Comics quiz-by Archish Mazumdar

Preliminaries…

• 1) X was founded by Detroit, Michigan- born comics fan Y. When he moved to San Diego, California in 1970, he organized a one-day convention on March 21, 1970 ” as a kind of ‘dry run’ for the larger convention he hoped to stage”. Y went on to be associated with the convention as president or manager, variously, for many years until becoming estranged from the organization. ID X. Brownie points for Y.

• 2) The X comic series was started by Y in an attempt to teach Indian children about their cultural heritage. He was shocked that Indian students could answer questions on Greek and Roman mythology, but were ignorant of their own mythology, history and folklore. It so happened that in a quiz contest aired on Doordarshan in February 1967, in which participants could easily answer questions pertaining to Greek mythology, but were unable to answer the question.” In the Ramayana, who was Rama’s mother?”. ID X.

• 3) Raj is of Indian descent and lives with his father Ravi, his mother Mona and his sister Tina. His favourite hobby is filmmaking. He is an expert on ‘no budget’ special effects and builds his own models for science fiction movies. His father is a doctor who wishes his son would take up more serious issues while mother Mona is more supportive. Tina is a year younger but is such a good student that she was moved up a year so that both she and Raj are in the same year. What is so special about this guy?

• 4) Apocryphal legend has it that in 1961, longtime magazine and comic book publisher Martin Goodman was playing golf with either Jack Liebowitz or Irwin Donenfeld of rival company National Periodical Publications, and that the top executive bragged about its success with the new superhero team ______________. What did this give birth to? Don’t need the blank.

• 5) In “Asterix and the Magic Carpet”, a fakir brings Asterix to India. What’s his name?

• 6) Unlike the other characters, he was not originally conceptualized by the creators. He was born out of 3 narrative stories sent by Sameer Salman from Trichy. The concept was rendered into comic format with illustrations from Ram Waeerkar. Who am I talking about?

• 7) Whose symbol is this?

• 8) X is the largest land dwelling species of the family Mustelidae (weasels). It is referred by many names such as glutton(Gulo Gulo), carcajou, skunk bear, or quickhatch. The state of Michigan is, by tradition, known as “ the X state”,and the University of Michigan takes the X as its mascot. Why in a comics quiz?

• 9) As described in a contemporary article in The India Magazine, Supremo conceals his identity by wearing large glasses which resemble welding glasses, a skin tight costume with a wrap which resembles those worn by fishermen on India’s western coast, and a chakra pendant. He loves peanuts and “music is his passion”, which is why he carries a Walkman. Supremo has two helpers, boys named Vijay and Anthony. He also has a dolphin named Sonali and a falcon scout Shaheen. This is the description of an Indian superhero, I want the name of his alter-ego.•

• 10) ID this comic strip.

• 11) X’s original story is established in ‘Vengeance of X’. X was born in the fictional Carribbean Republic of Santa Prisca in a prison called Pena Dura. In prison he read as many books as he could, learnt to fight, and to speak Portuguese, Spanish, English and Latin. He committed his first murder at the age of 8. IGN lists him #34 in greatest comic book villains of all time. He was much in news a few months back.

• 12) Based on a concept by?

• 13) Connect.

• 14) After much contemplation, X could not decide on a name for the attack. Finally, his wife came up with the name and the stances to be used during the attack. She also told X that it would be easier to remember the name of the attack if he used the name of the famous Hawaiian king ____________, and thus the _________________ was created. FITB and also Id X.

• 17) ID the chain and where would you find it?

• 18) Strange Tales #158 featuring Dr. Strange• Where have you seen this?

• 19) ___________ is a webcomic. The comic’s tagline describes it as “a webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math and language. The creator described the name of the comic as “just a word with no phonetic pronunciation”. • The subject matter varies, with everything from pop-culture, life and

love to mathematical and scientific in-jokes.Although it has a cast of stick figures on a white background F, the comic occassionally features graphs, charts, extensive landscapes, and intricate mathematical patterns like fractals.FITB.

• 20) Connect.

21) Guess what happened three days after this comic came out in 1997?

• 22) Another xkcd. ID what has been blanked out.

• 23) The Danish newspaper Politiken held a competition in honour of Jules Verne which was open only to teenaged boys. The winner would be assisted in a challenge to circumnavigate the globe within 46 days unaccompanied. They were allowed to use all forms of transport apart from aviation. There were several hundred applications for this competition. Palle Huld was 15 at the time and working in a car dealership as a clerk. Huld left on his voyage on 1 March 1928, a journey that took him through the following countries, namely (besides Denmark): England, Scotland, Canada, Japan, Korea, China (Manchuria), The Soviet Union, Poland and Germany. In 44 days he made it back to Copenhagen to the cheers of a crowd of twenty-thousand. Shortly after his homecoming he made an additional journey (now mostly dressed in his scouts uniform) to Sweden, England (where he met Baden-Powell) and France (where he laid a bouquet of flowers at the grave of Jules Verne).

• Why in a comics quiz??

24)Who is this a homage to?

• 25) What is this a first version of??