This document summarizes a presentation given by Ilaxi Patel on Indian mythology comics and the visual magic of comics. The presentation discussed popular comics featuring Indian gods like Bal Ganesh and lessons to be learned from Chhota Bheem. It provided background on Amar Chitra Katha comics and analyzed comics like Archie, Tarzan, and Popeye. Patel encouraged using comics to foster creative writing, critical thinking, and visual learning in children. She demonstrated how to make comic strips and suggested activities like scrapbooking that integrate comics in a fun, educational way.

1. INDIAN MYTHOLOGY COMICS &
VISUAL MAGIC OF COMICS
By ILAXI PATEL
A TALK AT CHILDREN’S CORNER
‘RANG RANG VADALIYA’,
AMDAVAD NATIONAL BOOK
FAIR 2015 ON 6TH May, 4-5.30 p.m.
CONVENTION HALL,
AHMEDABAD
In association to :
AHMEDABAD MUNICIPAL CORPORATION’S

2. LORD GANESHA – INDIAN GOD AS ‘BAL GANESH’
Ganesha has a Trunk, Pot-belly, big ears, four arms and a special
vehicle – mouse! Many animated stories of Ganesh are moral lessons
to learn. Bal Ganesh – the movie is the most lovable animated film
loved by Kids and adults alike.
* Lord Ganesh & the
Moon
* Lord Ganesha &
Kuber
* Lord Ganesha &
Kartikeya

3. CHOTA BHEEM
10 lessons to learn from bheem
Be honest, wise and bold
Stop being jealous
Stay united
Instead of complaining utilize your resources
Be considerate, generous and courteous
Stay calm, quite and poised
Stay alert
True sportsmanship
Be confident
Be humorous

4. AMAR CHITRA KATHA
FACTS & FIGURES & ALL ABOUT IM
Amar Chitra Katha series began in1967 by Uncle Pai. He was a visionary who helped millions
of children delve into the fascinating treasure trove of Indian mythology, history and legends
through comics. Krishna was the first title. Uncle Pai personally went and put display racks in
restaurants. But today, Amar Chitra Katha sells about three million comic books a year in
more than 20 languages, and has sold over 100 million copies since its inception. Uncle Pai
sent hand-written notes to fan kids. He didn’t have kids and expired in 2011.
Popularity of Amar Chitra Katha comics has reached its pinnacle that it also available online
on Amazon & Kindle and among the users of Apple I-pad and Android apps.
Many Amar Chitra Katha comics have been adapted into television animated series.
INDIAN MYTHOLOGY COMICS & VALUES

6. SOME COMIC STRIPS & CARTOONS
Tom and Jerry – Metro Goldwin Mayer
animated film of Cat and Mouse – wits
and humor
Garfield comic strip is a lazy, fat cat
who loves to eat and sleep

7. ARCHIE COMICS
ARCHIE – BETTY – VERONICA – JUGHEAD & MANY OTHER
CHARACTERS IN ARCHIE COMICS – SWAGAT CHILDREN
LIBRARY CELEBRATE ARCHIE WEEK EVERY YEAR – THIS YEAR
IT IS AT RANG RANG VADALIYA HALL, 4TH AMDAVAD
NATIONAL BOOK FAIR 2015
Other such comics :Tarzan, Mandrake,Phantom, Batman,
Superman, Spiderman, Garfield, Mowgli etc.

8. TARZAN RETURNS  CREATED AS FICTIONAL CHARACTER BY EDGAR RICE
BURROUGH, HE IS BROUGHT BY AFRICAN APES WHO GO TO CIVILIZATION AND
RETURNS TO JUNGLE AS ADVENTURER
Tarzan is son of British Lord and Lady lost in Atlantic coast of Africa. His mother died and father killed, brought up
By Ape mom ‘Kala’ – Tarzan meets American woman Jane Porter who same way got stranded on coast like Tarzan.
Both Get married later and Tarzan moves to America where eventually both return to Jungle – Adventurous Tales

9. VISUAL FUN & READING
“Comics are a visual medium but they try to use all of the senses”.
Scott McCloud

10. THE VISUAL MAGIC WITH FUN & LEARN
Learn from everyone, follow no one, watch for patterns, themes, messages and work like hell.
I think these are the four principles that go into Creativity – Comics is Fun
ILAXI PATEL

11. CARTOONMAKINGISFUN
Encourage kids
for cartoon
making – comic
strips
Objective:
* To use
comics to
foster
creative
writing and
Vocabulary
skills
* Visual
Learning
* Enhance
Critical
Thinking
Skills
* Think out of
the box
SWAGAT CHILDREN LIBRARY KIDS WITH COMIC STRIP ACTIVITIY CLASS

