Secret Agent X9

"But there was somebody I don't want to hurt!
    Who was it?
       I... I can't remember !!"

As gripping as any 1930s movie serial but delivered six days a week, Mondays to Saturdays, Dashiell Hammett's newspaper strip begins by introducing his hero and racing through several plotlines over the first eighty episodes which eventually converge. 

It is from this point we join the story, when Hammett concentrates on the convoluted hunt by X-9, alias Dexter, for the mysterious criminal mastermind The Top and for the true inheritor of the recently deceased Tarlton Powers' fortune.

Hammett cuts loose with richer characterization and dialogue, admirably assisted by talented artist, Alex Raymond's lush faces and figures, many based on models, to create a sense of realism and glamour. 

Together they bring their cast to life, including rugged, relentless detective Dexter, colorful coward Sydney Carp, and the alluring but ambigous widow Grace Powers.

The story picks up as the conspires with Wily Alfred Hall, her lover...

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Read here first 18 pages of "Secret Agent X-9" - it was originally published in July, 1934.

Secret Agent X-9
  (Size: 12 MB)

Asterios Polyp (An excerpt)

Comic books and graphic novels are now almost synonym words. They have once again captured the public imagination. Comics are not just for kids any more and they've definitely broken out into the larger culture. 

But sadly speaking, many of us have very popular misconceptions about comics and believes writing comics is easy. After all, a look at a comic book page shows that most of the heavy lifting is done by the art. This misconception goes hand-in-hand with another, namely, that all comic book writers do is write the words that go into the word balloons. Both assumptions are dead wrong. The fact of the matter is that as a comic book writer, you are responsible for everything that goes on the page, just as if you were writing in prose. The artist is your partner, not your substitute. Think of writing a comic book as a collaboration with another writer, one to whom you must give very good instructions!

Comic book writing is just as challenging, interesting, difficult, and rewarding as writing a play, a poem, a novel, or a movie. But just as those media have certain rules that proceed from their forms, so, too, do comics. When someone write a comic book, he or she needs to think visually and then need to communicate those visuals in such a way as to spark the artist's imagination to present them the way you see them. 

Few months back, I came across with David Mazzucchelli's Asterios Polyp, a Graphic Novel. It was a fantastic book. An absolutely incredible piece of visual communication and one of the smartest and most rewarding graphic novels of the recent time. A pull-out-all-the-stops package that’s funny, poignant and deep, with panels of thoughtfully shaded images that form a visual novel, a paper movie, and finally, an existential meditation on things that matter to us: religion, art, science, love and memory.”

I greatly enjoyed this book. In fact some of the episodes I've reread multiple times and each time I got a new appreciation for some of the details. It's an enjoyable existential journey through the life of Asterios Polyp, a complex and very realistically rendered human character. He's not there to be the hero or villain, he is presented, quite realistically, as a typical human with foibles, faults, ego and jealously.

The Story:
Asterios, the young “paper architect” was named because none of his designs, however award-winning, have never been built. He meets and falls in love with a vulnerable, hopeful girl named Hana, whom he marries. But we also have the “present” of the comic, Asterios aiming to rebuild his life away from everything he’s know, and maybe try to learn something. 

Asterios himself is an impressively dislikeable person. He is smart and inventive but he’s also hugely egotistical, self-confident and stubborn. It’s obvious that Asterios is of higher than usual intelligence, as evidenced through his childhood love of reading and curiosity about the way things work. 

A well-discussed element of the graphic novel is its duality. Asterios is obsessed with opposites and frequently undermines others with reductive reasoning. The journey of the graphic novel sees Asterios learnt to see things as spheres, or continuum, as opposed to equals and opposites, which allows him a more “rounded” view of life.

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Read here one of the excerpts from "Asterios Polyp" - it was originally published in July, 2009.

Asterios Polyp

   (Size: 6 MB)

Why People Loves Science Fiction and Fantasy?

