"Supper"man's powers could come in handy at dinnertime. His heat vision could warm up the leftovers, and that cold breath could cool down those beers pretty good.
I don't know how I feel about narratives where everyone who knows who Clark is keeps asking him to warm up food or chill wine. if u gonna do him that way, ask him to help u move and then pay the poor guy.
@@pebblebrookbooks4852 he's superman, I don't think he would accept money and besides cooling a beer or heating something up probably only takes a second and I imagine isn't very taxing on him, he'd probably do it just to be nice in a moments second after being asked. It isn't like people are asking him to move their house across the country for them or something that might actually take him some time or effort
As an brazilian, I have to say: We made an Marvel/DC crossover before the 1976's classic Superman versus Spider-Man The Battle of the Century. In 1964 the brazilian publisher RGE released the comic book 'Almanaque do O Globo Juvenil 1964' in which the DC's Shazam team-up with Marvel's Human Torch (the robot, from The Invaders who fought in WWII. Not that one from the Fantastic Four). This story has later been printed in USA, fully translated, in Alter Ego Magazine #52 to #60.
Okay, I read this comics as a kid and was mesmerized seeing this crossover between Indian and American superheroes. I'm sure the millions (and I'm not even kidding here) of Indian kids that read this book could care less about copyright laws and in fact, this book was a gateway for many like me into searching for DC and Marvel comics (which were very rare to find in India back in my day), so there's that argument to be made. Nagraj was revamped in the late 90's with a very engaging origin story and all of this bizarre stuff was tacitly expunged from the canon. Raj Comics was the biggest publisher of indigenous superheroes including Nagraj the snake man, Super Commands Dhruva (an orphaned child of circus performers who grows up to be a superb detective and vigilante), Doga (an infant picked up from a garbage dump by a dacoit and raised in abuse, who escapes and hones himself to physical perfection and becomes a shoot first ask later vigilante in the metropolis of Mumbai - my personal favorite), Kobi-Bhediya (A wolf being and a human that split from a wolf deity protector of the Kaziranga forests ), Tiranga ( A detective that wears the Indian tricolor as a cape and carries a shield - a Cap-Bat hybrid), Shakti (an abused woman saved from death by the Devi's boon, embodiment of feminine anger), Anthony (a corpse that is reanimated to protect his family) and so on. I admit most of these were loosely based on their western counterparts, but very Indian in their context. These comics are available for sale on the Raj Comics website (which is atrocious) but I doubt if they ship internationally. Give then a try folks, they're not half bad! And their official English translations are actually pretty well done.
The first thing I do when I land in a foriegn country is ask "where is the nearest comic book store or where can I buy comic books!" I have brought comic books in Turkey, Egypt, Morocco and Scotland. I hope to buy some comics when I visit India some day!!
@@juniorjames7076 Sadly, the only place where you may still find comics today is at book stalls on railway platforms. I have in my day purchased comics from places as varied as railway book stalls, dedicated book stores, newspaper stands but largely from scrap paper (raddi) shops. I have over the years noted a sense of shame among Indian youth in reading Indian comics, deeming them to be inferior to their European, Japanese and American counterparts. This has caused a tremendous dip in sales to the point that Raj comics had to be split over creative differences after the passing of its creator. Lately, the market has been swamped by American comics, so Indian comics are hard to find. Like in other areas, American mainstream culture has steamrolled all indigenous media forms. It's sad. But... I hope you find some really good Indian comics when you visit India!
@@sca8217 join raj comics group on Facebook you will come to know the change happening in comic industry they are reprinting old editions and maximum are out of stock.. websites like hellobookmine, shakti comics to name a few along with Gupta brothers are earing good profit reason all the 90s kid's are now adults btw after looking at profits now even manoj comic's have strated reprinting ram Rahim bhoot mahal reprint will be out soon.. #Nostalgia
@@sankalpvaid Wow, that is very heartening! I wish them the very best and hope that they get a much bigger market. Love the smell of a new RC fresh off the stands!
Huge Props to Chris for covering Nagraj..I grew up on these comics in the 90's..some of the elements may come off as goofy to western readers but keep in mind that the Indian superhero comic market was still in nascent stages and they were still trying to figure out the traits of making a good comic book as this was an entirely new medium for them to expand upon. The only precedents to follow were American comic books, so they naturally gravitated towards them for guidance and inspiration, but at their core they were still Indian in context of the storytelling. I still own a chest full of these comics and its a trip to go back and read them from time to time. People like Sanjay Gupta and Anupam Sinha were the ones who expanded the scope of superhero comics universe in the country and me along with a generation of readers will forever be indebted to them.
A majority of Bollywood films (and other south Asian ones in general) are amazingly bad as well. Some of them have even featured an unofficial version of Tarzan or a couple of his own south Asian equivalents.
That deity "Guruji" is actually the same word that's common in english nowadays "Guru" or teacher and the "ji" at the end is only a tag to show respect like "-sama" in japanese
So technically there is no such thing as international copyright law. There are copyright treaties which are agreements, primarily the Berne Convention, but if a country is not a signator of such a treaty, there's nothing that can be done about unlicensed copies made or sold in that country. In fact, even if the country is a signator, very little is likely to be done, just because it's probably not a priority for prosecutors in that country. Large companies may actually file for copyright protection in a country, but probably only if they have an official presence in that country.
When I interned for a law firm in Cairo, Egypt in the late 1990s, I couldn't help but notice several Pizza Hats, Burger Prince, Taco Balls and other...uh....flat out rip offs of USA fast food franchises. And the lawyers at the firm said it was not even worth it to go after them because a finding would be unenforceable. But they would gladly take Pepsi Cola's money if they wanted to sue a Popsie Cola or something.
you don't need to have an official presence in the country when it comes to countries that enforce any form of intellectual property law. this of course excludes countries that have intellectual property law in name only
I grew up in India reading a lot of Raj Comics, Manoj Comics, Diamond Comics and Tinkle in the early 90s and let me tell you this...Every artist who worked for Raj Comics during that time somehow took inspirations from DC or Marvel charcters like Nagraj was inspired from Spiderman, Super Commando Dhruv from Robin, Doga from Punisher and Batman, Kaal Paheliya from Riddler and Joker, Anthony from The Crow, Parmanu from Atom, Tiranga from Captain America, Bhokal from Thor, Inspector Steel from Robocop, Fighter Toads from TMNT and their origins had some Indian twist to them. Didn't knew about this untill 2002 when I watched the first Spiderman movie for the first time. That is when I started reading Marvel/DC/Dark Horse Comics and realised that not even the charcters but sometimes the writers shamelessly copy the entire story (Doga's KHOON KA KHATRA story was taken from Batman's THE LONG HALLOWEEN, I think). I am not saying that I don't like them anymore...I grew up reading these comics and I wanted to be like Doga LOL. I am just disappointed that children nowadays don't read comics like we did. Hell even I haven't read many comics after 2010 but then I attended Comic Con in Bangalore couple of years back and saw many Indian Comic companies have now came up with their charcters which are good....looking forward for more Indian content. Cheers!
Khoon Ka khatra is nowhere near long Halloween . It is way different. In fact a lot of Doga's later books are quite original like the Adrak ke Panje trilogy.
