Reading Entertainment for Teens: Hindi Comics

This section provides information on some popular Hindi Comic book houses and their best sellers. In my subsequent posts I will also share information on books on other Comic houses and their popular lead characters.

Manoj Comics

Manoj Comics Logo

Manoj Comics was one of the leading comic book houses of India. In last decade or so due to change in taste, availability of video games, easier access to foreign books etc. children in India stopped reading Hindi comic books. Due to gradual reduction in sales, Manoj Comics had to closed down. Manoj Comics was the last major Indian comic book company which got shut down just before the end of the dark age of the Indian comic industry.

Among several popular characters that they had, I like Ram Rahim and Crook Bond the most.

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1. Ram Rahim

Ram Rahim

Ram-Rahim is the first and most popular characters to appear on Manoj Comics, a popular comics strip in India. Ram and Rahim were two different characters playing role of secret agents. Children used to wait for summer holidays in the late 80s and early 90s for special editions of Ram-Rahim's and Crookbond's comics during summer holidays. Ram-Rahims' Dracula episodes are considered best by its fans.

Ram almost all the times relies on his wisdom while Rahim had abilities conferred upon him owing to his prosthetic arm which gave him super natural power. In few titles like Icchadhari Ram, Ram got special abilities of a Snake where in he was half human half snake.

The choice of character's name as Ram and Rahim was also contributing towards religious harmony among children. According to one volume namely Vatann ke Dushman Rahim is the son of a Pakistani colonel who defected to India after he got disillusioned by fanaticism of Pakistani armed forces, especially an officer named Fanneh Khan. am is the eldest son of a highly placed Indian Intelligence bureaucrat. Ram is a Hindu name while Rahim is a Muslim name. Both will have tremendous friendship and both will work together to save the world.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ram-Rahim

Ram Rahim Series Comics

To read Read Rahim online comics click HERE
Source: http://pyaretoons.com

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2. Crook Bond

Crookbond was one of the popular characters produced by Manoj Comic. Crookbond comics were funny, entertaining and filled with lot of action and thrill.

Crookbond and his super car

Crookbond is a double secret agent he thinks of himself as a disciple of James Bond. Crookbond along with his brother Motu and father Dhamaka singh who is a police constable fight crime. Crookbond was physically very thin and lean, but his intelligence, agility and wisdom made him successful against his enemies. His every mission used to be full of adventures, hilarious situations and consequences.

Their super car contained various gadgets and was capable of performing various tasks such as ability to fly, throw lasers and acid on enemies etc. Though he was shown as a clumpsy guy who relied on luck more than his brain, but later on he started showing his intelligent skills and strength in fighting crime. The various funny missions of of Crookbond revolved around saving the world from wicked people, about retrieving imprtant and confidential documents from enemies.

Motu though being the sidekick was good at using his hands as well. The team of Crookbond and Motu helped many people.

Crookbond Series Comics

To Read Crook Bond online comics click HERE
Source: http://pyaretoons.com

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Updated By Abhay Bora on 21st Oct 2013

Raj Comics

Raj Comics is an Indian comic book line published by a division of Raja Pocket Books.

Raj Comics was started in 1986 by Rajkumar Gupta. Raj Comics were earlier started as Raja Pocket Books which was earlier known as Harish Pocket Books, which published successful detective children novels (known as Bal Pocket Books) Rajan Iqbal by author S. C. Bedi. Raj Comics' best-known characters include Nagraj, Super Commando Dhruva, Doga, Parmanu, Shakti, Inspector Steel and Tiranga.

After 25 years of producing an entire universe of superheroes, Raj Comics is the largest comic book publishing house in India. They have published more than 5000 titles and are home to more than 20 characters. Recently, Raj Comics has started using modern methods to promoting their comics, such as teaming up with major service providers like Vodafone and Airtel. Raj Comics has started 3D comics and will soon produce motion comics.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raj_Comics

Among several popular characters that they have, I like Nagraj and Bankelal the most.

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1. Nagraj

The name Nagraj is derived from the word "Nagaraja" where the word "nāga" means snake and "raja" means king. Nagraj is believed to have been inspired by the mythological Ichchhadhari Nag (shape shifting snakes) and historical Vishmanushya (venomous human).

Nagraj

His stories create a rich blend of mythology, fantasy, magic, and science fiction. Many of Nagraj's fans believe that, over time, Nagraj's comics have developed a Snake Mythology of its own, which is unique to the popular Indian beliefs about snakes that are prevalent among the masses.

Nagraj was originally conceived as an enemy of international terrorism. Interestingly, in his debut issue, Nagraj was unleashed as an international terror weapon by the evil scientist Professor Nagmani. Nagraj, in this first mission, was tasked with stealing a golden statue of a Goddess from a temple that was protected by tribal devotees, snakes, and by a mysterious 300-year old Sadhu named Baba Gorakhnath.

Nagraj succeeded in his task, but upon confrontation with Gorakhnath and his mystic Black Mongoose shikangi, was defeated. Gorakhnath read his mind and discovered that Professor Nagmani had implanted a mind control device in the form of a capsule in Nagraj's head, to keep him under his control.

Gorakhnath operated and removed the capsule from Nagraj's head, setting Nagraj free of Professor Nagmani's control. Nagraj then became Baba Goraknath's disciple and vowed to eliminate crime and terror from the Earth. Since then, Nagraj has thrice toured the world and defeated many villains and terrorists.

Presently, Nagraj lives as Raj in a fictional Metropolitan City Mahanagar as an employee of a TV Channel that is secretly owned by himself.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagraj

Nagraj Series Comics

To Read Nagraj Comics online click HERE

Source: http://pyaretoons.com

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2. Bankelal

Bankelal first appeared in the comic book 'Bankelal Ka Kamaal'.

According to the book, he is the son of a farmer named 'Nanku'. His mother's name was 'Gulabati'. The couple didn't have any children. Gulabati was a devotee of Lord 'Shiva' and a child was offered to them as a blessing from the Lord. They named the child Bankelal.

One day Lord Shiva visited Bankelal's home with his consort Parvati. His mother offered them a glass of milk unaware that her naughty child had put a frog in the milk! When Lord Shiva discovered this he put a curse on Bankelal that if ever Bankelal tried to harm anybody, the person would be blessed with good results and some part of that would also be 'rubbed' on to Bankelal.

Bankelal seems extremely stupid but he possesses a mind of devil,always planning mischief. But due to the"blessed" curse placed on him,every bad that he wants to do turns out to be good, turning the odds in his favour. other than that, he has nothing, not even a good face, and only a silly charlie Chaplin styled mustache and his 2 buck teeths always coming out when he screams or when he laughs. The good thing is that his every misdeed (mischief) acts as a funny tickle bone for the readers.

Most of the stories of the series are of only one issue. Most issues start with Bankelal knowing a secret or something which he may use to kill king Vikram Singh and usurp the throne. Story develops further with the involvement of sages, yogis, Devi-Devtas and Rakshas, each of whom comes with incredible humorous twist to the story.

In the end all the tricks of Bankelal fail and Vikram Singh gets a lot of favour rather than harm. Though there are some issues that are linked to each other like series in which Bankelal and Vikram Singh travel to different lokas(worlds). This series includes issues such as Bankelal Tataiyalok Me, Kankaallok Me, Dev lok me, Sarplok Me,Vanarlok Me etc.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bankelal