My first experience with the Sci-Fi movie was, most probably, Star Trek. I remember back in my student life I used to eagerly wait to watch one hour episode of popular "Star Trek" movies on the national TV channel on Sundays.....

Star Trek gallery ships 1719 CONTRARIAN FANBOY

But why people loves science fiction and fantasy anyways?
Most likable answers will be: Sci-Fi comics and movies let us explore the unknown possibilities. With reading of Science fiction and fantasies, people escape out of their own worlds into places and times that do not exist nor ever will. A good reading of an well-written science fiction gives us ultimate interactive experience - because when we read science fiction, our brain begins to build a world from the ground up.

The tales of mystical worlds and improbable technological power appeal many of us, universally. Though Bollywood is the largest movie industry in the world, but sad to say, only a handful top hits of the last four decades have dealt with science fiction themes and/or fantasy. On the other hand, Hollywood's had a long love affair with sci-fi and fantasy. A quick glance into bookstores, television lineups, and upcoming films shows that the futuristic and fantastical is everywhere in American pop culture. 

American Sci-Fi films make lot of their profits abroad, but they under-perform in front of Indian audiences. This isn't to say that there aren't folk tales with magic and mythology in India - of course there are. But Bollywood usually takes quotidian family dramas and imbues them with spectacular tales of love and wealth found-lost-regained amidst the pageantry of choreographed dance pieces. It's a sign that longing for mystery is universal, but the taste for science fiction and fantasy is cultural. For films like Avatar and The Hobbit, foreign sales equal or exceed domestic U.S. sales. But India, the world's ninth-largest economy and second-most populous country, does not even rank in the top 12 foreign markets for the genre.

Science fiction writers have often provided prescient glimpses of future technologies. From the advanced submarine imagined by Jules Verne in his 1870 novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, to the spacecraft described by H.G. Wells in his 1897 novel The War of the Worlds, there are countless examples of science fiction works that have foreshadowed, or even inspired, the development of real technologies. With the advent of motion pictures, science fiction writers’ ideas about what the future might look like could also be visually brought to life on screen.

Here are few science fiction movies that provided amazingly accurate glimpses of future technologies. 

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984)
Technology: Mobile phone
Star Trek franchise predicted include videophone communications, 3-D printers (replicators), and computer speech recognition. However, perhaps the most iconic Star Trek technology that later became a reality is the handheld communicator.

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Technology: Tablet computer
Among all the wondrous technical gadgetry depicted in Stanley Kubrick’s groundbreaking science fiction film is a device that many of us likely own today: the tablet computer. Besides depicting devices that bear an unmistakable resemblance to the tablets we use today, Kubrick’s film also fairly accurately predicted the time period when these devices would appear. Apple’s iPad made its debut in 2010, only nine years after the setting of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

As reported by FOSS Patents, the movie props’ resemblance to Apple’s iPad became enshrined in U.S. federal court records when Samsung cited 2001: A Space Odyssey as prior art against Apple’s iPad design patent claim.

Metropolis (1927)
Technology: Android
In the film, a mad scientist named Rotwang transforms a robot into a doppelgänger of another character named Maria, in order to crush a workers revolt. While today’s androids may not approach the same level of human likeness as Rotwang’s creation, there are plenty of fairly realistic humanoid robots that will take you deep into the uncanny valley. 

Woman in the Moon (1929)
Technology: Space travel
It offers an amazingly prescient depiction of later rocket launches into space, especially considering that the movie was made twenty-eight years before the Soviet Union’s Sputnik 1 launch.

Short Circuit (1986)
Technology: Military robot
While this film’s story about a robot that becomes self-aware after being struck by lightning may not be based on solid science, its depiction of the military’s interest in robots was spot on. In the film, “Number 5,” or “Johnny Five,” is an experimental prototype robot that the government has developed for military applications.

Back to the Future Part II (1989)
Technology: Wearable tech
Back to the Future Part II depicts multiple futuristic technologies. The smart eyewear that Marty McFly’s children are using in the film. Is it a head-mounted virtual reality device like the Oculus Rift, or is it more like Google Glass? 

