TINKLE
Tinkle is a very popular Indian comics magazine that was initially published and distributed by India Book House on a monthly basis. The publishing brand was obtained by ACK Media in the year 2007. The comics magazine contains various illustrated stories of various genres, quizzes, puzzles and contests. There are many other features included in Tinkle that are aimed at entertaining the children, as well as adults that also comprise its readership. The first issue of Tinkle was published in the year 1980. It is published mainly in English and syndicated in regional Indian languages such as Malayalam. Anant Pai is the founding editor of Tinkle magazine and has also released the renowned Amar Chitra Katha series. He is also popularly known as Uncle Pai.
The initial issue of Tinkle was published in April 1980 and since then around 500 issues have been released. Tinkle constitutes of short comics and illustrated stories along with columns of interest for young and school children. The comics magazine has become very popular in the country since the last two decades. Regular characters like Shikari Shambu and Suppandi that are featured in the magazine are rather popular amongst Indian Comics readers. Tinkle provides a hearty combination of education and entertainment. Tinkle has also launched their official website that contains many stories, illustrations, games and puzzles.
Publications of Tinkle
Tinkle publishes various stories in series format in their comics magazine.
Suppandi
Suppandi is the most popular character in the entire magazine. He is a village simpleton and a servant with good intentions. But he often misunderstands the orders of his masters and creates chaos with humourous consequences.
Kalia the Crow
Kalia the Crow is another popular series in the magazine. Kalia is a clever crow who saves his friends from a crocodile named Doob-doob and a jackal named Chamataka.
Tantri the Mantri
Tantri is the devious Minister in the court of king Hooja. He wants to dethrone the King and become the ruler himself. Every story shows Tantri planning a detailed scheme which finally backfires.
Shikari Shambu
Shambu is a Hunter or Shikari, who appears very powerful and brave to everyone. But in reality Shikari Shambu humble relaxed and lazy person. He usually runs away from any signs of trouble.
Pyarelal series
Pyarelal is a very gentle and kind-hearted farmer who lives with his wife Lajo and the couple has many adventures.
Ajay The Detective
The series revolves around the adventures of Ajay who is a young and smart detective in the town. He is often helped by Inspector Sharma to catch the criminals.
Butterfingers
The series is about Amar, also known as Butterfingers for his habit of dropping things. He is clumsy and accident-prone.
The Defective Detectives
Rahul and Ravi are the Defective Detectives who attempt to solve different mysteries. They use different codenames in different missions to conceal their identities.
Janoo and Wooly Woo
Janoo, a brave witch who lives along with her friend a coward dragon named Wooly who can puff flames from his nostrils. Other characters in the series are King Arctic Snow, Empress Deer etc.
Nasruddin Hodja
The character is inspired from the Turkish Mullah Nasreddin. He is a person with a smart and intelligent mind which he utilses to outsmart others.
Kapish
Kapish is a clever and helpful monkey who lives in Kadu jungle with his friends Bundila the elephant, Baboocha the bear and others. Peelu the tiger and Sigal the jackal are his enemies.
Ramu and Shamu
Ramu and Shamu are 2 innocent identical twins who have positive and negative experiences in life.
Other than these there were other stories that came out as series in the earlier issues. The most popular of them are The Dumbbells, Mopes and Purr, Little Shambu series, Junior Tantri, Chhotu and Lambu, Chaman Charlie, Little Suppandi etc.
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Tinkle popular character-
Apart from one-off stories, Tinkle also has regular characters that appear in stand-alone fashion. Some of these characters are:
Current
*. Suppandi - Suppandi, thevillage simpleton, is by far the most popular Tinkle character. He is a well-meaning servant who always misunderstands the commands of his masters, which leads to many humorous accidents.
*. Kalia the Crow - Kalia is an intelligent crow who saves his friends from his enemies Doob Doob the crocodile and Chamataka the jackal. His friends are Keechu and Meechu the rabbits, Babloo the bear, Danti the elephant and Shonarthe stag.
*. Tantri the Mantri - Tantriis the scheming Minister(Mantri) of the well-meaning Raja Hooja. Tantri wants to get rid of Raja Hooja so that he can become king. Every episode in this series has Tantri devising an elaborate scheme which eventually backfires. The highlight of this series is that the Raja always escapes, and he thinks that he escapes because of Tantri's efforts. The plot is surprisingly similar to Rene Goscinny 's Iznogoud . To provide aninteresting twist to the tale, arch enemies were introduced for Tantri and Hooja, as Jantri and Dooja. Tantri also has henchmen, Dushtabuddhi and Vichitrabuddhi.
