Indrajal Comics

 ( Indian Comics Titles ) 

Indrajal Comics was a comic book series in India launched by the publisher of The Times of India, Bennet, Coleman & Co in March 1964. The first 32 issues contained Lee Falk's The Phantom stories, but thereafter, the title alternated between various King Features characters, including Lee Falk's Mandrake, Alex Raymond's Flash Gordon, Rip Kirby and Phil Corrigan, Roy Crane's Buz Sawyer, Allen Saunders' Mike Nomad, Kerry Drake, and Steve Dowling's Garth. Later in December 1976, it also published Bahadur, an Indian comic hero created by Aabid Surti.

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Publication history Back in the 1960s, when The Phantom comic strip by Lee Falk grew very popular in India, Anant Pai and others in Indrajal Comics collected them and published it as a comic book.

Indrajal Comics commenced with a monthly schedule. The first 10 issues 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. The next 19 issues were 20-24 pages. Beginning with issue #29, Indrajal standardised on the conventional 32 page format. The series switched to fortnightly publication from #35 on 1 Jan 1967 (released on the 1st and 15th of each month). Mandrake made his first of many appearances in #46 (15 Jul 1967). Indrajal Comics changed to a weekly schedule from #385 on November 1–7, 1981 ( The Embers of Fury, Part I). This issue featured "The Phantom" once again.Starting with #789 on 20 Aug 1989 (Vol 26 No 33), the series once again returned to a fortnightly schedule with 36 pages each. The format and print information on publications under Indrajal Comics

In 1981, yearly subscriptions could be purchased for rupees 64. 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 and so forth. The front cover design was also changed, with the introduction of the distinctive Indrajal Comics banner.

The cover artwork for the first 50 or so issues of Indrajal Comics was done by B.Govind, with the back cover featuring a pin-up poster. 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. 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 (e.g. #1, #9, #10 and #13) even dared to show The Phantom's eyes.

Names of some places and people were changed while publishing some stories from The Phantom, for example, Bengali was changed to Denkali to avoid confusion to Indian readers, the "Singh Brotherhood" were known as "Singa" pirates, etc.

The western comics that were reprinted in Indrajal were heavily censored. For example, scenes where The Phantom innocuously kissed his girlfriend Diana Palmer, were removed.

A total of 803 Indrajal Comics were published, excluding #123 and #124 which were not printed due to industrial strike action. More than half of these issues contained Phantom stories.

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Indrajal goes regional The regional version came in Bengali from January,1966 and the Indrajal #23 was #1 in Bengali[2] - A Search for "Indrajal" Returns the registered publications for different languages (Marathi language, Hindi, English language, Bengali language, Malayalam, Kannada, Gujarati people and Tamil language). A little trivia on how Indrajal Comics were introduced in the various languages prior the Bengali version, which was introduced on the 3rd year of Ijc, on Jan'66, and was 6th in the line....:

(I) Only English, Hindi & Marathi versions were introduced from the very beginning i.e. from #1(Mar'64).So the first 10 issues were published only in these 3 languages. (II) Gujarati & Tamil versions were introduced on the next year(Jan'65) i.e. #11 in the original series was #1 in these 2 languages and hence this issue(#23:Scarlet Sorceress) was actually #13 in Gujarati & Tamil..]

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History of the Back-up Features In addition to the main story, the books had various newspaper humour strips, short stories & general knowledge snippets as the back-up features. The most notable ones were "Henry", "Chimpoo", "Kittu", "Chalky", "The Little King", "No Comment", "Timpa", "Capree(animal world)", "Ancient World History", "Ripley's Believe It or Not" and many more. Advertising pages were reserved in all of the published issues, featured classic Indian brands like "Parle," BSA," Nutramul", "Gold Spot", "Gems", "Parle Products", "Kissan" etc. Some issues do have advertisement of State Bank of India, an Indian nationalised bank, to promote bank account for children.