Minority Report (2002)
Technology: Gesture-based user interface
The film did accurately predict gesture-based user interfaces long before touchscreens and motion-sensing inputs became common.
In the scene, Captain John Anderton — played by Tom Cruise — manipulates images on a computer with dramatic gestures. While most people today don’t operate their smartphones and tablets with exaggerated two-handed gestures, the swipe and pinch-to-zoom motions used by Anderton are essentially the same gestures used to operate touchscreens today.

Total Recall (1990)
Technology: Driverless car
This blockbuster film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger is packed with all sorts of futuristic technologies that have yet to be invented, including machines that can implant false memories and animatronic disguises that sort of work. However, amid all the Martian mayhem, there is also a scene that depicts a technology that is currently being developed by Google: driver-less cars.


Everyone has that feeling of being an outsider at some point in their lives, particularly here in the US, we don't have communities like we used to. A lot of people feel like they don't belong at all. Science Fiction hits on what it's like to go out into an alien environment. For some, change is frightening, and science fiction embraces, encapsulates, and explains that change.

I read science fiction and fantasy because it appeals to my critical thinking - because it's a genre full of ideas and optimism and inspiration.

Amazing Adventures

Here are two interesting, old Sci-Fi stories from "Amazing Adventures Series". The first was drawn by Murphy Anderson and Sy Barry (possibly), and the second one is inked by John Giunta. 

Feel free to download and distribute the stories - enjoy your weekends... 

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Amazing Adventures 
(Size: 9 MB)

Rip Kirby - The Chip Faraday Murder (The Official Rip Kirby #1)

"A beautiful woman dies on Rip's doorstep, thrusting him into a killer's web..." 
Returning from military service in the Pacific, scientist and amateur detective Rip Kirby wakes up to the sound of a pistol shot outside his flat before seconds later finding himself clutching a dead girl's body on his doorstep. With the sound of clacking heels and the fact that the girl worked at a reputable model agency as sole clues, a puzzled Rip persuades his friend Honey Dorian to work undercover as the model's replacement - with dramatic consequences...

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The former Marine Corps major, Rip Kirby is a scientific detective in the finest traditions of Sherlock Holmes. He possesses a superior intellect and a brilliant wit.

Kirby combines physical violence with worldly wisdom and thorough police procedure to solve difficult cases. He wears glasses, smokes a pipe, plays chess and appreciates both complex music and fine French brandies.

Rip Kirby - The Premiere Story (March, 1946)

Alex Raymond created 'Flash Gordon'' to compete with Buck Rogers. Not stopping there, he went on to create 'Jungle Jim' as a rival to Tarzan of the Apes. Raymond also created 'Secret Agent X-9' along with 'Dashiell Hammett' and 'Rip Kirby', a two-fisted but intellectual detective.  Rip Kirby is considered by many to be Raymond's finest effort. It was his last as he dies in an auto accident while still creating the strip. Raymond is considered one of the three greatest comic creators of all time.

Rip Kirby was translated into French, Spanish and many other European languages as well as the in the Asian subcontinent and we all enjoyed Rip Kirby comics all the time. 

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RK001: The Chip Faraday Murder

Original run in papers: 4 Mar 1946 - 22 Apr 1946

Story & Art: Alex Raymond

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Want to travel back to the New York of the 60s and 70s ? Here is your chance... read the gorgeous visuals, engaging characters in this vintage, timeless - the very first (Premiere)  Rip Kirby comics - first published on March 4th, 1946. 

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The Official Rip Kirby #1

   (Size: 31.2 MB)

Lightning Thief - Percy Jackson

Its been a while there was no new post on this blog - why?? work pressure? - yes, kind of - but bigger reason is 'ICC Cricket World Cup' !! On this part of the world, where Baseball and Soccer (American Football) take lion share of the coverage in the sport section of newspaper, TV, media, advertisement, and everywhere... we, Indians are always excited about 'Cricket', no matter where are we, specially when Team-India is on a roll !!

