What do you call someone who collects comics?

Meet Arun Prasad. He is a practicing Pannapictagraphist (someone who collects comics), a history researcher, artist and freelance writer based in Bangalore. He began his career as a journalist and soon enough decided to dedicate his time exclusively to nurturing his life long passion for collecting comics.

Comics are collected for several possible reasons, including appreciation, nostalgia, financial profit, and completion of the collection. Arun's collection includes The Phantom, Indrajal comics, Amar Chitra Katha, Tinkle and many more. In August 2014 his collection was showcased in the History channel.

Comics are part of my childhood

Abhijit Bhaduri: What makes someone collect something? And that too comics? How did you know that you WANTED to collect comics.

Arun: I prefer to be called as a caretaker or custodian of comics rather than a "collector" of comics. Collection is attached to commercial interest. 

I grew up on a steady dose of comic books. I was an avid reader with no intention of collecting or preserving comics. When my family got relocated to Bangalore from Kerala and during the shifting process, I lost my entire comic collection.Arun:

A gift of a few Phantom comic from a friend revived my passion. I‘ve left no stone unturned in search of an out-of-print comic book. 

Abhijit Bhaduri: What are the Indian comics in your collection? 

Arun: I have the complete collection of Indrajal Comics published by Times of India (from 1964) focusing on characters like Phantom, Mandrake, Flash Gordon, Bahadur, Buz Sawyer, Lt Drake, Mike Nomad, Rip Kirby, Garth, Phil Corrigan, Bruce Lee, Aditya and some special issues like Robin Hood, Mickey Mouse, Zorro, Tulsidas Ramcharit Manas, Bahubali and Mahabharata. Amar Chitra Katha, Tinkle, Chandamama, Balarama, Poompatta, Bobanum Moliyum.  

Abhijit Bhaduri: What would you say are the unusual comics you have?

Arun: I have the complete collection of first edition prints of Amar Chitra Katha (from 1967) including the rare first 10 issues (European Fairy Tales). The First edition issues of holiday specials, bumper issues and special issues. Complete collection of first edition Tinkle (from 1980); Collection of He-Man mini comics published by Parksons.

I have the complete collection of Supremo Comics (which has Amitabh Bachan as super hero); Sunny the Super sleuth comics that has Sunil Gavaskar as super hero. The comics published by Tirupati Temple trust; Complete collection of Axa Comics (perhaps the only adult comics series published in India); Complete collection of Space age Comics; Complete collection of Dolton, Falcon and Star Comics; Comics published by the Ministry of Information and publicity. 

Other out of print comics include collection of AFI Comics, Specturm published by Times of India, Chelsons Classics, Appu Comics, Adarsh Chitra Katha, Chaturang Katha, Chitra Bharti Kathamala, Nutan Chitra Katha, Madhu Muskan Comics, Gaurav Gatha, Raj comics, Kiran Comics, Goldie Comics – detective series, Neo Comics, Mayur Comics , Prajapitha Brahma, World in Pictures Comics, Bible Comics, Dum Dum Diga Diga, Egmont Phantoms, Diamond Comics, 3D Comics in Star and Diamond, Dreamland Publications comics, Manoj Chitrakatha, Chinnu comics, Goversons Comics, Vidyarthi mithram Comics, Target Comics, Paico Classics, Charlie Chaplin, Modern Classics, Hemakunt Comics, Chariot Comics, Chimpu Comics and many other shortlived independent comics…

Apart from these I do have a good collection of Indian vernacular comics in Malayalam, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu and Marathi. There are some interesting Indian Graphic novels by Orijit Sen, Sarnath Banerjee, Amruta Patil, Vishwajyoti Ghosh and others. 

I am in the process of organizing all my collection and setting up an archive. The categorisation is done in a chronological order of publications with language wise segregation and arranged based on issue and dateline. 

Abhijit Bhaduri: Who is your favorite comic book artist?

I have a long list of artist’s works that I adore both International and Indian. I like works of most of the old Phantom artists from Lee Falk, Ray Moore and Wilson McCoy. Russ Manning, Jack Kirby, Frank Frazzetta, Hogarth, Robet Crumb, Bill Watterson, Schulz are my favorites too

Among Indian artists I like the works of Ajit Ninan, Shehab, Pradeep Sathe, Govind Brahmanya. But my all time favorite is VT Thomas (known as Toms) who created and illustrated Bobanum Moliyum, a popular Malayalam comic strip.  I think VT Thomas and Mayukh Choudhury with their prolific lines are perhaps the most underrated.

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Join me on LinkedIn and on Twitter @AbhijitBhaduriWritten for Times of India blog on 24th Nov 2018