Cartoonist Thomas passes away  

Kottayam, Apr 28: Well known cartoonist V T Thomas, the creator of 'Boban and Molly', the 12-year-old cartoon siblings who endeared one and all with their childish pranks and became household names in the state for nearly 40 years, passed away at a hospital here.

Thomas, 87, known as Toms, was undergoing treatment at a private hospital here for age related ailment for some time when the end came late last night, hospital sources said. He is survived by wife and 6 children.

Toms began his career as cartoonist with Malayala Manorama in 1961 and continued till his retirement in 1987. The comic strip used to appear in the last page of the Malayala Manorama weekly.

After his retirement in 1987, there was a legal dispute with the newspaper over copyright over the cartoon characters.

Though Manorama finally won the case in the Supreme Court, they returned the copyright to Toms and the cartoons started appearing in a comic magazine run by him. The cartoon characters were so famous that Toms later launched a magazine titled 'Boban and Molliyum'.

The themes of the comic strip, which varied from childish adventures and pranks to contemporary social and political satire tells the story of Boban and Molly, hailing from a middle class Christian family in Central Travancore.

Other characters-- the father of the two kids lawyer Pothan, Appy Hippy, Panchayat President Ittunnan Chettan and his wife are all well known characters in the strip.

PTI