Now, coming back to blogging - today I am going to post a popular 'Graphic Novel' - 'The Lightning Thief - Persy jackson' written by Rick Riordan.  But wait.... what is actually a 'Graphic Novel' ? This term is getting more and more popular every day - around the world.

When I was a kid, (well,I still think myself so!!) I only knew about "Comics". Tintin, Handa-Vonda, Phantom, Henry, Tarzan and so many others.... were all known to us as 'comics'. But since last 10 years or so, 'Graphic Novel' term slowly took the place of 'Comics'. Googling on web I find that there are so many differing viewpoints as to how broadly “graphic novel” should be defined. According to Scholastic, “The term graphic novel is now generally used to describe any book in a comic format that resembles a novel in length and narrative development.”  According to American Library Association’s Booklist, “A graphic novel, like a regular novel, is a stand-alone story that is published as a book. It’s easy to get confused, though, because some people will still use comics for the whole genre or graphic novel for any comic-style work that’s handsomely published, even if it’s just a collection of superhero stories.” However, the About.com Guide to Comics, says, “A graphic novel is often a set of collected comic books or a stand alone story that is squarebound.”


The 'Author'
Rick Riordan is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, the Kane Chronicles, and the Heroes of Olympus. He is also the author of the multi-award-winning Tres Navarre mystery series for adults. For fifteen years, Rick taught English and history at public and private middle schools in the San Francisco Bay Area and in Texas. In 2002, Saint Mary's Hall honored him with the school's first Master Teacher Award.

While teaching full time, Riordan began writing mystery novels for grownups. His Tres Navarre series went on to win the top three national awards in the mystery genre - the Edgar, the Anthony and the Shamus. Riordan turned to children's fiction when he started The Lightning Thief as a bedtime story for his oldest son. 
Today over 35 million copies of his Percy Jackson, Kane Chronicles, and Heroes of Olympus books are in print in the United States, and rights have been sold into more than 35 countries. Rick is also the author of The 39 Clues: The Maze of Bones, another #1 New York Times bestseller. 
Rick Riordan now writes full-time. He lives in Boston with his wife and two sons.


This book and all the other books in this series thrive on Greek mythology and make it seem real. Although this book is not for everyone, but if you love  mythology, have interest in legends and myths, you have to like "Percy Jackson". He is not as much as interesting as Harry Potter, but there are lot of actions and it is quite fun to read - it has good cliffhangers at the end.


PLOT:
In this  non-stop thrill-ride, mythological graphic Novel, "The Lightning Thief", Percy Jackson's world is brought to life with eight full-color plates. After getting expelled from yet another school for yet another clash with mythological monsters only he can see, twelve-year-old Percy Jackson is taken to Camp Half-Blood, where he finally learns the truth about his unique abilities: He is a demigod, half human, half immortal. Even more stunning: His father is the Greek god Poseidon, ruler of the sea, making Percy one of the most powerful demigods alive. There's little time to process this news. All too soon, a cryptic prophecy from the Oracle sends Percy on his first quest, a mission to the Underworld to prevent a war among the gods of Olympus.

Read here the classic, mythological masterpiece "Lightning Thief" as a graphic novel.

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Lightning Thief - Part 1

   (Size: 25.8 MB)

Lightning Thief - Part 2

   (Size: 30 MB)

Rip Kirby- Death on Four Wheels

Alex Raymond made a famous mark for himself when he created Flash Gordon in 1934.  His groundbreaking use of color and attention to detail are widely recognized as setting new standards in the comic art form.  He joined the Marines in February 1944 and eventually went out on the 1945 cruise of the escort carrier USS Gilbert Islands. 

Raymond in his USMC uniform showing the battle stars earned by the Gilbert Islands for action in the Pacific Theater.  

