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A fortunate meeting.

On Monday, Chandru told me that he has an old friend, editor of a very famous magazine on cars, coming to visit him this week. Seems he is a wacky chap, someone really difficult to get along with ( those were his exact words!) Then on Tuesday, Chandru comes to me and says that his friend was asking him about whether he could buy old Gold Key, Dell and Charlton comics in Hyderabad.

Aha! Someone who collects comics, and vintage comics at that….I pointed out that the chances of getting such comics in Hyderabad are precisely the same as anywhere else in India – if you are lucky, and if you are a frequent visitor to all the second-hand bookshops, you would get some, by the by.

Yesterday, I met him. And was bowled over. Seems he has been collecting comics for a very long time, and has a lot of contacts and knows a lot of other Indian middle-aged men who think nothing of wading their way through piles of old newspapers just to get at old Indrajal comics, and whatever else other morons threw out as trash. or sold to their raddiwaala. Even someone from Australia, who sends him out-of-print editions of Phantom.

It was good talking to him. Extremely knowledgeable about the golden age of American comics ( the 40’s), the golden age of Indian comics ( or rather, comics reprinted in India, in the sixties), and as he confessed, completely detached from the contemporary scene. I told him my interests, and his encouragement was profuse. Even advised me to bump off some of my relatives who ( i had informed him) owned substantial collections of old Phantoms and Tarzans.

Definitely someone I hope to be in contact with, and an inspiration. My dreams for a United Comics Fans of India draws closer.

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16 thoughts on “A fortunate meeting.”

  1. Woah,Interesting guy!
    I’ve never been too much of a comics fan,except for Calvin and Hobbes,and maybe Garfield,that i see in the Times of India!
    Finally,did he get what he was looking for?And where?Sunday Bazaar(My Haven in Hyderabad)?

    Reply

    • He got some comics in Best Book Stall, couldn’t visit the Sunday bazaar because he left on Saturday afternoon. However, I have been given the status of Honorary Informer – I will have to tell him whenever comics are available in the Sunday market. :)

      I’ve never been too much of a comics fan,except for Calvin and Hobbes,and maybe Garfield,that i see in the Times of India!

      *Sigh*

      Reply

  2. According to grapevine, the American Studies Research Center @ Hyderabad has one of the best collections of American underground comics in India. You can’t check the books out, but ASRC authorities can be influenced to make photocopies of some good stuff.

    P.S. I have never been to the place.

    Reply

    • maybe it’s just me, but if such a place exists, I wouldn’t go near it. I fear that my dormant kleptomaniacal tendencies will …you know…get non-dormant if I see a place where I can only read, but not buy, the comics I want.

      *sigh*

      Reply
  5. Anonymous says:

    Comics, comics

    Can anybody out here give me some contacts where I can buy some old comics like Phantom, Bahadur, Mandarek etc. I am searching all over the web to get a clue as to where I can buy it. Help me

    Reply

  7. hokey, i have been reading back issues of my friends page.
    Even advised me to bump off some of my relatives who ( i had informed him) owned substantial collections of old Phantoms and Tarzans.

    well, ha ha ha.
    did you do that yet?

    Reply

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