there are 7 Stories in Cowboy Special, thus maintaining the same number of stories in all Rs. 100 editions.

                                                                                                      

and Muthu 307 features the Roger Moore James Bond!

Virgin Comics seem to get all the attention meaning that few fans hear that Gotham is still publishing its DC and Marvel reprints.  Here is another selection of what is currently available.  Rafiq notes:

“Gotham Comics is a breakthrough innovator, who made it possible to buy these comics in Indian prices, comparatively much cheaper than the original ones.  At one point Gotham was publishing nearly 40 titles every month, and I used to run out of budget and somehow managed to collect them all.  Then came the hiatus of more than a year, as Gotham went out of publishing.  The only source of DC, Marvels was now over.

But, Gotham was about to strike back, and they came back at the start of 2007 with 17 Revamped Titles, thus relaunching new storylines for all the major characters.   But, the realunch also means that few of the original series were discontinued, the majority being the Ultimate Series (Ultimate X-Men, Ultimates, etc.), with the exception being the Ultimate Spiderman series, which has teenage appeal, and thus seems to have been maintained on the current roster.  But, there are some other good titles which were also discontinued, like Spider-Girl, Amazing Spiderman, JLA, Tarzan, and Conan.  I would be more than eager to see them being relaunched again.

The relaunch also contains 3 India’s own storylines featuring under the Virgin Comics brand.”

And,of course,their collaboration with Virgin Comics…

I’m hoping to sort out regular reviews with someone in India or to get advance copies to preview on site -there are so many Indian comic fans popping by I have to sort out something for them!

Hey -how about Nagraj,Parmannu and Doga HeroClix -think of the number of Indian fans!!