Raymond's fellow cartoonist, Stan Drake had a new sports car, a 1956 Corvette convertible. One day, Raymond paid Drake a visit as he was working on a Juliet Jones strip.  Raymond wanted to drive the Corvette, which boasted 450 horsepower and a four-second acceleration from 0 to 60 miles per hour, to compare it to one of his cars, a gullwing Mercedes. Drake readily agreed to allow Raymond to take a spin in his car.

September 6th, 1956 - a typical fall day in Connecticut - a steady rain was falling, and the top was up on the Corvette. At first, Drake took the wheel, traveling around Westport while Raymond admired the automobile. Finally, when they were on a road over by the highway, Raymond wanted to take the wheel.

Raymond in his green Bandini race car, 1954 (photo courtesy of Tom Roberts)

The two switched places, and Raymond began driving down South Morningside Drive to Clapboard Road. Once on Clapboard Road, Raymond began driving as if he were on Thompson Speedway, his favorite race course in northern Connecticut. As he sped down the steeply graded Clapboard, he failed to see a stop sign that was hidden by overgrown weeds. Racing through the intersection, Raymond and Drake were suddenly in a free fall: Clapboard dropped off precipitously after the stop sign, and the velocity of the car launched it into midair. By not stopping, they shot out about sixty feet into the air, and then came the fatal accident...... 

Raymond was killed instantly upon impact. The Corvette’s wraparound windshield had shattered, one large shard of it entering Raymond’s mouth and exiting the rear of his head.

Drake’s injuries were grave - he suffered various internal injuries and a broken shoulder. Both his ears had been ripped off his head and had to be reattached. His rehabilitation was protracted, and during this period he had to stop cartooning.

About five years after the accident, Drake drove by the spot where they crashed, and he stopped to take a look. He noted that the tree the Corvette hit had grown taller, and that fragments of the car’s plastic body remained embedded in it. 

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In this vintage story Rip Kirby was off to the races - allowing  Raymond to draw a lot of cars. The female lead of the storyline, Jet Allyson is a rich girl, who loves nothing but car racing! Then comes the murder, things get better and better - a fair amount of tension over the identity of the murderer. The racing art’s phenomenal, and eventually Rip wins the big race.

Read here the vintage Rip Kirby adventure, "Death on Four Wheels" in B&W - it originally continued from  May-Sep, 1953.

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Death on Four Wheels

   (Size: 53.7 MB)

Playing It My Way - Sachin Tendulkar

When I was a little kid, our main sport was always 'football'. Yes, at that time too we had another sport called 'cricket' - but that was just another game, like hockey, tennis or badminton. The ICC world (Prudential) cup win in 1983 changed the whole picture. Very soon cricket took the prime spot in Indian sports world. And all of a sudden cricket became the single religion in the mind of numerous sports fan of India when a little kid named Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar started playing amazingly for the national cricket team.

The book, "Playing It My Way" is not just a mere autobiography - it is the life of a great man. No book can sum up an entire journey of 24 years of anyone's life. Nevertheless, this book made me nostalgic about how my childhood days were spent seeing this great man on TV. 

There are many similarities with my own life - like the way Sachin grew up in a close knit, middle class family - the sacrifice made by his parents and elder brothers, the discipline, dedication and hardwork, the love & caring between the siblings, the camaraderie that he shared with his brothers, the love for good music - all made this book an awesome read. His love towards his wife, care for kids, respect for his beloved parents and his guidance to his team mates will always be respected. 

The straightforwardness, the uncomplicated approach Sachin has towards his life, along with the devotion towards his family, the patriotism and the attention to the minutest details of the sport are the key impressions one takes away and keeps with oneself as one completes this book. 

Being a Calcuttan I was a big fan of Saurav Ganguly, but I was never a less fan of Sachin. He has given us so many moments of pride being an Indian and arguably no one else can give the same amount of glory to India in cricket world. The book did bring back many glorious memories, all the affection we felt for this man ever since 1992 - that's the time when many of us seriously started watching Indian cricket... 

