Dinkan

Dinkan
Publication information
Publisher	Balamangalam
First appearance	1983[1]
Created by	N. Somashekharan (concept) Baby (design)
In-story information
Species	Mouse
Place of origin	Pankila forest
Supporting character of	Mittu
Abilities	Superior strength enhanced senses Flight

Dinkan (മ: ഡിങ്കന്‍) is a fictional anthropomorphic superhero mouse who appear in an eponymous Malayalam comic story series in children's magazine Balamangalam

Publication history

Dinkan (ഡിങ്കന്‍) was created by story-writer N. Somashekharan and artist Baby in 1983. Dinkan was one of the earliest superhero characters created in India and it quickly became popular among children. Like Terrytoons created Mighty Mouse and several other superhero characters, Dinkan too borrowed a few traits from the iconic DC Comics character Superman. Later Nambolan, another superhero character was introduced to Balamangalam and it too became very popular. From later 1990's, Balamangalam suffered from high competition from other children's publications in Malayalam. The magazine still had a strong market share and they expanded out with a kindergarten kids magazine Kalicheppu and a comics book Balamangalam - Chitrakatha.^[2] But Dinkan continued to be Balamangalam's most popular comics series. In October 2012, Mangalam Publications, owners of Balamangalam announced that the magazine will stop publication due to poor sales. The news created a furore in social media websites and prompted the publishers to clarify that "the closure is just temporary and Balamangalam may return soon."^[3][4]

Character biography

Dinkan was born in Pankila forest, somewhere in Kerala. He was a naughty mouse, who wasn't disciplined. During one of his escapades, Dinkan was abducted by aliens from an unknown planet. They conducted experiments on him which ended up giving him superior strength, enhanced senses and the ability to fly. Somehow Dinkan found himself back in Pankila forest and he decided to use his powers for the well-being of animals in the forest.

References