*. Shikari Shambu - Shambu is a Shikari , a hunter, whom the worldperceives as courageousand powerful, whereas in reality he is meek, easygoing and lazy. He would prefer to laze around in his house all day, and tries to run away from any signs of trouble. But the villagersand his wife believe he is fearless, and persuadehim to take up dangerous tasks. He always manages to survive and accomplish the task by a stroke of luck. The series had attracted mild criticism in the past for depicting endangered animals as villains. Recent editions have a powerful pro-conservation message. It is also featured many times that he actually loves animals and has never killed one.
*. Pyarelal series - A very kind-hearted farmer who lives with his wife Lajwanti or Lajo has millions of adventures.
*. Ajay- The Detective - This series tells us aboutAjay, the youngest and smartest detective in the town. Whenever a mystery is there, he is sure to be in the spotlight. He gets help from his friends Inspector Sharma and Chunni and his dog Jeetu to nab the culprits.
*. Butterfingers - These stories revolve around Amar, nicknamed Butterfingers for his knack of dropping things. He is accident-prone and clumsy. He is a student of Grade 9, Green Park School. He often draws his friends Kiran, Eric, Minu and others into many adventures. Recently, Tinkle has introduced a book named "Oops! Its Butterfingers", featuring the best stories about him.
*. The Defective Detectives - The "Defective Detectives" are Rahul & Ravi who call themselves detectives and try their best to solve mysteries. They have codenames to conceal their identities (which differ in each episode). Ravi has a sister called Samhita"Sam" who solves the case before the defective detectives. Butrecently they have started solving mysteries by a stroke luck which arises the green eyed monster of envy in Sam.
*. Janoo and Wooly Woo - Janoo, a courageous witch who lives with her friend Wooly, a cowardly dragon who can puff flames from hisnostrils. They live in Jadu and have relations with rulers like King Arctic Snow, Empress Deer etc. Her greatest enemy is the wizard Wikido. She stops the menace of the day with her magicstick, called Hexa .
*. Nasruddin Hodja - A manwho has a large witty brain which he uses to outsmart people. His character is based on the Turkish Mullah Nasreddin .
*. Ina, Mina, Myanah, Mo -They are four sisters who demand a lot from their father Jagannath, amiser. They irritate Jagannath but he still keeps quiet. They have afunny collection of stories.
Former
*. Kapish - A clever, helpfulmonkey who lives in thejungle of Kadu along with his friends, Baboocha the bear, Bundila the elephant, Pintu the fawn, Motu the rabbit and Panja theeagle. His arch enemies are Sigal the jackal, Peelu the tiger and Dopaya the hunter. Kapish has supernatural powers, which help him to extend and shrink his tail at will. This ability and his quick thinking help him save his friends from Peelu, Sigaland some hunters along with Dopaya.
*. Ramu and Shamu - Ramuand Shamu are two innocent identical twinshaving their ups and their downs as they experiment and play.
*. The Dumbbells - The dumbbells Natoo, Datoo and Motu are friends who live a simple adventurous life. Their arch enemy is Damodar who always tries to foil them up. Unfortunately for Damodar, it is the Dumbbells who win!
*. Mopes and Purr - Another detective plot based comic series featuring two animal detectives namely Mopes the dog and Purr the cat. The detective duo tries to help everyone out of trouble without revealing their identities.
*. Little Shambu series - This is the story of Shikari Shambu when hewas young. His future wife Shanti is also young. Little Shambu always ends up being a boy hero in the series.
*. Junior Tantri - This is thestory of Tantri in his young age. He and Prince Hooja study in the same gurukula. Prince Hooja thinks of him as a trusted friend but Tantri wants to kill Hooja. However, his plans backfire on him, making Hooja think he saved his life.
*. Chhotu and Lambu - As the names suggest, Lambu is tall while Chottu is short; Chottu uses his witty brain to help them and others.
*. Chaman Charlie - An old man wearing a dhoti and an overcoat, lookingjust like Charlie Chaplin. This chap is very clumsy and witty, and at times courageous.
*. Little Suppandi - These are the tales of Suppandi's childhood when he used to be equally ignorant and it features his interesting tales with his teachers and relations.
*. Little Raji - Raji is a young girl who uses her cleverness to solve various problems.
*. Zim Zim and Gotala - ZimZim is the friendly demon. His main enemy is the sorcerer Gotala, who wants to capture Zim Zim in order to know the secrets of the demons, but fails everytime due to Zim Zim's cleverness.