12. MYTHOLOGY COMICS OR JUST COMICS :
Read these comics with your young kids and spin stories, using hand actions and
facial expressions.
Enact mock dramas based on these comic-stories.
Advise your kids to tell these stories to their cousins, aunts, uncles or their
grandparents to cultivate the good habit of storytelling.
To increase the level of reading interest among your kids, construct brief quizzes
based on these comic-stories.
Encourage your kids to form a reading club and invite their friends or cousins and
share their common reading interests and information.
In case of Indian fables based on good deeds, advise your kids to follow these good
acts

13. CREATIVECRITICALTHOUGHTPROCESS
Ask: What is
the
message…?
Get the facts.
Get aware.
Generate
possible
purpose of the
cartoon theme
What is the
message
conveyed
Find Opinions
and Reactions

14. STRENGTHOFPOPEYETHESAILORMAN
MESSAGE
EAT WHAT IS
RIGHT
BE STRONG
HELP SOMEONE
MAKE SOMEONE
SMILE
BUDDY LOVE

15. FLOWCREATIVEJUICES
Conduct
SMART
ACTIVITY
Parenting a child isn’t
easier when it comes to
doing activities together.
However, simply sitting
together and simply
being CREATIVE can
be ENTERTAINING
and EDUCATIONAL
GETSOMECOMICS
GETTOACTION
SCRAP BOOK
ACTIVITY GUIDANCE
WORKS WONDERS
Scrap Book Activity Art – Draw and color
Read Comics and trace
Word Balloons
Build vocabulary
Make list of words from
Comic books
Elements of writing like
exclamations,
punctuations, hyperbole,
idioms, phrases,
Paste Cartoon Stickers

16. THE WORD (SPEECH) BALLOON BRIDGES THE GAP BETWEEN THE WORD AND THE IMAGE.
Speech Bubbles
Most common comes in two forms for two circumstances – in panel, off panel, pointer tail to speaker
Thought Bubbles
the chain thought bubble and the "fuzzy" bubble
Scream Bubbles
indicate a character is screaming or shouting, usually with a jagged outline or a thicker line which can be
colored. Their lettering is usually larger or bolder than normal.
Broadcast Bubbles
radio bubbles - Letters are sometimes italicised without also being bold. Broadcast bubbles indicate that
the speaker is communicating through an electronic device, such as a radio or television, or is robotic.
Whisper Bubbles
usually drawn with a dashed (dotted) outline, smaller font or gray lettering to indicate the tone is softer, as
most speech is printed in black.
Icicle bubbles
have jagged "icicles" on the lower edge, representing "cold" hostility.
Monster Bubbles
have blood or slime dripping from them.
Coloured Bubbles
convey the emotion that goes with the speech, such as red for anger or green for envy. This style is seldom
used in modern comics.

17. THE WORLD OF GUJARATI COMICS
TALES IN COMIC FORM
Intelligent person whose brain
is sharper than a needle.He
uses "a brain faster than a
super-computer" , and a
wooden stick, to fight evil-
doers.He solves problems with
his sharp intellect and helps the
common man but also teaches
them moral lessons and good
behavior.
Fascinating tales on animal
characters that not only leave
deep imprint on the minds of its
young readers but also impart
them with knowledge and
values they treasure for the rest
of their lives – 3 million copies
over
Tinkle in Gujarati to be published
by ACK but Champak Rules the
market in English and Gujarati
with lot of kiddie stuff – Stories,
Puzzles, Jokes, Quotes & lots
more.... Panchtantra, Akbar Birbal, Tenalirama, Bikram Betal,
Chandamama, Karadi Tales , Amar Chitra Katha, etc.
Fulwadi, zagmag, kids world, Bal Bhaskar , Bal Sambhaav
(earlier Published in Sambhaav newspapers)

18. BAKOR PATEL
YESTER YEARS TALES IN COMIC FORM

19. CREATIVE WRITING – MESSAGE FLOW
 Identify Comic themes
 Education
 Humor
 Message oriented
 Any other
PRIYA’S SHAKTI : raise awareness about the issue within a younger audience
- Women are equal, treat them nice
- Educate and speak if mistreated
Download free : www.priyashakti.com

20. •* Sparks Imagination * Educates
•* Inspires * Entertains
EXAMPLE : THECUTES
VISUAL FUN AND PUZZLE FUN

