Arun Prasad, a Bangalore-based writer and independent history researcher, has a most interesting passion. He is a pannapictagraphist. That is, a comic archivist and collector. He has over 15,000 rare Indian comics among his collection, most of which include out-of-print comics.
Arun’s wide-ranging comic collection will be featured in History TV 18’s recent series The Great India Collectors’ Ride .
“In the show, two internationally famous bikers travel to Indian cities to trace extreme collectors.
I was pleasantly surprised when they got in touch with me. Avinash Kumar Singh and Sundeep Gajjar are the hosts of the show, and Sundeep is also a lover of comics.”
Arun began collecting comics as a personal quest in tracing his childhood.
“I grew up reading comics. I used to read comics such as Balamangalam , Poompatta and Bobanum Moliyum and Mayavi , a comic strip that appeared in Balarama , a popular children’s magazine published by the Manorama group in Kerala. Indrajal comics are among my all time favourites and my favourite comic character is Phantom.”
Today, he has the complete collection of Indrajal comics from number 1 ( The Phantom Belt , 1964), first appearance issues of superheroes such as Phantom, Mandrake, Flash Gordon, Bahadur, Buz Sawyer, Lt. Drake, Mike Nomad, Rip Kirby, Garth, Phill Corrigan, Bruce Lee, Aditya , and some special issues such as Robin Hood, Mickey Mouse, Zorro, Tulsidas’ Ramcharit Manas , Bahubali , Mahabharata , among others.
He has the full collection of first edition prints of Amar Chitra Katha , including the rarest first ten issues (European fairy tales), the first issues of Holiday Special , Bumper Issue and Special Issue, the full collection of the first edition of Tinkle , the complete collection of Star Comics featuring Amitabh Bachchan as a super hero, a rare collection of comic books featuring Sunny Gavaskar as a super hero. Among western comics, he has a collection of original editions of classic Illustrated series, Dell comics , Gold Key , Marvel , DC , Warcomics , among others, and a collection of vintage western annuals.
He also has Indian comic strips published from the 1950s onwards, published in the Illustrated Weekly of India and other magazines. There are many other rare comics in his collection.
Arun approached a number of sources to procure comics. “I have got comics from old newspaper collectors. I am a regular visitor to Sunday markets in Bangalore, Chennai, Trivandrum, Kochi and other cities in Kerala. I am in touch with dealers in old books in India and abroad.” He has turned the ground floor space of his house into a comic warehouse. “Comics must be dirt-free and moisture-free for preservation. I place most of my rare comics along with imported acid free boards and then I put them into polypropylene bags. I also have special carton boxes for storing the comics.”
The Great India Collectors’ Ride featuring Arun’s collection will be telecasted on History TV 18, on August 30 at 8.30 pm. There will be a repeat telecast on Sunday at 2.30 pm.
