Khirunnisa A and P Vijaya Kumar | photo credit: Christopher Francis
Life has come full circle for Butterfinger aka Amar Kishan who started life as a character in a comic strip in Tinkle. Created by Thiruvananthapuram-based writer Khirunnisa A, Butterfinger starred in three novels and three collections of short stories before returning to the comic. adventures in texas and other stories (Penguin Random House).
“The 100-page book in a comic format has three new stories of 32 pages each – one is a mystery, one is an adventure and the other is a sports-based story,” says Khirunnisa.
Publishers were eager for a new book on Butterfinger and wondered if a comic could be based around 13-year-old Amar’s life of extreme adventure. Four of his novels were based on sports such as football, cricket and badminton, but each had an interestingly innovative spin to the game and its rules.
adventures in texas and other stories By Khirunnisa A | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
When the writers agreed on the idea of a different format for his character, they had to get permission from Tinkle, Butterfinger’s first publisher. As they stopped publishing the comic strip in 2015, when the third book on Butterfinger hit the bookshelves, they had no problem with a new comic on his adventures. “He told me, however, that what had appeared earlier in his publication could not be used,” Khirunnisa says.
Since comics are a relatively new format for Penguin, they decided to keep the new Butterfinger as a surprise to readers. “Readers of Butterfinger were curious to know whether it would be a game-based story or a collection of short stories,” says Khirunnisa.
Penguin took on illustrator Abhijit Kini, who had done the original illustrations for several comic strips centered on Butterfinger, for Tinkle.
The author says this was useful because the illustrations and speech bubbles had to capture the essence of the story. In addition, the story had to be converted into a script as well.
One of the three stories in the book is based on an adventure that happened to Khirunnisa in Texas when she moved to America.
In the story on the game, Amar participated in a marathon with his principal to raise money to deal with the financial crisis in the school. As always, there is a bit of confusion and mayhem created by Amar,” laughs the author.