21. COMICS FOR FUN & LEARN
AT HOME – SCHOOL – CLASSROOM
 Team collaboration
 Individual learning
abilities
 Visual Understanding
 Critical Thinking
 Speech and
communication skills
 Creative Writing
abilities
 Brainstorming - power
the brain cells
ARCHIE COMICS FUN RESULTS WITH COMICS FUN

22. WHAT KIDS LEARN THROUGH COMICS – CARTOONS
 Thinking abilities
 Creative skills
 Message Analyzing
 Debating skills
 Communicative skills
 Participation
willingness
A CLIP FROM BAL NARENDRA

23. JUGHEAD ‘THE NO FOR JUNK FOOD’
 JUGHEAD eating Junk
Food : Burgers, Soft
Drinks.
 Creative write the ‘No
Junk Food’ Message
supportive to reading
material

24. SCOOP IT – COMICS FUN CREATION
 Story Continuation: Encourage kids to write a story first. Then write
dialogues. This may also ease the making of comic strip process.
 Pairing : Pair the children in a group of 2 or 4. Make it fun session.
Let them share comic books, jokes or quotes. Engage them in
group discussions to warm up before writing
 Happy to Create Comics in simple way comes quite naturally when
motivation follows to spark creative juices. Kids are at their best
only when they are ready to Do It. Forcing them to engage in
activities gain no results.

25. COMIC BOOKS IN EDUCATION
 A comic relief for students who run a
mile at the sight of text books, some
books are made interesting.
 All lessons are explained in the form of a
comic story thereby transforming
learning from being a task to a
refreshing and enjoyable experience.
 Comic text books based on the NCERT
curriculum that bring scientific concepts
alive through colorful and entertaining
comics.
Science made simple Some comics for Education

26. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CARTOON AND COMICS
 Cartoon : a simple
drawing or a motion
animated movie with a
sound
 Comic : comic is a
written, printed format
in black and white or
color. One panel, two
or more strips...
A CARTOON MESSAGE A COMIC STRIP

27. THINK OUT OF THE BOX & MAKE A COMIC
The comic strip must be used with your own characters,
Speech/word balloons, message flow etc.
Another Topic:
Make comic strip on use of Books or Internet
- Audio Book, ebooks or You Tube Book Trailers ?

28. MAKE YOUR FAVORITE CARTOON
* MAKE YOUR FAVORITE CARTOON
* MAKE A GOOGLE DOODLE WITH YOUR FAVORITE
CARTOON
(Tech Theme)

29. MAKE A STRIP WITH A MESSAGE
SELFIE WITH THE AUTHOR ILAXI PATEL
CARTOON
THEME
HELPING
HANDS
OLD MAN AND
TWO
FRIENDS.
CARTOON
THEME
CARING
TWO BEST
FRIENDS
CARTOON
THEME
SHARING
GIFTS AND
SHARING
THINGS

30. ABOUT MY PROFESSION
• Editor, www.kidsfreesouls.com – Kids Newspaper Online
•Ex Editor SAMBHAAV online and Ex Editor - SAMBHAAV (Free Souls
Supplement)(1997-2004).
• Author of “Guardian of Angels: A practical guide to Joyful Parenting”
(Print & Kindle edition)
(available on Amazon.com & All International Webstores
• Official Blogger & VA to M J Akbar, (Editor - The Sunday Guardian, India
News TV – www.mjakbar.org (2004-2015)
Web Content Analyst at Gujarat State Portal www.gujaratindia.com
(currently content live), Governance Pages CM-PM, www.narendramodi.in
till he became PM – associated with CMO and Silver Touch Technologies
•Also written content for Madhya Pradesh State (2009)
•Web Consultant & Corporate General Insurance Agent
www.swagatgroup.net
•Runs Swagat Children Library & conducts Parenting Workshops
•Associated actively with GCCI-Business Women’s Wing and
Ahmedabad Book Club Core Committee & other groups.
•A Keyboard Player and an EDM Freak and George Michael Fan, ilaxi patel
loves to explore web.
•She is a speaker on Entrepreneurship and Women in Tech as ‘Women
Techmaker’ – a Google initiated conducted by Google Developers (GDG)
with her journey and connects to people with a mission to spread the
message of love, faith, peace and unity among human beings.
MORE : http://www.kidsfreesouls.com/aboutus.htm
ILAXI PATEL IS THE DIRECTOR OF SWAGAT CHILDREN LIBRARY CONDUCTING CARTOON & COMIC
MAKING WORKSHOP, GRAMMAR WITH STORIES AND OTHER WORKSHOPS/PROJECTS
PRESENTATION AT RANG RANG VADALIYA, CHILDREN’S CORNER,
AMDAVAD NATIONAL BOOK FAIR 2015