Shikari Shambu Vol 1 - TINKLE Collection Comic Book Review

 

Shikari Shambu Vol 1 

From the Back Cover

Come on board, and grab a blanket and a pillow as you join Tinkle’s laziest Toon, Shikari Shambu, on an adventure he did not sign up for.

Who is Shikari Shambu?

Shikari Shambu is everything he doesn’t appear to be. Just like his name. Although known as Shikari, he is no hunter. He is a conservationist and a wildlife expert. People turn to him in times of crises. Whether it is about rescuing a wild animal or catching a dangerous criminal, this forest ranger is everybody’s go-to guy. But, lo and behold, Shambu is no brave heart. He is secretly petrified of animals and has no love for adventure. All he seeks is a good, fluffy pillow to sleep on and a day that ends with a satisfied tummy. But trouble always finds its way to Shambu and luck finds him a way out. And the combination of the two creates a hilarious mad-venture!

What’s in store?

Shambu comes face-to-face with some of the scariest prowlers in the wild. But the adventure doesn’t end there; Shambu also has to rescue animals that have made their way into the city. This Shikari Shambu collection pack has it all. Shambu drives fast cars and jumps off aeroplanes—all in the name of saving animals. What are you waiting for? Grab your pack today. We promise you the adventure of a lifetime.

Shikari Shambu Vol 1

Tinkle along with Champak and the premier competition of Target were magazines which gave Indian children exposure to content which was diverse and ahead of its time in its writing and art.

This Shikari Shambu book is published under the aegis of Tinkle a beloved Indian fortnightly magazine for children published continuously from 1980. Tinkle was from the India Book House stable but since 2007 has found its way into the ACK Amar Chitra Katha(Amar Chitra Katha) stable.

In the last few years Tinkle has under ACK become a comic book stable with several loved characters like Suppandi and Shikari Shambu that were created in the early years of the magazine have nationwide recognition among all age groups. India's famous Uncle Pai (Anant Pai the founder of ACK was the editor for Tinkle from its inception in 1980.

Shikari Shambu (Hunter Shambu) is the Indian comic character created by Vasant Halbe and Luis Fernandes for the Tinkle magazine in 1983.

SS is one of Tinkle’s most iconic characters. The man with a huge moustached (a style that is suddenly in fashion now a days) man with a pith helmet over his eyes is a reluctant hero and would like nothing better than to spend entire days lying in a hammock. Despite his attempts to avoid any kind of work, Shambu inevitably finds himself in the middle of some or the other adventure involving wild animals of all shapes and sizes and despite his natural cowardly manner in which he avoids these situations he somehow ends up as a hero.

He carries a large rifle which he usually never uses, even in comics he does use his rifle he never killed or shot an animal.

Coming to the task at hand -

This book like many of Shikari Shambu's adventures have a common end like most of Tom & Jerrys comic strips, we all know what is going to happen but the enjoyment never comes down a notch.

Here we have a series of adventures or rather misadventures when it is about Shambu which verge on his legendary love and knowledge of the jungles, flora and fauna,

We even have a story about the elusive yeti.

I reconnected with the Tinkle books after a long time and just finished this book.

The adventures are fun and the art work is natural with India's village and small towns depicted well.

The stories are all hilarious and clean fun.

I recommend this one with all my heart. Read it to relive a childhood lost in the midst of urbanization, development and technology.

Please do not forget to post your comments. I am an equal opportunity person so would love to hear your love or your hate for the review or book in any order. Please write what you did not like or whether the book was an absolute disaster for you and why.

You can also follow/like my review at Goodreads here - 

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4688158042