@@sca8217 sorry my bad, I meant "KHOONI PAHELIYAA" where the murder happens on every KARWA CHOUTH night. In LONG HALLOWEEN, murder happens every holiday every month. Most of the stories written by the writers in RC I am sure are writing original stories (most of the time) but what Iam trying to say is they must've taken some inspirations (not copied) from other DC or MARVEL entities as well.
@@ramdeomarandi11 No you are absolutely right, Khoon Ka khatra was the Karwa Chauth Killer story ... But the big difference was the exposé , and Long Halloween was completely different from Khoon Ka khatra ... In long Halloween it was Carmine Falcone's daughter or somethings, and in KKK ...well, you know who it was .❓❓😁😁. The only similarity was that the Karwa Chauth Killer murdered once every year, and in LH, it was on every holiday . What a ride it was ! Plus, the later issues of Dogs were so deeply entrenched in Mumbai culture and Mumbai mafia that as a Mumbaikar, I was completely sold on the concept of Doga.
Toofan means "Storm", so they were *obviously* just hinting that the elephant was Ororo Munroe shape-shifted by magic, duh! Come on Chris, get your head in the game.
12:35 It caught my attention how awkward that hand shake looks. And I realized it looks like the artist used as reference how it looks to give yourself a handshake from your own point of view. Holding your thumb.
As a Hindi comics fan I am so happy that Comic Tropes did a story on Nagraj, a very famous Hindi Comic superhero. As for the use of DC and Marvel characters in Indian comics it was not only Raj Comics who did that. There was a particular issue of Manoj Comics with the characters Ram and Rahim who did the same. Maybe someday Comic Tropes can do another episode on the golden age of Hindi comics when many publications were in vogue, apart from Raj Comics (to whose universe Nagraj belongs) were Manoj Comics, Radha Comics, King Comics, Fort Comics, Tulsi Comics, Diamond Comics among others. Cheers!
Thank you for covering Nagraj. He has been my favourite since childhood and I've always wanted to do a comics of him as an artist. Actually the comics is a very old one, globalization had not taken over India and certainly there was much less awareness about copyright laws. The Nagraj character has evolved over the year and now has parallel dimensions and parallel universe also. The parallel universe one is Known as Narak Nashak Nagraj and it's origin series has been one of the most popular and critically acclaimed comics. Btw there was some effort to come out with English translations also of the Nagraj comics as to give it more of a global appeal but I think that stopped as the comic industry has been going through troubled times in recent decade. You can read 'Green Death' , a good Nagaraj comics, in English ...
Really looking forward to your episode on Kentaro Miura. Berserk is also one of my favorite stories and I was devastated when I found out Miura had passed. I can’t wait to hear your thoughts on the series.
This was such an interesting episode: I do not know how the infamous YT algorithm will react to you reviewing a comic unknown to most of the public (outside of India), but thanks for helping discover something new!
I'm in a Facebook group with an artist who's been sharing the covers to some of these bad boys for a few months. Nagraj's powerset seems like it'd be more useful than Spider-Man's, in a pinch ("Webbing? How cute. Have a cobra.").
"Zindabad" means "long Iive!", so Giant Evil Lou Albano was cheering for Shakoora. This is the most hilarious video you've ever made! (Oh, and "Nagraj" of course just means "Snake King").
I gotta say, thank you for making this video. Even if this particular Raj comics book isn't the best thing they've made, I really appreciate your contribution to the archival of these old books. I think you might be interested in Tinkle Comics, which was like a more kid friendly "Shonen Jump" style magazine, except fortnightly. Aside from that you can also look into Sharad Devarajans short lived "Gotham Comics" project in the early 2000s where he brought Marvel and DC comics to Indian audiences. He also did an Indian version of Spiderman which is worth covering. Additionally, Diamond comics in India had "Doga", a character who would not be out of place in a Rob Liefeld book
Tinkle IS still going. And i hate Devarajan for closing Gotham comics. That was the only way i could read those comics physically. I hope he goes bankrupt. 😡
I cringe on reading Spiderman India. What was devarajan thinking? Which mumbai youth wears a dhoti at all, let alone randomly make it part of a costume? Pavitra Prabhakar and Uncle Bhim are the worst kinds of adaptations, reeks of laziness.
Great episode Chris, and really entertaining! In Argentina there is a comic book called "El Cazador" (The Hunter) where the titular character regularly battles against Superman among many other DC or Marvel heroes. Obviously it's something similar to Nagraj in that sense
This is a nice opportunity to discuss copyright. It was created after the invention of the printing press, as a way to preserve the rights of the authors (previous to that, the "rights to copy" belonged to the printing house). Something that has crearly been twisted with time, and specially in the case of the two major comics publishers. And on recent decades, all the changes made to copyright laws, have been pushed by corporations, instead of the people creating the content. Something that you can see everyday here in TH-cam, regarding the music restrictions.
Yeah, it was only meant to last for a LIMITED time, but now copyright terms have been extended to ridiculous lengths. The reason it took so long for the 60s Batman TV show to come out on Blu-Ray and DVD was that all the original rights holders had died, so they had to track down all the people who inherited the rights. It's insane that characters and works that were created by people who have been dead for decades are still protected under copyright.
SUPPERMAN! He was a superhero turned Doordash guy on PBS’s Electric Company back in the 70s after the dry cleaners accidentally added an extra P to the “Superman” logo on his costume. After crashing through a door making his first supper delivery, he gets in trouble with Bill Cosby (yes, Bill was part of the cast) who was the building’s Super, man! Yes, I’m 54 years old, and I remember PBS children’s shows when they were good.
I have read this comics... I accidentally found it in 2009-10 in an old book store. It was there for years, nobody had interest in it. I bought it immediately and kept it for years untill perhaps my mother sold it. I was so excited to see all of my favourite superheroes at one place.. Childhood memory.
I've been wanting to know your opinion on Berserk and Miura's work. It's great you're going to tackle this subject. I'm really looking forward to your next video. Of course this video was really great and really funny.
There's an Indian version of 'The Crow' as well, called ANTHONY. Undead rock star superhero with a crow companion. Some dark and lovely stuff. Also, the Indian Wolverine (by Mayukh Chowdhury) pre-dates Wolverine!
Speaking of ripoffs, I notice that one ad playing on Comic Tropes this month (Oct. 2024) is a total swipe from the Chlorox Wipes hitmakers Chromeo. It's from whatever company makes Reeses, and features two skeletons (just like the two guys in Chromeo) doing a very Chromeo type tune. Of course tons of egg on my face if it turns out to be the real Chromeo who made the ad!