Read here one of the fascinating chapters, "Childhood" from this amazing book. I deliberately didn't upload few more chapters here, because this autobiography will benefit charitable causes as the proceeds from the sale will be used to support the charitable causes like the alleviation of malnutrition in children and the provision of clean water to the underprivileged. 

Long live Master Blaster. You have earned love and respect of billions...

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Playing It My Way
(Size 13.8 MB)

পাঁচটি হাসির গল্প - শিবরাম চক্রবর্তী

খুব ছোটবেলায় বাবার মুখে বারে বারেই শুনতে চাইতাম সেই 'মশা-মাছির পান্তুয়া/রসগোল্লা খাবার' গল্পটা, আর বাজারের বড়ো মিষ্টির দোকানটার সামনে দাঁড়িয়ে, জুলুজুলু চোখে সেই দোকানের কাঁচের শো-কেসের ভিতরে থাকা, থরে থরে সাজানো মিষ্টিগুলোকে খালি দেখতাম আর ভাবতাম, ইসস - আমিও যদি সেই গল্পের মতো মশা-মাছির ছল করে মিষ্টি খাবার একটা সুযোগ যদি কোনোমতে পেতাম!!  আরেকটু বড়ো হবার পর অবশ্য জানতে পেরেছিলাম যে সেই গল্পটা ছিলো প্রখ্যাত লেখক শিবরামের অমর সৃষ্টি। 

হাসির গল্প লেখা মোটেও সহজ কাজ নয় - তার উপর 'ছোটোদের হাসির গল্প' ছোটোদের মতো করে লেখা ঢের, ঢের বেশি কঠিন। খুব কম লেখকই সেই দুটো হার্ডল অনায়াসেই পার হয়ে গিয়েছিলেন। তাঁদের মধ্যে অবশ্যই অন্যতম হলেন শিবরাম চক্রবর্তী।  বড়োদের জন্যেও তিনি লিখে গেছেন বেশ কিছু অসাধারণ গল্প ও উপন্যাস। কিন্তু স্রেফ হর্ষবর্ধন-গোবর্ধন ক্যারেক্টার দুটির জন্যেই তিনি নির্দ্বিধায় বাংলা সাহিত্যের জগতে চিরটাকালই এক অনন্য স্থান আলোকিত করে থাকবেন। 

শিবের শক্তি +  রামের ভক্তি = শিব্রাম !

এই পোস্টে অবশ্য কেবল হর্ষবর্ধন-গোবর্ধন নিয়ে নয়, বরং শিবরামের লেখা অন্য কয়েকটি দারুণ মজার গল্প আপলোড করা হলো। শিবরামের গল্প অন্যান্য ব্লগেও প্রচুর আছে - তবে সেগুলি দেব সাহিত্য কুটীরের পূজাবার্ষিকীতে যে-আকারে প্রকাশিত হয়েছিলো, সেভাবে কিন্তু নেই - আর সে জন্যেই আমার এই পুনর্বিড়ম্বনা....

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শিবরামের পাঁচটি 
হাসির গল্প (16 MB)

Rip Kirby - Danger in Key Diablo

Raymond's skill and talent reached to its peak with Rip Kirby. After returning from WWII Raymond did not resume Flash Gordon because of King Feature's contract with Austin Briggs. To keep Raymond with them, they let him produce a new feature. Thus it's debatable if King Features editor Ward Greene created the character, that was later more fully developed by writer Fred Dickenson. 

But whether Alex Raymond created the character or not, it was his success and name recognition that really mattered with his audience. It gave Raymond part ownership in the strip. Raymond was also like his character, with many of the qualities of the famous detective. More sophisticated and urbane than the average artist, he was a striking figure, handsome, athletic, hugely talented and admired among his peers. Raymond's art influenced many of the talented comic artists of today.

Raymond constantly looked for different ways to carry the story visually to readers with experimentation in his style. He used models, took reference photographs, and swiped from magazines in his efforts to absorb different approaches. He worked close to deadlines, leaving only three weeks of strips at the time of his death from an auto accident. Abandoning the old soap opera approach of a simpler outline style, Raymond brought numerous slick advertising techniques to the daily.

