Mapui Kawlim, a 13-year-old girl from Mizoram, is the latest superhero character introduced by Tinkle Comics. The magazine is celebrating its 35th anniversary this November and is all set to break many stereotypes.
Tinkle, an Indian monthly magazine containing comics, quizzes, puzzles and more, enjoys great popularity among children and has a loyal adult reader base as well.
And in its November issue, marking the magazine’s 35th anniversary, Tinkle has introduced a new superhero – a teenager from Mizoram named Mapui Kawlim.
Source: Facebook
This 13-year-old laid-back girl from a middle class family in Aizawl, is also a crime-fighter! Like many teenagers, Mapui, a.k.a “WingStar”, dreads Math, avoids doing her homework and enjoys fun-packed sleepovers. A unique thing about her is that saving people in need does not majorly fascinate her – she is a reluctant superhero.
While Mapui is all set to break many stereotypes, this is not the first time that Tinkle has come up with a female superhero. Two of them – Aisha and Maya, had also been introduced previously.
“We need more iconic female heroes to join the plethora of enduring male comic characters in the country – Suppandi, Shikari Shambu and Tantri the Mantri. Over half of the children in our country are female after all,” Tinkle Comics’ editor, Rajani Thindiath, told Catch News.
On can hope that this comic will add on to the fight of breaking stereotypes against people from Northeast India, who have to face a lot of discrimination in their own country.
Rajani Thindiath added that she does not see the new comic as particularly revolutionary. “In Tinkle, we have always had characters who hail from different parts of the country. Mapui, aka “WingStar”, may belong to the Northeast but she’s also a regular teenage girl,” she said.
Tinkle is published in English, Hindi, Tamil and Bengali, targeting readers between the ages of 8 and 14. There is also Tinkle ezine for those who want to read it online.
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