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Painful End Starting with #789 on 20 Aug 1989 (Vol 26 No 33),[3] #789 Series (Vol 26 to 33) the series briefly returned to a fortnightly schedule with 36 pages each, before the publishers decided to cancel the series in their 27th year of production. The last issue was #805, published on 16 Apr 1990 (Vol 27 No 8:Dara: The Jaws of Treachery). The great comic holocaust of the late 1980s and early 1990s

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List of comics

1		March 1, 1964
2		April 1, 1964
3		May 1, 1964
4		June 1, 1964
5		July 1, 1964
6		August 1, 1964
7		September 1, 1964
8		October 1, 1964
9		November 1, 1964
10		December 1, 1964
11		January 1, 1965
12		February 1, 1965
13		March 1, 1965
14		April 1, 1965
15		May 1, 1965
16		June 1, 1965
17		July 1, 1965
18		August 1, 1965
19		September 1, 1965
20		October 1, 1965
21		November 1, 1965
22		December 1, 1965
23		January 1, 1966
24		February 1, 1966
25		March 1, 1966
26		April 1, 1966
27		May 1, 1966
28		June 1, 1966
29		July 1, 1966
30		August 1, 1966
31		September 1, 1966
32		October 1, 1966
33		November 1, 1966
34		December 1, 1966
35		January 1, 1967
36		January 15, 1967
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55		December 1, 1967
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66		May 15, 1968
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133		May 1, 1971
134
135		June 1, 1971
136		June 15, 1971
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161		July 1, 1972
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206		May 15, 1974
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219		December 1, 1974
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257		July 1, 1976
258
259		January 1, 1976
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272		February 15, 1977
273
274
275
276
277
278		May 15, 1977
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290		November 15, 1977
291
292		December 15, 1977
293
294
295
296		February 15, 1978
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310		September 15, 1978
311
312		October 15, 1978
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322		March 15, 1979
323
324
325
326
327		June 1, 1979
328		June 15, 1979
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345		March 1, 1980
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375		June 1, 1981
376		June 15, 1981
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397		January 4, 1982
398		January 31, 1989
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411		May 16, 1982
412
413
414		June 2, 1982
415		June 13, 1982
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431		October 3, 1982
432		October 10, 1982
433
434
435
436		November 7, 1982
437		November 14, 1982
438		November 21, 1982
439
440
441
442
443
444		January 2, 1983
445		January 9, 1983
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467		June 12, 1983
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480		September 11, 1983
481
482
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507
508
509
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521		June 24, 1984
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
530
531
532
533
534
535
536
537
538
539
540
541
542
543
544
545
546
547
548
549
550
551
552
553
554
555
556
557
558
559
560
561
562
563
564
565
566
567
568
569
570
571
572
573
574
575
576
577		July 21, 1985
578
579
580
581
582
583
584
585
586
587
588
589
590
591
592
593
594
595
596
597
598
599
600
601
602
603		January 19, 1986
604
605
606
607
608
609
610
611
612
613
614
615
616
617
618
619
620
621
622	23_22
623
624
625
626
627
628
629
630
631
632
633
634
635
636
637
638	23_38
639
640
641
642		October 19, 1986
643
644
645		November 9, 1986
646
647
648
649
650
651
652
653
654
655
656
657
658		February 8, 1987
659
660
661		March 1, 1987
662		March 8, 1987
663	24_11
664
665
666
667		April 12, 1987
668
669
670		May 3, 1987
671
672
673
674
675
676
677
678
679
680
681
682
683	24_31
684
685
686
687
688
689
690
691
692		October 4, 1987
693
694
695
696
697
698
699
700
701
702
703
704
705
706
707
708
709
710
711
712
713
714
715
716
717		March 27, 1988
718
719
720
721
722
723
724
725
726
727
728
729
730
731
732
733
734
735
736
737	25_33
738
739
740
741
742
743
744
745
746
747
748
749
750
751
752
753
754
755
756
757
758
759
760
761
762
763
764
765
766
767
768
769
770
771
772
773
774
775
776
777
778
779
780
781	26_25
782	26_26
783	26_27
784	26_28
785
786	26_30
787	26_31
788
789	26_33
790	26_34
791	26_35
792
793	26_37
794	26_38
795
796
797
798	27_01
799
800
801	27_04
802	27_05
803
804
805	27_08

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Notes

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External links

• Indrajal Comics Investment or Collector's Pride
• The Deep Woods - fan site with Indrajal Comics reference section; (not updating anymore since April 2007)

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