Fun fact: Big Bang Theory's Kunal Nayyar rejected roles in both the MCU and the DCEU stating "I'm waiting for that Nagraj movie to be green-lit". Apparently Henry Cavill, Robert Pattinson and Tom Holland are all on board and have been lobbying for this movie to happen, but the Russo brothers (as both directors and producers of the film) are hell-bent on casting the late great Yul Brynner to play, not only Shakoora, but every single Shakoora in Shakoora, through the magic of CGI. Brynner's family, who at first seemed to be ok with the idea, are now asking to be paid for every one of those Yul Brynners, which, with an audience of thousands, would mean an estimated 150 million dollar budget for the court scene alone. Chad Brynner, Yul's grandson, DMed Joe Russo behind his family's back with the idea: "For 50 millions I shave my head and pretend to be my grandfather's CGI", to which the director answered with the better and "more likely to work" idea of "go f*ck yourself", before blocking him. So the project is still in development hell. Holland and Cavill went and met with the Brynners in person to try to work something out and share with them the importance that both Yul Brynner and Nagraj had in their lives growing up, and still do, but there's still no update on that. Kunal Nayyar also expressed his desire to visit them, but he was told by pretty much everyone that that could actually make things worst, with him being "one of those annoying guys from that annoying tv show" and all. Which to me doesn't make any sense. Letting them know that the first Yul Brynner acting gig after years of being unable to work because of death might be with the Big Bang Theory guy is the best card you have in your whole "maybe if we had more money we could get a better indian guy" defense. I know that throwing the guy that has spent years campaigning for the role under the bus just to appease that greedy Brynner family is a dick move, but when you make two of the five top grossing movies in history, and you want Yul Brynner to be all of the Shakooras... you bet your four-cheeked ass you're getting all the Yul Brynners you goddamn want. These guys made millions of children cry by disintegrating spiderman in front of their faces, you think they'd have a problem saying "You're out of the movie. Because you're Raj"?
Chris - just a minor point: Albano had rubber bands in his CHEEKS, not his beard. I wanna point out that this Circus Lou Albano *also* has a rubber band through his cheek!
In my opinion Naraj never should have gotten off that miniature train. That thing should be his superpower, I want to see him just riding around on that through the air, underwater, on top of the water, underground, and through traffic in city streets. Every story should end with him coming out of nowhere on that train and ramming the villain right in the lower back, instantly paralyzing them for life.
There's something so magical about the image of a guy contemplating sacrificing his life while riding a toy train. Also, I hate to question the writer's sanity after depicting a superhero grossly murdering a guy who just saved his life, and whom he called "friend" a few panels before, but later was put under a mind-control spell by the real villain, and then ended with the other superheroes casually laughing their arses off in front of his corpse.
Hey Chris ! Thank you for covering the wonderfully weird comics that came from my country. As a long fan of comics and your channel, who also happens to be from India, I really appreciate it :) Regarding the copyright issue- enforcement of copyright wasn't a concern back when these comics were made , simply because DC, marvel, dark horse and the other players have a considerably smaller presence in india. If you are interested in reading more Indian superhero comics, you might wanna check out "Doga" and "Spiderman India" ( a wonderfully strange official reimagining of the character). There was also a short lived Indian comics magazine called "Comics jump" which serialised multiple comics from different genres . If you wanna read stories based on indian mythology , "Ramayan 3392AD", "18 days" , "Sadhu" and "Devi" are decent titles, that use the mythology as their settings for remixed retellings or creating brand new stories. The stories of traditional mythology and Indian culture are available in a series of books called "Amar Chitra Katha" , which adapt and summarise the various legends, myths and stories into a short 25-30 pages, with a greater focus on relaying the stories without dramatic flair. If nagraj tickled your taste for snakes, there's also another indian snake inspired title called "snake woman". (A lot of local and regional cultures in india involve and/or venerate snakes, so snake oriented characters have been a staple of Indian cinema and stories for a long time - especially the idea of a vengeful "nagin") There is also the more light hearted fare of Diamond comics in the form of "chacha Chaudhary" , "pinki" and "raman" , which are more oriented towards kids and light humour. ( They also are more deeply "local" to the Indian context, so your mileage may vary) Anyhoo, I'm glad you're feeling better and I can't wait for the episode on Kentaro miura. Thank you once again :D
3:24 Spider-Man's colors on this page remind of the version of him that appeared in 3 Dev Adam, an old Turkish superhero movie (that also ignored copyright laws) which depicts Spider-Man as a psychotic villain that stabs people, tortures them with Guinea pigs, and for some reason can duplicate himself. That movie also had Captain America (but without his shield) and Mexican wrestler El Santo (because he was popular in Turkey?).
I used read a lot of raj comics growing up. I am rusty on my lore on them but still remember a lot. It is nice to see them get some spotlight internationally. cheers, great episode.
Re: Superman calling Nagraj "Dear!" Ha ha. I'm American but I learned to speak Arabic, Turkish and a little tiny bit of Farsi. Calling someone "Dear" (if you are at least acquainted with them, like say a co-worker) is common. Its not even that affectionate. I taught English at a university in Turkey, and I would get emails from faculty or my boss to do a project, and I would be referred to as Dear throughout the message (and I wasn't close to any of them). Its a cultural/language thing.
Ah!! That's interesting! I had an Indian co worker (she was hot but married) and she'd always call me dear in her emails.........glad I didnt read too much into it!!
I have still to watch the episode, but the thing I appreciate the most is that posting a new video is a sign that you are in good health! A hug, Chris!
As an italian,i'd really like a video on our superhero Zagor,a 19th century mix between Conan the Barbarian and Tarzan.The first issue was published in 1961 and new ones are published every month,from aliens and zombies invasion to western stories going from Lovecraft inspired issues to fantasy sagas ;there's even a crossover with Flash in the works. Some of his stories are published in USA by Epicenter Comics
These are not copies these are India's turn on these concepts These characters might feel similar but on a deeper level they are totally different and better in various aspects!
The era was the 90s, a boom period for Indian comics before its downfall in the latter decade, and subsequent resurgence in the last couple of years. As a kid growing up in the 90s, I was crazy about this particular comic book because it had Nagraj, Superman, Batman, and Spiderman all in one comics - what more can a kid ask for? We had no idea what copyright meant, nor did the publishers care. However, in the reprinted editions, these characters were redesigned. I have posted a comparison picture on my Insta handle. A lot of Indian Publishers, including Raj comics, have used characters like Superman, Batman, and Spider-Man in their comics. When I look back, it is ridiculously hilarious, but back in the day, it worked. In the 90s, indigenous comic book sales were at their peak. Publishers were dishing out comics every month like it was Christmas time. Obviously, when you focus on quantity, you compromise on quality, and there were only a handful of comic book writers in India (even to this day) - so, the writers would simply write anything that came to their mind to attract the kids as well as do good business. Hence, you get all kinds of bootleg stuff. For example, a lot of Nagraj's nuances in the earlier days were inspired by Spidey. Subsequently, Raj Comics did improve the quality of their content, and that's why they are the only Indian comics publisher to survive the - Dark Age - of Indian comics, even though it did result in some individual disputes (don't want to go into that). Raj Comics did circulate English-translated versions in the 90s but eventually stopped. The translations were bad, and they didn't do too well in terms of sales as the majority of Raj Comics readers prefer the original language - Hindi. To conclude, these Indian comics were the backbone of our childhood before we developed our love for DC, Marvel, and other Foreign publications (including myself), which also destroyed the comics industry in India, but Nagraj and other Indian superheroes are forever inscribed in our heart and memories, and the love for them is undeniable. Thank you so much for featuring an Indian superhero and introducing it to the world. P.S. NAGRAJ IS NOT THE FIRST INDIAN SUPERHERO, but it is the most POPULAR.
What an incredible story! As for the elephants in the audience, I used to go by the elephant in the room, but it's ok, I don't care what that elephant's name was either.
Looked to me like Ringmaster Lou Albano had rubberbands on his face, too. Or at least an approximation of the reference the artist was using. If they were working Marvel Style, the writer might have mistaken them for “nails,” which Chris says were being put INTO his face, but the panel says were being pulled OUT.