Always in firm control of his art and career, King Features offered Raymond $35,000 a year to produce a Sunday Rip Kirby page. Raymond declined citing the extra work the page would impose on his already limited free time.

To mention a few of his achievements, Raymond won the coveted Ruben Award in 1949 for Rip Kirby, was a member of the Society of Illustrators, and served as president of the National Cartoonists Society for 1950 and 1951. Even when producing both magazine and book illustration, and his combat paintings displayed in the National Gallery of Washington, DC, Raymond still always championed the comic strip as his preferred art form. 

He once said, "I decided honestly that comic art work is an art form in itself. It reflects the life and times more accurately and actually is more artistic than magazine illustration -- since it is entirely creative. A comic artist is playwright, director, editor and artist at once..."



Read here one of the vintage Rip Kirby adventures, "Danger in Key Diablo" in B&W - it originally continued from Feb,1953  to May, 1953.

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Danger in Key Diablo 

   (Size: 43 MB)

বঙ্গদেশের রঙ্গ - ময়ুখ চৌধুরী

বাংলার কমিকস জগতে অন্যতম সেরা শিল্পীর নাম হলো 'ময়ুখ চৌধুরী' - বিভিন্ন বিষয়ে তাঁর অগাধ জ্ঞান, সঙ্গে অপূর্ব হস্তাক্ষর এবং বাংলা ভাষায় তাঁর অসাধারণ দখল তাঁকে গড়পরতা অন্যান্য শিল্পীদের থেকে বেশ কয়েক ধাপ এগিয়ে রেখেছিলো। ষাটের দশকে শুরু করে পরবর্তী চার দশক ধরে তিনি লিখে গেছেন অসংখ্য চিত্রকাহিনী, গল্প  ও উপন্যাস।  

হাস্যরস বা কৌতুকের থেকে তাঁর রচিত চিত্রকাহিনীগুলির মূল আকর্ষণ ছিলো অ্যাডভেঞ্চার, রোমাঞ্চ ও উত্তেজনা। ঐতিহাসিক ঘটনাবলীর থেকে আরণ্যক পরিবেশ ও বন্যপশুদের প্রতি তাঁর পক্ষপাতিত্ত্ব ছিলো অনেক বেশি। সেই সব কমিকসগুলিতে প্রতিটি প্রাণীর শারীরিক বৈশিষ্ট্য ও চলাফেরার ছন্দ, গতি নিখুঁতভাবে ফুটে উঠেছিলো। আফ্রিকা-ব্রাজিলের জঙ্গল, সিংহ, জেব্রা, ব্ল্যাক প্যান্থার, বাফেলো, অজগর, কুমীর, বেঙ্গল টাইগার, চিতাবাঘ, ইত্যাদি নানান চেনা-অচেনা জীবজন্তু তাঁর তুলির আঁচড়ে যেন জীবন্ত হয়ে ফুটে উঠতো।  

তাঁর পিতৃদত্ত নাম ছিলো "শক্তিপ্রসাদ রায় চৌধুরী" - ময়ুখ চৌধুরী ছাড়াও বিভিন্ন সময়ে তিনি আরো তিনটি ছদ্মনাম ব্যবহার করেছিলেন - 'সূত্রধর গুপ্ত', 'আত্মনাম গুপ্ত' ও 'রাজা রায়'। কমিকস ছাড়াও তিনি নানান গল্প-উপন্যাসও লিখে গেছেন - সেই সুবাদে তাঁকে নির্দ্বিধায় সাহিত্যিকও বলা চলে। বাংলা চিত্রকাহিনীগুলিকে তিনি দিয়েছিলেন সাহিত্যের মর্যাদা। তাই বাংলা তো বটেই, এমন কি গোটা ভারতবর্ষের শ্রেষ্ঠ কমিকস-সাহিত্যকার বিচারে নি:সন্দেহে তাঁর নামই প্রথমে আসবে।  

