READING COMICS IS ON THE BRINK OF EXTINCTION!

 FROM SAMPATH’S DESK:

 

 

 

 

 

READING COMICS IS ON THE BRINK OF EXTINCTION!

  

The comic books and a series of the same published in newspapers that once took the older generations, especially children and students, by storm are fast on the wane. Children of the past including me were fond of reading the daily quota of comics published in the newspapers. Needless to say, not a single morning would pleasantly pass without reading them.

 

In a way, the comics of yesteryear deeply inculcated reading habits in children besides kindling thought processes in them including imagining beyond the ordinary. Although some comic characters were doing unnatural, superficial, and unbelievable adventures smacking with negative vibes, people, especially children, got attracted to them. They also helped children develop and enrich their thinking capacity beyond the run-of-the-mill. They also enabled them to think differently.

 

The status of the already steadily waning comic books industry became worse with the setting in of the Covid-19 pandemic. Comic books seemed to have emerged and gained popularity in the 1930s. English comic books and series in newspapers were introduced almost simultaneously in India along with the Western countries while the same made its foray into other Indian languages later through dubbed versions. Through slapstick humour, romance, and/or a tall-order adventure, the comic strip medium offered something for everyone.

 

With the advent of the era of the Internet and computer games including tabs and other video gadgets. devices and portals, adults and children alike are attracted to playing adventurous games, of course,  using animated lethal weapon images through the joystick. Players in such video games are displaying their skills of targeting, shooting down, etc. in simulated situations. Though considered ‘skill games’, they only end up polluting the mindset of children into violence and destruction, with a mélange of crooked ideas. These games don’t encourage positive thinking, and constructive and optimistic ideologies, and don’t help children secure peace of mind with productive and beneficial effects. They rather contaminate the psyche of children/youngsters with a wrong ideology of ‘might is right’ with its adverse ramifications as they grew up.

 

A list of some popular comics is given below:

 

‘Mickey Mouse’ (American cartoon character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. (The longtime mascot of The Walt Disney Company)

‘Life in Hell’ by Matt Groening published weekly from 1977 to 2012

Chest-beating Tales of Tarzan - a series of 24 adventure novels written by Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875-1950) and published between 1912 and 1966)

 

‘Thimble Theatre’ created by King Features Syndicate Comic writer/artist Elzie Chrisler Segar (pronounced as SEE-gar) - 1929 - Popeye the Sailor Man.

 l

Little Nemo – Adventures in Slumberland - released in Japan as simply NEMO (1989) – it was released as an animated musical fantasy film directed by Masami Hata and William Hurtz

 

Beetle Bailey by Mort Walker (the longest-running comics strip) - launched on September 4, 1950

 

Prince Valiant - created by Hal Foster of the U.S. and launched in 1937

 

Spider-Man - created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko of the U.S. launched in 1962

 

Flash Gordon (a space adventure comics strip created and originally drawn by Alex Raymond - became a legendary sci-fi title in its own right) - first appearance in 1934

  

9 DC Villains who died saving lives – Secret Society of Super-Villains #9 was an issue of the series ‘Secret Society of Super-William' (Volume-1) - cover date September 1977.

 

Dick Tracy (originally Plainclothes Tracy) by Chester Gould - launch date October 4, 1931

 

Patrick McDonnell’s classic strip MUTTS chronicled the adorable and hilarious friendship of Mooch and Earl - launched on September 5, 1994.

  

Garfield is an American comic strip created by Jim Davis - originally published locally as 'Jon' in 1976. The Cure For Mondays (Hun Davis) launched on June 19, 1978.

 

Whimsy and humour abound in Calvin and Hobbes, a daily American comic strip created by cartoonist Bill Watterson, commonly cited as ‘The last great newspaper comic’ - 18.11.1985-31.12.1995

 

Krazy Kat, also known as Krazy & Ignatz, is an American newspaper comic strip by George Herriman – 28.10.1913-25.6.1944

 

‘Peanuts’ was a syndicate daily and Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles Monroe “Sparky” Schulz - dailies 2.10.1950-3.1.2000, and Sundays 6.1.1952-13.2.2000

 

DENNIS THE MENACE authored by Hank Ketcham readily comes to my memory when recalling my reading experience.

The comics in Indian languages included Amar Chitra Katha, Chanda Mama, Ambuli Mama, Chota Beem, Kanni Theevu (Tamil), Chacha Chudhury, Champak, Billoo, Vikram Betal, Hindu Epics and religion-related stories, Pinky, The Jungle Book, Shaktiman, and Ayushman, among others.

Here, I only mean the extinction of comics/cartoon series in newspapers, magazines, and journals and the reading habit along therewith, and not on TV screens, computers, social media portals, and private video channels/organizations.

 

The thrill of daily waiting for the newspaper(s) and reading the small strips, piece by piece, used to be more exciting and enjoyable than the suspense getting revealed in the at-a-stretch reading and/or viewing of the comics on screen on a single day itself. Holding your breath and fire for the day’s episode was worth the wait! Wasn’t it?  

 

While the comics/cartoon series of English and other foreign languages have been able to somewhat survive in the print media even at the present juncture albeit on a low key, those in the Indian vernacular languages are almost on the edge and verge of extinction and fast becoming a thing of the past.

 

 

 

(R.SAMPATH)

16/4/2023