I discovered Laurel & Hardy Featured in Comics too!

I had seen several Laurel & Hardy Short Films.Doordarshan used to air these on some lucky Saturday evenings. I would always look forward to as to when it would be scheduled again.
As it happened, one film (I remember it was BLOTTO) was scheduled on one such Saturday when I had to go to Thane for a house warming ceremony. I was adamant that I won't go - I did not want to miss the L&H short film. Somehow I was coaxed by my Mom to come along by promising me a comic.
I had rushed out of my house - 50p with me - delighted that I would get my hands on yet another earlier Indrajal.
When I got to the same footpath vendor opp Jagadamba Stores - a few minutes walk from my home - among Indrajals was this comic - Laurel & Hardy Gold Key No. 2.

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070 Specter From Space - First Mandrake comic that I bought.

I bought it from a footpath vendor - just across Jagdamba General Stores, Daulatnagar, Borivli (East). It was not in very good condition. In a few years it had shredded to pieces. I no longer have that issue with me - I have self printed a copy for my collection.

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The Five Find Outers and Dog

Some time within the same year 1979 - I think it was 7th Std. mid-terms - my brother-in-law PM Shenoy got me a book - yet another Enid Blyton children's series - 'The Mystery of the Missing Man' - a story about The Five Find Outers and Dog - Frederick A. Trotteville (Fatty) moves to the village of Peterswood and befriends Larry, Daisy, Philip (Pip) and Elizabeth (Bets). The five along with the dog Buster, decide to form a detective club in the first book (The Mystery of the Burnt Cottage) and from then on start the hilarious escapades.

I managed to collect the other 14 books too within 2 years - all bought second hand for Rs.1 - 1.50 each.

All books are very good but the ones marked in purple are better - The Mystery of the Missing Man and The Mystery of Vanishing Prince - perhaps the best of the lot!

The 15 books in the series are:
The Mystery of the Burnt Cottage (1943)
The Mystery of the Disappearing Cat (1944)
The Mystery of the Secret Room (1945)
The Mystery of the Spiteful Letters (1946)
The Mystery of the Missing Necklace (1947)
The Mystery of the Hidden House (1948)
The Mystery of the Pantomime Cat (1949)
The Mystery of the Invisible Thief (1950)
The Mystery of the Vanished Prince (1951)
The Mystery of the Strange Bundle (1952)
The Mystery of Holly Lane (1953)
The Mystery of Tally-Ho Cottage (1954)
The Mystery of the Missing Man (1956)
The Mystery of the Strange Messages (1957)
The Mystery of Banshee Towers (1961)

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Enid Blyton a part of your growing up!? Kindly leave your comments.

The time I started collecting older Indrajal issues

As I had remarked earlier that I had lost Indrajal 320 and had to buy it again some time later. It was from a 'raddiwalla' shop in Dahisar (East) - on the Station Road. It had on display - hung with clips - a huge number of comics - Indrajals, Amar Chitra Katha. My eyes quickly spotted the one I had lost and beside it were Indrajal Comics 272 and 278. I got these. Thus I began to add older issues to the Indrajals which were coming out every 15 days.
This raddiwala shop would become one of my favourite haunts in later years - when I would be allowed  to wander alone afar - Dahisar was about 3 kms from my home. I used to walk it out and buy comics from the amount saved on the bus fare. But that is for later.
Though I still have the original No. 320 bought 40 years ago - I have lost both 272 and 278 - I don't remember whom I lent to!
Now I have both the issues as self printed hard copies - yet the imprinted memories connected with them make these more nostalgic.

324 The Death Chant On Klet

I had known about Flash Gordon from a novel I got from friend. It did not make much sense at the first reading - re-read it after a year - and I was hooked to Sci-Fi.

It was a story where Flash and Zarkov encounter an amazing series of adventures when their space ship crashes on a gypsy planet. Endless war raged between 2 groups of robots led by two beautiful queens. Zarkov's scientific genius saves them from certain annihilation.

I did not know when I was reading that book, that I would be meeting Flash Gordon again! I was delighted to know - when I finished reading 'The Crucial Combat' (323) - that the next issue would feature Flash Gordon.

Indrajal No. 324 published on April 15, 1979
was my first Flash Gordon Comic.

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The day I discoverd Enid Blyton

Sometime just after my 6th Standard Final Exams were over and the school closed for summer vacations - 3rd week of April 1979 - I was introduced to Enid Blyton's 'Secret Seven'. My elder bro Arun gave me this book 'Good Work Secret Seven'. It was lent to him by his friend - it would have been John Fernandes - but I am not sure. It was mid-morning - about 10ish when I started reading. It turned out so compelling that I read it through at one go. Finished it in 3 hrs!
That was 40 years ago. I got all the the 15 Secret Seven books within a couple of years - each of them read many times over!

I have this book now as a hard cover edition. The image is of the edition that I actually read 40 years ago. 

The Secret Seven (1949)
Secret Seven Adventure (1950)
Well Done Secret Seven (1951)
Secret Seven on the Trail (1952)
Go Ahead Secret Seven (1953)
Good Work Secret Seven (1954)
Secret Seven Win Through (1955)
Three Cheers Secret Seven (1956)
Secret Seven Mystery (1957)
Puzzle for the Secret Seven (1958)
Secret Seven Fireworks (1959)
Good Old Secret Seven (1960)
Shock for the Secret Seven (1961)
Look out Secret Seven (1962)
Fun for the Secret Seven (1963)

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323 The Crucial Combat

All the earlier issues I had bought - 319, 320, 321 and 322 - the covers were lost to time. I had to reprint the covers to make them complete. This issue is the first Indrajal comic with me that survived with its original cover over 4 decades.

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322 The Invisible Saviour

I bought this comic from Wheeler Newspaper Stall on Borivali Railway Station Platform No. 5. It was the day this issue would have been available and I could not wait till the evening when I usually left for home at 6.30 pm - when school ended for the day - and buy the comic. The railway station was quite nearby to my school. I and my classmate - Sudhir Alphonso - ventured out in the 30 min. recess, went over to the station and bought it! Got into the class room with the issue folded inside my uniform!😀

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321 The Benevolent Ghost

The publication for this issue was somewhat delayed and I remember asking the stall vendor 'इंद्रजाल कॉमिक्स आया?' everyday on my way back from school. It was supposed to be out on March 1, 1979 but the vendor had it with him 3-4 days later.

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320 Demons From The Dark Part 2

I had to buy this issue twice. First copy from the 'Pandurang' News-Paper stall - just midway on the road to my school. It was with me for a number of months. Suddenly it was no longer where I usually kept my books and magazines stashed. I realised I must have lent out to some friend and had forgotten about it. I had to buy it a second time - this time from local raddiwaala for 50ps. Thats when I realised I could get issues prior to No. 319 as well and started frequenting these shops!

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319 Demons From The Dark Part 1 - My First Comic

I owe it to my friend Ramprasad Padhi's offhand remark of having seen a book with 'Phantom' character on a news-stand on our way to school. This was as I was showing him my collected Phantom strips cut-out from the 'Illustrated Weekly of India' in 1979. We set out to the news-stand to verify what book it was. I did not know what a 'Comic' was before this.  This small newsstand just at the entry to Daulatnagar (Borivali East) in suburban Mumbai was to be one of my most cherished places and bought my first Indrajal. The Indrajal Childhood started!

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