এই পোষ্টে প্রয়াত ময়ুখ চৌধুরীর লেখা 'বঙ্গদেশের রঙ্গ' কমিকসটি দেওয়া হলো। মানুষ ও ভয়ংকর রয়েল বেঙ্গল টাইগারের মধ্যেকার অন্তর্নিহিত ভালবাসাই হলো এই চিত্রকাহিনীটির মূল বক্তব্য। সুরেশ বিশ্বাস ছিলেন পশ্চিম বাংলার অন্তর্গত নদিয়া জেলার এক তরুণ, দু:সাহসী বাঙালী, যিনি ছিলেন হিংস্র জন্তু-জানোয়ারের খেলায় সিদ্ধহস্ত। পরবর্তী জীবনে তিনি ব্রাজিলের সেনাবাহিনীতে যোগদান করেন ও এক সময়ে "কর্নেল" পদে উন্নীতও হন। সেই বিস্মৃত বাঙালি, "কর্নেল সুরেশ বিশ্বাস"-কে নিয়ে ব্রাজিলের পটভূমিকায় এক বিশ্বাসযোগ্য রোমাঞ্চকর কাহিনী গড়ে তুলেছিলেন ময়ুখ চৌধরী। এই কাহিনীটি ইতিহাস নির্ভর হলেও, এটি হলো কল্প-ইতিহাস বা আদ্যন্ত কাল্পনিক রচনা। জীবজন্তু ও ইতিহাসকে বিষয় করে সাহিত্যধর্মী বর্ণনায় করা এই রচনাটি প্রকাশ করার মাধ্যমটি ছিলো "অ্যাকশন-অ্যাডভেঞ্চার কমিকস", বর্তমানে যাকে বলা হয়ে থাকে "গ্রাফিক্স নভেল"। কাহিনীর নায়ক সুরেশ বিশ্বাসের মতোই লেখক-শিল্পী ময়ুখ চৌধরীও ছিলেন এক ব্যতিক্রমী বাঙালী, যিনি জীবজন্তু নিয়ে খেলতে ভালোবাসতেন - তবে তা সার্কাসের স্টেজে নয়, বরং ছবি ও গল্পের আকারে। 

এই গল্পটি প্রথম প্রকাশিত হয়েছিলো 1970 সালে (বাংলা ১৩৭৭ সাল) দেব সাহিত্য কুটির থেকে প্রকাশিত 'মনিহার' পূজাবার্ষিকীতে। সম্প্রতি ব্রাজিলবাসী এক কমিকস পাঠকের (Celso Nunes) অনুরোধে বাংলায় লেখা এই চিত্রকাহিনীটি আমি ইংরাজিতে অনুবাদ করে ফেলি। পরে আবার সেখান থেকেই এই কমিকসটিকে পর্তুগীজ ভাষায় অনুবাদ করা হয়ে থাকে। সেই বাংলা, ইংরাজী ও পর্তুগীজ, তিনটি ভাষার  কমিকসই এখানে একসাথে আপলোড করা হলো। The original 'Portuguese' version can also be downloaded from cavernadacaveira.blogspot.com site.

জীবিতকালে ময়ুখ চৌধুরী তাঁর প্রাপ্য নাম-মর্যাদা, খ্যাতি-প্রশংসা, বেতন-মজুরি বা প্রচার কিছুই তেমন পান নি। মৃত্য পরবর্তীকালে তাঁর রচিত অসাধারণ চিত্রকাহিনীগুলির সাথে যদি দেশী-বিদেশী কমিকস পাঠকেরা পরিচিত হন, তাহলে তাঁর পরলোকগত আত্মা কিছুটা শান্তি ও আনন্দ অনুভব করবেন, এইটুকুই যা আমাদের আশা ও প্রার্থণা।  

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• বঙ্গদেশের রঙ্গ (বাংলা - 12 MB)
• Rangolaal of Bengal  (English -  3 MB)
• Rangolaal de Bengala (Portuguese - 4 MB )