Writer, illustrator, Anupam Sinha who created the character "Super Commando Dhruva" for Raj Comics and later on took over Nagraj as well has a long history of lifting characters and stories from Marvel/DC. He was the one who gave Nagraj the secret identity of a reporter in a news channel. Many of his earliest works on Dhruva lifted stories from Marvel, DC and even Star wars.
Abe jahreele sapole... Ye majak Nagraj ka videshi ne udaya hai naki kisi cadet ne jo tu yaha bhi aa gaya Super commando Dhruv ke naam pe hagne😂😂 Abe kuchh to sharam kar behude sapole.
Sound effects ending with SSS are pretty common in Indian comics because it's the equivalent of '....' in Hindi. Never understood why the translators didn't bother to change them though.
That’s partly because north India has snakes. Tons of them, including the deadly cobras. Also due to the fact that the Hindi language is written in Sanskrit.
Just a wild guess here I think the publisher spent time in New England. There is a city in Massachusetts named Worcester. Lou Albano was part of the original WWF when it was a regional TV show and traveled to various halls and auditoriums back in the sixties and seventies. Plus, I see a New York Jets flag suggesting a relationship close to the area.
To find nutty comics, I needed to look no further than some 1960s Superboy comics from Mexico. Proper copyright form is not the only thing they "overlooked" at all. Uniform "colors" were not treated uniformly at all. Blue was interchanged with green, and as were yellow and orange (or was that gold?). Text was also up for grabs, where talking backwards was not uncommon. One of several gaffs was, "I think I'll faint a feigning spell." Plus standard thought and speech balloons varied widely, where Superboy in a thought bubble would think, "I don't feel very well," while his speech bubble would then say, "I need an excuse to get out of here!" Hilarious!
As a bonus, I wanted to add another crazy thing from foreign comics (I have a few buried somewhere in a closet): In the case of ladies in a Superman or Superboy comic, Lois Lane and Lana Lang were sometimes virtually interchangeable. Especially odd is that Superman never even knew Lois when he was Superboy. Of course all such errors were done with text only, but still it was wild to see our hero use the name of Lana or Lois in the wrong spot.
Update: in the latest (2021) reprints of this book by Raj Comics, the three international superheroes are renamed Metro City's Protector the powerful Metro Man, Sin City's Protector the Brave Dark Man and The Amazing Bug-man! 😆
You are right about couple of things, there are several languages in India, other than hindi. And there are original comics being done in such languages since 60s...for example Narayan Debnath, a comics artist who has been working in comics since the 60s in west bengal and continues to illustrate and churn out comics till date. He is a living legend, however with very little translation of his work, almost zero distribution and publicity outside bengal, western world hardly knows about him and the vast amount of work that he has done. His volume of work could perhaps easily be compared with Schultz and other such comics writers. There are many such prolific comics writers in bengali, marathi, tamil and other languages. Indian comics scene has many variables from editorial cartoons to comics and graphic novels. Bangladesh, our neighbour country also has a thriving and upcoming comics scene, with many genres of comics being developed for all sorts of audiences. I mention Bangladesh because we (as in I come from west bengal) have the same language (very different dialects though) i.e. Bengali.
I loved to read Nonte Phonte, Ray's Feluda, Timpa, Batul - whatever was available in the form of English translations in Mumbai. Bangla has such an abundance of literature and also sequential art , that as a Marathi fellow, I'm jealous!
Yes, Odayan was really great. The weaving of folk tales and history into an original story was a brill idea !! I am just sad that the story run couldn't be completed.
@@rahulthekkedath8923 well don't be disappointed. The creators have stated that though it didn't receive the initial support it deserved they are gonna complete the story anyway. That's a good news.
Spider-Man on the Eiffel Tower could also be thanks to the opening sequence for the Japanese Spider-Man Show, as Spider-Man is seen climbing on an Eiffel Tower replica which was/in Tokyo.
"... he has thousands of tiny snakes living inside of him and can summon them whenever he wants" I too can summon thousands of "tiny snakes" living inside of me.
Nice beginning Supperman can open any container to let the eater out of the salt block to eat. Lau Albano is wearing Starman's costume without the head fin or cape.
"Supper"man's powers could come in handy at dinnertime. His heat vision could warm up the leftovers, and that cold breath could cool down those beers pretty good.
I don't know how I feel about narratives where everyone who knows who Clark is keeps asking him to warm up food or chill wine. if u gonna do him that way, ask him to help u move and then pay the poor guy.
And who doesn't love supper? So it's relatable
His super strength would also come in handy for cleaning the dishes that need a little extra elbow grease afterwards too
@@pebblebrookbooks4852 he's superman, I don't think he would accept money and besides cooling a beer or heating something up probably only takes a second and I imagine isn't very taxing on him, he'd probably do it just to be nice in a moments second after being asked. It isn't like people are asking him to move their house across the country for them or something that might actually take him some time or effort
XD
As an brazilian, I have to say: We made an Marvel/DC crossover before the 1976's classic Superman versus Spider-Man The Battle of the Century. In 1964 the brazilian publisher RGE released the comic book 'Almanaque do O Globo Juvenil 1964' in which the DC's Shazam team-up with Marvel's Human Torch (the robot, from The Invaders who fought in WWII. Not that one from the Fantastic Four). This story has later been printed in USA, fully translated, in Alter Ego Magazine #52 to #60.
The Justice League also had a crossover with Turma da Mônica.
Alter ego was Roy Thomas' fanzine, right?
Okay, I read this comics as a kid and was mesmerized seeing this crossover between Indian and American superheroes. I'm sure the millions (and I'm not even kidding here) of Indian kids that read this book could care less about copyright laws and in fact, this book was a gateway for many like me into searching for DC and Marvel comics (which were very rare to find in India back in my day), so there's that argument to be made. Nagraj was revamped in the late 90's with a very engaging origin story and all of this bizarre stuff was tacitly expunged from the canon. Raj Comics was the biggest publisher of indigenous superheroes including Nagraj the snake man, Super Commands Dhruva (an orphaned child of circus performers who grows up to be a superb detective and vigilante), Doga (an infant picked up from a garbage dump by a dacoit and raised in abuse, who escapes and hones himself to physical perfection and becomes a shoot first ask later vigilante in the metropolis of Mumbai - my personal favorite), Kobi-Bhediya (A wolf being and a human that split from a wolf deity protector of the Kaziranga forests ), Tiranga ( A detective that wears the Indian tricolor as a cape and carries a shield - a Cap-Bat hybrid), Shakti (an abused woman saved from death by the Devi's boon, embodiment of feminine anger), Anthony (a corpse that is reanimated to protect his family) and so on. I admit most of these were loosely based on their western counterparts, but very Indian in their context. These comics are available for sale on the Raj Comics website (which is atrocious) but I doubt if they ship internationally. Give then a try folks, they're not half bad! And their official English translations are actually pretty well done.
The first thing I do when I land in a foriegn country is ask "where is the nearest comic book store or where can I buy comic books!" I have brought comic books in Turkey, Egypt, Morocco and Scotland. I hope to buy some comics when I visit India some day!!
