Didn't expect That.
What's "That"?
Let's work up to it. (Fret not. No Inquisitions, Spanish or otherwise, are involved)
After the previous post, i went hunting for some information on Tantri The Mantri, hoping to at least find his first appearance. As is not infrequently the case, it turns out that there's a reason why the Universe prompted me to go looking at this time. Not only is Tantri still appearing in Tinkle, but he's also in the news!
Unfortunately, it didn't really help with my primary quest. Both the Telegraph of India and The Hindu report that Tantri's first appearance was this one, from Tinkle #85...
I'm not really buying that. I found that story i was talking about earlier in issue #51...
...and this one comes from #53...
...#77...
...#81...
I cannot say with certainty that this is a complete listing of appearances from before the alleged debut. I have only about a hundred out of the first 420 issues, so - lots of holes. Those are the tales i spotted while flipping through the issues i have here.
Anyway...
Why is Tantri in the news?
As i said above, it's certainly unexpected to me -
After 35 years of trying, Tantri was finally crowned King in the April issue of Tinkle. The kids had been asking for it for a long while; he tries so hard, y'know.
How did he finally succeed in taking the throne? What dastardly, conniving plot finally delivered the crown to his head?
35 years of loyal service.
He was named successor when Raja Hooja died. Of natural causes, one might presume. It seems unlikely that one of his plans actually worked out in his favour.
Of course, the decision to put an evil clown on the throne has nothing to do with current politics on the other side of the globe, right? Kind of wish i had a subscription these days.
page art by Ashok Dangre for Tinkle #s 51, 53, 77, 81, & 85 (1984, 1985)
