Friday, October 11, 2013

#271 - All the Kraken episodes - A Navarathti & Vijayadashami presentation

The word Navarathri literally means nine nights in Sanskritnava meaning nine and rathri meaning nights. During these nine nights and ten days, various forms of the Goddess Devi are worshiped. The tenth day is commonly referred to as Vijayadashami. Navarathri is a very important and major festival and is celebrated with great zeal by Hindus all over the world.

In the Indian state of Kerala (where I hail from), the last two days of Navarathri - Ashtami (eighth), Navami (ninth), and VijayaDashami are celebrated as Saraswathi Pooja in which books are worshiped. (Saraswathi is the Goddess of learning.). The books are placed for Pooja on the Ashtami day in own houses, traditional nursery schools, or in temples. On VijayaDashami day, the books are ceremoniously taken out for reading and writing after worshiping Saraswathi. That day is considered auspicious for initiating the children into writing and reading, which is called Vidyarambham (start of education). Tens of thousands of children are initiated into the world of letters on this day in Kerala.

The area where I am in the USA does not have a lot of Hindus and we would have to go to Fremont or Sunnyvale to celebrate Navarathri. So I felt that I could celebrate Navarathri by putting all the 09 strips related to the Kraken series in one mega post.


HAPPY NAVARATHRI AND HAPPY VIJAYADASHAMI TO ALL

Let us start right at the beginning - S156_TheKraken_(11-23-1986_to_07-12-1987). Mandrake, Narda, Lothar and Karma just plan on having lunch with Capt.Jon, an explorer friend of Mandrake and the owner of the yacht the "Kraken". An ordinary lunch turns into a journey extra-ordinaire.












Download MF version here.                                  Download RS version here

In the second story - S157_TheFloatingIsland_(07-19-87_to_03-27-88) - the group comes upon an island pulled by trained Orcas! They also encounter a ship of dead people who turn into no-so-dead pirates. Never understood why these two very diverse stories are clubbed together.














Download MF version                                          Download RS version

In the third story - S158_TheYoungPrince_(04-03-88_to_06-12-88) - we see a ten and a half year old kid smitten by Narda. Who wouldn't be, if the first sight one sees via the binoculars, is a bikini-clad Narda!! How Narda and the team make it back to the ship is what this story is all about.











Download MF version                                             Download RS version

In the fourth story - S159_TabooIsle_(06-19-88_to_11-06-88) - Mandrake and Lothar investigate and then escape from an island that has a family of Rocs.











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In the fifth story - S160_SingingRocks_(11-13-88_to_04-02-89) -we see the team handle a group of thieves who use mannequins of mermaids to lure sailors.










Download MF version                                                      Download RS version


In the sixth story - S161_TheSportOfMagicians_(04-09-89_to_08-27-89) - we see the girls being harassed by some bullies and also how the bullies got beaten by our heroes, first by illusion and then by sheer muscle.










Download MF version                                                         Download RS version

In the seventh story - S162_TheDolphins_(09-03-89_to_01-14-90) - the team and the readers get a lecture on ecology and saving the environment.












Download MF version                                                           Download RS version


In the eighth story - S163_IsleDesFleursEtMorte_(01-21-90_to_06-24-90) - Mandrake and the girls get caught in an island with flowers that cause people to lose consciousness. Lothar then rescues all of them. Check out the way he lifts all the 3 of them.










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In the ninth story - S164_DangersInTheJungle_(07-01-90_to_12-16-90) - the team has adventures in Africa, somewhere near to Lothar's tribe. We also have Lothar being chased by his dead uncle's widows much to Karma's consternation.We along with the team, breathe a sigh of relief, when we see the team back on the ship.











Download MF version                                                                 Download RS version


Thanks to Magnus Magnusson, for the color strips.

Enjoy.


4 comments:

TPH said...

Very nice write up on Navaratri, and good to see all the series links in one post. I was missing two of these. Thanks.

HojO said...

The series is complete...only if we get a complete b/w version of S157,which is currently a mix of color,b/w,4-panel etc,the whole series will be ready for a complete b/w printed set!!
Someday it will happen..hopefully..:)
Once again a BIG thanks for the effort to ALL OF THE FANS who were involved!

Unknown said...

Happy Navarathri to all. Venkit, Thanks a ton for keeping the blog alive. Amazing efforts by all fans to keep in pursuit of collecting the strips.

AJAY said...

Very nice post as well the quality of scans is superb .Thanks a ton for sharing .