@@juniorjames7076 Sadly, the only place where you may still find comics today is at book stalls on railway platforms. I have in my day purchased comics from places as varied as railway book stalls, dedicated book stores, newspaper stands but largely from scrap paper (raddi) shops. I have over the years noted a sense of shame among Indian youth in reading Indian comics, deeming them to be inferior to their European, Japanese and American counterparts. This has caused a tremendous dip in sales to the point that Raj comics had to be split over creative differences after the passing of its creator. Lately, the market has been swamped by American comics, so Indian comics are hard to find. Like in other areas, American mainstream culture has steamrolled all indigenous media forms. It's sad. But... I hope you find some really good Indian comics when you visit India!
@Conrad Kujur Cheers brother!
@@sca8217 join raj comics group on Facebook you will come to know the change happening in comic industry they are reprinting old editions and maximum are out of stock.. websites like hellobookmine, shakti comics to name a few along with Gupta brothers are earing good profit reason all the 90s kid's are now adults btw after looking at profits now even manoj comic's have strated reprinting ram Rahim bhoot mahal reprint will be out soon.. #Nostalgia
@@sankalpvaid Wow, that is very heartening! I wish them the very best and hope that they get a much bigger market. Love the smell of a new RC fresh off the stands!
So that’s why Superman wouldn’t marry Lois he had someone on the side in India.
it’s canob
Huge Props to Chris for covering Nagraj..I grew up on these comics in the 90's..some of the elements may come off as goofy to western readers but keep in mind that the Indian superhero comic market was still in nascent stages and they were still trying to figure out the traits of making a good comic book as this was an entirely new medium for them to expand upon. The only precedents to follow were American comic books, so they naturally gravitated towards them for guidance and inspiration, but at their core they were still Indian in context of the storytelling. I still own a chest full of these comics and its a trip to go back and read them from time to time. People like Sanjay Gupta and Anupam Sinha were the ones who expanded the scope of superhero comics universe in the country and me along with a generation of readers will forever be indebted to them.
Honestly, it doesn't seem _that_ much more bizarre than what had happened in 1950s Batman or Superman comics. 😂😂
If Curt Swan drew this it wouldn’t be that out of place with actual Superman comic lol
A majority of Bollywood films (and other south Asian ones in general) are amazingly bad as well. Some of them have even featured an unofficial version of Tarzan or a couple of his own south Asian equivalents.
@@SlapstickGenius23 tarzan is in public domain anybody can use it
@@nklumia the Tarzan stories are in public domain, but the Tarzan character is trademarked.
Me: Nothing can outdone the Mexican Spiderman
Chris: Hold my beer.
You haven't seen Indian Superman 😁😂
Spadiaman (Spiderman Japan): wait hold my sake..
Respect the hyphen.
And of course Squidly man (Aqua man) in Mexico.
@@markzosemsuello4016Japanese Spider-Man is technically official, so is the comic book Indian Spider-Man.
That deity "Guruji" is actually the same word that's common in english nowadays "Guru" or teacher and the "ji" at the end is only a tag to show respect like "-sama" in japanese
So technically there is no such thing as international copyright law. There are copyright treaties which are agreements, primarily the Berne Convention, but if a country is not a signator of such a treaty, there's nothing that can be done about unlicensed copies made or sold in that country. In fact, even if the country is a signator, very little is likely to be done, just because it's probably not a priority for prosecutors in that country. Large companies may actually file for copyright protection in a country, but probably only if they have an official presence in that country.
Yeah copyright law depends on which country
Prosecutors? Isn't copyright usually a civil matter? The copyright holders sue the infringers so prosecutors would not be involved.
When I interned for a law firm in Cairo, Egypt in the late 1990s, I couldn't help but notice several Pizza Hats, Burger Prince, Taco Balls and other...uh....flat out rip offs of USA fast food franchises. And the lawyers at the firm said it was not even worth it to go after them because a finding would be unenforceable. But they would gladly take Pepsi Cola's money if they wanted to sue a Popsie Cola or something.
you don't need to have an official presence in the country when it comes to countries that enforce any form of intellectual property law. this of course excludes countries that have intellectual property law in name only
There's also the fact that many countries in asia have little to none quality control in their entertaiment industry
I grew up in India reading a lot of Raj Comics, Manoj Comics, Diamond Comics and Tinkle in the early 90s and let me tell you this...Every artist who worked for Raj Comics during that time somehow took inspirations from DC or Marvel charcters like Nagraj was inspired from Spiderman, Super Commando Dhruv from Robin, Doga from Punisher and Batman, Kaal Paheliya from Riddler and Joker, Anthony from The Crow, Parmanu from Atom, Tiranga from Captain America, Bhokal from Thor, Inspector Steel from Robocop, Fighter Toads from TMNT and their origins had some Indian twist to them. Didn't knew about this untill 2002 when I watched the first Spiderman movie for the first time. That is when I started reading Marvel/DC/Dark Horse Comics and realised that not even the charcters but sometimes the writers shamelessly copy the entire story (Doga's KHOON KA KHATRA story was taken from Batman's THE LONG HALLOWEEN, I think). I am not saying that I don't like them anymore...I grew up reading these comics and I wanted to be like Doga LOL. I am just disappointed that children nowadays don't read comics like we did. Hell even I haven't read many comics after 2010 but then I attended Comic Con in Bangalore couple of years back and saw many Indian Comic companies have now came up with their charcters which are good....looking forward for more Indian content. Cheers!
Khoon Ka khatra is nowhere near long Halloween . It is way different. In fact a lot of Doga's later books are quite original like the Adrak ke Panje trilogy.
@@sca8217 sorry my bad, I meant "KHOONI PAHELIYAA" where the murder happens on every KARWA CHOUTH night. In LONG HALLOWEEN, murder happens every holiday every month. Most of the stories written by the writers in RC I am sure are writing original stories (most of the time) but what Iam trying to say is they must've taken some inspirations (not copied) from other DC or MARVEL entities as well.
@@ramdeomarandi11 No you are absolutely right, Khoon Ka khatra was the Karwa Chauth Killer story ... But the big difference was the exposé , and Long Halloween was completely different from Khoon Ka khatra ... In long Halloween it was Carmine Falcone's daughter or somethings, and in KKK ...well, you know who it was .❓❓😁😁. The only similarity was that the Karwa Chauth Killer murdered once every year, and in LH, it was on every holiday . What a ride it was ! Plus, the later issues of Dogs were so deeply entrenched in Mumbai culture and Mumbai mafia that as a Mumbaikar, I was completely sold on the concept of Doga.
Toofan means "Storm", so they were *obviously* just hinting that the elephant was Ororo Munroe shape-shifted by magic, duh! Come on Chris, get your head in the game.
"Zack Snyder's dream for the man of steel" lol fanboys inbound
Snyder Stans be foaming out of their mouths, lol
This was actually the next film planned in the Snyderverse after his Justice League trilogy.
I never knew Metropolis built in such a tectonically active region. Live, active volcano just right there, on the edge of town.
There Is Probably An Official Comic Where Metropolis Is Near A Active Volcano But I'm Just Guessing
12:35 It caught my attention how awkward that hand shake looks. And I realized it looks like the artist used as reference how it looks to give yourself a handshake from your own point of view. Holding your thumb.
Ooh great observation!
As a Hindi comics fan I am so happy that Comic Tropes did a story on Nagraj, a very famous Hindi Comic superhero. As for the use of DC and Marvel characters in Indian comics it was not only Raj Comics who did that. There was a particular issue of Manoj Comics with the characters Ram and Rahim who did the same. Maybe someday Comic Tropes can do another episode on the golden age of Hindi comics when many publications were in vogue, apart from Raj Comics (to whose universe Nagraj belongs) were Manoj Comics, Radha Comics, King Comics, Fort Comics, Tulsi Comics, Diamond Comics among others. Cheers!
Thank you for covering Nagraj. He has been my favourite since childhood and I've always wanted to do a comics of him as an artist.
Actually the comics is a very old one, globalization had not taken over India and certainly there was much less awareness about copyright laws.
The Nagraj character has evolved over the year and now has parallel dimensions and parallel universe also. The parallel universe one is Known as Narak Nashak Nagraj and it's origin series has been one of the most popular and critically acclaimed comics.
Btw there was some effort to come out with English translations also of the Nagraj comics as to give it more of a global appeal but I think that stopped as the comic industry has been going through troubled times in recent decade.
You can read 'Green Death' , a good Nagaraj comics, in English ...
Really looking forward to your episode on Kentaro Miura. Berserk is also one of my favorite stories and I was devastated when I found out Miura had passed. I can’t wait to hear your thoughts on the series.
This was such an interesting episode: I do not know how the infamous YT algorithm will react to you reviewing a comic unknown to most of the public (outside of India), but thanks for helping discover something new!
When the circus ring master looks more like a superhero than the title character.
Correct. Same thing happened with the US Spider-man comic featuring the Ringmaster and his circus of evil, or whatever.
This has to be one of the most unintentionally hilarious issues of a comic book ever published!
They called superman Supperman and ended the comic with a dinner. Chekvov naming, brilliant wrintting.
When i was kid, Nagraj was my fav indian superhero.
I'm in a Facebook group with an artist who's been sharing the covers to some of these bad boys for a few months. Nagraj's powerset seems like it'd be more useful than Spider-Man's, in a pinch ("Webbing? How cute. Have a cobra.").
"Zindabad" means "long Iive!", so Giant Evil Lou Albano was cheering for Shakoora. This is the most hilarious video you've ever made! (Oh, and "Nagraj" of course just means "Snake King").
Glad I joined up, you always come out with quality content and $3 aud is a very small price to pay for support, keep it up!
I gotta say, thank you for making this video. Even if this particular Raj comics book isn't the best thing they've made, I really appreciate your contribution to the archival of these old books.
I think you might be interested in Tinkle Comics, which was like a more kid friendly "Shonen Jump" style magazine, except fortnightly.
Aside from that you can also look into Sharad Devarajans short lived "Gotham Comics" project in the early 2000s where he brought Marvel and DC comics to Indian audiences. He also did an Indian version of Spiderman which is worth covering.
Additionally, Diamond comics in India had "Doga", a character who would not be out of place in a Rob Liefeld book
Agree with you, just one small correction, Doga was part of Raj comics as well
@@rahulthekkedath8923 oh yes. I got that mixed up.
Tinkle IS still going. And i hate Devarajan for closing Gotham comics. That was the only way i could read those comics physically. I hope he goes bankrupt. 😡
I cringe on reading Spiderman India. What was devarajan thinking? Which mumbai youth wears a dhoti at all, let alone randomly make it part of a costume? Pavitra Prabhakar and Uncle Bhim are the worst kinds of adaptations, reeks of laziness.
@@sca8217 an attempt was made. Didn't make for a particularly good version of the character but it would make for a funny video
Shakoora zindabad basically means long live shakoora, he's basically thanking shakoora
I once jumped from the back of an elephant. The sound was indeed "cheess", but it was pronounced "doioioioioinggg".
Great episode Chris, and really entertaining! In Argentina there is a comic book called "El Cazador" (The Hunter) where the titular character regularly battles against Superman among many other DC or Marvel heroes. Obviously it's something similar to Nagraj in that sense
This is a nice opportunity to discuss copyright. It was created after the invention of the printing press, as a way to preserve the rights of the authors (previous to that, the "rights to copy" belonged to the printing house). Something that has crearly been twisted with time, and specially in the case of the two major comics publishers. And on recent decades, all the changes made to copyright laws, have been pushed by corporations, instead of the people creating the content.
Something that you can see everyday here in TH-cam, regarding the music restrictions.
Yeah, it was only meant to last for a LIMITED time, but now copyright terms have been extended to ridiculous lengths.
The reason it took so long for the 60s Batman TV show to come out on Blu-Ray and DVD was that all the original rights holders had died, so they had to track down all the people who inherited the rights.
It's insane that characters and works that were created by people who have been dead for decades are still protected under copyright.
jake roberts is in many ways a mythical creature
And don't ever EVER play cards with him
@@seand7042
You wanna play 21?
@@nukeninmgt1504 I think I'd rather play blackjack...
@@seand7042 He's got 2 of those too
Yeah
SUPPERMAN! He was a superhero turned Doordash guy on PBS’s Electric Company back in the 70s after the dry cleaners accidentally added an extra P to the “Superman” logo on his costume. After crashing through a door making his first supper delivery, he gets in trouble with Bill Cosby (yes, Bill was part of the cast) who was the building’s Super, man!
Yes, I’m 54 years old, and I remember PBS children’s shows when they were good.
The end of an era! No more prizes! Glad it’s finally done, seemed like a lot of work on your end. But it was a fun idea while it lasted.
I have read this comics... I accidentally found it in 2009-10 in an old book store. It was there for years, nobody had interest in it. I bought it immediately and kept it for years untill perhaps my mother sold it. I was so excited to see all of my favourite superheroes at one place.. Childhood memory.
I've been wanting to know your opinion on Berserk and Miura's work. It's great you're going to tackle this subject. I'm really looking forward to your next video. Of course this video was really great and really funny.
There's an Indian version of 'The Crow' as well, called ANTHONY. Undead rock star superhero with a crow companion. Some dark and lovely stuff. Also, the Indian Wolverine (by Mayukh Chowdhury) pre-dates Wolverine!
Speaking of ripoffs, I notice that one ad playing on Comic Tropes this month (Oct. 2024) is a total swipe from the Chlorox Wipes hitmakers Chromeo. It's from whatever company makes Reeses, and features two skeletons (just like the two guys in Chromeo) doing a very Chromeo type tune. Of course tons of egg on my face if it turns out to be the real Chromeo who made the ad!
Fun fact: Big Bang Theory's Kunal Nayyar rejected roles in both the MCU and the DCEU stating "I'm waiting for that Nagraj movie to be green-lit".
Apparently Henry Cavill, Robert Pattinson and Tom Holland are all on board and have been lobbying for this movie to happen, but the Russo brothers (as both directors and producers of the film) are hell-bent on casting the late great Yul Brynner to play, not only Shakoora, but every single Shakoora in Shakoora, through the magic of CGI.
Brynner's family, who at first seemed to be ok with the idea, are now asking to be paid for every one of those Yul Brynners, which, with an audience of thousands, would mean an estimated 150 million dollar budget for the court scene alone.
Chad Brynner, Yul's grandson, DMed Joe Russo behind his family's back with the idea: "For 50 millions I shave my head and pretend to be my grandfather's CGI", to which the director answered with the better and "more likely to work" idea of "go f*ck yourself", before blocking him.
So the project is still in development hell.
Holland and Cavill went and met with the Brynners in person to try to work something out and share with them the importance that both Yul Brynner and Nagraj had in their lives growing up, and still do, but there's still no update on that. Kunal Nayyar also expressed his desire to visit them, but he was told by pretty much everyone that that could actually make things worst, with him being "one of those annoying guys from that annoying tv show" and all. Which to me doesn't make any sense. Letting them know that the first Yul Brynner acting gig after years of being unable to work because of death might be with the Big Bang Theory guy is the best card you have in your whole "maybe if we had more money we could get a better indian guy" defense.
I know that throwing the guy that has spent years campaigning for the role under the bus just to appease that greedy Brynner family is a dick move, but when you make two of the five top grossing movies in history, and you want Yul Brynner to be all of the Shakooras... you bet your four-cheeked ass you're getting all the Yul Brynners you goddamn want.
These guys made millions of children cry by disintegrating spiderman in front of their faces, you think they'd have a problem saying "You're out of the movie. Because you're Raj"?
Wtf
@@criscrosxxx google it bro
@@criscrosxxx indeed
This is the exact kind of video I always want. I'd love to see more videos covering international comics!
If it's possible, i'd love a video about Brazilian comics, the work of Jayme Cortez is awesome! More Argentinian comics would be cool too!
Havent stopped by for a while, the site is looking great!
We need an entire spinoff ComicTropesNagraj channel
@Conrad Kujur For sure, do you have any more recommendations?
@Conrad Kujur That's a lot of good stuff, thanks friend
Anyone else hear Linkara's Batman for Batman's intro panel?
No, but at 13:22, I went "That can't be good!" when he said "Batman seems to be radioactive."
Just returning to this channel after a long break and holy crap. That. Intro!
Amazing, plus the content is as good as ever. Love your work friend
Chris - just a minor point: Albano had rubber bands in his CHEEKS, not his beard. I wanna point out that this Circus Lou Albano *also* has a rubber band through his cheek!
In my opinion Naraj never should have gotten off that miniature train. That thing should be his superpower, I want to see him just riding around on that through the air, underwater, on top of the water, underground, and through traffic in city streets. Every story should end with him coming out of nowhere on that train and ramming the villain right in the lower back, instantly paralyzing them for life.
There's something so magical about the image of a guy contemplating sacrificing his life while riding a toy train. Also, I hate to question the writer's sanity after depicting a superhero grossly murdering a guy who just saved his life, and whom he called "friend" a few panels before, but later was put under a mind-control spell by the real villain, and then ended with the other superheroes casually laughing their arses off in front of his corpse.
In India "dear" is used by the elderly when normally speaking to their children or other children so its quite common
Nice. I was reading about India's heros the other day.
Hey Chris ! Thank you for covering the wonderfully weird comics that came from my country. As a long fan of comics and your channel, who also happens to be from India, I really appreciate it :)
Regarding the copyright issue- enforcement of copyright wasn't a concern back when these comics were made , simply because DC, marvel, dark horse and the other players have a considerably smaller presence in india.
If you are interested in reading more Indian superhero comics, you might wanna check out "Doga" and "Spiderman India" ( a wonderfully strange official reimagining of the character).
There was also a short lived Indian comics magazine called "Comics jump" which serialised multiple comics from different genres .
If you wanna read stories based on indian mythology , "Ramayan 3392AD", "18 days" , "Sadhu" and "Devi" are decent titles, that use the mythology as their settings for remixed retellings or creating brand new stories. The stories of traditional mythology and Indian culture are available in a series of books called "Amar Chitra Katha" , which adapt and summarise the various legends, myths and stories into a short 25-30 pages, with a greater focus on relaying the stories without dramatic flair.
If nagraj tickled your taste for snakes, there's also another indian snake inspired title called "snake woman". (A lot of local and regional cultures in india involve and/or venerate snakes, so snake oriented characters have been a staple of Indian cinema and stories for a long time - especially the idea of a vengeful "nagin")
There is also the more light hearted fare of Diamond comics in the form of "chacha Chaudhary" , "pinki" and "raman" , which are more oriented towards kids and light humour. ( They also are more deeply "local" to the Indian context, so your mileage may vary)
Anyhoo, I'm glad you're feeling better and I can't wait for the episode on Kentaro miura. Thank you once again :D
3:24 Spider-Man's colors on this page remind of the version of him that appeared in 3 Dev Adam, an old Turkish superhero movie (that also ignored copyright laws) which depicts Spider-Man as a psychotic villain that stabs people, tortures them with Guinea pigs, and for some reason can duplicate himself. That movie also had Captain America (but without his shield) and Mexican wrestler El Santo (because he was popular in Turkey?).
Welcome back, man. Hope you're feeling better.
It's been a while since I checked you out, I love your new opening!
I used read a lot of raj comics growing up. I am rusty on my lore on them but still remember a lot. It is nice to see them get some spotlight internationally. cheers, great episode.
Re: Superman calling Nagraj "Dear!" Ha ha. I'm American but I learned to speak Arabic, Turkish and a little tiny bit of Farsi. Calling someone "Dear" (if you are at least acquainted with them, like say a co-worker) is common. Its not even that affectionate. I taught English at a university in Turkey, and I would get emails from faculty or my boss to do a project, and I would be referred to as Dear throughout the message (and I wasn't close to any of them). Its a cultural/language thing.
Ah!! That's interesting! I had an Indian co worker (she was hot but married) and she'd always call me dear in her emails.........glad I didnt read too much into it!!
I have still to watch the episode, but the thing I appreciate the most is that posting a new video is a sign that you are in good health! A hug, Chris!
I was waiting for the final panel where everyone dances weirdly.
As an italian,i'd really like a video on our superhero Zagor,a 19th century mix between Conan the Barbarian and Tarzan.The first issue was published in 1961 and new ones are published every month,from aliens and zombies invasion to western stories going from Lovecraft inspired issues to fantasy sagas ;there's even a crossover with Flash in the works.
Some of his stories are published in USA by Epicenter Comics
2:07 Ahh yes the classic indian legend... Jake Roberts.
Very fun episode! You got some good zingers in there! 😀😁
Name a character Nissan Altima. Or maybe Ford Prefect. That was the model of a Ford sold in England, and was a joke lost on us Americans.
Except HG was VERY popular in the US.
@@marfaxa yes but we didn’t understand that joke
These are not copies these are India's turn on these concepts
These characters might feel similar but on a deeper level they are totally different and better in various aspects!
Still rolling over Lou Albano at 11:18!!! Fun episode. Thanks, as always.
Awesome can't wait for the up coming episode. Looking forward to delightful time.
The ringmaster even had the rubber bands on his cheek too.
Translated (or mistranslated) as nails.
@@ZeroAnalogy close enough 🙃
The era was the 90s, a boom period for Indian comics before its downfall in the latter decade, and subsequent resurgence in the last couple of years. As a kid growing up in the 90s, I was crazy about this particular comic book because it had Nagraj, Superman, Batman, and Spiderman all in one comics - what more can a kid ask for? We had no idea what copyright meant, nor did the publishers care. However, in the reprinted editions, these characters were redesigned. I have posted a comparison picture on my Insta handle. A lot of Indian Publishers, including Raj comics, have used characters like Superman, Batman, and Spider-Man in their comics. When I look back, it is ridiculously hilarious, but back in the day, it worked. In the 90s, indigenous comic book sales were at their peak. Publishers were dishing out comics every month like it was Christmas time. Obviously, when you focus on quantity, you compromise on quality, and there were only a handful of comic book writers in India (even to this day) - so, the writers would simply write anything that came to their mind to attract the kids as well as do good business. Hence, you get all kinds of bootleg stuff. For example, a lot of Nagraj's nuances in the earlier days were inspired by Spidey. Subsequently, Raj Comics did improve the quality of their content, and that's why they are the only Indian comics publisher to survive the - Dark Age - of Indian comics, even though it did result in some individual disputes (don't want to go into that). Raj Comics did circulate English-translated versions in the 90s but eventually stopped. The translations were bad, and they didn't do too well in terms of sales as the majority of Raj Comics readers prefer the original language - Hindi. To conclude, these Indian comics were the backbone of our childhood before we developed our love for DC, Marvel, and other Foreign publications (including myself), which also destroyed the comics industry in India, but Nagraj and other Indian superheroes are forever inscribed in our heart and memories, and the love for them is undeniable. Thank you so much for featuring an Indian superhero and introducing it to the world.
P.S. NAGRAJ IS NOT THE FIRST INDIAN SUPERHERO, but it is the most POPULAR.
What an incredible story!
As for the elephants in the audience, I used to go by the elephant in the room, but it's ok, I don't care what that elephant's name was either.
Looked to me like Ringmaster Lou Albano had rubberbands on his face, too. Or at least an approximation of the reference the artist was using.
If they were working Marvel Style, the writer might have mistaken them for “nails,” which Chris says were being put INTO his face, but the panel says were being pulled OUT.
16:15. I was going comment on that too. I'm glad I scanned the previous one's to find yours. You were ahead of me by 30+ minutes.
*i had purchased that comics just to see superman and batman*
Supperman and his archnemesis-turned-love-interest: Lunchlady
You're the most subtle comic book roaster, I mean with out even breaking cadence!
Writer, illustrator, Anupam Sinha who created the character "Super Commando Dhruva" for Raj Comics and later on took over Nagraj as well has a long history of lifting characters and stories from Marvel/DC. He was the one who gave Nagraj the secret identity of a reporter in a news channel. Many of his earliest works on Dhruva lifted stories from Marvel, DC and even Star wars.
Abe jahreele sapole... Ye majak Nagraj ka videshi ne udaya hai naki kisi cadet ne jo tu yaha bhi aa gaya Super commando Dhruv ke naam pe hagne😂😂
Abe kuchh to sharam kar behude sapole.
So ready for berserk!! This was a funny episode for sure! Much love dude!!!
This is a great episode. Thank you!
Sound effects ending with SSS are pretty common in Indian comics because it's the equivalent of '....' in Hindi. Never understood why the translators didn't bother to change them though.
That’s partly because north India has snakes. Tons of them, including the deadly cobras. Also due to the fact that the Hindi language is written in Sanskrit.
Just wanted to say I love your work and you continue to educate, inspire and entertain many people with your videos
I think the 'cheess' sound is meant to sound like 'chiss'. Similar to the hissing sound of air escaping a pressurised tank.
7:49 Now I know where Zidane got the idea
Just a wild guess here I think the publisher spent time in New England. There is a city in Massachusetts named Worcester. Lou Albano was part of the original WWF when it was a regional TV show and traveled to various halls and auditoriums back in the sixties and seventies. Plus, I see a New York Jets flag suggesting a relationship close to the area.
I'm always happy when I get to see Chris!
Whoa that intro was fantastic!!!
Haha glad to see the email that I sent to you made it into an entire episode.
To find nutty comics, I needed to look no further than some 1960s Superboy comics from Mexico. Proper copyright form is not the only thing they "overlooked" at all. Uniform "colors" were not treated uniformly at all. Blue was interchanged with green, and as were yellow and orange (or was that gold?). Text was also up for grabs, where talking backwards was not uncommon. One of several gaffs was, "I think I'll faint a feigning spell." Plus standard thought and speech balloons varied widely, where Superboy in a thought bubble would think, "I don't feel very well," while his speech bubble would then say, "I need an excuse to get out of here!" Hilarious!
"how about Shakoora?"
"oh yeah, Guruji took care of him"
"oh cool - *nhom, nhom* "
As a bonus, I wanted to add another crazy thing from foreign comics (I have a few buried somewhere in a closet): In the case of ladies in a Superman or Superboy comic, Lois Lane and Lana Lang were sometimes virtually interchangeable. Especially odd is that Superman never even knew Lois when he was Superboy. Of course all such errors were done with text only, but still it was wild to see our hero use the name of Lana or Lois in the wrong spot.
What?!? Kentaro Muira died?!? Damn, he was only in his mid-50s...
What an absolute tragedy.
Update: in the latest (2021) reprints of this book by Raj Comics, the three international superheroes are renamed Metro City's Protector the powerful Metro Man, Sin City's Protector the Brave Dark Man and The Amazing Bug-man! 😆
I think it makes perfect sense for the story to end with a scene featuring Supperman having everyone over for dinner.
This is awesome information! Thank you!
You are right about couple of things, there are several languages in India, other than hindi. And there are original comics being done in such languages since 60s...for example Narayan Debnath, a comics artist who has been working in comics since the 60s in west bengal and continues to illustrate and churn out comics till date. He is a living legend, however with very little translation of his work, almost zero distribution and publicity outside bengal, western world hardly knows about him and the vast amount of work that he has done. His volume of work could perhaps easily be compared with Schultz and other such comics writers. There are many such prolific comics writers in bengali, marathi, tamil and other languages. Indian comics scene has many variables from editorial cartoons to comics and graphic novels. Bangladesh, our neighbour country also has a thriving and upcoming comics scene, with many genres of comics being developed for all sorts of audiences. I mention Bangladesh because we (as in I come from west bengal) have the same language (very different dialects though) i.e. Bengali.
I loved to read Nonte Phonte, Ray's Feluda, Timpa, Batul - whatever was available in the form of English translations in Mumbai. Bangla has such an abundance of literature and also sequential art , that as a Marathi fellow, I'm jealous!
I love these episodes, hahaha. Thanks, Chris.
Great video! I remember reading these as a kid. Btw both the a's in the Nagraj are long a's. So it would go Naagraaj as opposed to Nagraaj.
I would love to see you talk about an Indian graphic novel series called Odayan. It has some great art and an interesting plot.
Yes, Odayan was really great. The weaving of folk tales and history into an original story was a brill idea !! I am just sad that the story run couldn't be completed.
@@rahulthekkedath8923 well don't be disappointed. The creators have stated that though it didn't receive the initial support it deserved they are gonna complete the story anyway. That's a good news.
@@nivedh2894 Good to know that 👍
Thanks Chris!
Great vid. Keep rockin.
15:10 I think there was a kid that died from a fire who died screaming Shaktimaan.
Spider-Man on the Eiffel Tower could also be thanks to the opening sequence for the Japanese Spider-Man Show, as Spider-Man is seen climbing on an Eiffel Tower replica which was/in Tokyo.
"... he has thousands of tiny snakes living inside of him and can summon them whenever he wants"
I too can summon thousands of "tiny snakes" living inside of me.
🤮
Nice beginning
Supperman can open any container to let the eater out of the salt block to eat.
Lau Albano is wearing Starman's costume without the head fin or cape.
Is it coincidence or Chris is almost wearing Nagraj colors...!?
No, it was intentional.
Still my favorite channel on TH-cam.